Heljan O Gauge Hymek

[flexible_coupling]

Chris

 

I would be interested to know if the overall cost of production is less if a model is produced in more than one scale. So if you look at what DJ models are up to for example where some models are promised in 3 scales. Clearly there are differences to account for the engineering in each scale but it is surely right that much of the cost involved here in producing the CAD drawings would be common.

 

If this is indeed the case and it must also apply to Dapol where models are produced in 2 scales, once one set of drawings is done, they can be rescaled or does it not work that way. Would this help to keep overall costs per unit down even allowing for the factvthatvthe mould has still to be made. What percentage of a model goes on CAD say as opposed to mould making?

 

Paul R

 

 

Prototype research can be recycled.... 1:1 drawing/development can be recycled.... and that's not an insignificant portion of a project. But the actually difficult stuff with regards to production design would have to be re-considered and re-done two or three times over if you're doing different scales. 

[81A Oldoak]

Chris

 

I would be interested to know if the overall cost of production is less if a model is produced in more than one scale. So if you look at what DJ models are up to for example where some models are promised in 3 scales. Clearly there are differences to account for the engineering in each scale but it is surely right that much of the cost involved here in producing the CAD drawings would be common.

 

If this is indeed the case and it must also apply to Dapol where models are produced in 2 scales, once one set of drawings is done, they can be rescaled or does it not work that way. Would this help to keep overall costs per unit down even allowing for the factvthatvthe mould has still to be made. What percentage of a model goes on CAD say as opposed to mould making?

 

Paul R

 

 

Paul,

Clearly, there is a saving in terms of prototype research and production of general arrangement drawings, but the savings are not huge as the main expense is the large and heavy chunks of metal that form the moulds. Obviously, we don't need to repeat the process of prototype research, but the engineering will be very different as it is never a simple matter of rescaling, especially downwards. In very general terms, the design phase for us is typically 10% of the total cost of the design and tooling process, which excludes the actual cost of the final production run so the savings are never going to be big. We are sometimes asked about producing the Hudswell Clarke in 4mm scale, but the 4mm solution would be very different to the 0 gauge model. There really is no way around this. I am trying to learn more about 3D printing to discover what that may promise. 

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[pwr]

Paul,

Clearly, there is a saving in terms of prototype research and production of general arrangement drawings, but the savings are not huge as the main expense is the large and heavy chunks of metal that form the moulds. Obviously, we don't need to repeat the process of prototype research, but the engineering will be very different as it is never a simple matter of rescaling, especially downwards. In very general terms, the design phase for us is typically 10% of the total cost of the design and tooling process, which excludes the actual cost of the final production run so the savings are never going to be big. We are sometimes asked about producing the Hudswell Clarke in 4mm scale, but the 4mm solution would be very different to the 0 gauge model. There really is no way around this. I am trying to learn more about 3D printing to discover what that may promise. 

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Yes I have a passing interest in 3D printing but not the time to do anything about it. I have had a long term dream of producing a model of APT-E and did start to produce the bogies in 4mm at one time. Now I have moved up to 7mm this work is of no use but I see 3D printing as an option to produce the bogie components. There are only 5 bogies of two designs and I have paper engineering drawings. What I lack is the time, software and knowledge to convert them to a CAD file so they can be printed. The rest of the train will be easy as I can do this from plastikard and other materials.

 

Building in 7mm also allows more thought to be put into a tilt mechanism!

 

So for the meantime I will dream on.

 

Thanks for the info on the moulding process - whatever the price I think we should be grateful that manufacturers are prepared to commit funds and time to such projects.

 

Paul R