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N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 10 - Adding some Low Profile Buildings 5 Apr 7:28 AM (11 days ago)

It's been a while since I blogged about the N Scale Coffee Table Layout what with the minutae of life having taking center stage.  Whilst there has been a huge amount of progress on the layout I just did not have the motivation to record it.

Cardstock Low Profile Buildings 

Before Christmas I chanced on a joblot of low profile cardboard building kits for a bargain price.  These were all from the scale model buildings N gauge range and are semi photo realistic and obviously taken from photographs of prototypical buildings which have then been photoshopped.  

These were perfect to line the edges of my layout and I developed a technique of cutting out the buildings in layers to add a little depth and visual interest to these already great kits.

Doors and Windows

Using a fresh blade in the trusty craft knife and a steel rule, laboriously cut out each of the windows and doors and put them to one side.  It is important to store these in the same order and orientation in which they were removed for when you want to put the windows back.  

This will leave you with your base layer. 

Add Depth with a Second Layer

Take your base layer and stick this to a second piece of card of a similar thickness using a glue stick.  The buildings are generally small enough that there is enough excess unprinted card to let you do this without needing to break out anymore card stock but following in the footsteps of Michael from the fantastic Chandwell YouTube channel, you can resort to your favourite brand of cereal packet.

Now repeat the exercise cutting out all the window and door apertures.  This will leave you with a double thickness layer.  

Abutments and Protruding Structures

Some of the buildings feature various protruding structures which can be cut out and carefully peeled away from the second layer.  Glue stick is pretty weak stuff so you should have no problem removing these elements.  Stick these to similar thickness card and cut around them.

Glazing Windows

There are a couple of ways you can glaze the windows either by adding a layer of acetate to the whole base layer or by covering the window with cellotape.  I prefer the second method as it does not add a lot of thickness and it is easy to cut through the tape if you are simulating broken glass.  

Using the cellotape technique you could go the extra mile and remove any tape from the mullions and transoms of panelled windows for that matt look.

Using the acetate technique you can simulate larger moder multipanel windows by scoring the acetate gently.  You can then rub these with coloured pencils which will colour in the scratches to form the mullions.  This does tend to warp the acetate creating a sort of bubbled shape to the windows and lots of reflections.  If this is not to your taste then you could just draw the mullions on using a permenant fineliner. 

Edging with Watercolour Pencil

The edges of your building (and window apertures) will now have clean white edges which need to be coloured with paint or my favourite water colour pencils.  This does not need to be a perfect colour match and in fact my dark grey pencil seems to get the most use.

Reconstruction

Any abutments that you created can now be reglued back into their rightful places giving you a solid wall again. 

Rebuilding and Reinforcement

Adding all these extra layers of card that they weren't originally designed into the kit can make them a challenge to keep square when you finally come to fold them together and rebuild the low profile type structures.  I found that adding an interior skeleton of 5mm foamboard was more than enough to produce a rigid structure.  This also gives you a much better surface to attach your roof panels to. 

Replacing Windows and Doors.

You can now refit your windows in their relevant recesses simply fixing them in place with tape.  For particularly deep recesses you can repeat the earlier step adding additional layers to the window apertures to suit your tastes.  If you are gluing these to your backboard as I was then I recommend keeping the final number of layers to a minimum.

Roofs

The roofs included in the kit are the worst aspect.  Typically using just patterned textures as these are likely to be completely unuseable from the prototype photograps, they are a little lack lustre and can either be replaced by better textures from other companies or weathered using the watercolour pencils.

If you are making a silhouette style building the included roof textures are more than acceptable.  however, if you are going more for the low profile look intended by the kit then a stage of artistic weathering is definitely required.

Accessories and lighting

How far down the rabbit hole you go is dependant on your tastes and skill level.  Adding some gutters and drain pipes with strips of card or styrene is an easy way to add that extra layer of detail.

Some of the buildings clearly include security lights and adding these to your building is trivial.  Simply drill through the relevant spot with a small drill bit and fish through an appropriate voltage prewired SMD LED.  These can be affixed with the modellers friend photoreactive resin glue or even white glue.  

Signs and Names

Some of these kit buildings come with signs printed on the buildings.  Whilst the maority are simulating painted on signs some would benefit from being raised from the surface.  You could scan the building sheet into the computer before you start cutting out and reprint the signs onto card to make them a bit more three dimensional.  

If you have access to a 3D Printer you could also model these letterforms and print them out.  This is much easier than it sounds and I have a tried and tested technique for making signs which can be used to great effect here.

Weathering Cardstock Buildings

This is an area of modelling relatively new to me but using a set of cheap artists pastels and watercolour pencils I managed to dirty up some of my buildings.  This is an entirely subjective exercise and is probably best done when you have selected spots on your layout for the buildings to go and then you can weather them into place and achieve a realistic and consistent tonality to your scene. 

Cardstock Buildings at Upper Carrom

Bowerings Animal Feeds - LR-I-009

The Bowerings compsny sign was scanned in and then 3D printed using the technique I menetioned above.  LED lights were added alongside 3D printed drainpipes.

Modern N-Gauge Warehouse - LR-I-011

This building is located on the upward slope of the layout and is a sillhouette building.  It uses the acetate windows technique.

Wood Brothers Ltd - LR-I-001

This buildings roof texture was okay but I needed to heavily weather it to make it look like rusted tin.  The aperture for the sliding door is currently masked with some black card whilst I decide on a suitable interior.

Lion Brewery - LR-I-006

This two storey structure features a loading bay with protective steel posts which I modelled using styrene rod.  Drainpipes were added using the same styrene rod.  The roof is a little lacking in detail and I think could do with a replacement slate tile texture.  Sometimes you are never really happy.

Obligatory Running Video

I recently invested in a tiny action camera measuring no more than 2cm cubed.  After some messing about I managed to get a semi decent bit of footage.  I highly recommend playing this back at half speed.

 
  

Probably the Strangest Book I own - The Life and Times of Saddam Hussein 26 Dec 2024 2:11 PM (3 months ago)

I was having a tidy up the other day and came across the oddest little book I own...

The Life and Times of Saddam Hussein

Part of the Parragon Life and Times series which includes all the major dictators of the 20th Century, plus notable celebrities and all round good eggs, including.

Adolph Hitler Al Capone Albert Einstein Anne Frank Benito Mussolini Castro Che Guevara Frank Sinatra Grace Kelly Henry VIII J F K Jackie Onassis Josef Stalin Julius Caesar King Arthur

Laurel & Hardy Lawrence of Arabia Mahatma Gandhi Mao Tse-Tung Martin Luther King Mary Queen of Scots Mother Teresa Napoleon Bonapart Pol Pot Queen Elizabeth II Rasputin Saddam Hussein The Busby Babes William Shakespeare Winston Churchill

How I came by this book

For a time I worked in the MOD intranet and internet teams which were located withing the MOD Library at 3-5 Great Scotland Yard, London.  During one of their clearouts I came across this little book and as it was going to otherwise be disposed of it came home with me out of morbid curiosity.

Isn't life odd sometimes

Cheap Chinese Soldering Irons - Are they worth the money? 26 Dec 2024 1:52 PM (3 months ago)

Embarking on the odd electronics project over the last few months has had me sucking at the teat of Aliexpress.  As my previous solder station (a Lidl Parkside special) was almost impossible to find tips for at a reasonable price. I dipped my toes into the water and bought a cheap chinese soldering iron.

80W Chinese Digital Soldering Iron - Under £10

At an almost ludicrous price I was not expecting much.  It came loosely packed with a set of tips a sponge and a pressed metal stand.  Sadly it was equipped with a two prong Euro style cord rather than the far superior UK 3 pin plug but I could not find any UK plug variants at similar prices.

The iron has a small digital display and two buttons marked + and - .  The instructions did not cover basic operation but after a bit of trial and error I worked out that:

• 1 short press of the + or - button allows you to set a target temperature 1 degree at a time
  
• 1 long press of  the + or - button allows you to change target temperature quickly
  
• 2 rapid presses of the + button switches between Centigrade and Farenheit temperature measurement.

Light as a Feather 

As with a lot of mains powered hot tools such as pyrograves, soldering irons and hot glue guns they are extremely light.  They are often lighter than the mains cable they are attached to and so are constantly making a bid to throw themselves off the table.  

The stand provided does an excellent job of preventing this from being a major problem.  However, there is nowhere to place the provided sponge. 

Easy to Overheat

As a relative newbie I found it was too easy to casually or accidentally change the temperature as I was soldering leading to oxidation building up on the tip and then a lengthy cleaning exercise.

