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Snitzl's Scratchbuilt Fun Town.


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On 09/04/2021 at 19:07, John Besley said:

This is pretty cool... any more updates?

Hi John, I'm trying to resolve uncoupler design on De Snitzlton and thought maybe I should find a solution before posting, I'll have an update in the next few weeks, just waiting for some milder weather and then I can start work in my workshop.

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I'm bowled over by this thread. It's utterly delightful. Craftsmanship and imagination. Love it. Allan Downes has already been mentioned but "Faberge Egg" springs to my mind also. I'm also reminded of "Pavane" by Keith Roberts - which, for inspiration into an alternative history - I hesitate to use the term "Steam punk", but that's possibly the right genre - is well worth a read.  Please let us have some more updates. Have you had the little beastie running yet?

Keith Roberts Pavane.jpg

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On 16/04/2021 at 18:19, Johnson044 said:

I hesitate to use the term "Steam punk", but that's possibly the right genre - is well worth a read.  Please let us have some more updates. Have you had the little beastie running yet?

Hi Johnson044, It's nice to know that there's interest in this thread, "Steam Punk" genre has been mentioned a few times in my postings and I think it's a fair classification. The design and building of the uncoupler mechansim for 'De Snitzlton' has been a real headache for me and two further failed attempts made on the uncoupler have not been posted here for fear of boring everyone to death. Time has also been been spent making jigs and index mechanisms for the lathe to improve concentricity of those tiny 0.15 module gear's used in the mechanism. De Snitzlton has been run by connecting wires directly to the motor, the drive mechanism and coupling rod's work fine.  I will post an update in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, for those with an appetite for more, check out similar projects in my RMweb blog, there's the Jules Verne Tower for instance.

 

Bye for now.

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Here's a short video of 'De Snitzlton' with the latest steam assisted uncoupler. The transmission is provided through a trailing pony / bogie. I would have preferred a motor hidden in the coal bunker solution but as yet have failed to get those designs to work ( due to lack of space ). I'm also disapointed by the amount of operator monement, due in part to loose linkages and fits.

 

 

At the moment I feel the need to make progress, so I may start a new much simpler project.

 

Thanks for Looking'

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That's brilliant Snitzl! How do you envisage the "tender" shaping up? The only 2 wheeled prototype I can find is in the well-known illustration of Invicta on the Canterbury & Whitstable.

 

BTW- I found your blog entry with the (oh so!) simple means of accurately making a template for new coupling rods. Thank you- it solves a problem that's been in the back of my mind for a long time and will work nicely, I think, in both 7mm scale and on a 3 1/2" gauge (very long term) project I have.  Many thanks. john

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On 23/04/2021 at 13:49, Johnson044 said:

That's brilliant Snitzl! How do you envisage the "tender" shaping up? The only 2 wheeled prototype I can find is in the well-known illustration of Invicta on the Canterbury & Whitstable.

Hi John, initially I thought along the same lines as you and thought, what can I disguise the trailing bogie / pony as, but later I thought, why disguise the unit at all, why not make a 'Steam Assisted Uncoupler' bogie. It wouldn't surprise me if trailing bogie's / ponie's existed for all sort's of reason's in the industrial world and 'Fun Town' was created for weird and querky modeling. I've been thinking for quite some time of building a cast iron hot air balloon complete with mechanism, obviously, there's no prototype for that. 

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Hopefully this illustration is public domain - Invicta on the Canterbury & Whitstable.

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With the steam assisted gearbox put aside for the moment, work now continues to get 'De Sniztlton' finished up to the painted stage. I have my little list of jobs to complete to make this happen and these include routing motor wires, footplate retain, secure motor, brakes, steps, pickups,  painting, lining and weathering. The loco will run DCC, so where's that PCB going to go ?.

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The loco was totally stripped down in order to machine a small slot and hole for the motor wires.

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The fixing plate is also machined to add routing for the motor wires and also two 14BA tapped holes for securing the motor.

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Two brackets added to secure the footplate.

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The model is only partially rebuilt as the work contimues.

 

Here's a summary on the 'Steam Assisted Uncoupler'  gearbox's.

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The original gear is my favourite, it's a real shame I've been unable to get this one to work.

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Here's a design for a second gearbox that mounts in the bunker. This design has two of the 4mm dia motor's mounted vertically and three worms to transfer motion.

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A start has been made on this second design.

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The trailing pony / bogie design - This design works, but I'm not happy with it.

