Two new 3D-printed models at the Exhibition

Marbelup Models unveiled two brand new 3D-printed models at the 2014 Model Railway Exhibition, neither of which have been modelled before, as far as I know.

The QMC car wagons were converted in 1963 from the earlier QMB wagons.  The WMB's were used to carry car bodies only, which were fully assembled in local (WA) factories, whereas the QMC's and later QMD's carried complete cars.  Photos indicate that the wagons were mainly used between Kalgoorlie and Perth and were often included on the Westland passenger train as well as freight trains.  These narrow gauge car wagons were made redundant after the standard gauge trains started running right through to Perth, and some were converted to QMG long, bulkhead flat wagons between 1970 and 1973.

The steel-sided RB open wagons were built between 1930 and 1937, with a total of 177 being built.  Some RB's lasted until 1971 in their original form.  Others were converted, quite early on, to class RBW by the addition of wooden hungry boards to increase the capacity for carrying wheat.  The RBW version survived until 1990.  Marbelup Models intends to produce the RBW version in the future.

The MRWA FA Guard's Van

The FA Class Guard's van

The MRWA had  thirteen or fourteen Guard's vans during the life of the railway between 1894 and 1964. Some but not all were taken into WAGR ownership after 1964. Andy May's Railway Page explains the long and complicated history of these vans in great detail.

The simple kit produced by X-class models replicates the vans which were re-built by the Company in the 1950s. These rebuilt vans were numbered 61-68. FA 61-64 had truss rods and full-length running boards. FA 65-68 had angle iron trusses and shorter running boards or steps below the doors.

The first of the following photos shows a kit assembled by Greg Aitken of a very nice example of FA 61 which shows the truss rods and full length running boards as per FA61-64.

The second photo shows an assembled kit of an example of FA 67 which had angle Iron trusses and steps below the doors.

The third photo of the prototype of FA 67 kindly supplied by Joe Moir does not show the trusses but is handy to get some idea of the roof detail and curvature and the paint colour of the vans. It also shows that the roof colour is the same as the colour of the body, unlike WAGR practice which was to paint the canvas roofs a stone colour at least in the corresponding period. The MR vans were painted a chocolate brown for which Humbrol #113 provides a reasonable colour match.

Interestingly the next photo shows that the MRWA were by no means consistent in their use of the colours they used on their guard's vans. This valuable photo also shows the flatter roofs of the un-re-built vans and the oval end of train disk used by the MR compared with the round disk used on the end of WAGR trains. As an aside, looking at the paint colours of the building behind the van with the disk, it shows that the Company's painters were not averse to using the paints that they used on their wagons and vans on the buildings in the yard at Midland. (Photo courtesy of  Rail Heritage WA)

 
Finally it needs to be said that a number of the MRWA guard's vans survived in WAGR ownership for a number of years and so they would not be out of place at the end of a model of a WAGR train post 1964 though the vehicle numbers would have been altered to have a 40 in front of the them. For example FA 64 became Z 40816 and was not written off until 1977 albeit in yellow livery and without the angled tongue and groove sides.  Once again, Andy May gives a very good explanation of this in his excellent website. Very nice number plates for FA 61-68 are available in waterslide decal form from Westland Models, through the AMRA WA Sn31/2 Special Interest Group.

VDR Refrigerator Van

 Here are some photos of the VDR refrigerator van produced by 3D printing by Marbelup Models.

The 3D drawing was modified from that for the VD van, although the modifications were quite extensive as the roof of the VDR was raised to provide extra height inside the refrigerated compartment, presumably to allow for the thickness of the insulation material.  

The bodywork for the refrigerator compartment was based on the somewhat derelict WVD van at the ARHS museum at Bassendean, although the WVD is slightly different in that the refrigeration equipment was mounted underneath the van rather than in the centre compartment of the VD.  Little information was available on the appearance of the refrigeration equipment on the WVD, hence the choice of VDR for the model, as well as the lack of evidence that the WVD's carried the attractive advertising livery.

Some of the VDRs had a single door each side to the refrigerated compartment and Marbelup Models would consider producing the single door version if there is sufficient demand.

The main decals were done by Westland Models and are available from them should you wish to have a VDR for yourself.  Some of the tiny decals for load, tare, etc. were done at home on a laser printer using laser decal paper from local hobby shop.  The laser printed decals sprayed with a Testors Decal Bonder which made them easier to apply as the laser decal film is extremely thin and fragile.  I understand Westland Models will be including the smaller decals in their VDR sheet for future orders.

Prior to decalling, the model was airbrushed with Revell gloss white enamel, and Revell matt varnish used as a clear protective coat over the decals.  The underframe is Revel No. 9 "Anthracite".  The bogies are American Models Bettendorf style, with 3D-printed bolsters to convert them to narrow gauge.

The 3D-printed body of the VDR is printed in one piece, and printed upside down to obtain the optimum definition for the louvred sections.  Some cleanup is required to roof as there is visible stepping and also remnant of the support structure from the 3D printing process.  The lack of other detail on the roof makes the cleanup pretty easy.  The exhaust pipe from the refigeration unit is vulnerable to damage while cleaning up the roof, so there is a spare printed on the underframe in case if gets broken (which it did on the test model).  All the the details visible are included in the 3D printed body, apart from handrails and the brake pulls rods and their supports, which must be fabricated from brass wire and strip.

