Functional Tall Lights for H0 Interurbans

I will try to make a test to print tall lights with the car body, who could be made functional by glueing small red LED behind the holes.

Wait and see how it comes out of the printer ...

My first O scale track ...

Some asked me if I could make O scale models. I said no everytime. Our european houses are small, there is no broad 0 scale culture here, and no hope to find a club layout anywere.

But I must admit that recently I bought my first O scale track, and some 36" wheelsets.

Engineers dream (2) - the test of truth

For "Engineers dream, Vol 1", see here

Yesterday, I received the first beta print of the Fort Wayne - Lima Traction Lightweight Combine.

The first and biggest surprise was the pilot, 3D printed in brass. The quality of this print done by i.materialise in Belgium is amazing! The pilot bars are only 0.5 mm thick.

This means that in the future, ANY detail of a car could be reproduced within 3D technology, and that even a second rated craftsman like me could build a first class H0 model ...

The only shadow: brass printing is expensive, with high fix costs. But a whole car kit (without motor) will remain in a reasonable prize range.

The second surprise was that I am not so bad as an engineer. All comes together: car body, frame, truck frames...

Cannibalizing a Bowser PCC, this car is mounted in less than one hour. There are just some holes who must be widened, I will perhaps fix some issues in the final version.

You can even reuse the Bowser circuit board and lighting. The car is running smooth, even through curves with a radius of 16 centimeters.

The third surprise is that I have lost the riveting when exporting the file for printing. But there are just  some parameters to change, and the hard weeklong riveting work will reappear

Ohio Electric Combine - painted and glazed

Front and right side view, the car run on Taylor MCB trucks

Weathering makes the car looking a little tired

Rear ad left side view with radial coupler

Making good things better

  A while ago, I made a lot of Cincinnati Wooden Combines in several versions. The overall design of this cars could be considered as very good, but some features were not very practical.

The front and rear platforms with pilot and doorsteps were formerly part of the body. This made it very difficult to glass the car, as the end windows were nearly out of reach. I never offered these cars for sale, because even if they were very beautiful, they were not perfect, in a technical point of view.

I decided to re-engineer the car, and started with the Ohio Electric version. Now, the radial coupler, the doorsteps and the pilot are part of the frame, and the body glides over the frame.

This makes it possible to print the body in Shapeways "Frosted Detail" (FD) and the frame in "Black, Strong & Flexible" (BSF). FD makes a perfect car body nearly without steps in the rounded clerestory roof. The frame in BSF is less detailed, but very strong, this is specially important for the pilot. I consider the detail as "good enough", and as the material is black matte, you do not need to paint, without loss of detail by paint coats. The "Taylor" type truck frames and three different radial drawbars are part of the under body set, all printed in BSF. One drawbar has a normalized NEM 362 mount, ready for Kadee #20 couplers.

I ordered one test set, and I can say it is perfect! The car was quickly mounted and motorized with NWSL Stanton drives, Model 1210 , part #39279-4 Wheelbase 7’(84”), wheel dia. 36”.

Next days, I will paint and glass the car. A complete mounting instruction will follow soon. The kit is now on sell at: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/interurban .

For a complete car kit you need a car body #CCC1101 and an under body set #CCC2101.

All other versions of the Cincinnati built combines - Northern Indiana, Terre Haute, Oneonta & Mohawk Valley - will be re-engineered soon.

Winona Windsplitter H0 scale model

While awaiting the first test print of the Fort Wayne Lightwight Combine, my old Windsplitter project meets some attention. 

The first job is done: the model looks somewhat like a Winona Windsplitter. The general proportions seem mainly ok, when compared to photos. As no side elevation exists from this car, modeling work must be done essentialy with photos. Fortunately, a floor plan were published in reviews when the cars were new. 

Any comment, critic or help is welcome.