March Madness

Sadly, we would typically be watching basketball this time of year, but for now the madness is confined to panic-buying of toilet paper at the grocery store.  Keep calm and carry on, eh?  I find myself recommending to others they try scale modeling (whether railroads or other such as plastic aircrafts kits, etc.) to pass the time at home.

As for myself, I have several projects in the works.

First and foremost is the exploration of narrow gauge using T-gauge track.  Last time I mentioned a custom 2-foot gauge Z scale dump car based on the Gilpin Tramway.  Here is the finished model:

It rolls on T gauge "pin point wheelsets" from TGauge.com.  The brake wheels are 3D printed, but the staff is 0.15mm brass wire.  Couplers are true link-and-pin, they would have a loop of wire used and these cars would need to be semi-permanently coupled in sets (3 or 4 I'd think).

What's even cooler--I received a shipment of the "wider sleeper" version of the TGauge.com flextrack.  Here's how it looks before (from the box) and after (installed with ballast and painting).  Very reasonable looking, and I'm planning on making some dummy turnouts to work with this track soon.

This lead to the discussions of 1:300 scale 3-foot gauge (a much more common narrow gauge) such as the former D&RGW lines and current Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR.

As a proof of concept of the 3-foot gauge on T track, I designed, test printed and built a 30' D&RGW boxcar.  I now have the final revised version of the model printed, and on deck waiting to be built/painted, but here's the test model with piece-by-piece assembled decals...

The finished model has brake wheels, truss rod underframe (there is a bending jig attached to the base of the kit to properly bend wire).  And based on my experience with the test model's decals--it will need custom decals because piecing together letters was wayyyy to fiddly;   I don't have the logo or really a good rendition of the dimensional data either.  But the proof of concept worked--I'm moving forward with some modeling in 3-foot gauge.

So, the custom decal set will also include decals for a K-36.  Yes a D&RGW narrow gauge Mikado is in the works.  Design work is well on the way--see below.  I am hoping to make it a powered version.. but that may take more time. 

This kit will also include a bending jig to add stand-alone wire piping to the model, which will go a long way to making it look accurate.  This is really another proof-of-concept since I haven't done this before.

Lest you think I've gone 100% off the narrow gauge cliff, I'm still working on the Sharonville diorama (currently having ballast and ground cover added), and adding some pieces of rolling stock.   I did a custom-painted C&O F7A for a client.  Here it is almost finished, the final model has a yellow pilot--I just forgot to get the picture (duoh!). 

Well, enjoy your "social distancing" time at the workbench, and please stay safe and healthy out there! Hopefully we are back to (semi) normal by summer. 

Until next time,
Jesse