Card Kit of the Week

 A different model shown here every week.

Suburban Garage (click for details)

Project 26 - Hewish Gates #7

The display case was made from 1200 x 600 x 2mm Wickes Acrylic Sheet, cut with a Dremel and the panels glued together with Superglue. It is not fully dust proof as there is no rear acrylic panel or seals between it and the diorama.  At least it protects the model from finger poking damage.

I have in mind to make two improvements to the model, if I ever get around to doing so. 

The backscene should be professionally printed as one piece instead of the three I printed on A4 sheets. This will eliminate the joins and colour imbalance of the three sheets.

One of the level crossing gates takes on an angle when closed to the road. These gates were fabricated from two Airfix/Dapol level crossing sets (nothing wrong with that) long before I acquired a 3D resin printer. The resin printer now gives opportunity for a redesign to improve detail of the gates and their posts to represent the prototype more accurately and I'll take greater care in setting the gates uniformly.

One last posting in this series next.

To Part 1.

Project 26 - Hewish Gates #6

A photo of the prototype, taken from the other side of the level crossing, shows a glimpse of a small building next to the signal box. Not possible to see what it is for. It could be a lamp store or a privy. I opted for the later.

Telegraph poles in my photograph (right) look leaning more than they do.

On this side of the level crossing the landscape both sides of the railway line is embankment. The grass here is long and dry. This is achieved  by sticking old fashioned hairy carpet underlay down and when dry ripping it off. This leaves very high strands of material that is cut down using scissors. A layer of brown/green static glass is overlaid to fill any gaps and tone down the straw colour of the carpet underlay.

The white flowers were taken from an artificial plastic flower and the red poppies are proprietary scatter.

To Part 7.

To Part 1.

It's All About The Skirt!

Your options for a modern level crossing barrier with skirt are either Viessmann (two barriers with operating skirt; HO gauge (ebay approx. £156 including automation) or, Peco Wills SSM 318 four barriers with fixed skirt and accessories; 00 gauge (RRP £42.85 without automation. Over £100 with automation and DCC). Are there other manufacturer options? I don't know. How hard can it be to design one with an operating skirt myself? Answer: difficult.

First I had to find a dimensioned drawing. None found but, I did find a manufacturer's brochure here that has useful images from which I could scale the barrier for a two lane road width of 112 mm.

Designing it in CAD was straightforward for me but making the skirt move correctly is another matter.

The principle of operation for the model is for each upright stay to be bent 90 degrees at the ends and locating holes made in the boom and skirt base runner. 

First, I made the upright stays from bent wire and it soon became apparent that it is critical for the stays to be uniform and all the holes to be perfectly in line. Otherwise, sticking will occur.

A eureka moment solved the stay uniformity problem when I found my office staples were the right length and thickness and I had loads of them. To hold them in place I used the sleeve stripped from copper wire making sure a small gap was left between the sleeve and boom/skirt base runner. Nevertheless sticking was evident, which I thought was due to friction between sleeve and boom/runner where the sleeve had moved towards the boom and runner. A more likely cause was the holes being very slightly out of line.

Final solution was to bend the staple ends at 90 degrees leaving a small gap between the bend and boom/runner and opening out the holes on the runner. This provides a sloppy fit of stays giving them free movement. As the boom rises the skirt folds up nicely - most of the time.

This project is for my Grandson's 'plank' layout. He wanted this style of barrier and wants it automated as well!

Project 26 - Hewish Gates #5

As I laid down the vegetation it occurred to me that there are three scenes in this 52 cm x 37cm diorama, those being the level crossing, the signal box and the railway cottages. I assume the cottages were for two signalman who operated the box in shifts.

The double cottage is a Wills kit, The fence panels have been in my possession for possibly six decades. No idea of the brand.

The vegetation is a real hotchpotch of materials. Obviously, static grass layered for density and height with tufts being formed by first laying down anything that has a little bulk and then grassing over it.

