Finney7

Osgood

Western Thunderer
And once the original range is redeveloped - the possibility of a range of smaller kits but still in 7mm (like a Simplex shunter, an 0-4-0 Deeley tank maybe or whatever takes the group's fancy)?

MiniFinney7.



Smiley taxi.gif
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
I was wondering who the 7th member of the Finney gang was. Six names had been revealed but not number 7. And now the mystery has been spoiled, it seems the 7 is just meant to refer to the scale of the models. How prosaic.
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
Dikitriki's 3d tender frame
Sorry but I'm the guilty party. It's not quite a press announcement more an off the record briefing as used by governments world wide. And yes, we are thinking 1:32 rather than 10mm to the foot.
Simon
PS This isn't a press announcement either.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Is this the press announcement for a new 1:32 West Country pacific? Or was Dikitriki's 3d tender frame the announcement? Hopefully it will be designed for scale frames and wheels to keep Simon C happy.
We just thought it might be of interest to some to show some new things we are considering.

It's all proof of concept at the moment, you often hear requests for scaling up etches, and you often hear replies of how hard it is, so, we (more I to begin with) decided to just see how hard it is.

We already have the 7mm etches so the idea is to see if they can be scaled up, but they must be accurate, take into consideration material thickness and other general unknown areas that may crop up.

The Battle of Britain was chosen for two reasons, I want one ;) and of the range it's simplest engine to build, it is after all, basically a brick :thumbs:

The first hurdle with the 7mm kit is that there are three cab variants and to save material space the original has parts for each cab dotted all over different etches, it's very efficient in that it condenses the etches which reduces costs, however if you want to test build just one complete cab you end up scaling up over five sheets, printing them off and then only using about 20% of the sum. That's working harder not smarter, it's also darned expensive :cool:

So, with a couple of days work I lifted all of the parts required to make up one complete cab, laid them all out onto a test etch and sent it off.

One of the first things we came across with scaling up was the actual sheet sizes, PPD minimum size is 12" on one edge, if you scale one cab sheet up it comes to about 9" by 14", length is no problem. This means that you're paying for a strip 14" x 3" of metal that is pure waste, you can't add another sheet on top as that'll make it 18" x 14" which PPD cannot use.

Fortunately, Martins method of laying parts out in sub blocks makes moving them around very easy on the art work, thus with a bit of effort you can end up with sheet sizes that maximise your cost benefits.

In short the one cab test sheet ends up at 12" x 8" even though you can quite clearly see it's not optimized for space at all. There are some areas where I'm winging it with tabs and layout spacing, the same method worked fine for the W1 but it may not for 1:32. Though the material is thicker so that should compensate, but that's what test etches are all about :thumbs:

If the cab builds up fine or requires just a few tweaks I'll run on with the rest of the etched parts, the body format is as yet undecided, it could be a full resin block, or full etch, in 1:32 it's easier to handle large areas like that and form some of the shapes, or it may be etched sides and front and a resin roof block. However, the test build will be an all nickle silver master and from that we can decide which bits we cast from for resin.

Regarding frames, yes, scale width, that's one of the immediate benefits of 1:32, no messing with S7 of OF spacers and other gauge crap, which for a developer is a huge slice of workload removed, also bear in mind that the Bulleids were already narrow framed so we will develop to that frame width.

As Simon seez, it's not a press release, it's more like, here's something were experimenting with and we thought you'd like to follow along and see how it progresses.

From the feed back we got at Doncaster over the W1 thread, there does seem to be an interest in how things are developed, what went wrong and what worked, tools and techniques used. We hope you enjoy the journey as much as we will.

Mick D
 
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SimonT

Western Thunderer
I'll follow Mick's lead and provide a little more information.

The only 7mm patterns that are missing from the set we inherited from Martin are for the axlebox and springs for the two tenders. We do have Martin's excellent 2D drawings and also photos and details taken by some of our number of various preserved prototypes. All this information was used to produce two more detailed 3D models in Rhino 5, the application I use for 3D design. I sent the 3D pdfs out to the other members of F7 for them to look at and feed back comment. From this we arrived at two accurate models to use as masters, once 3D printed. I printed a prototype on my machine but for the masters we will commission prints from an agency who have a £100 000 printer which will print perfect dimensionally accurate models which will need no further finishing.

For the 1:32 models I simply applied a 3D Scale operation to the existing models, an operation that took all of 30 seconds, and then printed the three models on my machine. Scaling up is a relatively safe operation but scaling down runs the risk of thicknesses becoming too thin and needs to be approached with care. This 1:32 work is again proof of concept and I intend to take the piece to Larkrail to discuss things Gauge 1 with those who are far more knowledgeable about it. The prints will also appear at Telford.

I hope this is of interest to you.
Simon
 

queensquare

Western Thunderer
How about going the other way and doing a test etch in 2mm. I'd love to have a go at putting one together, not massively bothered which, to see how they translate. No need to worry about castings and stuff, in 2mm we are used to building locos from reductions of artwork from the bigger scales and sourcing/making our own castings. there is usually a bit of fettling to be done but reductions from the better kits usually need surprisingly little.
Mike Edge will reduce any of his down to 2mm, etchings only, on request, and they go together well.

Jerry
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi,

Just to let you know, we will have limited numbers of the M7, Adams Radial and T3 and tender available for Telford. If you wish to reserve one, contact me through the Finney7 web site or by PM.

The Princess Coronation (Duchess) and Bulleid Light Pacific are due (hopefully) by November, and we will then turn our attention to the LNER part of the range, and the Broad Gauge Rover. We also propose making the Rover tender available as a separate kit.

We have updated the web site and added the M7 instructions as a pdf. Do have a look at the new instructions in the Finney7 house style, a lot of work has gone into them.

Richard
 
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