What is the best temperature to solder at?

I found that 350 degrees C is the best temperature for soldering.  However, due to the design of these irons it is so easy to accidentally change the temperature that constant monitoring is essential.

Invest in a Brass Wire Cleaner

This is where I chose to supplement my meagre little collection of soldering accessories with a brass wire cleaning pot.

A Simple Solder Station - Thingiverse: Thing 6809777 

I designed a simple soldering station baseplate to organise the supplied stand and sponge and to accomodate a tin of brass cleaning wire.  Your stand and wire pot dimensions may differ so please feel free to remix this model.

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 9 - Upper Carrom Gets Platforms 26 Dec 2024 1:30 AM (3 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

The layout has undergone some pretty big changes of late, none bigger than it getting some platforms and more importantly working out where the logical place for the station is.

The original plan was to have it on the left side of the layout, but things got cramped real fast and so I decided to flip the script and move the station to the right.  It makes logical sense to just have one road going into the interior of loop 1 and then out via a large 3 track spanning bridge adding even more visual interest.

How to make a custom shaped N Gauge Platform for your model railway

1. Grab acouple of sheets of A4 copier paper and lay it over the track. 
   
   
2. Run your finger over the track embossing the location of the rails on the paper and then trace those embossed lines with a marker to make the next step easier.
   
   
3. Draw parrallel lines approx 4mm outside of the track.  This represents the edge of your platform.  Cut out the shape of your platform and test for clearance on your layout.
   
   
4. Draw a line in the middle of your shape which is a known length, say 50mm.  This is your scale line.  Scan or photograph this shape and put it on your computer.
    
   
5. Import the image into Sketchup and draw a line over the top of your scale line.  Use the tape measure tool to measure this line and input the known length of your scale line.  This will rescale the image to match the real world scale line.  Delete this line as you no longer need it.
    
6. Trace around the edge of your paper shape using the straight line and two point curve tools until you have created a filled shape.  Flip this shape in the Z axis or you will end up creating a mirror image of your platform shape.  Ask me how I know...
   
   
7. Extrude this shape up about 2mm to form your platform surface. 
   
   
8. Use the offset tool to create a matching shape 2mm in from your outer line to form an inner filled shape.  Extrude this shape up 10mm.  Save as an STL and send to your slicer of choice for printing
   

Obligatory Running Video

This weeks video shows off some of the lighting I have been adding to the layout and in particular the little 5v USB power distribution block I bought from AliExpress for some stupidly low price.  Lighting is an involved process and I will be going into this in much more depth in future episodes.

Roleplaying... Yes I still do that every week 14 Dec 2024 12:04 AM (4 months ago)

Regular readers will probably be tired of the sojourn into Model Railroads by now.

Whilst I have been playing Fat Controller, quite a bit has been going on in my roleplaying world.

Dragonmeet 2024

A couple of Saturdays ago I made my annual pilgrimage to Dragonmeet but this year was different for me as I had very little interest in what was new on the dealer floor.  I literally went for the bring'n' buy and I returned with quite the haul.

The Low Life -

This is quite a weird pick for me and I don't know what possessed me... oh yeah it was the £10 price tag.  The Low Life is a wholly unique post apocalyptic setting for Savage Worlds.  Gazillions of years after hoomanity destroys itself in "The Wipe",  what is left of life has evolved, devolved, mutated and discombobulated to wander the "Oith" in search of something.  Archive it under very strange.

Paranoia - The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues 

An impulse purchase (£15) of this reissued and reimagined version of the classic Paranoia scenario.  I've been getting a lot of requests to run Paranoia at the club and it is one of those games that when it works it's amazing.  The original version of this scenario was reviewed back in 1985 by Marcus L Rowland and he gave it a 7 out of 10 so I have high hopes.  

Having read most of the first book this is definitely something I want to run in 2025.

Castles & Crusades - The Secret of Ronan Skerry 

£4 for a scenario is the sort of money I want to be paying.  Quite slim at 20 pages but it is an interesting sidetrek which could be used in any fantasy game.  Castles & Crusades is one of the best value OSR games out there and the very Celtic world of Airdhe also fits quite easily in most Dark Age RPGs like Savage Worlds Hellfrost which is another great setting.

Among The Stars 

This scifi engine building boardgame looked really interesting and as it came with 2 expansions I snapped it up for £19.  I will report back if this ever gets played and what I think of it.

Colossal Arena 

This has the three magic ingredients - Reiner Knizia design, Fantasy Flight publisher, Silverline game range.  It's a 2-5 player betting game about fighting monsters in a Fantasy Arena.  Sounds great and Knizia is a dab hand at the betting game mechanic (play RA, it's awesome) so I have high hopes that this will be a quick to play and fun game.

Wreck & Ruin 

It's no secret that I am a fan of post apocalyptic car combat games like CarWars, Gaslands and Dark Future so could not pass up this kickstarter version of the boardgame for £25.  I
regretted the decision every time I picked up my bag as this is chock full of stuff and weighs a ton.

I particularly like the Desertkin faction who have inexplicably tamed dinosaurs as their ride of choice in the irradiated wasteland.  Looking forward to getting this on the table. 

Dragons Keep Christmas Games Day & Party

Our last Games Day of the year and our Christmas Party is scheduled for today, I hopefully will get to play some more Dorf Romantik and we have a session of our current Cthulhu game - Masques of Nyarlathotep.

Other RPG Purchases

Golden Heroes - Queen Victoria & The Holy Grail 

This scenario completes my collection and it is rumoured to be the best scenario for the Game.  I have a lot of of love for this IP free supers game (check out my Time Travelling WWII superheroess plot line Project Daedalus) and whilst it rarely gets to make it to the table hopefully I can mine this supplement for inspiration.

Judge Dredd Block War 

Another purchase which feeds my Judge Dredd addiction.  I have been gettting a few requests to run a game of Dredd and I would love to integrate this into a game.  Replicating the anarchy of a Block War is something I have struggled to implement in my games so I am hoping that this is a nice quick game which can be easily brought to the table for a group of 4/5 Judges to play collaboratively as perps for a change.

As I am writing this I am thinking that having a Block War as a decision node in a game is a really cool idea.  Imagine having a plot where the outcome of a Block War determines the rest of the plot.  Now that could be quite cool.  I will have to put more energy into exploring that... 

Mothership Deluxe Box 

I don't actually have this in my hands yet, but I put down the funds on a pre-order from Zatu.  I saw shiny new copies at Dragonmeet so hopefully this will not be too long of a wait.  I played it at the club once and was really impressed with how well it played and it fits my criteria of rules lite no prep roleplay.

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 8 - Viaduct and Archway Shops 6 Dec 2024 11:43 PM (4 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

Building a model railway layout in any scale is a challenge.  If you are not an experienced railway modeller and are coming at this without the benefit of many layouts under your belt it can seem a bit daunting.

What are the challenges when building a model railway

1. Buying Your Track - This is a key barrier to progress, as track layout and more importantly what track you need to purchase, is going to determine how quickly you can build your layout. 
   
   Fortunately, I had a few scraps of secondhand flexitrack which meant I could get a rough idea of how many loops of continuous running track I would need and how many points.  This created a shopping list for eBay and Aliexpress and I could get on with some other critical elements of the build whilst I awaited delivery.
   
   
2. Track goes on top of some things - Where my particular layout is concerned I have two items which need to be built before I can lay any of the 2nd and 3rd loop track.  This comes in the form of a viaduct whihc pulls double duty as a tunnel.  Fortunately, I have access to a 3D printer and so after a few hours searching I was able to locate an STL file which met my needs... somewhat.
   
   
3. Building to a Budget can delay a Project - Model railways are expensive things and if you are not made of money then assembling your critical items might need to be spread over many weeks depending on your budget.  This can be a challenge when you are buying lots of points or turntables which can cost a fortune.  This can introduce delays which slow the process down and can suck all the fun out of the room. 
   
   We can all fall into the trap of prevarication but keeping up the momentum is key and there are lots of smaller projects which you can bring forward at little to no risk to the project as a whole.  Smaller scenic items which can be dropped into a layout at the right time are a godsend.

3D Printed Viaduct and Archway Shops - Cults 3D - £3

Whilst I waited for all my track components to arrive, I needed to build the elevated section of my layout (loop 3) and I had enough track to test the incline and build the up and down ramps.  The layout is intended to be viewed from the front and I wanted something a bit more visually interesting than a grassy hill.  This meant I needed to set the height of the tunnel so I could determine the height of my track and then put in place the loop 3 roadbed.

