As probably my last 3D experiment for the next few months, I tried to come up with a simple 3D-printed working semaphore signal for OO scale. 

...I think I may have gone a little overboard.

This design is available for download from Thingiverse.

A project I have been meaning to tackle for a while.  I have quite a few old Farish suburban coaches stored away, and wanted to convert some of them to have clerestory roofs.

These roofs are simple drop-in replacements for the originals, and are available on Thingiverse.  I want to see how a full rake looks when painted!

My first 3D printing experiment was a generic footbridge builder for T gauge.  This is a cleaned-up version of that design  with some extra detail N. There are 3 slightly different variants up on Thingiverse, which can be cut-and-pasted into many different configurations.

My first attempt at an N scale wagon - the distinctive GWR Cordon DD4.  This gas tanker was used back in the days of gas lighting in passenger carriages.  Most railway companies used a different design with two longitudinal tanks, but the GWR had to be different (although they did adopt the other type as the DD5).

The body is glued on top of a Peco 10' brake chassis.  It has its undercoat, but final painting is still to be done.

The model is available to download and print on Thingiverse - search for "GWR Cordon".

A centerpiece of the new Blea Moor layout is a T gauge model of Ribblehead viaduct.  This is a 3D printed model, 0.9m in length, designed in pieces using OpenSCAD.  While not totally accurate, it does capture most of the prototype's distinctive features. 

It turns out to be extremely simple to convert UK terrain elevation data to a complete 3D printable model of a 1km x 1km square using OpenSCAD.  Both the software and the elevation data are available for free download. 

After a few more experiments, it turns out to be very easy to convert this free data to a 3d printable terrain model, as well as to cutout diagrams for foam sheets representing selected contours for scenery construction. 

One challenge With a layout like Blea Moor is getting the very well-known  terrain just right.  Contour maps are the obvious source of data, but there is a UK government website with free-to-download 1m and 2m resolution aerial LIDAR (laser-radar) data covering much of the UK. 

The picture shows the north end of the Ribblehead viaduct approaching Blea Moor, plotted in Excel. 

This has potential, so more to come!

https://environment.data.gov.uk/ds/survey/index.jsp#/survey

The baseboards for Blea Moor have now been built, as an arc of 4 boards following the 1-mile radius curve of the track in this area.  Viewing is from the outside of the curve, with an outside length of 6.5m or 21.5 feet.

Most of the trains on Sarum Bridge were 3D printed models, bought from Shapeways.com from other modeller's designs, and have served their purpose well.  The buildings on that layout are just simple printed paper designs wrapped around wooden shapes, with styrene L-girders and strips to provide some essential roof detail, and are not really satisfactory. 

It was plain that any future modelling efforts would require extensive use of 3D printing, and to my own designs....