First cut-and-shut attempt

[Sophia NSE]

6 hours ago, TangoOscarMike said:

 

Ah yes, the other end of the spectrum:

4 wheels - 3 compartments

4 wheels - 4 compartments

6 wheels - 5 compartments

8 wheels - 6 compartments

 

This must be about the same length as the Triang clerestory coaches, which for my tastes is the maximum length of coach (regardless of realism) for people who don't have room for huge gentle curves.

 

Where did the bogies originate?

 

I might be in the process of changing my mind, and aiming for this length with a brake & luggage compartment. Or perhaps a lavatory. This isn't Swallows and Amazons, so the passengers will have to go to the loo eventually.

 

It comes in at a scale 42 feet and is a window and door shorter than a Triang clerestory. The bogies are Parkside PA108, the former Ratio ex LNWR 8 footers

[LNWR18901910]

11 hours ago, Sophia NSE said:

Here's my effort

 

I say! Interesting coaches! I hope to make my own version someday soon.

[TangoOscarMike]

Nearly half a decade ago, I posted pictures of the starting point:

 

 

So now I turn my attention back to this original coach. In order to get the roof off, I had to hack away one end. Next, using offcuts from the 6-wheel project, I will add a 4th compartment. I want it to be a brake compartment, which in any case will be easiest because I've already trimmed away part of the beading on one of the offcuts.

 

 

And this is the wreckage. As well as cutting away one end, I had to chop up the wildly over-detailed interior in order to get the roof off.

 

 

The white scum is PVA, which hopefully will wash away without too much fuss.

 

[TangoOscarMike]

I've cut out the two ends (cutting parallel to the length of the body), and started sanding them back to glue together.

 

 

They must both be sanded back by the same amount, until the one-window sliver fits into the gap. Hopefully the remaining beading will line up perfectly.

 

 

[TangoOscarMike]

Slowly, slowly sanding the two ends back a little bit at a time.

 

[TangoOscarMike]

I finished my sanding and joined the sliver to the main body. I stripped some of the paint off to get a better view of the beading. It isn't perfectly aligned, but I don't think I could have done much better.

 

There was also a little gap on one side, in spite of my caution. I have filled it with a sliver of plasticard (sanded down from a thin sheet - you can see where I made holes with my fingernails.

 

 

 

 

I've designed a chassis, trying to follow the general style of the Hornby chassis, but with some vague suggestions of detail added. Hopefully this will help to make the 4-compartment coach look as though it belongs with the 3-compartment coaches.

 

 

 

I have ordered a print from Shapeways - I will be able to recoup the cost if I go without food for a month!

 

[TangoOscarMike]

I'm fairly happy with the 3D printed chassis:

• The dimensions are correct
• It looks a lot like an elongated version of the Hornby original
• I don't mind the rough surface, since it's all flat black
• The NEM pocket is at the right height
• The springs and axle boxes look fine to me, and so does the detail underneath
• The weight from the original fits where it's supposed to

 

 

But I made a couple of mistakes

 

• The buffers are too far apart
• The rectangular holes are meant to accommodate the clips on the bottom of the body, and I intended this to work with a coach made either of 2 x 2-compartments, or one made of 1-compartment plus 3-compartments. But the inner holes aren't in the right place

So I'll try to cut new holes to make this one workable, but I'll probably also fix the design and get another print.

 

[TangoOscarMike]

With new slots cut in the chassis the body now fits, as shown in this hideously lit picture. In fact the body is offset towards one end by (I estimate) about half a millimetre, so this gives further grounds for printing a revised version.

 

 

While trying to smooth the join, I realised that I don't actually have suitable tools for this job. So I made a very thin chisel/gouge/scraper out of a nail set into a piece of dowel, hardened (I hope!) with heating and quenching, then filed to shape and sharpened.

 

And for smoothing in those tiny gaps, I'm supergluing little pads of sandpaper onto the ends of wooden skewers, after first cutting off the point at an angle.

 

We'll see.