I found the perfect STL file on Cults 3D and shelled out the princely sum of £3.  I then set about  printing out a couple of these sections on my Photon Mono M5 to test on the layout.  They are huge chunky models which benefitted from hollowing out and adding some drain holes.  However, even after doing this I ended up with quite a lot of trapped resin which leaked out slowly... very slowly. 

Without realising that the designer had created a Low Relief version of the viaduct, I sliced the fronts off in Meshmixer to create fascias for all my arches.

Over the course of a week or two I printed off several fascias and infills to create a curved section of viaduct which hides the tunnel.

Archway Shops and Real World Inspiration

Ottley's Coffee & Catan - Inspired by my colleague and fellow boardgame fan Stephen Ottley.  Stephen is our resident coffee afficianado and also runs the tiktok channel TableTok Games.  

Sam's Sounds - Sam Buckley is our resident muso and part time punk. He will of course now be referred to as the punk pickle.

Lejava Journeys - Tom Lejava is one of my longest serving colleagues and is never happier than when he is on holiday in some exotic destination.  A travel agent was the obvious choice and Tom has the dubious honour of having a name which is super easy to cut out.

Just A Girl - Impeccably attired Elena is honoured on this layout with a fashion boutique specialising in the latest street fashions.  "Just A Girl" is her catchphrase and fits this shop front like a glove. 

Neale's Yard - Sales Director David Neale got a discount warehouse on this layout.  If you look very closely through the open door you will see the man himself pushing the Ark of the Covenant into the back of the warehouse. 

Anisha's Snack King - Anisha's snack drawer is legendary and so having an international snack store was a perfect addition.  If you are the King you need your sign made out of gold... real gold.  I knew I would find a use for that gold leaf I bought from Aliexpress all those months ago.

Loop 3 

Determining the height of Loop 3 was a simple case of tracing between a couple of sections on all three sides of the baseboard scribing a horizontal datum to work to.  On the left of the layout loop 3 climbs up to meet this datum, tracks level across the back of the layout and then falls down more steeply on the right.  The road bed was superglued in place with some MDF supports.

I threw in some track and tested that my engine would fit and with a small amount of support trimming it did.  I then tested that the same fully engine could climb the incline easily with a rake of wagons behind it.  It passed the test sufficiently well for me to continue. 

Using a wooden curve template I drew on the rough arc that the loop 2 tunnel track would take avoiding any of the vertical supports which will form the retaining walls for the loop 3 track. 

Magnetised Scenery

This entire section of scenery needs to be removable yet tie into the layout at each end where the tunnel mouths (portals) are.  This would seem like a perfect task for those tiny but incredibly strong neodymium magnets.   The ones I have are about 10mm diameter by 1mm thick.

The magnets were glued onto small offcuts of MDF on the back of the viaduct facias and matched to magnets on the viaduct supports.

As you can imagine this was a fiddly exercise and I broke the viaduct several times.  I used some car body plastic bumper filler to strengthen the combined fascia structure.

Obligatory Running Video

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 7 - Laying Track the Bob Ross Way 30 Nov 2024 12:00 AM (4 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

The Wait is Over... Time to lay some track.

My Aliexpress order of flexitrack finally came through.  For £15 I got 5 50cm long lengths of really flexible concrete sleeper style flexitrack with gold rails.  Not a huge price difference to PECO track but when you are combining with other orders you can make significant savings on the shipping.

I did not skimp on the points and managed to pick up 2 x ST-5 (RH), 2 x ST-6 (LH) and an SL-E393F short crossing for £50 all in. 

Establishing Loop 2 and Casualties of Construction

Putting in the large Loop 2 was the first priority.  This goes all the way around the layout and through a tunnel / viaduct and allows rail traffic to move between the loops. 

This was also my attempt at laying cork underlay.  I bought a roll of self adhesive underlay (that's not going to bite me in the arse in a few years time, LOL) and cut 1 inch strips which I then cut in half about 2 inches from one end.  This creates a head and two tails which can be more easily bent to conform to the radius of the track. 

I joined two of the flexitrack sections together using the very substantial joiners provided and connected it to one of the RH points.  This established the first run of track on the left side of the layout allowing space for the platforms which will eventually service the station and passengers waiting at loop 1 or loop 2.  Things went swimmingly until I began fixing the track under the elevated section.  I could not get a tool in to drive home the track pins.  

With a sigh I proceeded to rip out the elevated section.  In truth, I was not 100% happy with it and it will allow me to custom cut a roadbase which conforms to the curve of the viaduct and provide a solid mounting surface for the points which will be needed if I decide to put a small siding on the left.  The right side of the viaduct is going to be getting a signal box from which the signalman can see the entire layout. 

The First Rail Disaster!!

Everything seemed to be going according to the vague plan I had in my head until I got down to the return set of points which reconnect Loop 1 and Loop 2.  I think I got mixed up and ended up putting them too low down on the layout.

However, as Bob Ross might say "It was just a happy accident" and chance purchase of the short crossing changed the direction this layout was going in a big way.  Gone was the idea of another set of 4 points connecting loop 2 with loop 3 and back again.  Instead the crossing would permanently link loop 2 and loop 3 in a moebius strip like arrangement.

I'm sure you will agree that this introduces a large amount of fun to the layout and saves me £60 in points that I won't have to buy.  This will also reduce the number of DC controllers I need to buy to have continuous running throughout the layout.  Double Whammy!!

Thanks to this unplanned change the layout lines I had marked on the layout could not be followed and so I strapped on my big boy pants and began cutting underlay and laying track in small sections.  I can always trim it down later.

By now I had pretty much used up all my flexitrack, but don't worry I put in another order a couple of days ago just in case.  

Obligatory Running Video

This weeks running video showing the layout in its new improved Bob Ross inspired shape.

The archway shopfronts have been removed for photographic purposes but don't worry they will make a return shortly.

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 6 - It's Alive!! 23 Nov 2024 12:00 AM (4 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

As I mentioned in an earlier episode of this series, I actually have another loco in the shape of a very battered Minitrix No 201 0-6-0T Dock Tank Loco in British Railways black which I found in a £3 grab bag of toys in a charity shop.

It did work, but not very well, so I had a go at blindly repairing it.  I'm a man, I don't need instructions... how hard can it be?

I killed it...

...or at least I thought I had.  I disassembled the running gear and could clearly see that there was nothing stopping the motor from moving about in the chassis and consequently the worm gear from becoming unmeshed with the drive gear.  Two tiny countersunk screws were missing from the motor plate.

Thanks to the information found on the marvellous site Classic Minitrix I was able completely strip down the chassis and to put it back together with the wheels in the right configuration.  I don't know if this is normal but this little engine uses the wheels and chassis as pickups from one rail and isolators on the axle allow other side of the wheelset to pick up from the other rail.  

As soon as I applied power the motor sputtered into life.

It's not out of the woods yet as it is missing some bits like a buffer, the two tiny countersunk screws which hold the motor in place and both couplers, springs and the plates which hold the whole shebang together.

I'm sure that these are readily available on the internet somewhere like Lendons of Cardiff.

It really does need a lick of paint as it currently looks like a very well played with matchbox car. Fortunately the decals are in great condition so at bit of black enamel and a protective coat of matt varnish should see it back in good cosmetic order.

The Tale of 1,600 Machine Screws

Sourcing the screws to retain the motor was not difficult as there are plenty of eBay sellers offering tiny watch screws.  The challenge is discovering what size screw Minitrix used back in the day when they designed this little loco.  

The answer is M1.6 x 3mm.  I know, because I bought 1,600 countersunk machine screws to try to find two which were the right size.

How does it Run?

Like the clappers.  It's not great at very slow scale speeds but as you can see it flies around the small loop on my layout.  My choice of electrofrog points is causing it to get stuck (hence the speed) but it runs.

Not to worry, there are big changes coming to Upper Carrom so tune in next week.

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 5 - Can you 3D Print N Gauge Wagons? 16 Nov 2024 12:00 AM (5 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

IMHO a 3D Printer is essential for most model hobbyists, they have never been more affordale and easier to use, as long as you have awell ventilated place to put it like a workshop or man cave then you should get one. 

The cost savings of print your own models compared to commercially produced injection moulded kits or ready to run models just makes it a no brainer.

N Gauge Rolling Stock - Thingiverse Thing:6503848

I found this selection of N gauge Rolling Stock models inspired by the PECO wagon on thingiverse and thought I would have a go at building my own rolling stock.  

