Doing stuff again.

[cgw277]

Hello Chris.

First I want to say how impressed by your work and this thread showing us how your work is progressing.

I've noticed most of your structures have the doors and window frames printed separately. Assuming you're printing the doors and window frames with the same resin as the walls, do you find that you have to enlarge those pieces to fit properly into the openings?
I was wondering how  everything fits after it's fully cured if you have to compensate for shrinkage and or swelling.

Keep up the good work and source of inspiration!
thanks
Scot

[Chris333]

Hello Chris.

First I want to say how impressed by your work and this thread showing us how your work is progressing.

I've noticed most of your structures have the doors and window frames printed separately. Assuming you're printing the doors and window frames with the same resin as the walls, do you find that you have to enlarge those pieces to fit properly into the openings?
I was wondering how  everything fits after it's fully cured if you have to compensate for shrinkage and or swelling.

Keep up the good work and source of inspiration!
thanks
Scot

I know they won't fit if they are both drawn to the same size. So I draw the windows about .003-.004" smaller. Not the window itself, but the rear that fits into the building hole. Same with the tender body fitting to the tender frame. The body is about .003" larger to "lock" into the frame. Same with a slot for a 1015 coupler...etc.

A laser cutter is different because you are cutting away a kerf that automatically makes the opening bigger than the window. So you can draw them both the same size.

[Chris333]

This is a test body for the locomotive just to see if it fits. I ground parts of it away to get it on there without grinding the frame. It *had* ashpan sides on it. There is no detail at all on this body.

So this is overall how it will look.



The 9600 frame next to a Bachmann 2-8-0 for size. I think the Bachmann has 63" drivers.


And here is the frame all cut away to let the body sit. There is another test body printing now to see if it drops right on.


I was pretty lucky that the boiler fit without straying from the prototype diameter. The one thing I did do was move the cab back 1.5 scale feet. I did this so the rear driver ended up in the right spot and didn't look odd. I spaced the domes out evenly to make up for it. I was lucky to find the original erecting drawing for this loco at the Baldwin archives.


You can't see it because it was cut off, but the ashpan has a "wheel well" for the rear driver just like the real thing.

[PiperguyUMD]

Looks like the drivers are 52.32" and the driver WB is 1.236". It is from 2014 and I found Japanese web pages to convert it to a new Kato coreless motor, but I skipped right to the gearhead.

Well crap, thats practically identical to my prototype. How often does that happen!? Guess I'll have to buy a few now 

Thanks for measuring!

[chessie system fan]

Not a GL. It is a [G]Lca.  There are like 4 versions of them.

I'm no Pennsy hopper expert.  Is a GLca a rebuilt GL or is it a whole new car?

[Chris333]

I'm no Pennsy hopper expert.  Is a GLca a rebuilt GL or is it a whole new car?

They rebuilt them:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/blogs/latest-articles-blog/1069-gl-hopper-car-information-for-modelers

[Lemosteam]

I'm no Pennsy hopper expert.  Is a GLca a rebuilt GL or is it a whole new car?

The letters at the end of the main PRR class (GL) are known as sub-classes to the car class.  Each sub-class has a meaning that defines the reason for it.  I am not versed in freight car sub-classes, but when it comes to PRR locomotives these subclasses matter a lot.  For example a PRR K4 is the original class, now when you see a PRR K4s, the s (and anything related to the "s"), stands for a superheated K4 class locomotive as a single example.

In short one of those GLca sub-classes may in fact mean a load increase (higher rated trucks), or a brake upgrade, etc.

Another example is the the H21 hopper class.  The subclass can even be used to distinguish a completely different use for the car altogether.  There is an H21d sub-class (one of a kind) that received a hatched roof to experiment with cement carrying.  This class served to be the impetus to design the very successful PRR H30 class cement car.

[Chris333]

PRR folks...

On Jerry's site:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/blogs/latest-articles-blog/1069-gl-hopper-car-information-for-modelers
He shows a GLca photo under GL. A real GL would not have those ladder rungs up the ends. This is a real GL with no ladders
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/27085227826

Sooooo  should I add ladders and call it a GLc? This happened in 1923-1935 and a plain GL could still be on the rails by 1940. P&LE versions of this car had the ladders before and after being rebuilt in 1915.

What was more common, a GLc or a GL?

Hate to add even more to my design, but if I'm gonna do it might as well get it right.

[Dave V]

Pennsy was usually pretty good about rebuilds. Granted, they had to do everything by the thousands, so exceptions remained. The answer to your question depends entirely upon your era.

I searched high and low for examples of class L1s 2-8-2s that didn't get the "face lift" (the swap of headlight and steam generator) and found several examples in the early 50s when the modification was meant to be complete by 1950. And that was a fleet of 574 locomotives. The GL fleet was over 20,000.

Then again, many of the freight car modifications were driven by changes in safety regulations. So...depending on how hardcore you want to get, you can dig into whether the addition of end ladders was required by law, and when the law said they needed to be done by.

I would love to buy an example or two of any version of the GL you choose to make, but I'd think the GLc and GLca were more common by the WWII era. You see them in consists with the much more well-known GLa hoppers in photos well into the 50s.

[garethashenden]

PRR folks...

On Jerry's site:
https://jbritton.pennsyrr.com/index.php/tpm/blogs/latest-articles-blog/1069-gl-hopper-car-information-for-modelers
He shows a GLca photo under GL. A real GL would not have those ladder rungs up the ends. This is a real GL with no ladders
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/27085227826

Sooooo  should I add ladders and call it a GLc? This happened in 1923-1935 and a plain GL could still be on the rails by 1940. P&LE versions of this car had the ladders before and after being rebuilt in 1915.

What was more common, a GLc or a GL?

Hate to add even more to my design, but if I'm gonna do it might as well get it right.

The museum car looks to have been restored to its as-built condition. As such, it is missing all the grab irons or ladders mandated by the 1910 amendment to the Railroad Safety Appliances Act. This took effect in 1911 and set the requirements for grab irons, ladders, lettering, and many other things. You should model the ladders if you are modeling anything after 1910.

[Chris333]

Well spent the whole day in front of the computer, now it has ladders.



The top rung on the left looks cooked. It is drawn straight, that is from the FEP tension I guess.

[davefoxx]

Damn, dude.  Clearly, it’s your first day on the job. 

DFF

[Chris333]

Damn, dude.  Clearly, it’s your first day on the job. 

DFF

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

After looking at some pics I moved that crooked rung up .033", so maybe less crooked now? It will be closer to the sloped hopper sheet.

Also what about the modern brake wheel? I just don't want it, but should it be there in 1935-1940ish.

[chessie system fan]

You might as well do all the variations like the GLca at this point.  You're so close.   

Besides, K4 did decals for these already. 

https://k4decals.com/products/pennsylvania-railroad-glca-twin-hopper-car-white-coal-goes-to-war-decal-prrglca

[PiperguyUMD]

I can't believe how good those look!