Ommmmmmmmmm...............
With all the preparations made for the worlds biggest leave pass (similar to a train control "work between 2 stations" warrant), I started getting a few things together to take with me. In the past at shows of this ilk, Cabbage (aka Marks Model Works, purveyor of fine 3/16ths Dubs A kits and 1880's exhibition layouts) and the VCC Models team have set up demonstration tables and merrily hacked, filed, soldered and muttered all within the scrutinizing eye of the viewing public. So, being the naive innocent little lamb that I am, I packed a few tools and started casting around for projects.
I already had a few IA's that still needed to be assembled before making their way to a new home in the Naki, plus I'd found a J5 etch that I was using as a bookmark in a train book.....so that was going north anyway to sit in the Head Druff's new train room.
With all the latest goings on in Taranaki I am starting to re-invigorate my interest in the milkies, so pulled back my old CAD OM drawings to see if anything could be done with them. A phone conversation with Mr Laser late on a Thursday afternoon confirmed if I could have a file to him early Friday he'd have it available to be picked up by stumps that night.
In the end I did 2. The first was a standard OM in 0.5mm styrene designed in a similar fashion to the IA with etched girders and slots in the decks for them to go into.
The second was a bit more....ground breaking.
The wagon spine was made from 4.5mm acrylic and consisted of 2 cuts; the first was the side view with the drop centre, the second (after the piece was rotated 90 degrees in the machine) was to provide the slot in the top. The decks were then added in 0.5mm styrene.
The real proof of the pudding was in the making....and oddly enough the single piece spine was a lot easier to finish (by a factor of 1000%!) and it only took 5 minutes. In fact, I gave up on the styrene one as it proved impossible to put together. There is a bit of "twist" in the acrylic due to the heat of the laser, but I am informed that a quick reapplication of heat will allow it to be bent back into shape...not that I cared, this was just a prototype, goddammitt!
Thanks to Cabbage, it even got a lick of paint...
So here we are. The boys were really enthusiastic when they saw it, as it opens up a whole lot of new ideas....such as locomotive chassis for split axles (large block of acrylic, cut the side elevation for frame shape and axle holes, then rotate and cut slots for the gears).
As for me, I suppose I'll have to finally get the tank supports underway in 2mm acrylic as well as starting to beg Cabbage to turn up some SS tube on his lathe. Luckily he's already provided a sketch on how the cradles should go together.
Seeing as I need around 12 of the puppies the incentive is there to make the assembly as easy as possible....
3 comments:
AF - You will need 16 as to represent the "peak of season" consist to/from Whareroa :).
From personal experience, I would be wary of using SS tube for the tanks due to the resulting high centre of gravity, especially with a low weight styrene chassis.
On my yet to be completed OMs, I have used brass plate (cut and bent) for the chassis/deck, and PVC conduit covered in silver "foil" used for model car finishing. The ends were plugged with cork (hard to find in wine bottles these days!). This tank seems to result in a reasonably stable wagon.
The cradle section, is what I struggled with the most, ending up cutting them out of 5mm ally and shaping with a large rat tail file!
I will be very interested to sample one of your units when they become available !
Good work !
Yes progress indeed! the acryllic certainly makes the chassis look professional. Well done
I think I decided (or was told by the others, one of the two) that having 10-12 OM's would still have the same visual impact as a 16 car train but without the cost in space.
I take your point on weight, its got me thinking now about the best way of going about it.
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