Jump to content
 

2mm Coach Experiments


Recommended Posts

Catching up a bit

 

Been working on an N scale 48DS

 

IMG_20120802_215623.jpg

 

and an LNER F5 to haul the Suburbans which are now finished, done and products

 

IMG_20120802_215629.jpg

 

The F5 has gone for a reprint while I fix some of the errors I made first time (and to add the westinghouse gear and other bits)

 

Also on the bench and second ones pending post adjustment are a couple of Great Central coaches using the same techniques as the Gresley and Thompson suburban kits:

 

IMG_20120802_215641.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

The GC bogies at the moment are printed with etched overlays. I'm having a second go at that but they may well end up etched instead.Shouldn't be too hard to make them separate items if people want a few. You interested for N or for 2fs, for 2fs I'd definitely go with etched to make best use of the 12.5mm axle lengths and scale bogie widths...

 

The 48DS is sitting on a TU-7T one of the tiny Japanese chassis. Except for needing to be about 6" overwide and the wheel positions the TU-7T is almost perfect for the job and has four wheel drive. I'm sure NCliffe will duly fit a correct chassis in one and add automatic uncouplers but the TU-7T will do for me 8)

 

Alan

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

The next generation of the bits arrived

 

The 48DS is pretty much perfect, the final print has about a 0.2mm adjustment here and there so you don't have to scrape the insides to make the motor fit.

 

IMG_20120901_182013.jpg

 

 

Other than that I've been finishing off the Thompson shells for the remaining types and have the second print of the GCR coaches, with small errors fixed and the rainstrips included. Next job the interiors for the GCR coaches as they require walls to thin to print in polished FUD.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

The Chard shunter was either a 48DS or an 88DS I forget which.

 

Been doing a bit more work. This time North London Railway coaches. First and second done so far. Still having fun with the brake as the drawing I have is definitely not quite right on the roof area. I've ordered the North London Railway book so hopefully that will help figure out the brake a bit and also the thirds. Failing that a couple of slightly later design brakes exist.

 

NLR.jpg

 

This one is designed to be printed entirely in FUD and then dropped straight onto the Peco 15' chassis or similar.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm very excited by that F5! Any more details Alan?

 

The F5 is getting there slowly. You do have to be prepared to take a hacksaw to a Dapol 14xx chassis and also to add all the finer detail but it all now fits. I'm waiting the next test print and if that one is ok the first version of the F4/F5 should be ready to go (thats with Ramsbottom valves, number 34 boiler, original cab roof, early stove pipe type chimney). I have a few things to fix up before I can do the older number 33 boiler or the later changes (cab/chimney/buffer changes are not all to the point I'm happy yet).

Link to post
Share on other sites

Dairies seemed very fond of these little shunters. Here is another on in Express Dairies blue at Morden.

 

http://mikemorant.sm...xnt45L&lb=1&s=A

 

I didn't do the open cab version because there really would be nowhere to hide the motor at that point. Further miniaturisation awaited, or perhaps a motorised brake van ;)

Link to post
Share on other sites

The F5 is getting there slowly. You do have to be prepared to take a hacksaw to a Dapol 14xx chassis and also to add all the finer detail but it all now fits. I'm waiting the next test print and if that one is ok the first version of the F4/F5 should be ready to go (thats with Ramsbottom valves, number 34 boiler, original cab roof, early stove pipe type chimney). I have a few things to fix up before I can do the older number 33 boiler or the later changes (cab/chimney/buffer changes are not all to the point I'm happy yet).

 

I would be more interested in building a custom 2FS chassis for it than attempting anything with the Dapol 14xx (I've never heard anything positive about it). Is the design dimensionally accurate, or customised to fit the Dapol chassis?

Link to post
Share on other sites

I hacked the chassis to fit the bodyshell. You'd need some changes for 2fs however because the current one has the front part of the frames printed for the front axle, and also has a small slot where a little bit of the mechanism protrudes under the centre of the boiler for a couple of mm. The other question would be whether the wheels will clear the body ok. I think they will do so easily enough because what you go up in gauge you more than go down in wheel thickness and rod clearances.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Next bits turned up today (seems Shapeways are ahead of schedule for once)

 

F4 plonked straight onto the chassis and just fitted nicely this time. I think I'm going to find the cheap champagne after all that. I have a pile of 48DS shunters and some LMS ccts for the web site and a couple of roof profiles to test this weekend.

 

Meanwhile the NLR coaches are turning into more fun than I thought. This is the peril of 1860s modelling. First you find the original engraving is physically impossible, then you go digging to find suitable sources, then you discover there were five types of brake and no version of the one you have exists. Next you go rummaging through the NLR bibliography and find the compartments should only come up to the seat tops... but the engraving doesn't show the seats. Fortunately I've found an image from an 1869 Engineer magazine which does. I've also found a drawing of the chassis and the chain brake system, confirmation of the geometry of the vehicles in the Hamilton-Ellis book and a couple of other bits.

 

That leaves the 3 or 5 oil lamp mystery on the roof, and what to do about the brake panelling. It could be the engraving is correct and someone tidied up the panelling on the 1870 (Park) builds. It could be the engraving is wrong. I've also not found an image of the first generation ones and the only surviving ones are later, as it seems are the painting sources. They at least cover the mystery of the livery details and the side lamps better.

 

Somewhere along the way I discovered the Whittingam Hospital Railway bought some and got distracted into a whole fascinating new subject area.

 

The joys of research.

 

Not sure what to do with the F4. The tool can produce several variants and combinations nicely now but once it gets them all right I think it comes out at 512 possible configurations, or 1024 if I do one without the front frame bit for the 2fs folks.

 

I don't think loading 1024 F4/F5 variants onto Shapeways will be helpful to anyone. In the meantime I'll make the latest one orderable.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Still banging my head on the NLR coach mystery. The same book which shows 5 lamps on a second assures me in the text that each train had 30 gas lamps. Now at 10 coaches plus 2 brakes (with one each) that doesn't work. It does at least help guess the train make up (28 presumably means 4 x 4 + 6 x 2). It also gives weights but they don't add up either. (Oh and there were no thirds on the NLR at the time). Allegedly there were some smoking composites at that point but there is *no* information at all about those in the Coburn book or anywhere else I've found yet.

 

The other sources I have all talk about the first not the second.

Link to post
Share on other sites

And the tool is now spitting out the revised versions of the coach with low roof profile, although the end depths are still a bit wrong.

 

In this case its 6336, still operating on the Isle of Wight railway although I need to find some better roof photos to check a few things.

 

SR-6336.jpg

 

It's basically the same coach but the door detail changed, the roof lost the external battens and other minor things. Amazing what survives from such a long time back. Still need to double check the roof detail and also have a look for interior shots see if I can make some paper cutouts for the interior partition decoration.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Stumbled accross some of your items on Shapeways, don't suppose you'd consider rescaling the Ruston mesh up to 4mm scale?

 

Johnny

 

I can scale it up easily enough but that'll leave the walls somewhat thicker than needed. I suspect it'll also be quite pricy in 4mm. Redoing all the wall thicknesses is rather a lot of work.

 

There are a couple of kits for the 48DS in OO anyway including the Judith Edge one.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • RMweb Premium

As I already had the correct chassis, I thought I'd try a 48DS.I think it's come out rather well.

 

post-6821-0-65140600-1357056768.jpg

 

That's about 4 times bigger than the model, on my monitor!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...