I really must speed up......One year after beginning I have a finished* loco that I'm rather proud of. Proud for many reasons. It started life as this drawing on a scrappy bit of paper:
Part by part, I produced the CAD artwork for the etches, 3D modelled, printed and had cast the 3D details, made my own wheels and had a pretty good bash at getting inside motion working (more on that later). I've ended up with a model that, yes, needs a few minor tweaks to the etches, but fits together easily and runs really well. My painting and weathering skills are still nowhere near the standard of many, but they're moving in the right direction at least! Thoroughly enjoyed this one!
*finished.....sort of. Just realised the cab steps are still in their little bag, so they need gluing on. And then there's the inside motion. I need to make some changes to the 3D models and have them re-cast. I think I'd allowed a bit too much clearance between moving parts, and it was all a bit loose. The basic principal works, but needs to be a bit more precision engineered. I just haven't had time to do this, so watch this space.
So what next? Probably 3 things at once.
1. Once I've revised the etches I'll do another test build. I've had a lot of people message me asking if the etches and castings would be made available - and they will be once I'm happy everything's perfect- to that end, I'd just about finished writing a set of detailed instructions for it, and then I had an almost catastrophic loss of data from my laptop, after it lost a fight with a gin and tonic whilst away camping....... Yes, I had a backup......which corrupted whilst attempting recovery. I had the etches file in an email I'd sent, and the 3D models are stored in a cloud. But the instructions, and 3D casting trees are all gone, and will take a while to re-do.
2. Build a small diorama which will probably just involve an old engine shed - just something to photograph my models on really. No room for a full layout.....
3. Decide on the next loco to do. I want to do the same again - design etches and castings from scratch. Something old and quirky, that I can't get a kit or ready to run for. Any suggestions, let me know