The hedge next to the cottage is two layers of green kitchen scour pad covered in Woodland Scenics matting. Small shrubs are a strange fungus like growth cut from a dead branch and covered in minced dead autumn leaves and then spray painted green.

The larger shrub along the palisade fence line is dried moss from the garden centre sprinkled with the autumn leaves and spray painted.

The small tree is seafoam grown by myself and treated similarly.

Boundary fence in front is my own 3D printed posts with tinsel wire threaded through.

Note that anti-trespass sawtooth panels across the tracks next to a level crossing were not deployed at this location in the 1950-60s, judging from photographs.

To Part 6.

To Part 1.

 

Project 26 - Hewish Gates #4

I have reprinted the backscene that was created for the original layout (see Part 1). It is a photo of the real location printed over three sheets of A4. We can see from the hedging on the right how well the foreground merges with the background. The grassy bank on the left is waiting completion.

The downside is the join between sheets clearly visible and for some reason the shade of blue sky differs slightly between sheets. The only way to resolve all this is to have it professionally printed on one sheet.

To Part 5.

To Part 1.
 

Project 26 - Hewish Gates #3

How can a large hand wheel in the signal box cause four level crossing gates to open or close? It had me baffled until I researched the matter.

The hand wheel rotates a vertical shaft by means of bevelled gears. The bottom of the shaft in the signal box basement drives rack and pinion gears that connect to rods that move the gates via cranks in the same manner as turnout control. In addition road and rail side gate stop locks and wicket gate locks are controlled similarly.

At Hewish Gates in the 1930s the cranks and rods outside of the crossing area were covered by boards. By the 1950s the boarding appears to have been removed exposing the mechanics. I have modelled the boards in place to save modelling the mechanics. I only had to show rods where they cross the open track bed.

In the prototype there are more mechanics under the road surface that were accessed by removeable panels but most of the road was an asphalt covering over wooden boards, judging from photographs.

To Part 4.

To Part 1.

Project 26 - Hewish Gates #2

As usual, I made my own Code 75 flat bottom track, being not too happy with the Peco offering. Problem for me is their sleeper dimensions and spacing which may be more suited to H0 (3.5mm scale). My sleepers are resin 3D printed, originally designed by me for Graham Farish Formoway Code 100 flat bottom rail. Interestingly, Peco Code 100 rail did not fit but their Code 75 does perfectly.

I don't know if the Peco chairs are accurate to prototype but mine mimic UK BR1 chairs that were common in the 1960s.

As I only needed about 3 feet of track I bought the Peco SL100F and stripped off the sleepers to use only the rail.

With the rails covered for protection using drinking straws split down the middle; the sleepers were spray painted with brown/black acrylic. Rail sides and chairs were brush painted.

Ballast is my own mix comprising reclaimed and new material. In there to give variety of colour (does not show up well in the photo) are cork, coal, granite, pumice and maybe cat litter (not recommended) from earlier mixes, all ground and sifted to about 1mm length.

Ballast is fixed in place with diluted PVA remembering to add a few drops of washing up liquid to make it flow easily.

To Part 3.

To Part 1.

Project 26 - Hewish Gates

My original Hewish Gates layout was levelled to make way for my Battledown Flyover layout. I am feeling the loss of what was a delightful scene around the level crossing, particularly the merge of foreground to background, the latter being a photograph of the real location.

Hewish Gates was a compact scene on a larger layout. Whilst I don't have the room for another layout I decided to make a diorama of it that could be embedded in a larger layout if the opportunity arose.

Hewish Gates in reality is located on the main line west of Crewkerne in Somerset. Today it is simply a single track with barrier level crossing with all buildings gone. In its heyday the box not only controlled the level crossing but two main lines and  a long siding and loop west of the box.  

Having revisited the data I have of the prototype I noticed that I arranged the railway cottages to face the road whereas they should face the railway. That will be corrected as will some other anomalies.

