I got a first CERA trailer printed. Unpainted, in its white translucent "Frosted Detail" material it is hard to photograph. But it seems well proportioned. The brake wheel (above, on the right) is printed one piece with the body, just slightly over-dimensioned to meet the minimum wall thickness.
http://interurban.blogspot.fr/2013/10/back-to-boxcars.html
The frame was printed in "BSF" (Black, Strong, Flexible), including the truss rods, in one single part. This is the first time I printed truss rods. They are a little thicker than prototypical, but this seems acceptable for me.
The frame is equipped with functional radial coupler bars, printed in BSF also. I clipped european Roco HO couplers (Roco 40270) into the normalized bars, and I obtained a very functional trolley coupler, but not prototypical. With this coupler, I can push the trailer through tight curves, S-curves, turnouts, even with overspeed. Coupled, they form a rigid bar between the two vehicles. Roco couplers are easy to uncouple, to connect they must be well aligned.
The frame was printed in "BSF" (Black, Strong, Flexible), including the truss rods, in one single part. This is the first time I printed truss rods. They are a little thicker than prototypical, but this seems acceptable for me.
The frame is equipped with functional radial coupler bars, printed in BSF also. I clipped european Roco HO couplers (Roco 40270) into the normalized bars, and I obtained a very functional trolley coupler, but not prototypical. With this coupler, I can push the trailer through tight curves, S-curves, turnouts, even with overspeed. Coupled, they form a rigid bar between the two vehicles. Roco couplers are easy to uncouple, to connect they must be well aligned.
Happy New Year. Looking good Volkmar. The trailer shape and details look excellent. Charlie Robinson, a noted HO trolley freight operator has also worked out many things in this area. I believe his work in posted in the East Penn files.
ReplyDeleteAnd another thought... We have the same issue in O scale with jack knifing radial couplers so I use solid cast couplers in radial mounts. This may seem like a "return to the old fashioned days of less detail and crude models" but I do not view it that way. We like to operate models in a prototypical manner and no coupling is made without a brakeman opening the coupler and making up the air hose. Given that fact, having to pick up a car to couple or uncouple is just a simulation of the brakeman "doing his thing" and is OK with me.
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