Doing stuff again.

[Chris333]

Now with modern brakes.



Odd the GLa next to it lasted to 1965 with vertical brake wheels... just sayin' 

Also look at that big gapping coupler hole on the $33 dollar Bowser GLa hopper.

[Chris333]

I need a board gap expert.  @peteski   

I want to model this car next.
http://bmfreightcars.com/Box/Builder_Photo_71000.jpg
http://bmfreightcars.com/Box/Builder_Photo_71000_door.jpg
Do I model the board gaps?

[towl1996]

I know some can look at this stuff and say wow, but I really have no idea what I'm doing. 

WOW!

That's incredible, that model is certainly equal to or if not better than anything currently offered. With Bowser having done the GLa, I never even thought to think about this car having a possibility of being offered in N scale.

Thank you, thank you for designing this car!   

[garethashenden]

I need a board gap expert.  @peteski   

I want to model this car next.
http://bmfreightcars.com/Box/Builder_Photo_71000.jpg
http://bmfreightcars.com/Box/Builder_Photo_71000_door.jpg
Do I model the board gaps?

If you're modeling 1935, I would say no. They will not be large enough to be noticeable in N scale at five years old. Now maybe you exaggerate them a bit so there is something visible after paint, but really we want a suggestion of individual boards. If you were modeling the post war period, these cars got pretty ratty through the '50s so large board gaps become more common.

[Chris333]

Not all detail is added yet, but I just had to do a test print of the loco body.




I have since filled in the areas between the cooling pipes so they won't sag.

[Stolen Moment]

On the board gaps on that boxcar, I might suggest attempting to add some relief to represent the individual boards being not quite lined up.  The second photo shows the boards, but no gaps.

Could be too fine for our printers to show, but it might be worth experimenting with.

[Chris333]

Screwed around with the Doodlebug. Got the Tomytec chassis from overseas. Planned to simply replace those bright chrome wheels with Kato, but they don't fit    I hate those wheels...

I already have a 3D model of the floor, but had to measure the Tomytec chassis and convert all that to my model. First print to test.





Stupid me I tore apart the chassis before even running it. Have no idea if it needs gear reduction or not. Guess I will pop it all back together and take it for a spin.

[Mark5]

Also look at that big gapping coupler hole on the $33 dollar Bowser GLa hopper.

Guessing that when it was originally tooled, it was designed for truck mounted couplers. When they went to body mount - they just left that alone.

[peteski]

If you're modeling 1935, I would say no. They will not be large enough to be noticeable in N scale at five years old. Now maybe you exaggerate them a bit so there is something visible after paint, but really we want a suggestion of individual boards. If you were modeling the post war period, these cars got pretty ratty through the '50s so large board gaps become more common.

I agree 100% here. Even in the brand new car in the builder's photo the horizontal  boards are barely apparent. No no board gaps in N scale!   
I would be open to a variation of @Stolen Moment idea, but instead of misalignment, I would propose to have some boards protrude very slightly out and/or shift inwards.  Maybe by one or two voxels, so there is just a hint of the surface consisting of individual boards.   Maybe that is what Stolen Moment was actually describing.

Since you are the designer, and have printer for testing your ideas, experiment Chris, and see what you come up with.

[Chris333]

Just a cross post to show I fixed the Tomytec wheels. Replaced them with FVM wheel pressed into Kato gear muffs.



I figured out a way to keep most of the Tomytec parts, but shorten the drive. Instead of the motor in the middle there will be a lay shaft with a spur gear. Another spur gear to space it out enough. Then a pinion for the motor shaft. The motor will be a coreless Bachmann. This will reduce the gearing a little. I'll figure out how much later after I do it.

[Chris333]

Now with Brill truck side frames.


This mess is how the motor will be mounted.


The bottom shaft will have the two stock flywheels with drive shaft couplers.

This was a test print and the gear mesh was too tight. When it is this small all you can really do is touch the two gears together and measure, then add +.004" for the proper mesh, but that (or my eyes) didn't work. Going another .002" spacing to see how that works.

[randgust]

I'll chip in and say that Chris' printing is the best I've personally every seen - with the parts he made for me on the 0-6-4 Porter.

You're a little late to the game in Tomytec parts.   There are two eras on those trucks.   The first ones put the gear towers on the ends, not in the center, placing the universal joint right at the bolster.  That's what all of my kits used.  That allows a VERY short wheelbase and room for a motor in the middle, with gearshafts.  So that's how my 50' 'powered reefer' or express boxcar works, or worked, because those mechanisms are all but impossible to find now.

Then they messed it up and redesigned the trucks to put the gear towers in the center.  And all those chassis have an "R" (redesign or something) suffix.  Now the universal is swinging around about the inner axle instead over the bolster, and you have much less room for a motor and drive.   Yours is designed to fit those trucks.  Mind you, the wheelbases and end axles didn't change, just the position of the gear tower.

The champion of that is the ED01 which is the only drive (finally available again) that as so compact I could power my Whitcombs 8x8.  I only made two and then the chassis went out of stock.  But it may be back and Japan is no longer stuck on Japan Post:  https://www.plazajapan.com/4543736256663/?srsltid=AfmBOoq8toou-Cf51zQyVtmV5mmX-4EJdxW6RwEqGklZdYkXdTULNRPk

[Chris333]

My chassis was a TM-08R 20m. I just knew the trucks were the correct WB. It is strange how these are so hard to find now.

I could have possibly shortened the drive shafts and fit a motor in the middle. But I also wanted to reduce the gear ratio. I need to get that together and running...  lol. working on it.

[Chris333]

This is what I got now.


The other flywheel will be hidden and go off the other way. I counted the revolutions and I added about 3.25:1 ratio, so almost a 4:1 gearhead. The middle gear is just to space out the motor from the flywheel. I think I'll swap out the lower 1mm shaft to a 1.5mm.

I didn't count the stock ratio, but lets say it was 25:1. Now it would be ~81:1.

[robert3985]

I need a board gap expert.  @peteski   

I want to model this car next.
http://bmfreightcars.com/Box/Builder_Photo_71000.jpg
http://bmfreightcars.com/Box/Builder_Photo_71000_door.jpg
Do I model the board gaps?

I'm not petski, but, there really aren't any gaps visible in the photos, although individual boards are barely visible mostly in the close-up photo.

The reason they're visible is because they are either slightly different widths, or they're assembled slightly unevenly, or maybe they were warped a little before mounting to the support structure...but, there aren't gaps between the boards, just outer board surfaces that differ slightly in visible, board-width thicknesses.

Soooo...if possible, if I were you, meaning being well-versed with a 3D CAD program, I would build up the cars' wooden sides by merging scale board-width objects that were just microscopically different thicknesses.  Your resin and printer should be able to resolve 0.02mm (although your printer may have a finer resolution, most resins are only able to resolve between 0.02mm and 0.018mm)...which is, in rounded-off decimal inches, 0.0008"...or very close to an N-scale 1/8"...which should do the trick with some being a scale 1/4" different, some the same, and some a scale 1/8" different.

I am pretty sure this will yield a built-up board representation that's better than what cutting a precision injection tool would yield...or might even be possible, especially including the nut & bolt/screw/rivet details on the supporting structures.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore