My website has now been up and running since November 2013 and in that time many people have contacted me with all sorts of questions which I try my best to answer, although sometimes I do get a bit behind.

However, every now and again I get a question come through via my contact page which I simply can’t answer.  This is not because I don’t know but because there is an issue with a mis-spelling of the supplied email address and I’m unable to send a reply.

So to help stop this I have added another line to my contact form asking you to re-enter your email, just as a check, which should help with the problem.

Alternatively you can always email me directly at jamestrainparts@yahoo.co.uk.  I do try to answer all emails, even if I can’t get to them straight away, but if you haven’t had a response and you think this might have happened them please get in contact again, I’m always pleased to hear from you.

This week’s post will be short as it’s been a busy week.  I’ve made some progress with the UP rotary snow plow as you can see in the image below.  To read more about this project you can find the first post here.

As you can see a lot of the brass details have been modelled such as the grab irons and roof handrails.  Unlike most locomotives or freight cars, which have one point of access to the roof for maintenance, this rotary snow plow is covered in them.  So far there are 86 separate brass parts and there are many more to add.  But I know how much we, as modelers, love detail so if it’s right, it’s worth it.

On a different note; if anybody went to Amherst Railway Society Show, in West Springfield, Massachusetts, over the weekend you may have seen The Scale Architect’s stand with some of their new releases.  For those that couldn’t make it the new release which interested me the most was the ‘Naval Gun Barrel and F22 flatcars’.

This 3D printed kit will be available in March 2018.  Now I wonder who could have drawn that?!  A bit closer to the release date I’ll have some more info and pictures to share with you about it.

Next week I plan to get back to the UP rotary snow plow and I may even have the chassis worked out.

As you may have read last week, my local club, the Poole & District Model Railway Society, have just had our annual exhibition, and being the Exhibition Manager it has been a busy time for me.  But the show went very well and I think everybody had an enjoyable time.

So this week’s post will simply be to say thankyou to all the visitors, exhibitors, traders and members of my club who worked the show, because it takes all of you to make the exhibition possible. I’m now going to take a few days off.  Next week I should be back to 3D printing projects!

This week, and today in particular, is a special occasion for our friends Steve and Martin at Model Railway Solutions.  For those who’ve never come across them, MRS are manufacturers of custom-built model railways and base-boards.  They also offer a variety of services such as repairs, DCC fitting, high quality custom re-paints and weathering, layout wiring and computer control programming, to name a few.

To expand their already diverse services, today they have opened their own model railway shop.

The shop, which is the front piece to their workshops, has been renovated, fitted out, lit and opened in just four weeks.

They still have more stock to display as it all arrives from the manufacturers but already they have a great selection of stuff.  And, as a US N scaler I’m pleased to see ‘Kato corner’ in the shop with a selection of the fantastic Kato Unitrack on offer.

The spacious layout of the store includes a test track which, when finished, will have running facilities for all the main gauges running on DC, DCC and computer control.  Also a special feature is planned for the test track which Steve is keeping as a surprise.

All the major brands will be stocked for British trains in the main scales, as well as several brands of European and US rolling stock.

Woodland Scenics products will have their own display unit with much of their extensive range of scenic material, accents and details.

Digitrax and Colbolt are two of the major DCC brands they carry, with many others available.

MRS also have lots of their own products, such as their self adhesive cork underlay, tools, wires, plugs, switches, point motor mounts, throttle holders and control panels.

Throughout the shop you will find everything you need to build your railway empire.

And if they haven’t got what you need in stock, just ask and they can order it in.  The shop is located at Unit 1, 10-12 Alder Hills, Poole, Dorset, BH12 4AL.

For those of you who can’t pop in to the shop there will be a website with everything on which is due to go online soon.  But for now, they can be reached via telephone on 01202 798068 or via email at shop@modelrailwaysolutions.co.uk.

MRS’ baseboard website is www.modelrailwaysolutions.co.uk which will become the shop website when it goes live.

It’s always good news when a new model railway store opens, and we wish them all the best with their exciting venture.

As is often the case, real life demands that our hobbies get put to the side sometimes. This weekend has been one of those times and work has taken up my spare hours. So this evening I’m having some time off, getting outside to enjoy the summer evenings while we still have them, and reminding my wife what I actually look like! I will see you all next week, have a great one.

Back in March 2017 I was in the process of sharing with you my designs for OO Gauge fixed link couplings utilizing the NEM sockets; you can read the post here.  However when Shapeways announced their pricing structure change for the FUD and FXD materials this put a pause on the project.  Mainly because under the new pricing structure there is a $1 charge per part on top of the material costs etc.

The good news is I have now redesigned the couplings so they can be 3D printed as one piece but can be easily separated.  I looked at several different ways to do this but each had its pitfalls. Because all of the exposed parts of the couplings have high detail or are part of my flexible joint, putting a connection back to a sprue would mean a rough area would always be at the point where the coupling was cut off.  The other part of the coupling fits into the NEM socket so again any rough areas would prevent the coupling from fitting correctly.

The solution was to add all the couplings to a tie bar with ‘T’ stalks which pass through each coupling, without actually touching it, as shown below.

The ‘T’ head can easily be broken or cut off which lets the coupling fall away from the tie bar.

Although a tie bar could be used at each end of the coupling this proved to be unnecessary as you can see in this actual set of 3D printed couplings below.

I’ve also made some other very small changes or improvements which don’t show up in pictures but should help to make them even better.  I plan to do a few last checks with these latest versions and then I’ll be making them available.

I plan to release them in packs of 4,10, 50 and 100.  There’ll also be a sample pack which will contain one of each so you can do some testing to see which type you need.  This will be affected by the different types and makes of rolling stock you have plus the radius of your curves; tighter curves will need the longer couplings to avoid buffer lock.

I am planning to have them ready for next week, so fingers crossed.