W-Irons for 4-wheel Wagons

Have you ever wondered why the W-irons on model 4-wheels wagons never end up quite right?  They always seem to have to be bent in or out to make the wheels fit properly.

It turns out there is a "standard" for W-irons and bearings documented in the UK around 1982, but most of the manufacturers don't seem to adhere to the standard.

According to the CLAG Website the UK "standard" for W-irons and bearings is based on:

26 mm axles (also NMRA standard)
24 mm width inside W-irons
1 mm deep holes in bearings.

UK "standard" measurements (from CLAG website)

Using the above measurements, everything should fit together nicely and the W-irons should be vertical and not need to be bent in or out to suit the axles.

The readily available W-irons from Railwest are available in 2 styles:

"Closed" and "Open" W-irons by D&S (UK)

The "Open" W-irons (labelled "DS520") are 24 mm inside when folded.

The "Closed" W-irons (also by D&S but not branded) are 23.3 mm inside when folded.

At various times, Railwest has also supplied two different styles of brass bearings.  The depth of the conical holes in the different types is approx. 1.15 mm deep vs.1.36 mm deep (averaged over measurements of 5 bearings of each type).

The CLAG website specifically mentions Markits bearings as being "different" with a depth of 1.375 mm - so the deeper bearings probably are genuine Markits ones.  The shallower bearings are most likely from North Yard in New Zealand.  (Railwest has advised that they will mostly selling the Markits bearings in the future.)

The various combinations possible between the W-irons and bearings are as follows:

DS Closed W-irons, North Yard (shallow) bearings: 25.6 mm between pinpoints
DS Closed W-irons, Markits (deep) bearings: 26.0 mm between pinpoints
DS Open W-irons, North Yard (shallow) bearings:  26.3 mm between pinpoints
DS Open W-irons, Markits (deep) bearings:  26.7 mm between pinpoints

Conclusions:

Despite neither conforming to the supposed UK "standard" the combination of DS Closed W-irons and Markits bearings perfectly suits 26 mm axles and the W-irons end up being nicely vertical.

The only downside is that, due to the deeper bearings, the W-irons have to be sprung out further to insert the wheelset.  (This issue can be alleviated by grinding or filing a groove in the bearing as explained in the CLAG website.  The groove need only be in the bottom half of the bearing.)

The combination of open W-irons and North Yard bearings sort of works provided the W-irons are bent in a bit, and the closed W-irons with the North Yard bearings sort of works but the W-irons have to be bent out a bit.

The combination of open W-irons and Markits bearings is not recommended as the W-irons would have to be bent in quite a bit to suit a 26 mm axles.

Recent 3D Printed Models

For those not at recent S scale nights at AMRA, here are some photos of my latest 3D-printed models.

VD Bogie Louvred Van (painting not finished yet)

Interestingly, the original VD vans were built in Enghiem in Belgium, which is only about 60 km from the i.Materialise factory in Leuven where the 3D printed version was made.

SXT Bogie Sheep Wagon

WAGR Water Column (assembled and painted by Doug Firth)

3D Printers Available from Officeworks

Exciting News is that Officeworks are now selling 3D Printers, yes the revolution is coming, and first order of business is getting down to the East Vic Park or Joondalup stores which apparently are the only ones stocking them.

So $1500 bucks later I am the proud owner of his very first 3D printer I have wasted no time printing things off, some good results and some iffy results but very happy.

I first tried my GC wagon unmodified from what I sent to Shapeways and i.Materialise which while it printed very well it was full of very tough support material which I am struggling to get out of the center, I'm sure it will make a good gravel wagon.

Next to try was my drawing of the AI coach I have been working on a while.

Both in the Lime Green PLA and white ABS materials that this printer uses:

Quality is great for this little coach, which while it wont match the Prime gray from iMaterialise, the look and feel is superior to the WSF (SLS) from Shapeways.

Cost for this coach I estimate to print is about $3, which is pretty good seen as 3DSystems whom sell the printer use a razor blade system to sell these printers (like ink jet printers the cartridges are over priced and you have to use their printer cartridges) but I am working on a work around to maybe print with cheaper generic ABS plastic.

Overall looks like printing the coach sides and glueing the sides together works best for this method, the great thing is that "Plastruct Plastic Weld" is able to glue ABS and styrene together so works great with these parts making seemless welds.

This is probably a great option for making masters for coach sides for casting, but at this price for a small coach which when I finish with the drawing will be complete minus couplers W irons wheels and grab handles and a roof (printed roof doesnt look great, though going to try printing on its side) it could do it just about as cheap as a cast urethane kit... just kidding!

Panoramic view of a V Class Cab

Wanting to capture most of the detail of the V Class cab in a single photo, but unable to stand far enough back for obvious reasons I gave the panoramic setting ago. Sure its a little warped but a good reference nonetheless