CN Yellowhead Division

[Ed Kapuscinski]

@samusi01 I'm using Tinkercad (online, free).  It is very simplistic in concept but powerful once you learn how to scale everything accurately.  I could not recommend it for organic designs (not withstanding the new bezier curve feature), but it is ideal for rectilinear designs like freight cars and other manufactured items.

Tinkercad allows copy paste so it makes multi-unit designs very fast.  The C unit of the Trinity set took 20 minutes to build from components from the A B units.

Wait, you're doing these in Tinkercad?!?! You stud!

[Scottl]

@Ed Kapuscinski  TWSS

But honestly, I'm not sure how else I would design in 3D.  I started using Tinkercad in 2016 when I did some tunnel portals and snow sheds and immediately felt like it was an intuitive way to construct a 3D model and it allows precise dimensioning as well. 

[Scottl]

More Tinkercad goodness.  These Thrall 40' 5-unit sets used all the components and experience from my previous designs to come out perfect on version 1.

[GaryHinshaw]

Very nice.  Which resin is this now?  Have you experienced any warpage with any of these prints?

[Scottl]

I have used the Anycubic Plant-based for most of it and found there was no warping of the 40' cars.  The 53' cars needed some brass sills to keep them stable, but the walls were a bit thinner so that might be part of the issue. I would use this resin again, but honestly did not find the smell less offensive than conventional resin.  Every print worked fine, no failures.

I am now using Anycubic water-wash resin and don't like it.  It prints fine but is quite brittle compared to the others. The cars above are printed with the water-wash resin and there has been no warping. I had to reprint a few of the end cars because I broke off the brake wheel stand removing the supports. 

I don't know how this varies from other protocols, but I leave the prints on supports for a few days after curing.  I also minimize the time in alcohol to rinse.  A few good shakes in each of a dirty and clean alcohol bath gets the prints nice and clean.  Soaking resin in solvents for a long time was a big no-no with all the things I did in the lab.  Especially if the solvent has some water in it as they pretty much all do.

Added note:  The Anycubic water-wash resin is very low viscosity, which is good if you are printing in cool conditions.  We had a deep freeze last week and I had some weird artefacts with more viscous resins like the Plant based and ABS like.  The water-wash worked at temps of 14-18 degrees C no problem at all.  So maybe it has a niche use if you can't always keep the print space ideal temperatures.

[tefsom85]

You may have covered this earlier, and if so, I apologize.  But, where did you get your dimensions for these cars?   Measure existing models or ??   I was always curious if one wanted to do a loco shell or carbody or whatever how you would go about gathering the dimensions.
-Will

[Scottl]

I'm scaling from pictures and scatted bits of dimensional data that I have found.  I also confirm dimensions with similar existing models.  There are not any plans that I know of for any of these cars, at least in the wild.

[Scottl]

I've come to the end of my at-home modeling period.  I'll be away on various long trips until September so I have been putting away everything for my absence.  The 3D printer is cleaned up but I was able to design and print my three planned intermodal well car projects.  I now have 19 new cars painted, etches installed and decals started.  They need wheel sets but those will come when I can visit my Montana mailbox in April. 

I had a nice surprise from the LHS.  They tracked down two more sets of the GMM 5-unit Thall walkway etches, so now I have the possibility of doing the 53' Thrall 3-unit sets.  The walkways are not 100% for these longer cars but I am confident I can work around it.  I'll work on the design while I am away and aim to print them in April.

I am also putting the trains away to avoid dust settling on them, but also since I expect I will be printing the last section of backdrop and doing scenic work in the autumn.  Running the trains is always fun and I captured a few pictures at the Snake Indian River scene. 





While I'm away, I can work on some key projects that are computer based:

1.  Remaining backdrop
2.  3D design of 53' Thrall articulated cars
3.  3D Jasper station and related buildings
4.  Decals for containers.  I bought a white toner cartridge for my laser printer and it looks like I can finally do white decals! 

So lots to keep me busy in spare moments.

[NorthWestGN]

Post some updates from “ On the Road” Scott, always following along…

Brent

[Scottl]

As promised, it has been a while since I worked on the layout due to travel.  I've been back a few weeks and couldn't get back into things so distracted myself printing out some On30 cars and laying some track for some kind of little display. 

This weekend, I managed to get interest back and worked on getting the well cars I printed operating.  Everything is printed except the wheel sets, couplers and etches.  The trucks are printed from ABS-like plastic and work very well, just need a bit of reaming with a drill bit to get nice smooth axle rotation.  My Fox Valley wheels have larger flanges than the test MT set that I used for designing the cars, so I had to add 0.010-0.020" bolster spacers to keep wheel-body clearance.  All in all, I'm very happy with the cars.  They run well through turnouts and look great, just need to do the decals.  I have completed 22 cars, most of what I need for a train on my layout.  I'll have to work on making up a better and more realistic mix of containers, these are just my dregs that I have for the most part.



I made a little video of them running by

  The cars with decals are three NSC N Scale Kits models that I finished in January.  They run pretty badly but I think it is a bolster screw clearance issue.

While traveling, we had a few rainy days so I was able to draft the 53' Thrall 3-unit cars.  I'm waiting on a new FEP for the printer to test print these, but I expect they will be pretty good as they are based on the 40' versions.  I have enough Gold Medal Model etches to do two sets of these cars, but it will take a mix of etch and printed walkways to get it right.  Hopefully it will look good.



I also have finished the backdrop images for the rest of the layout, so I hope to print those and mount them in the next 3 weeks before I leave again.

And of course, I ran a few trains and caught an eastbound at the Snake Indian River:

[samusi01]

Excellent work as always.

On the 40' wells, it looks like the cans are mostly JTC? Did you try to fit any other 20' or 40' cans in the cars?

[Scottl]

Thanks @samusi01, your images were really helpful. 

It looks like there are JTC, Walther, Deluxe, Kato and Evermodel containers in the well position. I just tried some JTC 20' and they fit. I have not used Atlas, Athearn and MT so can't confirm.

All of the well position containers have 2 X 1/4 oz lead weights in them as the cars are too light otherwise.

[samusi01]

@Scottl

Thanks. Looking at those cars has gotten some of the creative juices flowing... too bad I've got such a list of stuff to do. Been thinking about some of the early 1980s well cars.

[Scottl]

@samusi01 I know what you mean.  Once you start to think about possible projects, the list just keeps growing.  I've started to invest the time to learn Blender for more organic 3D models.  It is incredibly powerful and of course, much more complicated than Tinkercad, but it will allow me to do some very neat things.  There are great tutorials and resources so I have lots to work with.

[GGNInNScale]

Really NICE!!  My grandfather worked on the CN Rivers Subdivision (not sure if this was the name 60+ years ago...), and up to the Yorkton Sub.  My uncle was a section foreman on the Preeceville section, Perdue to Prince Albert.  My other grandfather worked mostly in Sask., Aberdeen, Blackfoot, Central Butte, Margo, Quapelle, Turnberry and Yorkton.  I have been acquiring CN diesels and cars, gradually.