Supermarket Railways Points Conceal (3D Printing)
As I start to build the scenery for my model railway, I try to conceal various bits of the workings. The passing contact switches used for point switching, along with the connections and CDU were particularly unsightly, so I decided to cover this with a bespoke building.



(probably do something else for the power leads later)

The design was fairly tricky because I have learnt that it's worth using more than one piece to make it easier to paint. Ensuring that the bits fit together easily adds to the design time, but it is very satisfying in the end.



I like to share my designs, so I designed two alternative roof options. The middle section has a cutout that fits snugly around the 10 passing contact switches.

I also wanted the two roof sections to self-locate to the walls, so these overlap the roof stiffeners at either end.



My printer bed isn't quite large enough to print the walls in one piece but it's easy to include slotted connections halfway along to aid glueing.

Here's the store as-printed (apart from a little paint on the optional Tesco logo):



and after painting the roof sections and base of the entrance porch:



Unfortunately, I managed to mess up the acetate on the window - something else to fix later ;)

Here is the installed model in position:



7th February 2024