Tuesday 31 May 2022

3D printed CW cica 1915

This model of the NSWGR Cattle wagon (coded CW) below is based on the series that began delivery to the railways in 1948. 250 wagons were built in this series and they were numbered from 27775 to 28024. They were built on the 10-foot wheelbase Steel "S" truck underframe and were the first cattle wagons to be fitted with automatic couplings from the time they were constructed but before these, there were two models using timber underframes and screw couplings.




In an attempt to inject a little texture into trains it was decided to custom manufacture the 1915 and 1921 models. An overview was found on the web by James McInerny and can be accessed by clicking here.  AHRS did locate in their files a general arrangement and bracket details for 1915 which I duly purchased so the final item resulted from a combination of these sources of information.

The final piece of information was the ability to source the general arrangement of 1918 CW kindly supplied by Graham Holland who assisted in the design process by checking the model against a couple of high-resolution photos of both models. 



CW circa 1918 but not as delivered



CW circa 1921

Now, of course, you find that the drawings do not align with the photos and these vary over time so it appears the 1915 CW remained fairly constant with the differences being wear and tear. Our 1921 CW however thru a curveball in the photo below, the end is entirely different from the photo above and there are three [3] off them.



All this appears to say is that it is hard to determine the truth so, like Marvel, we have to accept that our models are in their own reality. With that out of the way, we get into the 3D modelling which created the models shown below.

After hours of editing, alterations and checking photos and general arrangements the interpretations of this information evolved to create the 3D masters..!



1921 CW Version A


1921 CW Version B

There is a lot in common but the end is definitely different it's just how many of the B Version there were?

A 1918 progress at this time will be covered in a separate blog as this is complicated by chamfers on many of the timbers.

Wednesday 18 May 2022

Spicers Creek Update

It was in 2014 that Spicers Creek made its way to the O scale Convention and then to the Epping Show, boy that was a long time ago and I did not think that it would be this long until I would be forced to look and pick it up again.

A small project that was only going to take a few years is just now looking like it will get someware so I have decided to restore the modules.

This has now started and in general, the No 2 module is OK except the styrene roof has failed. Looking back it was a bit light but as I was going to be transported weight was an issue but not so now. This will be replaced with 4 sheets of 1830 x 900 x 3 MDF that will be painted both sides as will the frame,

The No 1 module is in worse shape and I have not had the courage to remove the plastic and that will be for another day.

The scenery, however, help up well as did the ply frame so the goal will be to finish the bridge and install it and then rework the scenery to a decent standard.

The steel rail had rusted and was rubbed back with a series of wet and dry papers using WD40 as the lubricant. The track in the scenery is all that can be observed at this time as needs repair visually. Lookin at it again it does indeed follow the Geoff Knott theory of modelling "Scenery disturbed by the minimum amount of track"

So Have Fun I am trying