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2 Wim


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The next project on the stocks is a Southern Railway 2-car unit for the Wimbledon-West Croydon line.  These cars started life in 1910 as Trailer Firsts in the original LBSCR South London Line 3-car a.c. units with sumptuous interiors and an unusual side-gangway semi-saloon interior.  First Class traffic was in decline in south London so they were soon redeployed as steam-hauled mainline stock.  In 1930 they underwent a further metamorphosis, emerging as 2-car D.C. third-rail units with the SR's standard Metrovick traction and control equipment.  Higher and wider than most LBSCR stock, they were limited to the Wimbledon-West Croydon line, the South London line and the routes from Peckham Rye and West Croydon to Selhurst depot.  They were replaced by 2-EPB units and scrapped in 1954.

 

This is my first attempt at an entirely 3D printed coach, chosen for its chunky framing.  However, since then I have experimented with wall thicknesses down to 0.6mm so am going to attempt further all-3D projects.

 

Components printed by Chase 3D.

IMG_0264.jpg

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Good question.  The parts cost about £350 to print and on top of that it needs a donor Hornby Bil/Hal for motor and trailer bogies - say another £70-80 secondhand from Ebay.  So with enough profit to make it worthwhile we are looking at not much change from £500 for someone to assemble a complete kit of parts.  Is there a market at those sort of prices?  One option would be a limited edition of just four kits, one for each of the four originals.

 

Other possible future Southern Electric projects include:

1925 Western Section “bull-nose” 3-car suburban units with an optional augmentation trailer (already on the stocks)

1946-type all-steel 4 Sub

1946 type Tin Hal

Bulleid-type EPBs and Haps

And maybe one day a 6 Pul or a 4 Cor?

 

Another, perhaps more affordable, project that I would enjoy doing would be Isle of Wight steam-hauled stock.

 

I should be glad to know readers’ views on the demand for these and other potential projects.

 

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23 hours ago, 34017Ilfracombe said:

Good question.  The parts cost about £350 to print and on top of that it needs a donor Hornby Bil/Hal for motor and trailer bogies - say another £70-80 secondhand from Ebay.  So with enough profit to make it worthwhile we are looking at not much change from £500 for someone to assemble a complete kit of parts.  Is there a market at those sort of prices?  One option would be a limited edition of just four kits, one for each of the four originals.

 

Other possible future Southern Electric projects include:

1925 Western Section “bull-nose” 3-car suburban units with an optional augmentation trailer (already on the stocks)

1946-type all-steel 4 Sub

1946 type Tin Hal

Bulleid-type EPBs and Haps

And maybe one day a 6 Pul or a 4 Cor?

 

Another, perhaps more affordable, project that I would enjoy doing would be Isle of Wight steam-hauled stock.

 

I should be glad to know readers’ views on the demand for these and other potential projects.

 

At that price, I would suggest that getting these printed parts cast in resin by say, CMA-CSL would make you a profit if you sold three or more sets. Their mould charge for what is in the photograph would be about the same as the price you paid for the 3D printing with each subsequent set of castings being say, £20-30 per set. 

 

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46 minutes ago, Arun Sharma said:

At that price, I would suggest that getting these printed parts cast in resin by say, CMA-CSL would make you a profit if you sold three or more sets. Their mould charge for what is in the photograph would be about the same as the price you paid for the 3D printing with each subsequent set of castings being say, £20-30 per set. 

 

Thanks for that, I have no experience of resin casting but it does sound like a good way forward.

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most designs can be offered in finer plastic, all it needs is for someone to ask.

 

also  any good modeller can smooth down the rough surface if they know how, again just ask , and remember the surface on the real coaches was not that smooth, being wood in many cases, and by the time they were non overhead powered they were pretty well worn.

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See... I do somewhat take umbridge at that as I think to date I've had six locos and a wagon (so admittedly not a coach) in that material and on not one of them have I managed to get them smooth enough for me to be happy with them.

 

Anyway, I digress. If this version were able to be produced as a traditional resin casting based on 3D Printed masters that needn't be a concern and I would imagine the cost would be rather more reasonable than Shapeways'.

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On 22/09/2020 at 17:34, sem34090 said:

See... I do somewhat take umbridge at that as I think to date I've had six locos and a wagon (so admittedly not a coach) in that material and on not one of them have I managed to get them smooth enough for me to be happy with them.

 

Anyway, I digress. If this version were able to be produced as a traditional resin casting based on 3D Printed masters that needn't be a concern and I would imagine the cost would be rather more reasonable than Shapeways'.

Not sure exactly what material Tim at CW Railways uses but it produces nice clean prints and they take paint very well.

I am minded to produce a market-testing Southern Electric kit using resin casting as you suggested earlier in this thread.  Could be a 2 Wim, could be something else - do readers have any suggestions?

Also any thoughts on how best to market low-volume kits of this kind?

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As I don't think a complete 2-WIM has ever been offered as a single kit it might be a good one to do, perhaps even allowing for the 'Overhead Option' although I must confess I haven't looked into exactly what the conversion entailed.

 

I'd be very interested in both third rail and overhead.

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