The kit of parts is great and offers a basic short 4 wheek wagon chassis comparable to the ones I already have in my collection which came with the starter set.  On top of this can be fitted a choice of:

• Box Van
  
• Brake Van
• Cattle Van
• 5 Plank Wagon
• Tank Wagon 

The kit also comes with two roofs for the brake van, and the cattle / box van and rapido style couplers. 

Printing Advice

Supporting the model well is crucial.  I chose to print my chassis flat side to the build plate, but I still added plenty of supports arount the edges, buffers and inside the coupler box to ensure a good print.

The wagon bodies have a short pair of keys which lock into 2 matching slots in the chassis so their is no flat surface and a similar support exercise is required.  The roof is easier to support as noone will see the insides.  The trickiest part to print were the bars on the cattle van, which are really too thin at this scale.  When I reprint my cattle trucks I will likely recreate these slats in thin card.

Assembling a 3D Printed N Gauge Wagon Kit

Assembling the kit is a simple case of adding the couplers to the chassis and sealing the two halves together with your choice of body style.  

Ready to Run models typically have sprung couplers but I had no tiny springs on hand, so created a simple spring from the thin transparent packaging that the wheels came in. 

Cut to size and bent in the middle this provides enough "spring" to keep the couplers level.

The brake van has a specific roof with a stove vent whereas the cattle van and box van have a ventless roof.

What about wheels?

The kit does not come with wheels and whilst I have found some models to print I thought it best to buy these on one of my many aliexpress trips.  

I found a seller offering 48 plastic wheel sets by Evemodel, that's enough for 24 wagons, for the princely sum of £5.49 + shipping.  If you want metal wheel sets they are readily available but obviously more expensive.

The wheels fit neatly into the holes in the axle boxes of the chassis, although I did have to open up the rectangular pockets that the wheel flanges sit in to enable free running and end float.  This was a trivial task with a small needle file, although care must be taken when fitting the wheels to avoid breaking the brake assembly detail. 

Once assembled they look pretty convincing.

How do they run?

Pretty well as you can see in the video below.  The couplers hang down a little, but with the addition of the little makeshift springs I think these will work very well on my layout.

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 4 - All aboard for Upper Carrom 10 Nov 2024 12:31 PM (5 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

It's high time that this layout got a name and it seems appropriate to call it Upper Carrom as it is quite literally above the Carrom Table.

Of course it wouldn't be a real railway station if it didn't have a railway station sign.  There are plenty of places you can download but I wanted to model one myself and the technique I used to make my badges and the famous Okey Dokey sign is a great fit for what is a very simple design. 

Use The GIMP

I have been a GIMP user for many years ever since Photoshop 5 and it is an awesome free alternative.  Yes it has it's quirks but once you get used to them it's pretty much plain sailing and has everything I need in a bitmap image manipulator / Photo editor.

On a transparent layer floating above the white background layer, I added the station name using the text tool making sure that this was 100% black.

The basic name plaque lozenge shape is easy to create using the circle and rectangular select tools to create shapes on seperate layers filled with 100% opacity black.  These were then merged together to create a single "half" which could be duplicated and flipped and then merged to create the whole lozenge.

The middle lozenge was just a repeat of the steps above.  Do not merge the full width lozenges together at this stage.  You shouls have 4 layers (from top down) Text, text lozenge, middle lozenge and finally the white background.  Hide the text layer temporarily.

For each of the lozenges, select the black area and use the select > shrink command to reduce the selection to an appropriate size then fill this with white.  Merge Down the sign lozenge onto the middle lozenge to create a single lozenge layer 

Unhide the text layer.  You should now have a black and white railway sign.  Export this for Tinkercad as a png no larger than 1000px wide.

Finally select in the lozenge layer select everything outside the lozenge using the fuzzy select tool, invert the selection and create a new layer above the white background fill this with black.  Turn off the layers above and export to png.

In Convertio

Convertio.co is a fantastic free web based converter tool.  Just upload the two png files and convert these to SVG.

In Tinkercad

Import each of SVG files you have just created as "Art".  Modify the height of the text layer so that the text and the border of the sign protrude protrudes out of the background.

Export your model as an STL for 3D Printing.  Import this into your slicer (it will be big) and scale to your needs. 

Obligatory Running Video

The first running of the newest addition to the ready-to-run rolling stock collection, a cheap aliexpress Canadian Government grain wagon... it's on loan okay. 

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 3 - Loops, Points and Elevation 9 Nov 2024 12:00 AM (5 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

As I mentioned in the first episode of this series, my wishlist includes 3 loops of track which requires a significant number of points if one is to return a train to any one of the loops.

The largest radius I can realistically run on this board without the whole layout  turning into a helix is going to be 12".  I printed out some tracksetta style gauges to help me lay the random collection of secondhand flexitrack.  I also made a rudimentary  curve compass out of a strip of hardboard to help scribe the radii on the baseboard and also to cut sections of track bed which will be elevated.

Where we're going we don't need... plans

I am not following any plan with this layout.  It's a case of design on the fly based on what track I can scrounge together.  In fact the layout has changed and will continue to change based on the age old philosophy of do I really need 11 sets of points!!

At this very moment the plan looks something like this:

Notice the addition of the first scenic items in the form of the viaduct fascias.  All will b e revealed in the fullness of time or when the 3D Printer has finished printing them off.

3 Continuous Running Loops

What is the point of a coffee table layout if it doesn't have continuous running.  My 3 Loops are loosely defined as follows:

Loop 1 (Purple) - A 9" radius (1st radius?) with the smallest points I have turning this into an oval.  I could really do with replacing these points for a matched pair of 1st radius curved points so that I can properly form the fiddle yard.  At the moment I am not confident that the southern tank engine can make a tighter radius curve.  Fingers crossed I can get the little black shunter working as it has a set of tiny little wheels in an 0-6-0 configuration.  Being a diecast body it's got some weight to it unlike the Southern which is made of plastic. 

Loop 2 (Green) - A mix of radii from 10" to 12" and traverses the entire layout from the staging area at the bottom up the left side and into a tunnel which runs underneath the viaduct and then emerges on the right side of the layout.  This is essentially a branch line and will be running a mix of small 4 wheel coaches (when I buy or make them) and goods wagons.  This will be the preserve of the Southern Tank Engine unless something better comes along.

Loop 3 (Yellow) - The largest loop (but not by much) and is a squared off 12" radius circle.  It takes you all around the layout rising on the left to the viaduct and falling back down on the right to rejoin the staging area bottom left (blue).  I have tested the gradient with the only working loco I have and it can pull a full rake of 6 wagons weighed down with nuts and bolts.  This will be the main line and hopefully I will be able to run larger coaches and goods wagons with articulated bogies.

Power to the People

With all this going on and the potential of having 3 simultaneous running loops and accessories, I am going to need to get some more controllers and isolate each loop with those isolating fish plates all the cool kids use.  This of course is going to be a whole other ball game, but I am going to stay DC rather than go DCC as I just can't justify the complexity at this stage.  However, there is nothing to say I won't change my mind further down the line.

Talking about Tracks but specifically making a point about Points

There are a lot of joblot auctions on eBay for collections of track and it is somewhat daunting to a beginner to try to find exactly what you want to fit in a given space.  Flexitrack is your friend as you can essentially lay track from point to point.  Track is so goddam expensive and I'm trying to keep the cost to a minimum, I'm not a Rothschild you know (only when I'm Bunty), so I buy what looks right, even if in the end it might not be.  False economy I know.  Especially when you don't know that PIKO track is a completely different connection standard to PECO... fortunately this only cost me £10 to learn.

However, when we get down to the tight transitions between the curves I think I might need to bite the bullet and buy specific radii turnouts.  Wouldn't it be awesome if each manufacturer published a set of photocopiable templates of their set track and turnouts so you could literally try before you buy.  If you know of any please do pop a comment in the section below.

Points Theory

Finally, there is some points theory to consider (which I am also slowly learning) behind designing a three loop continuous running layout.  I will cover this in a future episode as it is driving me insane trying to visualise what I need to buy compared to what I want for the layout and my available space.

Obligatory Running Video

N Gauge Model Railway - Episode 2 - MDF uh huh uh huh!! 2 Nov 2024 4:59 AM (5 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

If you read episode 1 of my carrom table layout build then you will have heard me rant about how the "big box" DIY stores in the UK have fully transformed into soft furnishings stores.  