For added interest I decided to make the level crossing operational and may add lights to the buildings and level crossing lamps.

First though, how to make the level crossing operational? All the tutorials I found on the web used servo motors and these require control electronics. I did not want this (which is a bit odd since I spent a large part of my career as an electronics designer). I preferred a simpler remote control by manual means. 

This exploded assembly is what I came up with. The principle is rack and pinion gears. The gates are connected to the four corner gears by rods.

At first I had just four gears, two each side, operated by one rack. Since the gates form a square (equal sides) all four gears mesh together except the two nearest the rack would not mesh!

Couple of points to understand for correct operation of the gates is the gears connected to the gates have to turn in opposite directions, which is why we need an even number of gears.

My second attempt was four gears as shown and plus two between them, set furthest from a single rack. Problem is this is not a precision gear design. Sloppy tolerances meant that the gates on one side did not turn a full 90 degrees.

The answer was two racks. Note that the racks need to work in opposite directions to get the gates to open symmetrically. It requires a push on one and a pull on the other. This could be achieved with one lever and another gear between rack rods. However, to avoid the complication and with fear of  mechanical tolerance problems I decided to drive the racks independently.

The rods are quite long, longer than the print bed of my FDM 3D printer which is why extension rods are used. 

Rack travel is limited in one direction by the protrusion on the racks that hit the frame and in the other direction by the rod couplings hitting brackets.

If this was ever embedded in a layout the rods would need to be controlled at the front or rear rather than the side needing a sliding mechanism instead of push pull.

 

This photo shows the size of the diorama and the level crossing location. I have used masking tape flags to represent the gates for testing purposes and yes the method does work.

To Part 2.

 

Third Time Lucky? - Battledown Flyover #4

The Flyover is assembled and installed.

It looks the part but is not perfect. There is some distortion evident that may not be noticed by onlookers, including a bit of droop in parts of the handrails.

My verdict on Anycubic Water Washable ABS Like 3.0 Resin is that it is a bit of a stretch to liken it to ABS plastic. Real ABS is much tougher. This resin will take gentle knocks due it its mild pliability but will not withstand a severe knock.

I heard somewhere that whatever the brand of resin it is all made in the same factory or two in China. I tend to believe this because of similarities between resin performance in use. Take the Nova3D Water Washable Mecha Resin which is extremely pliable yet unstable in my model form. It seems whatever chemical is included in its formula that gives it immense pliability is diluted in the Anycubic resin thus giving some stability of form in my model. 

My preference for water washable resin may be a limiting factor in performance. If my model deteriorates over time I'll not be making another.

Note: These resins may be highly suited to other model forms.

Now, see that strange wagon in the bridge photo above. It is my designed model of a 1960s Matisa 3B5 ballast cleaning machine. It is another 3D printed wonder. This is what it looked like having hit a concrete floor when I accidently knocked it off the layout.

It was made using Anycubic Water Washable Resin +. The most brittle resin I have used to date. Surprisingly, some parts were salvageable including the cabin and these joined the newly printed parts made with the ABS like resin.

In a way it is just as well the accident occurred because the long chassis had developed a noticeable droop in the middle. 

The opportunity was taken to revisit the design. Connecting the end decks were two parallel resin beams. I replaced these with rectangular brass tube for strength. The bogies, which were originally printed in PLA plastic on an FDM printer also broke (long story - don't ask). These were remade in resin after installing prototypical rivets in the design.

It was a delight to watch this unique train run around the layout.

END

To Part 1.

To my experience with Nova3D Water Washable Mecha Resin.

In the beginning.

Third Time Lucky? - Battledown Flyover #3

These five parts join together to make the bridge deck. It is nearly one metre long. Longer than the sides because the bridge is skewed. 

All but the smallest exhibit a small bow which can be manipulated straight due to the pliability of the resin. Once the sides are glued to the deck I expect the bows to be eliminated.

