TangoOscarMike Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Dear all Almost a year ago I posted pictures of my first attempt at putting a tender engine on the cheapest-chassis-of-all. My aim is to produce bodies that simply clip onto the unmodified chassis. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135272-freelance-tender-engine-for-the-Hornby-0-4-0-holden-chassis/ This post produced a lot of useful feedback, and it started an extensive offline discussion with Gibbo, which has resulted in what I hope is the penultimate version. Contrary to my concept, it is necessary to make two tiny modifications to the chassis - the rear coupling hook must be removed (but these fall out by themselves anyway!) and in some cases it is necessary to trim the ends of the motor retention spring. The basic dimensions are finalised except that I want to make the boiler a tiny bit fatter, and raise it a tiny bit, to give better clearance for the motor. And this will give me an opportunity to incorporate any further suggestions from this forum. I plan no further modifications to the tender, although I am going to make an alternative version without coal. So. These are the 3D printed parts: And here they are with the additional off-the-shelf parts - a donor locomotive, a NEM coupling and two pairs of wheels: Before painting, I pour plaster into the tender for weight (not brittle plaster-of-Paris, but one of the modern resin-reinforced plasters): 3 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Really like that. Well done. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 And here are some painted pictures. They're fairly self-explanatory, but I will just mention: The engine and tender are brush painted (with sprayed varnish). The lining is home-printed waterslide transfers. The coaches (apart from the Hornby 4-wheeler) are part of an on-going project (also with Gibbo's help) to produce coach bodies for commercial chassis. Two of them are on the Hornby 4-wheel chassis, and the other two are on Hornby and Dapol truck chassis. The other engine is (as I'm sure you recognise) Hornby's 4-4-0 County. 13 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 The cab details are intended firstly to be easy to paint, and secondly to be reasonably plausible. And I must do something about the smokebox door - I hope that a smaller radius would get rid of those concentric rings. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Love the loco, love the coaches. 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Gorgeous. There are nowhere near enough 0-4-0 tender locos. Thanks for adding another to the world. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted June 18, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 18, 2019 Love the loco, love the coaches, can't wait for you to put it on sale!! Gary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 19 hours ago, Edwardian said: Love the loco, love the coaches. The coaches: I was motivated to make coach-bodies-for-commercial-chassis after making my first ratio 4-wheel coach. It went together pretty nicely, but it doesn't run at all well, and it seemed to me that this entry-level kit wasn't quite entry-level enough for me. I'm still undecided about the little two-compartment coaches. I like the proportions, but the technicalities of the footboard and the attachment to the chassis need some refinement. But the two longer coaches are approaching completion. I'll need to do at least one more print of each (with alterations) before offering them for sale, but they're very straightforward to paint and attach to the chassis. They're made of Shapeways' White Strong and Flexible plastic, so there are some chunky detail / rough finish compromises, but I don't mind. I'm operating at the "colourful toy trains" end of the "freelance pre-grouping" spectrum. So for my purposes they're fine. They wouldn't do for a more serious modeller, except perhaps as a temporary measure. But then I suppose the same applies to the locomotive. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted June 18, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, TangoOscarMike said: I'm still undecided about the little two-compartment coaches. I like the proportions, but the technicalities of the footboard and the attachment to the chassis need some refinement I love the look of the small carriages, if you want someone else to have a look at them I would be happy to do a "test-build" and give feedback, I totally understand if you wouldn't want this though. Gary 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 46 minutes ago, TangoOscarMike said: The coaches: I'm still undecided about the little two-compartment coaches. I like the proportions, but the technicalities of the footboard and the attachment to the chassis need some refinement. Could you make them to suit a brake van chassis? Then you would get the footboards ready included. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 1 hour ago, BlueLightning said: I love the look of the small carriages, if you want someone else to have a look at them I would be happy to do a "test-build" and give feedback, I totally understand if you wouldn't want this though. Gary Thanks Gary The most promising of the two designs is the one for the Dapol 9' chassis. The footboards and their support are part of the moulding print, and they have to be forced over the chassis frame. Once they have been forced over they hold the body onto the chassis. This all involves a little too much forcing for my taste. I had breakages with the first attempt, but not with the subsequent (reinforced) attempts. I could offer the design for sale at zero markup, if that would suit you. My markup is pretty tiny (Shapeways gets most of the money) but this seems like a good way to satisfy the honour of all concerned. I'm about to go away for a long weekend, but I'll attend to this when I get back. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Titan said: Could you make them to suit a brake van chassis? Then you would get the footboards ready included. Well, the Hornby 4-wheel chassis is also used as a brake van chassis, I think. The chassis of my old GWR brake van is certainly very similar. But yes, it's a good idea. Can you recommend something specific (and readily available)? The good thing about the Dapol wagon chassis is that they are available off-the-shelf with no body attached, so no piece of rolling stock has to be butchered to make a coach. Edited June 18, 2019 by TangoOscarMike 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted June 18, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 18, 2019 16 minutes ago, TangoOscarMike said: I could offer the design for sale at zero markup, if that would suit you. My markup is pretty tiny (Shapeways gets most of the money) but this seems like a good way to satisfy the honour of all concerned. If you do this I will grab one and give it a build. If I can see anyway to change the design to make breakages less likely I will report back. In the meantime there are a few people on RMWeb with 3D printers that are better quality and cheaper than Shapeways, I could recommend a couple if you were interested in exploring that. Gary 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Corbs Posted June 18, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 18, 2019 The only thing to watch out for is the more detailed prints tend to be more brittle, so forcing them onto the chassis could make them snap? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, BlueLightning said: If you do this I will grab one and give it a build. If I can see anyway to change the design to make breakages less likely I will report back. Grand. Stand by. 6 minutes ago, BlueLightning said: In the meantime there are a few people on RMWeb with 3D printers that are better quality and cheaper than Shapeways, I could recommend a couple if you were interested in exploring that. The upside of Shapeways is that they are very, very convenient. I have considered approaching Knuckles on this forum about this, but, well: job, children, garden, tax declaration, other hobbies...... when I get a little time for railway modelling I like to spend it designing on the computer or painting..... If I ever start to regard Shapeways as a serious problem then I will look for alternatives. But at the moment the problem is that I work very slowly and I make multiple test prints before I'm happy with a design (therefore help with testing will indeed be useful!). 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted June 18, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 18, 2019 5 minutes ago, TangoOscarMike said: (therefore help with testing will indeed be useful!). Always happy to help, I enjoy testing out designs, and helping improve things if I can Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 I cannot speak for Knuckles, but my thought was that I would like to see the coaches produced on his Photon printer. I would be very tempted by the two 3 longer types. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 11 minutes ago, Corbs said: The only thing to watch out for is the more detailed prints tend to be more brittle, so forcing them onto the chassis could make them snap? White Strong and Flexible (a.k.a. Versatile) is pretty indestructible. The part I managed to break was really very thin and subject to extreme bending. On reflection, I'm more worried about damage to the chassis. In this particular case I'm making less detailed prints, not more detailed! I abandoned FUD because of the cost, which has lead to designs with a rough surface and chunky detail. Close up and before painting these don't look so good, but at "normal viewing distance" I'm quite happy with them. Weirdly, I find the locomotives to be consistently more satisfactory than the coaches, as far as detail is concerned. I don't know why. Bear in mind that I'm trying hard to make things that are easy to paint (with beginners (like myself) in mind). So this contributes to, for example, the over-scale beading. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 8 minutes ago, Edwardian said: I cannot speak for Knuckles, but my thought was that I would like to see the coaches produced on his Photon printer. I would be very tempted by the two 3 longer types. Noted! Via Shapeways or other means we will make this happen. I've been very coy about the whole thing, slowly "perfecting" my designs and occasionally sending pictures to Gibbo. Maybe it's going to turn into more of a community effort now! But right now I need my beauty sleep, as a matter of considerable urgency.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo675 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Hi Tom, Looking good so far ! Gibbo. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Those are all rather lovely. Unfortunately, once available for sale they give my grasshopper modelling mind something else to spend my limited modelling budget on :D. Seriously, though, I feel a freelance mid/late Victorian project coming on. Any chance of an S&D mineral 0-6-0 body to fit the Hornby J13 (and everything else) chassis? I reckon that existing tender would suit it very well. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 2 hours ago, TangoOscarMike said: Well, the Hornby 4-wheel chassis is also used as a brake van chassis, I think. The chassis of my old GWR brake van is certainly very similar. But yes, it's a good idea. Can you recommend something specific (and readily available)? The good thing about the Dapol wagon chassis is that they are available off-the-shelf with no body attached, so no piece of rolling stock has to be butchered to make a coach. Not sure what would be most suitable, but the old Triang/Hornby vans will be cheap as chips and very plentiful. You can have short and long wheelbase both with footboards, and I doubt that ditching the bodies would cause much upset. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 It's the wrong colour. It should be red. Reminds me of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hQ6-biWoo Sorry don't know how to embed the video. Jason 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 19, 2019 Author Share Posted June 19, 2019 6 hours ago, PatB said: Unfortunately, once available for sale they give my grasshopper modelling mind something else to spend my limited modelling budget on :D. Alas, we're all in the same boat. Nobody on this forum can help with your affliction. 6 hours ago, PatB said: Seriously, though, I feel a freelance mid/late Victorian project coming on. Any chance of an S&D mineral 0-6-0 body to fit the Hornby J13 (and everything else) chassis? I reckon that existing tender would suit it very well. At the moment I'm concentrating on freelance entry level models (the 0-4-0 chassis is much cheaper than anything else) and leaving the more serious models to others. But this chassis would be a good choice if I decide to move up in the world. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted June 19, 2019 Author Share Posted June 19, 2019 6 hours ago, Titan said: Not sure what would be most suitable, but the old Triang/Hornby vans will be cheap as chips and very plentiful. You can have short and long wheelbase both with footboards, and I doubt that ditching the bodies would cause much upset. The longer of those two is the same as the 4-wheel coach chassis (and the log-wheelbase wagon) so that's already covered. The shorter one looks interesting.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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