What you probably don't realise is the markup is significant.  Two pieces of 12mm MDF required to make just my baseboard would have cost in excess of £32 leaving me to buy extra wood for the side panels.  However, a whole sheet of MDF custom cut to my requirements by an oldfashioned builders merchant was £40 and left me with so much extra from the full sheet that I have MDF coming out of my ears. 

Building my N Gauge Layout Baseboard

With all my wood precut to approximately the right size it was a fairly easy task to trim the panels to final size and screw together.  The whole structure sits neatly on top of the carrom table and can be lifted off in case carrom needs to be played.  The carrom tabletop is hinged to allow access to the storage bin below and this can still be operated with the layout sitting on top although any loose items like rolling stock will need to be removed first.

What did the Romans ever do for us... The Viaduct

This week also saw the addition of the first scenic item to the layout in the form of a viaduct.  I purchased the single track viaduct model by Crafty 3D from Cults3D  and threw it on the printer.  

Whilst this is a scenic item, adding this to the layout early on is crucial as it dictates the height of the elevated Loop 3.  Working out the exact gradient of the incline from base to viaduct is going to be a process of trail and error, but I would like a train to be able to pass from Loop 1 to Loop 2 and ultimately to Loop 3 and back again.

I will not be printing these viaducts en masse as my viaduct is also a front for the Loop 2 tunnel.  I don't fancy carving a hole through 8 or 9 of these bad boys, to say nothing of the wasteful use of resin in printing something just to cut it out.  The future is here, there is a better way...

My solution is to make these into removable fascias, allowing me to extricate any trains which may have derailed inside.  The plan is to print out a series of these fronts which can be linked together to form a long fascia.  The fascia will be magnetized to stick to a solid shelf which will carry the Loop 2 track and allow wide access for said emergency train extraction.

This is a fairly trivial task to open the STL in Meshmixer and use a plane cut to remove all the unwanted model leaving you with just a thin fascia.  Taking this approach is doubly advantageous as it also allows me to spread these fascias around a curve.

Small Businesses

The viaduct model also comes with a selection of arch inserts ranging from shop fronts to a warehouse.  These will of course be magnetised to allow for easy swapability and add a bit of variety to the layout.  

The exact nature of these businesses remains to be seen and will be covered in a future episode.

Obligatory Running Trains Video

To ensure that I keep up the momentum it is important for me to keep a section of the layout in running order.  The layout is in my front room and so it is everpresent and what good is a model railway if you can't play with it.

N Gauge Model Railway - Carrom Table Layout - Episode 1 27 Oct 2024 10:29 AM (5 months ago)

Documenting my journey into model railways.

Coffe Table Layout (or should I say Carrom Table)

Those who know me in meatspace are aware of my passion for Carrom, the tabletop shuffleboard game played in most parts of the indian subcontinent.  I purchased a table a few years ago and converted into a coffee table.

This is the perfect base for my N gauge Layout and measures 32" square to the outside edge.

Starting with a Starter Set

I was lucky to snipe a Graham Farish 370-025 Tank Loco Starter Set from ebay for less than £80.  This was an absolute bargain and in great condition.  The set includes 8 pieces of settrack scribing a circle with the smallest 9" radius curve.

Also in the set came a 0-6-0 Southern Tank loco, 2 wagons and a brake van.  The loco will definitely be getting a paint treatment as it looks really quite plasticky and I think with the application of some black panels and some pin striping it will look much less like a toy.

I did also have a small collection of 3 wagons and a Minitrix 2f 0-6-0 Dock Tank Locomotive 47160 which I found in a charity shop for £3.  I hope to get that loco working again as I seem to have blown it up!!.

Building a Box

All the best layouts are enclosed with beautifully painted backdrops and so I designed my enclosure to be tall on 3 sides with a lower front section enabling easy access to rail locos and rolling stock and to get unfettered views of the layout.   

The sides also pull double duty creating a well so that the layout can be removed easily when that all important game of Carrom needs playing.  My design should allow for everything trainset related to move with the layout and also provide easy access to the underside of the layout where the wiring channels will be.

I tried to get some MDF for this project from my local B&Q and Homebase stores.  However, they seem to have stopped selling DIY materials in real world sizes and now appear to only sell Christmas decorations and pillows.  The struggle is real people.

I need the following boards:

• 1 x 32"x 32" (813mm x 813mm) 
• 3 x 33" x at least 6" (813mm x 153mm)
• 1 x 33" x at least 3"(813mm x 76.5mm)

I am designing much of this layout using my go-to 3d modelling software sketchup free and hope that this will be of great assistance when planning out the placement of tracks.

Layout Wishlist

32" square is not exactly a huge space, but I would like to try to get

• 1 x central small 9" radius loop with some internal shunting space
  
• 1 x middle larger 12" radius mainline loop which perhaps goes into a tunnel at the rear of the layout.
  
• 1 x outer elevated loop which climbs on the left drops down on the right and reconnects with the mainline at the front of the layout.

The elevated loop ios going to be most challenging as there will need to be a removable section so that any loco's going through the tunnel can be retrieved if they derail.

Carrom Table Layout Running Video

 

Mega City Block Upgrade - Arduino Nano MAX7219 Display 26 Oct 2024 4:20 AM (5 months ago)

A while ago I built a Mega City One Miniature Cary Case for my Judge Dredd miniatures and it was always my intention to have some sort of digital display which I could display random "in game" messages and to send instructions to the players such as ROLL FOR INITIATIVE.

The Components

Arduino Uno / Arduino Nano

I'd been itching to mess around with an Arduino microcontroller for years but never had the courage to just dive in.  However, there are so many people on ebay and Aliexpress selling ridiculously cheap arduino kits that there really is no barrier to entry. 

I plumped for an Arduino Uno Rev 3 Starter Kit which included a breadboard, jumpers and a whole pack of additional resistors and what nots.

The goal here is to make a small form factor self contained device so migrating from the large Uno dev board is essential.  I ordered a random Nano board from Aliexpress before realising that they come in 3 varieties with different board to PC connectors.  the cheap one I had picked came with an old style mini USB B connector and no lead.  Fortunately I had an lead from an old digital camera to use in the meantime, but I quickly ordered a bunch of nanos with USB C connectors for this and other projects I have in mind.  

MAX7219 8x32 Dot Matrix Display

The perfect lo-fi display for this project is a MAX7219 LED 8x32 dot matrix display.  It's small enough to work as a standalone unit and can take its power from the Arduino itself.  I bought one from AliExpress for only a couple of pounds. 

Wiring the MAX7219

I grabbed a bunch of dupont wires (these are the handy dandy push pin connectors which you get in your arduino kit.  I chopped one end off each wire and soldered them to the MAX7219 pins:

• VCC - Purple - 5v
• GND - White - GND
• DIN - Black - Digital Pin 11
• CS - Blue - Digital Pin 10
• CLK - Grey - Digital Pin 13
  

Wiring the Button

The button is wired into:

• VCC - Red - 5v
• OUT - Orange - Digital Pin 7
• GND - Yellow - GND
  

Entering the The Matrix Code

A bit of googling discovered the perfect code in the form of MAX7219 Message Selector on the Arduino Forums by user groundFungus.  Some tweaking later and I had a bunch of messages which I could toggle through with the addition of a button push on PIN7

// Program to demonstrate the MD_Parola library
// button select canned messages
// MD_MAX72XX library can be found at https://github.com/MajicDesigns/MD_MAX72XX
// by groundFungus AKA c. goulding

#include 
#include 
#include 

const byte  buttonPin = 7;    // the pin that the pushbutton is attached to

// Define the number of devices we have in the chain and the hardware interface
// NOTE: These pin numbers will probably not work with your hardware and may
// need to be adapted
#define HARDWARE_TYPE MD_MAX72XX::FC16_HW
#define MAX_DEVICES 4

// Scrolling parameters
#define SPACE_IN      A5
#define DIRECTION_SET 8 // change the effect
#define INVERT_SET    9 // change the invert

#define CLK_PIN   13
#define DATA_PIN  11
#define CS_PIN    10

MD_Parola P = MD_Parola(HARDWARE_TYPE, CS_PIN, MAX_DEVICES);

// individual messages in strings
const char msg_1[] = "<< WEATHER ALERT>> RAIN IN 10 MIN <> SECTOR 237 RIOT IN PROGRESS <> HOTTIE DAWGS ARE GOOD TO EAT <> BE GOOD CITIZENS LITTERING IS A CRIME>>  ";
const char msg_2[] = "<> ROLL FOR INITIATIVE>>";
const char msg_3[] = "<> GET UGLY GET OTTO SUMPS OIL OF UGLY TODAY!! >>";
const char msg_4[] = "<> HEAVY TRAFFIC ON THE BIG MEG CHOOSE ALTERNATE ROUTES >>";
const char msg_5[] = "<> THIS AREA IS IN LOCKDOWN >>";
const char msg_6[] = "<> CLEAN UP CREWS IN TRANSIT >>";