A couple of printing errors manifested. One was a delamination of print layers, simply due to insufficient support structures. The affected parts will not be reprinted as the fault is not too noticeable.

The other is a little odd. A rippling warp of a girder web. Odd because it only affected one girder on this part.

Earlier I said that in the design I had increased plate thickness to 0.5 mm. In fact I only did this to the sides of the bridge, not the deck because I could not be bothered and accepted the risk.

Fortunately this piece is hidden in the bridge embankment so can be left as is. Having seen this fault though the design of the centre pieces that are visible were increased in thickness before they were printed and they printed perfectly. This proves to my mind that 0.5mm plate thickness is acceptable when using this Anycubic water washable ABS like 3.0 resin.

To Part 4.

To Part 1.

Third Time Lucky? - Battledown Flyover #2

Here are the parts that make up one side of the bridge, except the three girders at the top span both sides.

So far there have been no breaks or warp using the Anycubic Water Washable ABS Like V3.0 resin. I am particularly pleased that the thin handrails have held their form (1mm diameter) although time will tell if they droop due to gravity like the other resin fabrication did.

Another nice aspect is that the print time is about half that of the other resins I used before. 

The next photo is to show off the rivet detail achievable with this technology. Each rivet is 0.5mm diameter.

The assembled side ready for painting. It is just over half a metre long.

To Part 3.

To Part 1.

Third Time Lucky? - Battledown Flyover

Anycubic Water Washable Resin +

My first attempt at Resin 3D printing this bridge using Anycubic Water Washable Resin + resulted in a very brittle structure that broke apart with the slightest knock.

My second attempt used Nova3D Water Washable Mecha Resin, chosen for its pliablity. Firstly, out of the printer it took on a life of its own warping dramatically. I was able to force it back into shape before curing and after that it seemed to hold its form.

After a winter in the garage though I was confronted with this.

Nova 3D Washable Mecha Resin

It had done its warping trick again!

Now, I know I am pushing the technology because there is a lot of long thin plate sections in the bridge design. 3D resin technology is noted for having difficulty with that.

I reworked the design to increase the thickness of plates from 0.33mm to 0.5mm. This may still be too thin. 0.7mm may be adequate but that would not look right in 4mm scale.

I have now chosen Anycubic Water Washable ABS Like 3.0. It is purported to be tough yet still pliable, not as much as the Nova3D, which is very bendy. The first issue I had with the ABS Like resin is that there is no published resin settings that I could find for my Creality Halot Mage 8k printer. That is because the resin is a relatively new product, I believe.

Google AI gave some recommendations, which seem to be the Anycubic resin parameters for their range of printers. I used these and ran a test print using the 'resin xp2 validation' model, which failed badly. I then found compatible settings for the previous Anycubic ABS Like resin (V2) and that gave a good, slightly under exposed, test result. I tweaked the burn time up to 3.5 seconds and test printed again with little difference. Anyway, I decided to stick with this and printed a component for the bridge.

Anycubic Water Washable ABS Like 3.0

The result is encouraging. There was no warp and after curing it held its shape and felt tough with a little pliability. There is some excess resin laid down at the join between crosses and side panels but it is insignificant so, no worries. I'll continue printing more bridge parts and see how it goes.

The reason I want to resin print the bridge is for the high level of detail that the technology provides. There are thousands of rivets in the bridge design that need to be modelled for authenticity. If the bridge fails again then I'll probably scrap this location for a different scene.

To Part 2.

Basingstoke MRS Expo 2026 Review

Our annual visit to this show. About 47 layouts and traders to peruse. Traders impressed having bountiful  stock of new and preloved items.  I came away with a brake van and brass tube!

Having been spoilt by the massive Southampton show recently, few layouts appealed at this one.

Here are my top three.

ESSEX BRICK (00)

I choose this crowded scene not so much for the subject or era but for the sheer complexity and heavy dependence on technology that was used to create it.

