Manchester Model Railway Show 2023
Another turnout of great layouts. I hope I’ve caught all of them in this video.
Bonus- look out for the Spinneyworld product found on one of the layouts (I’m not subtle.)
Model Railway Products
Buy my benches
1:76th Park Bench 4 simple modern park benches. Each has a mounting peg in one leg to secure them to baseboard.
This is a test of embedding buy buttons for Shapeways printed items.
Spinneyhead Christmas gifts for the railway modeller
If you’re looking for a gift for the railway modeller in your life then I may have just the things for you.
Check the Model Railway Products category for transfers and one offs for OO gauge layouts, all of which will be dispatched quickly and in plain wrapping so you can sneak them past the person they’re for.
I also have a lot of products available through 3D printing service Shapeways. Of particular interest to your railway modelling friend or relative will be the OO gauge section of the shop. All prices include VAT and delivery (there may be some differences outside the EU). Shapeways estimate a ten day delivery time for their products, though my most recent order arrived in less than that.
White vans, man. Transfers for OO light commercial vehicles
There are quite a few 1:76th scale vans available for the railway modeller these days. But do you want the ones on your layout to have the same business names as everyone else’s?
This set of six liveries is available for smaller vans- as shown on the Escort van, but they should also fit Vivas and other little vans- or Transit size. Alternatively, I can create bespoke transfers for six different companies on your layout. The basic set costs £2.50, custom sets are £20.
New Spinneyworld product – Graffiti transfers
Love it or hate it, graffiti is everywhere. So any modern image layout would be incomplete without some.
Stencil art is a recent innovation in graffiti, using templates cut out of card to give sharp edges and repeatable icons. This set contains 13 stencil designs, each one repeated 12 times so the taggers can leave them all over town. They’re printed on clear transfer paper so they can be laid over any background. They will suit OO gauge as large stencils or O as smaller ones.
1:76th Rover 100 banger
This was the project I set myself after watching all those banger racing videos on Tuesday. Build an old school banger to sit in a corner of some model railway layout just waiting to go out in metal rending glory.
This is what I started with. A 1:76th (OO) Rover 100 by Base-Toys. Their not the most detailed models out there, but the Base-Toys vehicles have the advantage of being held together with screws rather than rivets. This makes taking them apart to work on so much easier. Oxford Diecasts do this as well, and the Corgi Trackside cars I picked up this week, it makes modding them so much easier.
See what I mean.
The first job was the interior. Like any racing car the Rover would have had its interior stripped out and a roll cage added. Seats were removed with a saw, though the driver’s was glued back in after having masking tape seatbelts added. In future I’ll use a Sharpie to make the tape black before doing this. The roll cage was made from solder, bent to shape and super-glued down. After this picture was taken I added some more detail, a gear lever and fire extinguisher. Looking at my pictures from the banger racing I should have added a fuel tank. Another thing to remember for next time.
Before painting I took my rotary tool to the body to remove details like the radiator grille and door handles and also to gouge a few dents and pre-existing bangs. I forgot to take a picture before painting the body. Citadel foundation colours were used, red and blue, whilst the wheels got some matt black.
My small selection of transfers supplied variations on number 32, so that’s what the car became.
Ready to rumble. One day I may make a whole race meeting worth of bangers, but for now this one can be yours.
OO Gauge fast food shop signs
Shop signs for fast food joints – Bill’s Plaice, Capricorn Fast Food, Pizza Italia and Kebabylon- printed on matt photo paper for a crisp image or peelable label sheet for ease of mounting. £2.50 plus postage.
OO gauge number plate transfers.
These sheets of transfers have number plates for 160 vehicles on them. Even better, you can specify where in the UK you want them to be for. Tell me the area your layout is in, or specify two two letter area codes (AO and RM are Cumbrian, for instance), and I will customise the sheet to suit. For the 1963-72 plates you’ll also need to specify the letter suffix for the year. Each sheet costs £5 plus postage.
Gimme Shelter. New 3d printable products
Mondays are my designated 3d designing days, though for the last couple of weeks I’ve been struggling up the steep initial learning curve of Blender. I’ve reached a level where I can create what I want using boolean operations such as union, though that doesn’t always produce printable objects. I have an extra day to dedicate to 3d this week, so I’ll see if I can move on to sculpting rather than gluing.
This Monday I made three bus shelters, which are available from my Shapeways shop–
The small shelter without an advertising box comes in a four pack. It needs painting and glazing- acetate should glue easily to the backs of the supports. I may design a map/timetable transfer to go on the incorporated board.
The small shelter with an advertising box comes in a two pack. I may design advert transfers for it, in the meantime you can always print out your own to fit. Again, it will need painting and glazing.
The large shelter is available singly or in a two pack. It’s cheaper per unit in the two pack, but you may need just the one for the stop right outside your station. Painting and glazing required, of course.
I’m going to take a break from model railway stuff for a week or so to build wargaming bits to be sold at the upcoming Gamecon in Manchester.
OO modern street furniture through Shapeways
The plan is to produce a few simple models every week and build up a wide range of street furniture for model railway builders. I’ll be ordering copies of my own products, some of which will go to magazines for promotion and some I will build myself and record here. In fact the first batch should print and ship this week, so next week I’ll be painting bins.
Today and yesterday I designed and uploaded some benches-
The cantilever bench comes as a set of five, the other two as sets of four. The price will depend upon which material you use, but includes taxes and shipping charges. There’s a minimum order of $25. None of the models will exceed that individually, but the idea is for you to be able to pick and choose street furniture until you’ve got enough, with enough variety, for your layout.
The benches, and the bins I designed last week, are available from my Shapeways shop.
Modern image model railway street furniture by 3d printing
I have recently started uploading 3d models to a site called Shapeways, where you can order them and get solid copies. The 3d printing process allows for some fine detailing, so I’ll be taking advantage of that. Currently available in my Shapeways shop are a few items of street furniture, and a casket for hearses or graveside scenes. I shall be adding more on a weekly basis (though that may become fortnightly as the models become more complex) with enough variety that it will be easy to uniquely decorate your town.
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