3D printed G-scale traffic signs

I love adding details to my garden layout. I have a long backlog of items which should - at some point - become part of my miniature world. But my time is of course limited, so I have to take it slowly, step by step...

I'm now in the process of adding traffic signs to my little town. This should make my roads much more life-like. The signs will definitely add colors and detail to the urban landscape. And of course they should decrease the number of road accidents my G-scale minions cause every day, too :)

The idea started with the single railway sign visible below. The plastic plate and the post are just spare parts I had left from one of the building kits. I did not know what to do with them, so I printed a sticker and applied it to the element. I was very surprised to see, that this combination had proven to be very weather resistant. The model kept its good appearance even after staying outside for almost two years.

And so I decided to print some traffic signs. I used the same synthetic non-paper self-adhesive sheets as before. These are made by a Czech company called Rayfilm. They're not completely UV resistant and their colors fade when continuously exposed to the sun. But they can definitely survive rain, snow and a wide range of temperatures.

In the next step I designed a collection of 3D models. That was very easy to do, since the traffic signs consist of cylinders, rectangles and triangles only. My previous experience with the Blender software allowed me to finish the work in just one evening.

My Anet 3D printer was used for production of the actual physical parts. Here's the very first sample I created. Since the model was simple, the printing process was a breeze.

The collection shown below took an entire day to manufacture. But that is actually all I need for my not-so-large layout.

Once I added the stickers, the signs turned beautiful right away. I fell in love with them at first sight.

Now even the first-time G-scale visitors know very well they need to reduce the speed when entering the town limits. That is assuming they pay attention to the signs, and not to the sexy hitchhiker across the street.

In the spirit of sharing, I have released my models into the Thingiverse repository. Feel free to give them a try: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2909330. If you're missing any particular sign type, please do let me know, as I might be able to create an extra piece pretty easily.

Piko V36: DCC decoder and sound module installation

My large scale locomotive fleet is growing at a steady pace. This year it was expanded by two new models, one of which is Piko V36 engine. And since I'm running all my trains under DCC protocol, the time has come to upgrade that little diesel, too.

So today I'm adding two pieces of electronics to the locomotive:

• Piko 36122 DCC decoder
• Piko 36224 sound module

These are separate products but they both come in identical looking boxes.

Piko 36122 decoder is medium-sized PCB with plenty of connectors. The package includes a manual, a wiring diagram and four screws.

Piko 36224 module is a really tiny circuit board with a pretty big loudspeaker attached. The latter will be secured with the two provided screws. We also receive assembly instructions sheet and a leaflet with detailed description of the module's audio functions.

But first we need to open the locomotive. Luckily the guide that came with the engine is very clear about how it should be done.

The same manual covers digital upgrade procedure, too. It's pretty much the same information as the one we got with the sound module. Looks good overall, but unfortunately it does not really show where to attach the smaller PCB inside the model. More on this later...

Let's open the locomotive already. Step one - remove the eight screws accessible from the bottom side.

Step two - pull out the buffers. Once that is done, the entire green cover can be lifted easily.

While separating the body parts, one has to pay attention to the lighting cables. There are two of those inside the engine - one for the back and cabin light, and one for the top front lamp. Unfortunately the latter would not disconnect for me easily. It was stuck so badly that instead of pulling out only the plug, I have accidentally removed the entire socket from the PCB. Luckily this is really not a serious damage.

The back of the model contains analogue control circuitry. That part needs to removed...

...and replaced with the decoder. It fits perfectly.

The loudspeaker goes in the front and the two screws hold it very well in its dedicated space.

Wiring is a slightly different topic. Provided diagrams do not really cover the V36 model. So in the end, the installation does require some understanding of the connections. It's not rocket science though and it takes a maximum of 15 minutes.

One thing to consider is that the "cabin light" feature is assigned to DCC function 6 by default. So to ensure that it all "just works", we should be attaching the respective cable to decoder's output A6. That's exactly what I chose to do.

Once wired, it's possible to perform the very first test. At this point I got very pleasantly surprised, since everything worked right away without any issues :)

There's a tiny challenge with placing the sound module inside the locomotive. There seems to be no dedicated space for it. I thought the area in the front would be a nice spot and I attached the board there. I also secured all the wires with extra insulation tape.

Turns out this location is not good at all, as I could not close the model anymore. The small PCB was getting in the way. So I moved it a little to the back and pushed it into the little opening. I again secured the wires with more tape. This time I was able to seal the body without any effort.

The conversion was successful, so it's time for a little demo. The sound the model produces is rather loud. It's actually so loud that I had to lower the volume a little in the recorded video. This way it should not blow your ears anymore. Enjoy!

Works great in my opinion! I'm very, very happy with the result. My large scale Taurus is next!

Revell 05213, 1:144 scale Fairplay tugboat

Today's post is not going to be related to trains at all. I'm going to write about my work on a model of a boat. I got the kit as a Christmas gift over five months ago. No, it was not put on a shelf and forgotten. It was being worked on all this time...

The product I'm describing is Fairplay tugboat set produced by the very well known Revell company. The reason I picked this particular item is because it's in 1:144 scale. And that means it should fit an N-scale train layout very nicely.

Here's what the article looks like before unboxing...

The product is a set that includes not only the model itself but also four small canisters with acrylic paints in relevant colors, a brush and a bottle of glue.

Most of the parts are white. So unless we want to model some sort of a "ghost ship", painting is mandatory.

Very few elements are transparent. Surprisingly - those are not just windows, but also some walls. That again underlines the importance of adding some colors.

The manual is very detailed. That's something I appreciate a lot, since the build is a complex one. A sheet of decals is included, too. It allows branding the model as one of the three selected Fairplay boats.

I did not document the entire process of assembling the ship. The reason why I decided to skip it, is because it literally took months. Painting the small parts in advance, waiting for them to dry, then painting them again, waiting once more, and then either finally gluing them or.... painting them for the third time. The build was a long one and with the time I had available, it spread over a period of four months. But it's over now - the model is ready!

I'm very happy with how it looks from a distance. Of course if we take a closer look at some details, we will quickly realize it's not perfect at all. Especially the way I applied paints in some places is not something I'm extremely proud of. But it was not easy, definitely not easy at all for a person who doesn't do this kind of modeling on daily basis. Still - let's see some close-ups.


I've obtained the model with an idea of using it on an N-scale train layout. I still believe this is perfectly doable. However, two aspects have to be considered:

• Most of the bottom part of the boat will need to be removed. Unless the layout is "deep" - and mine is not - this will be the only way to make the model look like it's floating on water.
• The model is big. This is not a row-boat that fits two passengers. This is a real ship that will require a vast water surface to look good. To give you a better idea of how big it is, here it is placed next to an N-scale passenger car.

Building this model was a lengthy and demanding job. I'm pretty happy with the outcome though. Revell's product definitely met my expectations. It delivered many evenings of relax and satisfaction mixed with moments of anger and self-doubt. For me those are exactly the emotions we expect when approaching a new modeling project. And now I feel accomplished...