I was asked by a good friend to create some parts for his steel coil wagons, some extra end stantions to fit a BBA wagon, later BZA which carried the coils down the centre. here is what he is modelling and wanting me to create.. although they are available from Bachmann, I believe he is doing some scratch building from another kit (that these were developed from in real life) and making some extra for a little less pennies.. we like that.! the end on a BZA I believe these are at Marcfoft. My friend kindly supplied me with a model of the OO scale Bachmann model to replicate.. I’m only doing the end parts on this wagon. I drew them up in 4mm scale to match these wagons… only for him to then tell me he ALSO wanted some in 7mm.. easy with 3D cad, but get bigger, you need more detail. For that he sent me some measurements through of the O Gauge wagon chassis he was using. Thankfully with being a modeller, he knows what dimensions I need, unlike once when someone sent me something with a can of WD40 as the height reference! Rather than bore with all the minute detail, the 4mm ones have been printed (more on those later as they are a little more crude, but hopefully in keeping with the OO Bachmann models version) I’ll show the 7mm drawings. I don’t think I used the best colour for the photos sadly. although scaled up by 1.75 from 4mm to 7mm, it was about .25mm out. We didn’t mind that, but a number of surfaces have been thinned as they scaled up a little over thick (probably still are but we need to consider some strength and thus there is some compromise unless you leave the sheet across the front to be done in plasticard) some edges were highlighted more as the upright and angled are literally 2 T beams welded together. The triangle opening was adjusted and as said, some of the plates narrowed down in thickness.
Before I move on to the second wagon, here are the 4mm parts although not yet off the supports from the 3D printer I’ve done him 8, a little more than he wants, but gives him some spares.
Now on to the BLA coil wagon which was converted from a BBA wagon.. these again carry steel coils but in a different orientation. These have 3 cradles, two large and one small. These will be the next project to start in a few days so no artwork as yet. the BLA wagon showing the 3 cradles. and an Accurascale wagon on his work bench showing the two different cradles. Same as before but only in 4mm to my knowledge this time.. more as they are drawn up.
Due a slight misplacement of one of the supports added after the auto function I’ve had a 50% fail rate. (The joy of copy and paste the same thing!!) all those on the left failed and broke as can be seen due to support being too close to a surface. thankfully, I’ve managed to save 50% so we’re good! let’s take a look. broken and good one. Four good ones. And the other side From the end. and 3/4 shot.
Slightly later and we have the baskets done ready. This was the test print. on the printer Cleaned ready for primer And another angle.
Here are the end stantions complete. I’m happy with these and I believe my friend will be. Note they are a little taller as they are standing on the ribs where as they will be on the deck level at the end when fitted.
Here are the coil baskets. Not happy with these. The small carrier is a mm too short, so has gone for a slight redraw. It is only a millimeter, the camera angle emphasises it here even more. But width and height and end profile is good. larger end basket. In comparison with the RTR one, The larger gap on the left was too large and this model was .5mm too short.. I know how that error crept in and that was me during an adjustment during early drawings stages and I forgot to correct. the gaps between the upright ribs were changed from 4.5mm to 4.75mm gaps, and the larger gap dropped from 7mm to 6mm. A new test print will run this evening.
I realise I missed a post, so for those who are interested in the design side, here are the progress pictures of the artwork for the coil bins.. basic profile. Adding the cut away and the end strengthening box sections and done and coloured and other side.
V2 printed. Just been in parts wash. (so look wet) you may also spot the hammer rest for my bell box. I’ve printed threads on both parts and after a good 20 mins just turning and re- turning the bolt, I’ve finally got it all to work. Looks like the threads needs a little clean through. (I don’t know if you’re supposed to recut them with a tap and die set? But anyway, it works as well as a real bolt and tapped hole.)
I completed the items and my friend collected them Sunday evening. I may have said he wanted the stantions in 7mm scale also, so I printed one he sent me this yesterday saying it looked fine. Could he have another 3?
