CN Yellowhead Division

[Scottl]

I've revisited the oil tanker design I did earlier in the year.  My first version was printed horizontally and had prominent layering artifacts on the top curved surface.  The solid body also trapped uncured resin and caused it to crack and leak several weeks later. Lessons learned!

For this version, I printed the body without ends and in a vertical position.  The end platforms and body end are integrated and printed separately.  The body underside has detailed brake hardware and drain/steam ports as well.

It all prints beautifully and even the finest rails are perfect.  It needs some refinement of the end platforms and the centre ladders are not quite right, but I am very happy with the outcome.  This version will run on my printed trucks, metal wheels and body mount couplers.

[basementcalling]

Scott, it looks every bit as good as an undec model on display at a vendor booth at a show.

I'm sure the drawing and trial and error printing must have been something to get such beautiful output.

[dnhouston]

Dang!  That turned out nice!

[Scottl]

Thanks guys!  I replaced the wheels with 36" and needed 0.8 mm washers on the bolsters to get the coupler height correct.  I'll change the file to fix the ride height and refine the ladders and some other minor details. 

My goal is to print 6 of these and do my own decals with white toner.  The problem is that I am out of MT couplers and they seem to be out of stock in Canada.  I may design a simple shelf coupler for these as I won't be uncoupling them in operation.  I'll see what I can come up with.

[Scottl]

Revised to get the truck bolsters at the correct height, fix the ladders and refine the ends a bit. Gold Medal etched brake wheel, printed trucks, Fox Valley wheel sets.  Found some MT couplers so I'll have these done very soon, I hope.  Made a major breakthrough on printing  decals as well that I hope to report soon.

[dkerber123]

Pretty impressive! Is this the same tank that Kato is releasing soon?

[Scottl]

Thanks.  Yes, basically the same.  I'm looking at other models to do now, probably doing a LPG next. 

[basementcalling]

Thanks.  Yes, basically the same.  I'm looking at other models to do now, probably doing a LPG next. 

Pretty impressive! Is this the same tank that Kato is releasing soon?

That's probably why they decided to release that car.

[Scottl]

Actually, it was the other way around!  I saw the Kato oil car with it's bulky underside brake gear and decided to try my own.

[NorthWestGN]

Very nice prints Scott, so smooooth! It would be hard for someone to determine the scale, the ladders and railings in particular would suggest S or O scale. I’m looking forward to seeing one painted and decalled.

Brent

[Scottl]

Thanks Brent.   For all my issues with the Saturn 4 printer, it does print very well.  I've printed off 9 of these and I'm working on the TILX decals.  Hopefully the paint shop will be up and running soon.  I was going to paint outside this weekend, but of course it snowed again 🙄

[Scottl]

Starting the push for the last scenery on my layout.  I put away the trains to free up the Jasper yard and will now get all the messy work done over the summer. 

I will start with roads made of 1mm foam sheet, painted and weathered.  Despite the appearance in this dry fit, it is smooth and has nice texture.  It is dirty from getting stepped on repeatedly while laying out on the floor 



I have printed curb-gutters that fit the foam and will paint and install onto the road edges  I also need to hide the end of the road in the distance, so I will use scaled down buildings and a low forested rise to do this.  The pink foam is in and I'm ready to advance on this.



The station printed here is still too big so I will scale to 90% to better compose the scene.  I'm still unsure if I will do the steam locomotive Mountain 6015 on display.  If I could find a way to print a static model or get a cheap basis for starting a kitbash, I might consider it.  I'll leave space in case an opportunity emerges.

The view westbount out of Jasper is looking good, I need to make sure I keep this sightline intact. I need to add a lot of dirt to fill in the yard space, and weather it all to resemble the prototype.  The scenery express fine rock ballast is too small IMO, but I'll add some coarser stuff to make it look chunkier here and there.

[craigolio1]

Hey Scott. 

Catching up after being away for a few months and I must say... I'm blown away by your progress. The 3D design and printing is very impressive.

Craig

[Scottl]

Thanks @craigolio1 !

I've been on the struggle bus with finishing the station design.  Doing shingles in Tinkercad turns out to be wildly impractical,  with frequent crashes and file corruption.  I tried everything but in the end, went with the much simpler process of creating shingle 'sheets' in Blender and importing them into Tinkercad. Still, I'm pushing the limits of TK.

Now that the final prints are underway, I took time to do a quick hand paint of a scrap to test colors and techniques.   I'm pretty happy with how this looks, despite the rough painting effort.  Polyscale aged white is the perfect wall color, and PC green is a perfect Parks Canada green for the trim.  I need to refine my dry brush technique.   It does not work well with microbrushes   

[Scottl]

The station is finally printed and ready for paint.