There is much animation of cranes, boats and trains controlled by computer and electronics. Nearly everything is made using 3D resin printing and it took 3 years to build.

This layout is one of at least four on show that featured a harbour or dock scene, each with as many boats as trains! 

This is a look behind the scenes at the electronics.

The builder has taken railway modelling to another level!

NEWTON HEATH WORKS (7mm scale)

Based on  the ball clay industry on The Isle of Purbeck in the county of Dorset. Fronting this cameo layout is standard gauge track and at the back on higher land is narrow gauge.

The layout is very small for 7mm scale and questions its operating potential. That is solved by the narrow gauge workings where loaded balls of clay are unloaded into standard gauge wagons at the flick of a switch.

I was also told that loaded narrow gauge wagons entering the warehouse come out unloaded!

A small layout such as this lends itself to detailed modelling. Looking closely at the engine shed at the rear and a clutter of internal artefacts are seen, though not visible in this photo.

FAIRWOOD JUNCTION Westbury (00) 15 feet long

Somewhat surprised I offer this as my 'Best in Show'. Surprised because there is no station, no goods yard, no town and its modern image! (my era of choice is 1960s steam)

It is just a four track railway in open countryside. It is closely modelled on a prototype, which is my preference. Even the backscenes are photographs of the real location. The landscaping is attractive and very well modelled.

This is one for the train spotters

Southampton Model Railway Exhibition 2026 Review

On recommendation I visited this show for the first time. 

Visiting on a Sunday to avoid the Saturday crowds and lack of car parking space I was somewhat taken aback by the size of the show and its popularity. Nearly 70 exhibits comprising layouts and traders spread over 9 rooms plus corridors of a sixth form college in Eastleigh. Much to my surprise the rooms were packed with visitors. I dread to think how busy it was on the Saturday. Catering facilities were beyond expectation being an onsite professional cafeteria.

The only downside of the venue is limited parking on site (but ample street parking nearby) and the rabbit warren of exhibition rooms typical of all school venues.

In these reviews I usually state my personal 'best layout in show'. Impossible to do this time as the standard of modelling across the board was the best I have ever witnessed making me question my own efforts.

Here are a few that struck a chord.

WANTAGE TRAMWAY (P4)

A model of the prototype set in the 1920s. I was drawn to this layout by the plethora of exquisitely modelled buildings at the town end of the scene.

THE PARLOUR RAILWAY (0)

Unlike anything I have seen before. An imposing scene that goes beyond the track. The rolling stock  is a mix of GWR broad and standard gauge and the track simply arranged end to end with automated train journeys. The layout baseboard, if you can call it that, is more a piece of Edwardian furniture, built from mahogany wood. Lighting and other furniture, furnishings and ornaments supporting the layout all reflect the Edwardian era of the early 20th century.

COLLEGE HALT (00)

This is one of several small layouts that appealed. It is always interesting and motivational to see what can be achieved in a small space. Based on a real place this layout was constructed by students of Uckfield college under guidance of Uckfield Model Railway Club members. Of particular note was the depth of field achieved and the exit points at each end hidden behind the facia and foreground scenery.

RATHMELTON (0n3)

Another small layout, this time based on Irish railway practice. It is 7mm scale with 3 foot gauge track, necessitating all to be hand built. The low relief buildings and integration with the backscene is very well done, having following Ian Rice practise.

Another notable small layout was EXPRESS DAIRY SIDINGS (EM). An inglenook 'game' nicely 'scenicified'. I failed to take a picture. Some here for you.

And the list could go on.

I was impressed with the trade stands. Seen for the first time was Langley Models who presented far more products than what I knew them for. Prices of second hand rolling stock and accessories were reasonable and inexpensive compared to new. No one need complain about the cost of the hobby if they choose to buy preloved items. The range available was vast and a credit to traders in this area. I was on the lookout for a Gaugemaster  Combi controller and bought a new one at a considerable discount on the RRP.