// an array of pointers to the strings
char *messages[] = {msg_1, msg_2, msg_3, msg_4, msg_5, msg_6};
byte messageNum = sizeof(messages) / sizeof(messages[0]);

int buttonPushCounter = 0;   // counter for the number of button presses
int buttonState = 0;         // current state of the button
int lastButtonState = 0;     // previous state of the button

void setup(void)
{
   Serial.begin(115200);
   Serial.println("\nParola pick a message program\n");
   P.begin();
   pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP);
}

void loop(void)
{
   if (P.displayAnimate())  // time to show next frame?
   {
      P.displayText(messages[buttonPushCounter], PA_CENTER, 50, 3000, PA_SCROLL_LEFT, PA_SCROLL_UP);
   }
   checkButton();
}

void checkButton()
{

   static unsigned long timer = 0;
   unsigned long interval = 25;
   if (millis() - timer >= interval)
   {
      timer = millis();
      buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
      // compare the buttonState to its previous state
      if (buttonState != lastButtonState)
      {
         if (buttonState == LOW)
         {
            // if the current state is LOW then the button
            // went from off to on:
            buttonPushCounter++;  // add one to counter
            // if counter over number of messages, reset the counter to message 0
            if (buttonPushCounter >= messageNum)
            {
               buttonPushCounter = 0;
            }
            //Serial.println(buttonPushCounter);
         }
      }
      lastButtonState = buttonState;
   }
}

Debugging the Code

Unfortunately this particular code only reads the button state at the end of each scroll.  This is where an interrupt is going to be necessary.  The arduino Uno and Nano boards that I have access to are only enabled for interrupts on digital pin 2s and 3 and will necessitate a bit of a rethink in the code 

MAX7219 Case - Thingiverse: Thing 6809712

No one wants to live in a run down cyberpunk world with exposed wires everywhere, so I needed a case for the display with enough depth to house the nano and the button which would switch modes.

I found a simple MAX7219 8x32 case on Thingiverse which I could easily embed magnets into to affix to the top or side of my Mega City Block Storage Case.  Sadly this did not fit my particular MAX7219 board as the pins came out sideways.  

This was easily fixed with a bit of modelling in Sketchup and if you need a case and have side exit pins feel free to download this from Thingiverse using the link above.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 48 - Judge Dredd Shuggy Table 23 Oct 2024 11:19 AM (5 months ago)

This week, I are mostly been printing... A Shuggy Table!!

Shuggy Table - Thingiverse Thing:6804108

Those of you who aren't Judge Dredd fans (there can't be many of you), Shuggy is the futuristic equivalent of billiards (aka pool) which is a popular pastime among the permanently unemployed citizens of Mega City One.

15mm Shuggy Tables (5p coin for size comparison)

Tracing its origins back to the original 21st century ball and stick games, Shuggy is played on a table with 22 holes which are distributed around the surface atop small mounds.  The object of the game is to "pot" balls into the holes to score points.

A complete run down of the rules is provided by Judge Macus L Rowland in the Wally Squad briefing 041204-2103 also found on pages 50-51 of the Judge Dredd Companion.

This particular 22 hole variant of the game was scaled for use in the print-and-play boardgame Shuggy Hall Brawl published in Issue 11 of Warlock Magazine, but it can be easily scaled to suit the larger Judge Dredd Miniatures Game or the many variants of the Judge Dredd RPG

Jessie's Prints - Episode 47 - Nimbus the Goliath 21 Oct 2024 12:00 AM (5 months ago)

This week, I are mostly been printing... A Nimbus!!

A birthday print for my clubmate Paul.  Sculpted using the heroforge app and then downloaded as an STL

The Heroforge Design

Paul got very creative using the heroforge and came up with this design.  The challenge for me was to try to print and then paint him without turning him another famous grey haired blue skinned chap... Papa Smurf.

Words of advice from a 3D Printing perspective

Whilst I love that heroforge exists there is a temptation for the wannabe designer to cram every facet of the mini with detail.  From a printer's perspective this is a bad thing.  Everything is possible when you have a $20,000 Selective Laser Sintering machine and you are making minis out of exotic materials like metal or resin powder.

However, when you are commissioning a print for an SLA printer you really need to consider how the model is going to be printed.  Typically this is going to be at 45 degrees on it's back as no one wants to be dealing with support material all over a character's face.

If you have sheathed swords or capes try to keep them close to the body so that they are supported rather than dangling in free space.  Don't go for the Michael Jackson pose where his cape is streaming out behind him in the wind as this will cause your printer do pull their hair out as they try to find somewhere to support the mini.  

Large volumes of cloth streaming out from behind a mini also mean that they have what I like to call a high "snapping moment" this is where there is a lot of resin supported only by one small section.  One false move or indelicate pick up and "click" there goes your cape leaving you to pray to the Glue Gods that it can be stuck back on again.

Merged Accessories and Paper Dolls

The other main gripe I have with Heroforge is that it is easy to model things that blend into one another.  For example, in the case of our boy Nimbus, his cape sprouts out of his pauldron and it is very difficult to tell where one piece starts and another ends.  

A real sculptor would understand that it would sit over top or underneath, a human form of collision detection, and appropriate sculpting would take place to remedy the situation.  Sadly this does not happen with Heroforge and there is no priority system in the software which detects these edge collisions and does something about it.  

It is effectively the digital version of the vintage Paper Doll toy.

Jessie's Prints - Episode 46 - Looot Insert Boxes 19 Oct 2024 12:00 AM (5 months ago)

This week, I are mostly been printing... Looot Boxes!!

I am lucky to have a bevvy of machines to do my bidding and enable me to print in both style, Fused Desposition Modelling (FDM) and Stereolithography (SLA).  FDM is the perfect choice for projects like these boardgame organiser boxes.

Looot Insert - Thing 6661983    

This was a commissioned print for my colleague Stephen who is a mad keen boardgamer.  I used some Geetech Silk filament one of the cheapest I could get from Ali Express and I was blown away by the smooth texture.  

Definitely something I will look out for in the future.

 

OMG Another 5 Starblazer Comics 18 Oct 2024 12:00 AM (6 months ago)

 

Yet more issues from my growing Starblazer collection

Starblazer #209 - The Ring of Gofannon - Through a nightmare of sorcery, Goll and his servant, Cutter follow the ancient maps of Gofannon in search of the legendary Ring.  Goll the warrior has to pit his fighting skills against all manner of unworldly creatures to merely survive and discover the truth.

Like every fantasy epic the ring of Gofannon is an archetypal quest to retrieve a magic ring and defeat a great evil descending upon the land.

Goll and Cutter must one by one overcome the trials and obstacles in their journey to find the legendary ring.  However, like every good Starblazer story there lies a twist in the tale, something unexpected which turns the story on its head.

The art for this story is great, simple when it needs to be and detailed when it needs to evoke a dense and rich background.  Very enjoyable and full of great one shot ideas for my own fantasy RPG stories. 

The cover art for this issue is a little bit uninspired.  However, this is what a fantasy story would look like if Sylvester Stallone was cast in the title role.

Starblazer #210 - Dragon Slayer - In a land overrun by evil, only one young boy had the courage and faith to seek out the warrior who could free the country from its sorcerous shadows - Dragon Slayer.., and he was 200 years old.

Another fantasy story, we must have hit the Conan the Barbarian vein in these recent issues.  The evil sorceror Drax has risen up and despite his magic waning he has enslaved the last of the Dragons Gorath to be his ultimate weapon and rule Pira IV unchallenged.

One brave villager and his son go against the wishes of the rest and vow to track down the legendary Dragonslayer who can free them from this cruel fate.  Sadly the villager is trapped by Drax and his son Bix must find the dragonslayer alone.

As ever we expect the Starblazer plot twist at the third act and this story doesn't dissapoint.  The final confrontation between Drax and the young lad Bix is a desperate but rewarding one.  The character of Bix is a shameless attempt at inserting the typical young reader into the story and it is very effective.  

I particularly liked the addition of the 6 legged scorpion tailed one eyed mini beholder creature which I will endeavour to write up a stat block for Savage Worlds and I will now forever call it a QERK!

