Traction Terminal Waiting Room, new renderings

When you do not know where you're going, get there, and as soon as possible

Traction Terminal Waiting Room, front view (click to enlarge)

For years ago, I worked on 3D drawings of the Indianapolis Traction Terminal. This left to some results like this and this, but all this work remained essentially unfinished. In recent times, there was a long gap, as I turned to draw Interurban cars, and finally started to make 3D prints of Interurban cars in H0.

Traction Terminal Waiting Room, rear view with hollow structures

But when you are able print H0 scale carbodies, you must be able to print H0 buildings?


In real life, things are not so easy:  I unfolded my old 3D data files and stated that all the work must be done again a second time. Those 3D drawings are not "printable", because I ignored this technique and the requirements.

Some details must be simplified, as the minimum detail offset for 3D printers is 0.3mm, and minimum wall thickness is 1 mm. This is nearly invisible, but otherwise your 3D file is not usable. And more important : 3D printing remains expensive, and you pay the volume, not the details. This means that I had to throw away all the plain pillars and walls and replace them by sophisticated hollow structures, with as less wall thickness as possible.

As a test object, I redraw the Market Street Elevation of the Traction Terminal waiting room. This is only a small part of the entire structure, but it contains many elements that could be reused by "copy and past" for the Terminal Building. If this works, the dream of a self made "plastic kit" of the Traction Terminal could become reality. Obviously, 3D printing technique will be applicable only for building, not for the shed. The train shed could be produced with laser cut styrene parts, but this is another story...

Fortunately, when you do a work twice,  the second time it is often quickly done. So now the Market Street Elevation is nearly "ready to print". I must just add doors and make some minor corrections. You may have noticed that the eagle is missing. Actually, I am not yet experienced enough to modelize the stone eagles in 3D. This will be a project for this winter.

NWSL Stanton drive : corrected drawing

In the previous drawing, I made a small error : the 7 foot version of the NWSL Stanton drive is not symetrical, due to the modular construction of the truck for multiple wheelbases.

Download pdf diagram

The most important change in the diagram is that the real centerpin has moved 0.87 mm to the (front) A end of the bogie. I consider as A ends those where the wires came out and where the removable coupler support is mounted (who is not shown in my diagram)

So you must deal with a "real" and a "virtual" centerpin with this motor bogie. The Stanton drive with 6'6" wheelbase would be symetrical.

Doors for the THI&E Wooden Combine

Front view of Interurban wooden combine

After a short summer break, it is time to resume work on the big 61 foot wooden combine. I gave him rear passenger folding doors and baggage sliding doors in the front. Buffers were added also.

To pain the modeler, the Cincinnati Car master mechanics has given the front and rear end a different curvature radius. So you need to model all panels and complex end roofs twice and you can not "copy and paste".

The ovale window in the passenger departement was also punched out of the side. And then I tested if this version would be "waterproof" for 3D resin printing  - and it is ! But it will be still a long way from the virtual 3D drawing to the real H0 model: the pilot, rear steps and underbody parts, all this is not yet made.

The first version I want to finish would be those from the Terre Haute Indianapolis & Eastern Traction. They had rear folding doors, but in this case I need to built new Baldwin truck frames. The Standard C80P frames matching for the Ohio Electric version, but then the rear door must be a swinging door at floor height.

Rear part of Interurban wooden combine