Lee Moor, 2nd of her name

Tawe TMD's Shapeways Page.  Looks pretty barren, does it not? I reckon it's about time I did something to rectify that.

For whom it concerns, yes, the SLA 3D Printer Project is still underway, painting is taking a lot longer than expected, even with the convenience of aerosols.  The good news is that allows me to take on a new, shorter project while this one pans out. Looking over the Hornby L&Y Pug I reviewed last time, I began to have an epiphany – the harder I looked at it, and the Lee Moor Tank Engines, the more convinced I became that I had a perfect beginner's kitbash on my hands!

Behold!

Hope comes to me in the form of The Lee Moor Tramway: A Pictorial Record by Roy E. Taylor. This is a collection of photographs, mostly from 1900 onwards, of the tramway in operation; diagrams of the Lee Moor Locomotives, perchance? Sadly not. I'll probably find more use for this material when I get round to building a layout on the subject, for in terms of the line itself, it's an unbeatable resource. It's also an invaluable authority on the details present on the Locomotives themselves – I now know that they carried screw jacks aboard the running plate for re-railing, as well as an excellent way to hide the motor in the form of tarpaulin sheets around the open cabs.

Of course, in spite of this, there is a distinct dearth of research material relating to the Lee Moor Tramway, even at the time the locomotives were around from 1899 onwards. The thing is, though, that it doesn't seem to stop most modellers, particularly the S Scale brigade, from modelling historically obscure and fascinating subjects. Is there a method of designing a working drawing from a plethora of photographs, or do you go by instinct? That alone will probably make a fascinating learning curve.

My trip to the South Devon Railway last Saturday, on which I intended to obtain research images of Lee Moor No.2 and the last surviving Lee Moor Tramway Wagon, didn't go nearly as well as I'd imagined. Think of what you do for fun, does it involve being stuck on a train for a solid hour, due to some retard who crashed his lorry under the line into Bath Spa, delaying your already late train just enough to make you miss the first train? Of the only three running that day? Of course not. I did manage to get to Buckfastleigh by bus, so that was the day saved, but unfortunately the SDR had been keeping Lee Moor No.2 “under lock-and-key” as they put it – for the right reasons, winter protection and all, but still a downer upon an otherwise fine day.

Damn you Lee Moor No.2, you escape this time!

Having grown up in firm Southern Region territory, it's always nice to escape to another region. The stylistic prowess of GWR Stations, regardless of how many times the “Western Branch Line Terminus” layout has reared it's clichéd head, make it plain to see why they are so keenly modelled by so many. The creamy orange of GWR No.2 "Light Stone", contrasting so neatly with the comparatively leaden No.3 "Dark Stone", blends so well with the cottage stone, as well as the red soil so often found in Devon, particularly around the Dawlish Sea Wall (which by itself made the trip worthwhile!); best of all, this is all achieved without lazily copying the soil colour verbatim. Even the toilets looked better appointed than my bedroom!

Tiny House Inspiration? I reckon so.

Confession time. I've always dreamed of following in the footsteps of Stanier, Churchward, Bulleid and the like in model form, my ultimate goal in the hobby is to design Live Steam locomotives. Okay, perhaps I'm cheating at this point, taking a chassis from an existing model, but you've got to begin somewhere, eh?

Charlie, I think we're on the wrong branch... A confessional

As I write this on the train to work for the first time (coming up in the world ;) ), I'd like to reflect on the possible directions this blog could take; for the 5 people who know this place exists, anyway.

As you are no doubt aware, my SLA 3D Printer is taking a god-awfully long time to come to life, partially because of life concerns (my main PC upgrades being a prime example), but nonetheless, i'm beginning construction proper.  The frame members are complete, ready to join and looking pretty good considering this is my first time with an angle grinder!  The Plywood Panels are ready to be assembled as required and accept paint.

Another thing that constantly nags my attention is the fact the virtually no progress has been made on the Shapeways side of Tawe TMD; there are several reasons for this, but the main offenders are:

1. Material Properties – WSF (polyamide) is tough enough for a model railway wagon chassis, but produces lesser detail than early 2000s N gauge models, I.e, the period where it was seriously mooted that this scale was dying!  FUD is acceptable, but far too brittle in tests, with W Irons and springs falling off only enough force to bruise a gnat.
2. Service – Shapeways is under heavy strain right now, it's a new startup riding a technology that is a newborn amongst giants.  These are not a good combination for rapid delivery and processing, with minor changes in models taking 3 weeks to be delivered and a further week for testing and modification.
3. Research – Diagrams of the ancient wagons I intend to populate my Shapeways store with are hard to come by, and when I do finally find them, they’re often fuzzy with poor detail.

1) is unavoidable for the time being, we'll need newer technologies to print more useable materials before I can seriously consider making entire N gauge wagons (chassis included!) in a 3D Printer. 2) is up to Shapeways to sort out, or If another company can sort that out I'd love to hear about them :).  3) is a bitch, but not entirely unsolvable in many cases.  With regards to my current 3D printed wagons (the Metro Brake and the Rigid 8), I'm sorry to say that these wagons are suspended for the time being, while it's possible to make decently detailed models, 3D Printing really has to catch up strength-wise before I can consider selling them as a serious product.  I may consider a hybrid approach of etches and 3D prints, as EtchedPixels seems to be getting on quite well with, but I'll need to learn my way around brass etching first and my first attempts are a stain on my modelling career that shall never be spoken of again.

Somewhere, Bob Symes weeps for future generations...

In other news, I will be visiting the British Festival of Railway Modelling in Doncaster on the 7^th of February.  I've never been to either Doncaster or this particular show, so it ought to be fun on both counts.  This neatly brings me to another announcement – There shall be reviews on this blog!  Oh yes, the time has come.  Given that I now work hours slightly worse than 9-5 (8-6, though I get an hour's lunch in which to write features, or bilge if you refer my personal blog), I'll probably examine smaller products for more intimate reviews; things like whitemetal kits, brass kits, 3D Printed wagons and static objects.  I'm itching to sample the state of our hobby's 3D printed items firsthand, even the best pages don't tell you much about things like ergonomics (for things like handles), surface quality and ease of construction.

As for features, I'm not sure they'll come to prominence for a while.  I am only 23 in a hobby dominated by retirees, retirees who can drop the hammer and call me out with their all-spanning experience!  That's a funny thing about Railway Modelling, it's probably the only industry I know of where you can survive by being stubbornly old fashioned - many business are still able to survive on mail order alone, Dean Sidings being a prime example, and their Pug conversion for the hornby 0-4-0 got a feature in Parker's Guide (a smashing modelling tips publication from Hornby Magazine).  My thoughts are along the lines of ideas about the state of the industry and where we can go from here, and some things damn well need to be dragged into the 21^st Century!

In spite of the ageing demographics our the hobby, I am confident that it will survive, if only because Heritage Lines remain National Treasures somewhere between Stephen Fry and Spitfires.  Despite all the dreadful rhetoric of the “breakdown of family values”, there are still a great many people not quite so blemished, and can thus appreciate there's more to life than power over others.  I picked up a leaflet about that National Model Railway Museum at Ashford at a show, and I can understand why people may be worried by the line “think about the future of our hobby”, but rather than see terminal decline, I see the opposite – I see people looking out for us and ensuring we don't fade into history like a thief in the night.  In short, I see...  Immortality...

Okay, maybe a little too high on myself there...