Stabliofarmer

Adding some additional detailing to some KTwo's for my own collection. Working hydraulic line guide that follows the headboard cylinders down the body. Also some additional plates etc around the drawbar.

Great selection of photos, thanks for sharing. Nice to see a show make a return too, seemed an odd time to hold one through Wednesday evening?

I'm amazed that the kittens can be identified, do they have a makers mark on them? The cat looks Lead while the kittens appear plastic, what material are they?

It will be interesting to see what happens to the value over time, after all Britains have just effectively doubled the number of them out there, and the volume that will stay in boxes as 'collectors pieces' will be considerably more than when they were originally released. Does anyone know rough figures for what Britains current production runs are these days? I seem to recall Andy mentioning it to be as low as 5000 units when there was all the discussion about a Bunning spreader model.

Like the cat in the basket and kittens Mark, something different

The main issue with 'organic' items, humans animals etc is the making of them. While your standard CAD programs are great for making machinery that you can print, because, well, that machinery was designed on CAD in the first place, they're no good at making organic curves. For that you want a CAD program like Zbrush which is basically a virtual ball of wax that you manipulate and sculpt, just like in real life. Its notoriously hard to use and doesn't have a free/beginner alternative so requires high investment just to learn. There must be some different methods though as companies like Wasp Slot make huge numbers of 3D printed slotcar figurines. Unless they are laser scanning people to make the CAD I assume they are using something like Zbrush. It's not something I've looked overly far into though. https://sites.google.com/view/waspslot/figures

3.8oz waterproof fabric is what I use for roll over sheets. Easy to cut with a craft knife or scissors and just glues to the side of a trailer. Available in a variety of colours. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Waterproof-Fabric-Ripstop-Nylon-Look-Material-3-8oz-Kite-Tent-Cover-150cm-Wide-/332401505545?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

We're driving over to the Alps mid December, I will report back on what the customs process is like then. There's normally some nice Pisten Bully snow groomer models available out there so we'll see if they pick up on them on the way back. Obviously a car packed like Mr Softie is going to attract more attention than one with a couple of models in the boot!

Thank you, as above the waiting list for these is already 30+ long, and I'm yet to find time to even consider the second batch yet!

Like that Sean, looks well, the DB's do suit a loader

That's a very smart looking machine Kieran, lovely work

Jadlam Racing have been mentioned as coming through still sealed, would make sense with the volume of stock they shift

Watch this space Paul, I've already been in touch with Ian at Tab hunting bits, and Nigel will be the next port of call, a pylon tractor will be on its way. Cheers John, yes my hunch is they have used a scaledown as a master pattern and cast the white metal in larger sections.

I acquired this horrifically built Fordson N a few weeks ago for not alot of money on eBay. I have a hunch this isn't actually a Scaledown Model like I first expected but a reproduction/copy of scaledown bits. The front wheels are cast in metal tyres and all, while the rear tyres are a poor repro of a britains wheel that's far too narrow for the rims. The Fordson embossed down the radiator is also upside down. I stripped the paint off and disassembled the tractor ready to start the build I have in mind which is an Automower winch conversion with the lovely curved front guard. Started at the rear with the winch, main body, and some internals done so far. Also started on the rear wings going for the prettier flat arches rather than the rounded version.

There was an interesting feature on 3D scanning on the new Hornby Model Railway programme on Yesterday. Looking at that though there's still alot of manual cad and other post processing after the scan.

Starting to push the printer alittle more now, and getting my head around Fusion 360 which really does feel like learning a second language! I'm redeveloping the Hakki Pilke firewood processor I've scratch built in the past to a castable model kit. I'm taking plenty of photos and screenshots along the way to do a full write up but for now this is where we are.

It's surprising how much picking out bolt heads and galv parts makes a model like this really pop, tidy work as ever John

The fact that that would be an impressive feat for a small model maker now makes it all the more phenomenal that people where doing that 40 years ago. There is alot that really is taken for granted now.

Having said that I've just had a nosey on ebay and there are £10 hot wire wands that look perfect for the job, much better than the £50 woodland scenic option

Thanks Joe, I was eyeing up a hot wire cutter in the model shop this morning but the price put me off. Will try with a serrated knife to start with.

I had seen this David Brown poster shared by Classic Tractor or similar on Facebook, a quick check of ebay and someone is making repros, the perfect addition to the model shed!

And so it starts again! Well actually it started again back in 2019 but never got further than a baseboard with a load of expanding foam stuck to it. I was never happy with that so have stripped the board back and bought some polystyrene insulation to have a better go. This will be a sloped field that hay is taken from.

Love the pisten bully tracks Joe, impressive stuff. CAD wise most formats are incredibly similar. I used SolidWorks at uni and in my current job, used Cero on my placement and they share alot of similarities. I'm currently using fusion but it feels very cartoonish in comparison with SW, which it is meant to as a 'creatives' platform. The RS looks very close to Free CAD which is what I plan to try next a sit looks like an old version of SW. I will pick up on cad in a future post.

That Muir-Hills just got soooo much presence, lovely additions

This forced me to do abit of reading as I'm sure Mark Phelan? who makes the cabs and Britains parts etc has a resin printer. It turns out you can add dies to resin to print in colour, there is also a range of solid coloured resins out there (thought it was just translucent stuff available in pretty colours). Personally I struggle to see how the Elegoo could be any easier, and while Joe demonstrates that FDM can produce nice prints its when you get down into tiny parts that resin wins out, I'm printing wheels with 1mm wide hex head bolt details that are coming out perfect. The real elephant in the room is CAD, while there's an insane amount of downloadable files out there something really specific will always need drawing. A large part of my job is now CAD design so it hasn't been a big put off for me but it does limit things for alot of people.