3D printed wagons from R21 - GER brakevans and LTSR horse box

[stewartingram]

I'd just like to mention that I have ordered a pair of Wickham 109 dmu cars from Shapeways. As a vital must-have in a large East Anglia collection, (which will be 99% complete with these) I'm gambling on them being a (unseen as yet) success! I'm sure they will turn out ok. Thanks for producing them.

 

Stewart

[rue_d_etropal]

Thanks. They were more complex than I thought.The cab roof line is quite tricky, but I think I have got it right. The  BR drawings had a couple of obvious errors which I corrected. When you look at them more closely you realise just how different they were.

[CarriageShed]

Here's the (finally) completed N gauge version. Drilling out the axle boxes was a bit of a headache but I'm very pleased with the finished effect.

 

 

[rue_d_etropal]

looks very nice.

Any suggestions for other wagons? I now have all 3 books of pre grouping southern stock.

[Ian Simpson]

...

Any suggestions for other wagons? I now have all 3 books of pre grouping southern stock.

 

As an H0 modeller, I'd love to see some of the wagons and vans that really defined individual railway companies and also survived into Grouping: say one of the LSWR  vans with the X-shaped timbers, or a typical LBSCR wagon with curved ends.

 

I know Cambrian, David Geen, Smallbrook Studios, 5&9 Models etc have covered these railways pretty well in 4 mm. Still, I thought I'd post my own wish list to see whether other minority scale modellers share any of my favourites.

[CarriageShed]

Something that's definitely missing at the moment is an LSWR-pattern cattle wagon. Gramodels were thinking about it several years ago, but the longer wheelbase was holding things up. Nothing has ever materialised there, so you have a gap in the market that could be filled.

 

It's probably best to ensure the N gauge version can fit onto a Peco wagon chassis, even if the chassis needs to be hacked to make it fit the body. That's an easy job.

 

The other thing that would be really handy is a Drummond watercart tender to fit over a Fleischmann tender motor. The motor is quite chunky so that would need to be taken into account, but it can also be filed thinner by someone who's really dedicated, so a slimmer tender version would also be handy. So that's a watercart tender with 'fat' and 'thin' variants! Filing down the motor block is something I haven't tried yet, but I know someone who has.

[rue_d_etropal]

A cattle wagon and a van. Certainly possible. I need to develop a desig strategy for thatose types of wagons, as I have done for coaches. The SECR brakevan was tricky, because one end was different to the other. Iwould prefer to do complete wagon, not just body, unless it was a range to fit same r2r chassis. Depends on wagon, a some, especially for N , require the bulky chassis, as body is too thin walled to print.

For me the pre grouping stock has advantage of often being sold to light railways, so can bejustified on many freelance layouts.

Although I am now doing less HO modelling myself, I still design with HO in mind, and all designs start out at O scale, then resized down to HO, up to OO, down to TT3 and N. Even can up them to 1/32(G1), which is scale I am playin with for industrial and light railways.

[CarriageShed]

When it comes to the SECR brake van, the axles were very tricky. It was virtually impossible to open then up with a horizontal drill as the axles on the other side got in the way. So my drilling was done at an angle (roughly 45 degrees) and the wheels ended up being located a little higher inside the body than they should have been. It meant cutting off the very lowest part of the Rapido coupling (the vertical bar that helps with uncoupling) to prevent it jamming in the points when it ran over them.

There's not an N gauge RTR chassis for an LSWR cattle van as far as I know. They're an awkward length. Also, I'd say that the print material needs to be the next grade up (FUD?). The striations on the brake van are still visible close up (mostly via the camera lens), although the van's planking hides much of that.

 

Considering the fact that it's been three years since I spoke to Graham of Gramodels about cattle vans, I'd say I could wait a while longer for a proper design process to take place for these. The watercart tender is something that I could do with now though.

[rue_d_etropal]

Got me thinking, and I wonder if for N gauge building a separate internal unit , not using the ends of the axles. As long as there is not too much friction from axles rubbing on unit, then it might be easier way to wheel N gauge. Someone mentioned that was what they were doing for some O16.5, so wondered if it could be done for N gauge.Could introduce some flexibility into the 6 wheel chassis as well.

[CarriageShed]

A lot of N gauge kits (Gramodels, the NGS, Peco, Etched Pixels, at least) use Peco wagon chassis and just concentrate on making the body. The Peco chassis would ensure that the wheels don't rub on the body, but I wonder if it would be possible to 3D print separate chassis pieces that could be assembled bu the kit-maker? That way you could produce custom chassis length when a Peco chassis just won't do it.

 

An alternative, possibly, would be to leave the underside of the body open, or raised (so that it's easier to add a weight), to remove any risk of wheels rubbing.

 

I have two tight radius curves on my unfinished layout and the 6-wheel brake chassis seems to be fine on those. The lack of flexibility doesn't seem to be too much of a problem, probably because the wheelbase is so short. A shortish 6-wheel carriage would be different.

[rue_d_etropal]

For me, having separate pieces to put together is a no-no. No kits. For some models I do have chassis and body separate, but mainly to make best use of space(bigger scales). Problem , especoally in smaller scales is making sure chassis and body actually fit together properly, so easier to join them in design. Also cheaper if in one piece. Cost of body on its only would only be fractionally cheaper than one with chassis attached.