 

There is another gearbox solution that should be quite simple, and that is to have a small lever / gear component that is operated by hand (finger), another last resort. - The gearbox's may be long term project's, but the loco will be completed with or without a solution.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All. With the exclusion of the steam assisted uncoupler system , here's a few images of 'De Snitzlton' in an almost  complete state. The loco run's fine when DCC is wired direct to the pickup wires, but otherwise needs a gentle nudge now and again. I think that the problem maybe the thin 0.5mm diameter brass wire fitted, I will have to source some phosphur bronze pickup wire or thin strips and try that. For now, work on 'De Snitzlon' is complete, I feel the need to make progress and  intend to battle through a few simpler and hopefully quick turnaround projects.

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'De Snitzlton' outside the Mart : Overall, I'm quite pleased with this tiny loco with it's heavy weathering, rust and flaking paint. The coal bunker will get some coal one day when the 'Steam Assisted Uncoupler' design is resolved or scrapped forever.

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This is the side of the loco that the viewing public will see.

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Robot man offers his shovel to the fireman but gets ignored.

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The steam traverser is starting to look a little tarnished and is in need of a good clean and paint /spray. For some as yet unknown reason, there's no DCC power to the loco track. This warehouse will supply fruit, veg and other goods to the travelling market stalls via a replenish wagon, it's this area that I will tackle next, 

 

Thanks for Looking..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sticking with rolling stock construction, here's the initial design for a 'Replenish Wagon', this wagon will supply good's to the market stall's outside both 'The Mart' and by the 'Cattle Dock' area. The wagon carries goods in tray's that match those used on the market stall's and are stored in racks. Construction will be very similar to the market stall wagon's which have split frame live chassis for DCC led lighting.

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Underside of the chassis, a lenghtened version of the 'Market Stall' chassis.

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 The CAD model is created with Pro Desktop, by PTC, very old software that's perfect for my needs.

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The 3D model is lacking some items yet to be modelled, but there's enough done to make a start.

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Time to get some real modellng done.

 

Thanks for Looking.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Made some progress on the 'Replenish Wagon', this makes quite a change after the labour's of  'De Snitzlton'. The main chassis and racking are now complete and the model is now ready for the led lighting, tray's of good's, the paint shop  and a few other minor details.

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The racking is made from 10thou brass sheet, folded and machined on a small milling machine, tufnol jig's and spacer's are used to align the angle iron's while soldering.

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Only needed four wheel's, but extra's were made for the three animated wagons that will follow this project.

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Here's a look on the underside - The live frames and insulated axles are built in to allow for led lighting via the DCC track rails.

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That's all for now,

 

Thank's for Looking.

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Hi All, Here's a couple of images of the now finished 'Replenish Wagon' for 'Fun Town'.

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Decided on a partial load so that the racking is visible.

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Thanks for Looking.

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  • 1 month later...

I've started work on what will eventually be three animated covered wagon's, these wagon's will run on DCC, and each will contain a small motor and gearbox to animate exposed gear's, lever's, cover's and the little people. The wagons will be modelled in a Jules Verne style with cast iron side's with valve's and pipework. So far , I've managed to complete the chassis for all three wagon's, but going forward, I will concentrate on each wagon in turn. First on the list will be an 'Ice Cream' wagon.

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Here's a look on the underside of the three chassis's, the frames are live for DCC pickup.

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The shortest wheelbase wagon in the foreground will be the 'Ice Cream' wagon and will contain a steam driven refrigeration unit.

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Thank's for Looking.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all, felt it was time for an update - I did mention in my previous post that I would concentrate on the ice cream wagon to speed things along a little, but have since found myself working on all three. Made the decision that all three wagons would have some common features and later I will try to individualise each wagon.

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These three blocks are machined from solid brass and will house the mechanism, which will include a motor with integral planetary gearbox, gears and cams.

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These 45 tooth - 0.3 module gears have an offset post that will provide movement to steam generated refrigeration cylinders. There will be four of these cylinders on each side of the wagon.

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The motor / planetary gearbox was purchased from the bay, the 28 tooth steel gear fits on the output on the planetary gearbox. The brass components with the four side holes will house the cylinders, which are in the process of machining at the moment.

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So far the mechanism hopefully will provide movement to the eight cylinders and two rotating roof fans ( How to create other animations is still to be thought out ).

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The brass inner will later be clad with 10 thou brass sheet.

 

Pete

 

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Hi All, I have now switched to working solely on the 'Ice Cream' wagon and made a little progress on the body shell and next stage of animation for outside gears. The outside gears when added will rotate, but functionally have no real purpose.

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The worm and axle will transfer motion from the wheel to the outer gears, which is what I'm working on at present.

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The body shell is a snug fit on the brass gearbox.

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The actual rivots were done on the milling machine for precise positioning with a pointed centre punch shaped tool mounted in the collet holder and a flat piece of ebony ( hard wood ) mounted underneath the 10 thou sheet brass.