Starblazer #211 - The Dream Machine - Kayn's the name, and finding people is my game.  Actually, I'm a private investigator, but I spent most of my trime trying to find enough creds to pay the rent.  Then one day I got a request for help... from a guy who'd been dead five years!

Kayn is back in another mystery chase murder story.  Futuristic Moscow is such an off choice for a setting.  I guess it's so that you can get away with simple brutalist architecture and a unbendening robotic state aparatus.  

Needles to say our hero Kayn is completely oblivious to the machinations of the secretive villain in this story.  He learns everything piece by piece at the same time as you read every frame.

Definitely a comic of its time with a run of the mill Starblazer storyline which is not all bad but very average. 

Starblazer #212 - Rogue Cop - Renko was a patrolman in a society diseased by corruption.  When this corruption touched him, he turned rogue to bring the offenders to justice.  But society doesn't like rogue cops and Renko was hounded to the edge of oblivion.

I was expecting a Robocop knock off but what I got was an interstellar crime wave and a man rescued from the brink of death by Space Brocolli!!

This is quite a fun little story, a classic tale of copy who goes rogue to bring down the big crime boss.  With no backup his luck runs out and he is stranded in the void with no hope so he decides to end it all by setting his ship to self destruct... as you do.

Saved by the benevolent space brocolli the Shreel, they turn him into a cyborg monster sending Renko into a depressive tailspin.  Howver, vengeance is a powerful emotion and Renko uses it to gain control of his new robotic body and take the fight to Hengis Furgaar to destroy his criminal emire once and for all.

Starblazer #213 - Skarr The Soldier - Stranded in Samek, many thousands of miles from his home, Skarr, the soldier of fortune, had to fight for a foreign ruler and an alien cause - or be executed!

This is a fairly stock story of a man caught between two factions waging a war at all costs.  There is not much exposition only action and it really does seem like an exercise in getting as many wild character illustrations on a page as possible.

This a treat from the fine pen of  Enrique Alcatena with an epic cover from the legend Ian Kennedy.

The character art is wild from the weird almost Napoleonic uniforms of the Margolian army to the down right bizarre mix of kimono clad Tarcils and the mask wearing denizens of Hetamec.  

This is my first Skarr story and I am encouraged to find the others.  

Whilst the plot does not offer much for the Roleplayer or DM, the artwork is a smorgasbord of inspiration.

Essential Starblazer Links

The Starblazer Checklist is a fantastic resource if you are collecting or want to know who wrote and illustrated each issue.

Many thanks to the chaps who run the Starblazer Covers archive, this is immensely useful resource when looking at ebay joblot listings.

Retro Sanctuary has a great article covering his top 20 Starblazer Issues which is worth a look and I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing some of these classics in the very near future.

 

Mega City Block Upgrade - The Okey Dokey Chef 17 Oct 2024 12:46 PM (6 months ago)

Once you start pimping out your Mega City One Block Storage Case it's hard to know when to stop...

The Okey Dokey Chef Animated Sign

I wanted my sign to be an advertising hoarding and one of the most famous signs in Mega City One is the Okey Dokey Chef as featured in the Supersurf 7 race story Midnight Surfer (progs 424-429).  I was also inspired by the famous Vegas Vic neon sign whose arm waving welcomed gamblers from all around the globe since 1951.

He wold make an excellent starting point to learn about how to control low voltage RC servos with Arduino.

The Chef

I found a nice piece of clipart online which had the vibe I was going for and imported this into GIMP for editing.  

I cut out the "Chef's Kiss" hand using the lasso tool and moved this over into  a seperate file.  This is going to be the sweeping hand which we will animate later using a servo.

I added a speech bubble with some appropriate text coming out of the side of the chef's head. 

Preparing for Tinkercad

I have learned that Tinkercad is a pretty simplistic modelling tool and it does not particular like creating complex curved or polygonal shapes.  The easiest way to solve this conundrum is to simply create a solid black mask version of your line drawn artwork.  This can be used as a background and because both shapes are exactly the same image size, they will register perfectly together when you import them into Tinkercad.

When I was happy with both files, I and exported them (and their solid black mask counterparts) as a PNG then converted into an SVG using convertio.com.  Each line drawn SVG is imported into Tinkercad for extrusion into a 3D object using the same technique I used to create my badges and Index Card RPG Card Back Stamps. I use an extrusion height of 30mm.

The black mask variant is then imported and the combined shapes exported as a single STL.  This gives me an STL file for the chef and a file for the arm which can be printed on the Anycubic Photon M5.

The Electronics

The core of this project is an Arduino nano.  These little boards are stupidly cheap and really easy to start your coding adventure.  Seriously, if an idiot like me can do it then anyone can.

The bit doing all of the moving is a 9g 5v 180 degree hobby servo which I bought in a twinpack from Ali Express for £1.79.

This was superglued across the gap between the Speech bubble and the chef's arm.

The Wiring and Code

I used the excellent How to Control Servo Motors tutorial on the makerguides website.  The servo has 3 wires Red (5v Power) goes to the 5v pin,  Brown (Ground) goes to the GND pin and the Yellow (Signal) goes to Pin 9.

The code example given is perfect for my purposes, but I did need to customise the start and end positions for the hand as it does not need to run the full 180 that the servo is capable of.  I also added a 500 millisecond delay at the end of each travel.

#include 

Servo myServo;  // Create a Servo object

void setup() {
  myServo.attach(9);  // Attach the servo to pin D9
}

void loop() {
  // Move from 30 to 135 degrees
  for (int pos = 30; pos <= 135; pos += 1) {
    myServo.write(pos);  // Tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(45);           // Wait 15 milliseconds for the servo to reach the position
  }
  delay (500);
  // Move from 135 to 30 degrees
  for (int pos = 135; pos >= 30; pos -= 1) {
    myServo.write(pos);  // Tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(45);           // Wait 15 milliseconds for the servo to reach the position
  }
   delay (500);
}

Troubleshooting

In my naievete I thought that the Arduino nano would be able to power this whole project.  However, the little servo apparently draws too much power to run continuously causing the nano to reset itself and creates some erattic animation.

I tried to mitigate this by adding increasing the dealy to 45 thereby slowing down the move, but sadly this was not enough.  It would have been nice to know all this from the start as an alternative board such as an ESP32.  

Anyway that is another story.  In the meantime check out the final result

Download the Files

I have also uploaded the Okey Dokey Sign STL files to Thingiverse if you should want to make your own version of this iconic comic book sign.

Let me know if you found this useful or if you have made your own animated signs for your own games

Boardgame Rescue: Waage Mut 21 Sep 2024 6:27 AM (6 months ago)

One of the joys of being a boardgame collector is finding one of those long out of print games that only about 20 people admit to owning on BGG.

Waage Mut - Schmidt Spiele (1982)

I picked this up on one of my regular thrift shop trips for the princely sum of £2.  Clearly this was some sort of manual dexterity / balancing game which is usually enough to make me run for the hills, "I'm looking at you Bausack!!"

However, the cover photo featuring a five armed plastic balancing spider intrigued me so it came home.

An Incomplete Game

The risk of buying any game in a charity shop is that it comes with missing pieces.  For a common game such as cluedo or monopoly this presents no problem as the pieces are readily available.  However, the older and rarer a game gets the more difficult it becomes to acquire replacement parts.

This is where the 3D printer shines and so I quickly knocked up a replacement blue pawn in Sketchup

If you are missing a pawn you can download a free STL file from:

1. Thingiverse - Thing 6773663
   
2. Cults 3D - Waage Mut Replacement Pawn
   
3. Printables - Waage Mut Replacement Pawn
   

Of course having the abilitle to churn out replacement pieces means it is a trivial exercise to print out a whole 5th player set of pawns.

The Rules (English Translation) 

Sadly the game does not come with rules in English and so Google Lens came to the rescue.  I will be giving this to me my German friend Jonas who can do a proper translation.

LIBRA COURAGE

Gameplay:

Evaluation:

More Photos

A Potential Roleplaying Puzzle?

Courtisans - A Medieval Take on Happy Families 18 Sep 2024 12:00 AM (7 months ago)

My work colleague Stephen (Tik Tok Games) returned from UK Games Expo with this exquisitely produced card game.  I loved it so much I immediately bought it.

Courtisans by Catchup Games (distributed by Hacehette)

A new arrival on the board game scene are Hachette Board Games UK a new division of the all dominating French publishing giant Hahcette.  They have collaborated with a number of smaller games designers to distribute their games just in time for Christmas.