Problem with Peco chassis, is that not everyone can get them easily, even online, as postage to some parts of the world can be very high. Wheels can usually be sourced easily. I suppose it might then be an issue with couplings. I suppose chassis could be cut off, and separate chassis fitted.

 

If wheels are rubbing on insides of chassis, easy enough to rub inside edges down.Certainly easier than drilling axle holes. I assume there isn't an N gauge version of that tool intoduced for drilling out axle boxes in 4mm scale . A simple internal chassis would simply fit in space.

 

I am now offering most new standard gauge models in 8 scales, having just added S(1/64) and 1/55 as that is a scale growing to include standard gauge. Keeping the number of variations down makes it easier(and quicker) to develop and maintain. My aim is to do as many different prototypes as possible, rather than a small number, with variations to suit different types of modeller. .

[Etched Pixels]

The Etched Pixels ones vary. The easy to build stuff uses Peco chassis quite deliberately and N is sufficiently coarse scale wheels and trackwork that you don't need to do anything cleverer than glue two together for a six wheel chassis of desired length. There is also a six wheel Stove R chassis available from the N Gauge Society that some kits can use and it's a nice chassis that comes pre-assembled.

 

The fancier stuff uses etched chassis but that puts plenty of people off.

 

Alan

[rue_d_etropal]

Looking around for a wagon to do. realise most pre-grouping had various wheelbases and lengths. R2r get away just plonking bodies on a 9ft or 10ft cassis.

Came across this interesting little horsebox built for the LT*SR, although similar ones were built for the GER but with different end/side planking. One of those ended up on Mid Suffolk line. Considering doing that version as well. Suitable for most light railways.

 

As this is in effect coaching stock it has coach sized wheels.

For most scales it might be easier to build an independent interal chassis. Could then get away with wagon wheels. All the brake gear(more wagon than coach) has had an interesting effect of costings, Smallerthan S and does not really effect cost. O gauge and G1 are big enough to not waste space, but 1/55 scale wastes a lot of space, so I may offer that without roof, as the cost then halves. Something  might have to do with all covered wagons.

[CarriageShed]

Hmm... I could justify having one of those if a horse from Essex is running at Newton Abbot or somewhere similar. Horseboxes must have been sent all over the country...

[Gareth Collier]

Here's my SECR 6 wheel brake van which was printed in FUD.

 

 

Regarding the chassis/wheel debate the 2mm SA offer N wheelsets on 12.25mm axles. I use trimmed 2mm SA W irons with no detail overlays. You can file the outer surface of the bearing flush with the etch, pop the wheels in and it slides perfectly in between the printed chassis and rests on the small lip inside.

 

 

Many thanks for making it available.

[CarriageShed]

Regarding the chassis/wheel debate the 2mm SA offer N wheelsets on 12.25mm axles...

 

Although it should be pointed out that the 2mmSA isn't an option that's available to a large number of N gauge modellers...

[Gareth Collier]

Just offering a possible solution. Anyone can join or get someone they know in the 2mmSA to order the parts for them.

[rue_d_etropal]

I think it should not be too dificult to make a simple internal chassis. Easier if wheels come off , but still possible otherwise.

[Etched Pixels]

Although it should be pointed out that the 2mmSA isn't an option that's available to a large number of N gauge modellers...

 

They don't interrogate people for past 9mm gauge sins at the door and burn the heretics. In fact an awful lot of the stuff is very useful if you model in N.

 

Alan

[Knuckles]

Here's my SECR 6 wheel brake van which was printed in FUD.

brake 004.JPG

 

 

Regarding the chassis/wheel debate the 2mm SA offer N wheelsets on 12.25mm axles. I use trimmed 2mm SA W irons with no detail overlays. You can file the outer surface of the bearing flush with the etch, pop the wheels in and it slides perfectly in between the printed chassis and rests on the small lip inside.

 

brake 005.JPG

 

Many thanks for making it available.

 

Looks bob on.

Any chance of seeing your E2 with some trucks and this brake van in formation?

[Gareth Collier]

Looks bob on.

Any chance of seeing your E2 with some trucks and this brake van in formation?

I'll see what I can rustle up tomorrow but the layout is a bit buried at the moment

[Gareth Collier]

Looks bob on.

Any chance of seeing your E2 with some trucks and this brake van in formation?

Looking for anything in particular? On the layout or not? I've stacks of stuff to choose from

[Knuckles]

On the layout would best if possible. See it in its proper context.

[Gareth Collier]

I grabbed what was to hand.

 

[rue_d_etropal]

Thought I should have a go at te MSLR(ex GER) brakevan. The drawings are very basic, and unfortnately there ae quite a few diffrences to the LTSR drawings I have. Look similar, but slightly diffrent length, ad thendetail is different. Was useful as I used that to do chassis.

I understand one of these also ended up on the S&MR, the main reason for doing it initially.

Interesting fact is that at least one ex GCR 15t 6 wheel brakevan also worked on the MSLR line in LNER days!