3D printed G-Scale dumpsters

I use my 3D printer almost daily. And almost every day I manage to make something useful. I don't blog about every single success as that would require an enormous amount of my time. This time however I ran into such a fine model, I've decided to share the outcome.

The item I'm describing is a replica of a modern dumpster and it can be downloaded on Thingiverse. Once printed and assembled (and decorated with a sticker), it looks really, really nice for a home-made model.

I've decided to produce two pieces - a yellow one and a green one. This required printing 30 elements and the entire process took around 8 hours.

The components did not fit perfectly. This is not Faller or Preiser. But with some effort, I've managed to glue them really nicely.

With just a small local accent - a poster about recycling - the model was ready for display.

The covers even open and close!

 Those look great and the best thing is they cost me almost nothing!

Building a tunnel for my garden layout - step one

My garden layout is 100% flat. This is partly by choice but mostly due to its small size which does not allow any real elevation for the track. I wanted to introduce some variety to the landscape and decided to build a mountain with a tunnel going through it.

In my first attempt I went for a wooden structure. It did not look bad at first and I seemed to have a pretty good plan on how to turn it into something interesting.

Unfortunately the walls made of planks did not take the winter very well. It was mostly my fault and I know I could have done a better job building the tunnel. But it still proved wood might not have been the best choice for creating a hill.

So I tore it down and decided to try something more ambitious. My choice this time were lighweight concrete blocks. With absolutely no bricklaying experience it was a challenge and my first prototype fell apart immediately. But on the second try I've actually managed to build something.

Once I added a roof the simple rectangular structure became a tunnel. And it felt like a solid one!

It's of course far, far from being what I really want to achieve. But it seems like a reasonable start. With some reshaping and some extra elements like:

• a tunnel entrance
• an artifcial grass
• rocks covered sides
• a chapel building on top
• etc.

it might actually look nice in the future. I believe I have a plan. Let's see where it takes me...

Piko 37727, G-scale container car

Another great discount at the MSL store and another nice addition to my G-scale rolling stock fleet. This time it's a container car manufactured by PIKO. Its catalog number is 37727 and it comes in a packaging I'm already used to.

It's a regular model, so there's not very much inside the box. Upon lifting the lid, we just get a very good view of the railcar itself.

This is the complete content. The only extras are the optional narrow gauge buffers and some details which require manual installation.

The container is removable which is a nice feature. It's securely held by four latches but it takes just a short moment to take it off with a properly sized screwdriver.

Let's see some photos...

There isn't much to say about the model. It's a regular PIKO car built on top of a regular PIKO base. The product feels sturdy and makes a very good overall impression. The painting is crisp with nice colors. Certainly a good extension of my European freight train and a very good value for the (reduced) price.

Piko 62050, G-Scale family house

The town on my garden layout is constantly growing. After the first settlers moved into my Pola G house, the time has come to give Piko building a try. For this reason I've obtained model 62050 described as "Dr Koenig's house". It arrived in a box of an identical size to the Pola G product.

The box says "Authentic Edition" - I wonder what it could mean? It's also pretty heavy (~3.5kg) but not as heavy as the Pola G product (almost 5kg).

Opening the box reveals the usual content. Lots of carefully packaged parts and a significant amount of protective paper. Unboxing experience for train model products is usually a huge pleasure for me. This is definitely the case here.

A manual, a bag of flora foam, window decorations, stickers, a sheet of window foil, a plastic base for stickers and a glue! Yes, we get some glue with the set. And that's not just "some", that's whole three tubes!

The main building parts are not as impressively thick as they were in case of the Pola G model. They feel very sturdy, too, though. And I expect they'll perform very well outside.

There's a lot of white parts included. The building is supposed to be mainly white after all (and the previously shown wall elements are brown).

Details parts. Roof tiling, facade bricks, a chimney.

Step one - the walls. White parts are added on top of the brown background. Looks nice right away :)

Step two - and it's almost a house already. My experience tells me never to delay the roof installation as it makes the model much more rigid immediately.

Step three - the details. And the building is almost complete.

Now, I've noticed two issues with this house:

• Issue #1 - the ground floor of the house is symmetrical. And that means: we have two identical doors with two identical lanterns and two identical mail boxes. I've never seen a house with two front doors, so it does not look natural.
• Issue #2 - Piko did not provide enough window boxes. I agree, not every window needs to have one but I'd like to be able to decide it by myself. Instead Piko decided for me.

To solve those two issues, I've come up with an idea of 3D printing my own details. And so additional flower boxes and flower pots were created. I'm going to install them to customize the house a little bit.

Voila, the final result. As always - with Polish-themed stickers.

The house is absolutely beautiful. I really, really love it. The white walls featuring the contrasting wooden beams are just amazing. I definitely wouldn't mind living in this kind of residence myself!

The build was a lot of fun. The parts fit perfectly. I obviously ran out of the provided glue, but I'm not surprised by that fact at all. The door unfortunately open to the inside meaning I'll have a hard time closing them when they do. But that's OK and I'm pretty sure I could have prevented that during the assembly.

Let's see how the building works with interior lighting. Two 5mm LEDs were installed inside. No changes were made to the model's structure. Result? No weak spots. The white doors are a little "leaky" but other than that - it worked perfectly out of the box. Much better than the Pola G model.

What can I say? The model is not cheap. It's almost 150 Euro. But it adds so much to the layout, I would risk a statement it is worth this kind of money. I love the house's look and the quality of the product is great. I did not like the symmetricity, and the double front door in particular. But all in all, it's a fantastic house replica and I imagine everyone should be happy with this purchase.