One such title is Courtisans by Catchup Games, a simple card collecting in the style of Happy Families except that in addition to keeping and giving away cards you get to try to influence who is in or out of favour at the Queens banquet.

 

High Production Quality  

As soon as you open the box your eye will be drawn to the tapestry play mat.  Something I've never seen in a game and it is so "on theme" I'm tempted to try something similar for my 2nd favourite card game Citadels.

The playing cards are similarly gorgeous.  It is not often that you see tarot sized cards in a boardgame and this again harks back to medieval times when this was the standard size for all cards.  Printed with a gold spot colour these are beautifully illustrated and the necessary symbols discrete yet clear.

Fast Game Play

The objective is simple, collect as many cards of families who are Esteemed, avoid collecting cards of families who are Fallen from Grace and play cards at the Queens table to influence who is Esteemed and who is Fallen from Grace.  Whichever side of the table has the most cards (Esteemed on top, Fallen below) determines which families in everyone's tableau score positive or negative points.

Every turn you keep a card, give one away to another player and add one to the table.  It is that simple.  However, there are four special card types (for each family) which if you draw them can be played and mix things up.  These are:

• Assassin - denoted by the dagger symbol can be used to kill any card from any family whether they are played in your or another players tableau or at the queens table.
  
  
• Guard - denoted by the shield, the guard cannot be killed by an assassin.
  
  
• Noble  - denoted by the Crown X2 means that they are worth two points instead of one.
  
  
• Spy - denoted by the mask symbol is played face down and only revealed at the end of the game.  They can count towards your positive or negative points or can add to the esteemed or fallen from grace scores at the queens table.

Finally a range of secret mission cards can tip the balance in the end game should you be able to satisfy the win condition.

In Conclusion

Courtesans is a great little 5 player game which is quick to play and can easily fill that dead time whilst you are waiting for players to turn up to your RPG game.  I personally love the intrigue element and there are lots of tactics you can deploy to try to seal your victory at a cost to other players.

Mystery Dice Goblin - 7pc D&D Dice Sets 15 Sep 2024 7:46 AM (7 months ago)

"You can never have enough dice" and when Mystery Dice Goblin reached out and asked me to review their dice bags I jumped at the chance.

Retailing at a very reasonable £4.50 per set with free shipping these blind bags are an excellent choice for birthdays or to give as Xmas Gifts.  Lets open those sealed bags and see what we got.

Set 1 - Green / White Marble

This is a pretty solid starter set, although my particular preference is for solid or gem dice they certainly stand out in a crowded dice bag.  The consistency of the marbling is 50/50 as some dice seemed to get much more of the green juice on one side than others.  The choice of gold number ink is great on the heavy green sides but leans to illegibility in places just purely due to the randomness of the marbling.

Set 2 - Red Arcane 

This set appears to be slightly larger than the other two and they are quite pretty.  A good choice if you are playing a horror inspired RPG like Ravenloft or Call of Cthulhu.  The numbers are well positioned and sufficiently unobscured by the "runes" which feature on every side.

Gold and red are a classic combo and lead to highly legible dice.

Set 3 - Blue and Gold Sparkly Dice

Finally we get to my favourite set which are a blue gem style dice with yellow gold sparkles.  These pop right out of the box and I really like the "blackletter" style numbers inked in white.  Highly legible from every angle these will certainly get some table time in my next game.

Bonus Gift - D&D Enamel Mystery Pin - £5.50

Whilst the Mystery Goblin's are clearly cornering the market with blind bag random number generators, it's not their only offering.  They treated me to one of their enamel pins in the shape of the D&D Logo.

Measuring 30mm across it is tastefully decorated in Red and Blank enamel.  The reverse has a single pin and clasp.  I am pleased to report that the clasp is high quality with some sort of ruberised inside and so it should not fall off easily.  Cheaper versions always seem to fail spectacularly so it's really good to see that some time and effort when into the choice of clasp here.

Even More Accessories Online

As I mentioned earlier, where Mystery Dice Goblin excels is in their wide range of gift sets perfect for every occasion and every gamer.  My particular favourite is the Party Box of Holding which if I were 40 years younger would have been the perfect Xmas gift from one of my aunt's.  

Chock full of dice, stickers, pins, item cards and a fresh character sheet, who wouldn't want one of those in your stocking.  Heck, I should start dropping hints now as Secret Santa is fast approaching approaching.

Judge Anderson 1/24th Scale Resin Kit 29 Aug 2024 11:33 AM (7 months ago)

Painting

I wanted to go for a comic book colour scheme although the black uniform was going to need a little bit of thought.  After priming and zenithal I airbrushed on the green accents and added a dark wash.  

I think painting this assembled was a big mistake as it would have been so much easier painting individual parts with no risk of overspray.  

I promise that the next model I build will be hot-glued together for the priming and zenithal stage and then disassembled before painting.  I also made the mistake of glueing in Judge Death's claw before glueing Anderson to the base.  This led to him losing one of his fingers... oh well.

The uniform was brush painted in some very thin coats of black and then dry brushed with a very dark blueblack mix to give it a volumetric effect.

Blocking in the Colours

The shoulder pads and badge were painted in a fiery orange with highlights in a yellow orange mix.  Orange and yellow are such lousy colours to paint and Iin hindsight I should have painted a white base coat to allow them to pop.  I chose to wash them in zealot yellow speedpaint which gave them a glossy look.  Don't panic... this will be fixed in the final step.

Face and eyes were painted in my usual skin tone set, at this size it is pointless trying pinkle.

On the hair I tried a mousy blonde base and washed with zealot yellow and then progressively lighter highlights whihc kind of worked/

Black accents were added to the gun, belt pouches and gloves and she was done.

The magic final step is to airbrush a coat of artist matt varnish which removes all signs of glossiness.

 

RIP Steve "Stig" Tasso 14 Aug 2024 8:37 AM (8 months ago)

This week I learned that my old Hobbits Hole clubmate Stig had passed away after a long illness.

Stephen "Stig" Tasso

I had known stig for over 20 years and we were regular clubmates at an earlier incarnation of the Roleplaying Games club, Hobbits Hole, which I co-founded many years ago.

 

We shared many Friday nights together and had many adventures over the years.  My fondest memories of Steve are always filled with his good natured humour and his boundless creativity.

As an early player in my Lands of Dual Castles & Crusades campaign, I will be forever grateful for his creative input and it is entirely thanks to him that my world has a fully explored species of lizard kin known as the Salamankari.

Stig always embraced the weird and outlandish game ideas I dreamed up and basically ran with it.  Being not that much older than myself we shared many similar interests in music and pop-culture including a love of the classic 1980s comic exploits of Judge Dredd and punk rock.

Steve was always a kind soul and I will miss his no nonsense approach to life.  Steve was definitively a "no fucks to give" type of guy.

Long may your star shine bright and I hope to see you again in the heavenly mosh pit.

The Masks of Nyarlathotep - Bunty Rothschild 10 Aug 2024 10:59 PM (8 months ago)

At my regular friday club Dragons Keep UK we are 10 weeks into a year long Call of Cthulu and I have only just gotten round to printing and painting my character mini...

Bunty Rothschild - Heiress and Supernatural Investigator

Bunty's Story

Her early life in the Hamptons was idylic, being the daughter of the extended Rothschild family the world was her oyster as long as that meant marrying into one of the other rich families that Daddy knew.

Whe she was 16 she was packed off to Paris to study at the famous Sorbonne finishing schools.  However, far from the withering gaze of her father she developed a rebellious streak that even the legendary Madame Guillaume couldn't tame out of her.  

With the outbreak of war she and her American classmates were shipped back to the USA like refugees. Her father being far too busy with the business of supporting the war effort left her to live in the family's 5th Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park.

Of course Bunty was soon getting up to mischief and found herself fronting various high society illicit parties on behalf of the Italian Gandolfini Syndicate.  Her taste for risk and danger often saw her accompanying the boys on a rum run and her skills with the Chicago Typewriter made her invaluable to Don Luigi.

Unfortunately, her success came to an abrupt end when the syndicate fell under the beady eyes of Izzy and Moe, who operated the New York office of the famous untouchables.  She was lifted by the cops in a sting operation and only managed to avoid incarceration due the sworn testimony of her Uncle and New York State Supreme Court Judge.

Tired of his wayward daughter's antics, her father gabe her an ultimatum.  Either she married into one of the respectable wealthy society families or she got herself a job.

Whilst Bunty ruminated on the two equally unnatractive options facing her, fate had other plans.  A chance reading of the New York Tribune classifieds saw her embark on a steamship to Lima, Peru.