Innovations and Inspirations

A mid-spring check-in seems due, so in no particular order here is an update of a variety of projects I've been working on.

CCE Drive/Powered Chassis Development:  This has taken about 50% of my time over the last couple months, and quite a lot of progress has been made towards meeting the goal of producing an in-house T-scale chassis.  After several iterations (I am up to version 8), it has evolved into a worm drive, both for simplicity's sake and space savings.  I was successful in finding a very narrow low-voltage motor that fits inside the 3D printed US hood diesel, a GP38.  Here's a v7 chassis in the GP38 (sans fuel tank) while being tested.  

So far, early prototypes of both a GP38 and MP36 with powered chassis have been produced.  The GP38 is the most refined set and the latest version on the v8 chassis is on the way from Shapeways currently.  One of the nice things about the new chassis is the truck design (Blomberg prototype) does not require those blasted bogie attachment springs.  The new challenge, however, is effective electric pick-up, but no worries--I have a plan..  

Other locomotives that have been test fit with the new chassis design include the AEM-7 and GG1 electrics.  Both shells were previously designed and will require minimal adaptation to accept the drive.  Once perfected, the CCE drive will open up a lot of doors for powered North American prototype trains.

1:300 Water Tank:  I have been experimenting in Mn3 (1:300, 3-foot narrow gauge) and a desire to do a structure yielded this nifty little kit to build a Denver & Rio Grande "Standard" water tank.  Although there was a standard plan (and this model is faithful to it) often the prototypes varied a bit.  But if you go to South Fork, Colorado today, you will find the prototype for this model. 

The "necessary innovation" on this model was using Archer resin decals for the tank straps.  3D printing is great, but cylinders are a trouble spot due to the layering, and thin details like the straps -on- a cylinder are even worse.  The initial test model was great except for the tank.  I got the idea of eliminating the printed-on straps and sanding it a bit to improve it's smoothness, and then applying Archer "seam line" decals.  I happened to have these decals around as a by-product of an N-scale etched signal bridge project.  The "seam line" decals seen here being applied, which are 0.13 mm thick, worked great! 

 Here are the components primed.

 

 

 

And the finished model painted and decals applied. 

PS 5344 Boxcar and BKTY 154675 Graffiti Decal Set:  Some things just beg to be modeled.  As a long-time fan of the Simpsons, when I saw this boxcar adorned with our favorite cartoon duo, "Itchy and Scratchy", I just had to get a photo.  

 

And after some thought, I decided I wanted a model.  Well, two issues presented themselves:  First, I didn't have the appropriate boxcar model, and second, I didn't have any way to paint that graffiti.  I have done plenty of decals but never a graffiti image, so I figured I would this would be a good learning experience.  Using the photo as a guide, I traced the image using my vector graphics editor, Inkscape.  The PS boxcar came together nicely as well using my stand-by 3D editor, TinkerCad.

 

I'm currently waiting for the test boxcar from Shapeways, and the decal sheet is ready to be printed.  I'll probably make this available in N scale as well.  Speaking of which, there will be a few N scale items added over at CCE Models.  More on that next time...

Models and New Products in the Pipeline:

--Canadian Grain Board Cylindrical Hopper (with etched end railings/ladders and several different decal sets).  ETA June '21

--CalTrain MP36 Decal Set 

--Etched brass plug doors (3D printed plug doors make me sad.. test frets are on the way!)