My own OO Alfred and Judy designs (so I could make my own Bill and Ben)

[JayWizzleHizzle]

Pretty suspicious timing, eh? Well jokes on you, I'd been working on these models on and off for years before Rapido's announcement- 2017 at the earliest when I was only 18 going on 19. So before I show off my current models I thought I'd share the history of them.

 

I was inspired to make these models after seeing just how small the actual engines were, and just how out of scale the Bachmann and Hornby Bill and Ben models were. The ERTL Bill and Ben toys were a better fit, but didn't have the proper proportions. So I opened up sketchup and wikipedia, and after quite some time I had the first prototypes. I used my college 3d printers to make one of the earliest prototype bodies in my first semester. However, those were filament printers, and they turned out rather poorly. After a few years in 2020, I got my first resin printer gor my birthday and after some experimentation I got to this point. The cab was a seperately fitted piece to the body to allow for easier painting and detailing, which is still the case today.

 

My post-print curing and washing  process needed some work, since some cured alcahol was visible even under primer, but I was very happy. Taking inspiration from RailwayMania's own model of Bill, I bought some spare parts of an L&Y pug to make a chassis, which worked well enough.

However, I'd already worked so hard on getting the body right (I hadn't found work drawings of the engines yet and was eyeballing everything based on what few measurements I had) that just slapping an already-existing chassis underneath didn't feel right, so I set about making my own. This was the first time I'd ever done so, and I was woefully unaware of things like photo-etching, proper gearboxes, and more that I could have used.

With much trial and error I'd gotten a decently running test job, but the ordinary resin I was using to make the chassis didn't give great results, so I continued redesigning the chassis and gears, designing my own wheel inserts for the pug, designing my own pug crankpins since I'd lost one of them, and working on these quietly in the background. Just when everything seemed like it was coming together: Rapido kicked the door down and revealed theirs. I really only have myself to blame- I submitted Alfred and Judy as suggestions a while back and encouraged others to do the same.

 

So here we are. I've got a lot to think about but even when- not if- I buy the rapido models for myself, I'll hopefully have my own done by that point.

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by JayWizzleHizzle
fix picture order