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The worm and wheel will provide motion to the outside gearing.

 

Pete

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  • 2 months later...

Just about done for the time being on the ' Ice Cream wagon ', the wagon's animations have been tested and  everything works nice on DC, but there's more work to do in the paintshop when the weather is reasonable and there's also a DCC chip to fit. I;m hoping at some point to do a short video.

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Missing the ice cream extraction pipe from the centre of the large barrel gear.

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Not to protypical to have so much clutter on the roof but I thought it would be OK when in stationay market mode.

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Ice cream outlet pipe has now been added.

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I will now concentrate on the second wagon in the hope of adding an animated humanoid.

 

Thanks for Looking..

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On 31/12/2021 at 18:48, snitzl said:

Just about done for the time being on the ' Ice Cream wagon ',

 

Well, that's very pleasing indeed.

 

You don't need suggestions, but I'm going to make one anyway. How about a fairground organ? Some of these are extremely elaborate, with many instruments and lots of the workings exposed.

 

You could incorporate a musical box mechanism, to have it make real music, although perhaps the sound would be too tinny.

 

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2 hours ago, TangoOscarMike said:

How about a fairground organ? Some of these are extremely elaborate, with many instruments and lots of the workings exposed.

 

You could incorporate a musical box mechanism, to have it make real music, although perhaps the sound would be too tinny.

 

Hi Mike, That's a very thought provoking idea, I'll have to add fairground organ to my to do list.

Thanks

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 01/02/2022 at 17:12, Johnson044 said:

This is magnificent! I'm really hoping to see the ice cream wagons in motion soon!

Hi Johnson044, I'm really looking forward to working on those ice cream wagons but feel the need to get a few quickies done first......

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The DCC track wiring on the 'Walls Module' is now complete, didn't take long, there's only two tracks. Had to take care though, because the rails are sandwiched in between styrene sheet.

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Added a third Arduino Uno board for DCC controlled lighting.

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A few mods done to the wiring on the mani 'Funtown' module.

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All the shop window lighting is DCC controlled, each shop / window lighting has a decoder address and function number.

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Here are five new lamps constructed for the tunnel entrance on 'Walls' module - these are made from double sided PCB and brass.

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Two of the lamps mounted and wired and a little grass flocking and scenic work on the baseboard.- Inspiration for this section of 'Fun Town' came from the Bramhope Tunnel entrance, which is on the Harrogate Line between Horsforth station and the Arthington Viaduct in West Yorkshire. The tunnel entrance was modelled from images found on the internet, while the remaining structure is modelled in the same gothic style.

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Three lamps are mounted on this section of the wall, one is hidden behing the tree.

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I'll be back on the ice cream wagons very soon -

 

Regards Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...

Managed to get those LED's out of my mind and make a start on 'Ice Cream Wagon MK II', this one will have an animated 4mm scale figure. 

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This chassis was constructed in the earlier build so at least there's some time saved here, it's the longest of the three chassis built.

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As with the previous design, there will be just one set of recipricating cylinders, leaving room for the bits and bobs required for the 4mm scale animated the figure.

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The body is a very snug fit on the brass gearbox.

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The animated figure will be placed behind the large window, I have it in mind to model a figure that is reading a paper, he then turns his head slightly to one side, and takes a drink from a cup in the hand of his just raised arm. The whole animation will keep recycling.

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 Time to start on the animation.

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Spent a little time developing the mechanism for the 4mm scale animated man in CAD. The figure has been simplified and only the upper section of the body will be modelled when the time comes. Below is an animated GIF of this mechanism which looks OK, but some of those parts are tiny, the arms for instance are only 0.5mm dia, anyway, its a starting point, obviously things will most likely change during  construction - time to start some modelling.

CAD-AnimatedMan.gif.f35c0dae0259698b1bb0abc4a1d5beeb.gif

Regards - Pete

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Hi All, This is Fun Town's didi turntable that I made a few months ago but I didn't want to post until I'd managed to get the video done. The turntable will serve to showcase future scratchbuilt Fun Town models.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's an update on the 'Ice Ceam' wagon MKII.

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Most of the parts for the animated mechanism are now complete and it's now time to assemble.

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This is actually the third version of the animated mechanism, version one didn't get tested, version two would sometimes bind when operated.

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The 'Base Gearbox' has been modified and a new 45 tooth gear with an offset cam added.

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Mounting plate and animated mechanism added. The bent 'U' shaped wire and cam rotate the head ( which is a vertical piece of 0.5mm dia brass wire with a bend in it at the moment).

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Although the mechanism still needs a modified screw and retaing nut, I was able to test and the mechanism works fine. ( The angled plate lifts and lowers the wire that operates the guys drinking arm.).

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Another view fom the front.

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