Weekend Update 2021/05/16

[Bob]

Really incredible Gary - I wish I had the skills needed to do this - super impressive!

[reinhardtjh]

Actually, I've been meaning to ping Ritchie about changing the format*, so the WU threads can be dated sorted.  As it is now, they can only be sorted by month, as long as you don't mind grouping Jan, Oct, Nov, Dec....

Nice work so far! Carry on...

*I'd also offer to change all the old thread titles for uniformity.  Just a bit of OCD in me.

I go through the same thing at work.  We backup files and append a date to the name.  I put YYYY-MM-DD (2021-05-15) at the end, the other guys do DDmonYY (15may21). One sorts in a date order, the other sort by days of the month.  Frustrating. You'd think IT people would get it. 

[Erik W]

I volunteered today to assist with boarding during the Colorado Railroad Museum's first-ever triple steam up.  D&RGW C-19 #346 turns 140 this month, and D&RGW K-37 #491 joined RGS #20 in helping to celebrate her birthday.  I made this movie of all the narrow gauge awesomeness that I was drowning in this morning.  I only wish you guys could smell this video...it reeks of Hesperus coal.

Dammit!  I totally forgot this was happening today.  I would've drove down from Longmont.  Thanks for posting this video though Dave.

Erik

[kiwi_al]

Some old fashioned kitbashing. Santa Fe Hudson 4-6-4 class 3460 - just glued this up about an hour ago. A lot of finessing required! 

[Dave V]

Dammit!  I totally forgot this was happening today.  I would've drove down from Longmont.  Thanks for posting this video though Dave.

Erik

@Erik W ,

Well cancel your other plans, 'cause we're doing it AGAIN tomorrow!!!

[johnb]

got a pair of tomytec tm22 chassis from Japan

[GaryHinshaw]

Really incredible Gary - I wish I had the skills needed to do this - super impressive!

Thanks @Bob.  Actually, I would maintain that you do have the skills to do this.  The technology itself is relatively easy to use: the printer (Photon Mono in my case, $229 USD) is plug n play and the CAD I'm using (TinkerCAD) is a web-based package intended for school kids who want to get started with 3d design tools.  As of last December, I had zero experience with either of these tools.

I think the main skill that may be hard to teach (not sure about that, really) is to have a good sense of design; i.e., how to actually build up relatively complex parts from basic shapes.  It's also helpful to know what the printers are good at: linear/planar parts at right angles, and what they're less good at: complex curved surfaces, because of the layering.

Based on your work laying out and building up Harper's Ferry, you clearly have a good design sense!

[BCR751]

Tank car mania continues with my quest to body-mount couplers on my fleet, while also improving some of the end details in the process.  This time the victim is an Athearn late-style LPG tanker.  The printed replacement part for the B end is shown on the left, the part installed on GATX 203198 in the middle, and a stock model for comparison:


I also included some holes in the end of the frame to capture the guard rails that run along the length of the car.  In the stock model these are just glued to the inside edge of the frame and that bond tends to break with car handling, like on the stock model above.  ​The thing that blows me away the most is the detail on the brake stand chain which has open links in two planes:



The printed part also includes a new saddle, which will I will modify for a few of the prototypes to come that have slightly different designs.

How unfortunate that this level of detail is totally unavailable for most of us.

Doug

[SP-Wolf]

Finished a long over due project.

USN helium cars





Thanks,
Wol

[C855B]

Finished a long over due project.

USN helium cars

Nice job. I need to upgrade mine as well.

I recall them around the (now-closed) processing facility in Amarillo roughly 20 years ago, although I don't remember seeing any in trains. My wife owns a share of two helium wells in the TX/OK panhandle, so we know a little about the biz: it's always going up, and it adjusts for inflation. 

[bnsfdash8]

More SD38s in the works, this time Norfolk Southern ones. Now onto 2 EJE SD38-2s.

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[jjb62556]

Are you planning to sell  at any time/ I am looking to do some NAR 38-2's...Jim

[bnsfdash8]

Are you planning to sell  at any time/ I am looking to do some NAR 38-2's...Jim

I'm not sure when. I still need to look into the NAR/CN SD38-2s, I want to build a CN one myself.

[nickelplate759]

Finished a long over due project.

USN helium cars

...

Thanks,
Wol

Really nice job!  I have one in pieces in my to-finish box - gonna do MHAX.  Two questions:
1. What did you use to make the corner stirrup steps?
2. How did you paint the ladders and grab irons black so neatly?

[John]

Proof of concept .. Not quite the master piece from @GaryHinshaw but I have over 100+ atlas hoppers to body mount. Need to tweak the front to back dimension some, and decrease the thickness .. I will probably just glue the coupler pocket and drill for the MT coupler bolt .