3D printed 4 wheel LSWR coaches.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a post on the O Gauge model railway group on F/B from a chap named Keith Fothergill for his son Williams 3d printed LSWR 4 wheel coaches. In the photos they looked really good and at £45 a pop I thought they were worth a punt. They arrived yesterday, via my neighbor as they had got my house number wrong, at first inspection they are a good crisp print, very slight layering but not enough to cause a problem. I may replace some of the parts with better looking parts like sprung buffers, we will see.
Keith Fothergill is the proprietor of Mannin Models, O16.5 Manx narrow gauge kits and it looks like the son William is following in dads footsteps.
Anyway some photos of what I have bought.
1st 3rd and Brake 3rd coaches. The bodies are printed sides ends and sole bars with the roof a separate print.
1st.

3rd.

Brake 3rd.
All 3rd with roof off.

The floors are laser cut ply plus laser cut window glazing and brass wire.

Comprehensive instructions on about 7 pages.

Seating and detail parts.


And dads business flyer.


Having read through the instructions, I may go my own way on some of the build, I'm not keen on his advice to fit the wheels and suspension after painting as he suggests the wheels may not sit square so I'm looking at fitting a 3 point rocking suspension of my own design. Anyway we will see.

Cheers, Pete.

 

There is a slight warping on the sole bars on one coach. It won't be a problem as the axles will be in rocking cradles at one end and a fixed cradle at t'other end.

Pete.

 

Haven't a clue Col, if you do Farcebook, check out Mannin Models, it's his dads site, there's probably more info on there.

Cheers, Pete.

 

Sorry I didn't reply earlier Gormo, the reason is if you try fitting the wheels after assembly and painting using their build method is probably the axle guards and springs would snap off.

Totally agree Paul, if buying products from small suppliers encourages other small manufacturers to sell us stuff then I'm all for it. I did make a suggestion to them that a GER coach or two would be nice, not heard owt though .

Pete.

 

Yup thems the ones. I reckon he's decided he hasn't priced them right when he first started selling them as the uptake has been strong and him and his dad are working flat out to fill orders, but at £50 they are still reasonably priced.

I've ordered some turned brass and steel buffers from Roxey Mouldings, not cheap but they look well, at £14 per set it's costing (with p&p) nearly as much as a coach. They're on there way and as soon as they arrive I will make a start.

Cheers, Pete.