Earlier this spring I've converted a couple of LGB-wagons for Maintenance of Way and Permanent Way Maintenance uses.
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To help the maintenance crew getting sleepers and rails on and off their wagons I thought it might be helpful to add a small crane to this Maintenance rake and get a complete Maintenance of Way/ Permanent Way Department train. I found free STL-files to 3D-print for a complete Crane Wagon on Thingiverse. Even if it was made to Standard Gauge in 'Gauge 1' (1:32) it still had the same gauge (45mm) as my narrow gauge 16mm (1:19) military trains, and could be printed and used as is:
I already have several similar looking G-scale wagons primarily from LGB, and didn't actually need to add another one to my growing fleet at this point. Besides this was a Gauge 1 wagon with standard gauge buffers which would look a little too small and odd for my 16mm narrow gauge. Therefore I decided to just make the crane on a removable false floor just like I did with the rails and sleeper load so I could add it to an existing wagon when needed. I have too many wagons to run them all at once anyway, as my engines can't pull that many. To make the crane base fit my standard-sized LGB-wagons and making it less like 'Gauge 1', I increased the size about 30% before printing it. 132,64% of original size to be exactly if you are going to follow this description and make one for your self.
Than all the 3D-printed parts was assembled and painted. The stones for the countherweight I found at an island at our cost during a day out with my family.
This can be fitted into any 'standard sized' LGB-wagons to temporarily turn them into a crane wagon:
Another 'Day Out' at Heine's Garden Railway
When I finished this project fellow model railway club member Heine coincidentally suggested that we could take our weekly club-evening in his garden for a running session as the weather was good. This was my first chance to run all my MOW/PWM wagons together as a complete Maintenance of Way/ Permanent Way Maintenance train:
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| These smal rail-buses were also used to haul local goods on Branch lines |
This maintenance of way train rake is perhaps not so 'warlike', but I imagine that military railway operators use many of the same kind of cars as civilians. Besides, now my military trains are able to repair any (battle-) damaged tracks if it gets blown up by partisans or aerial bombings.
The crane "load" for your wagon is very nice Roger - great work
ReplyDeleteThe railbus is superb 👍
Thank you Maudlin Jack.
DeleteI agree; The railbus with the vans is one of the most "interesting" "rakes" I've seen. And what's more fascinating about it, is that's prototypical.
The crane really looks the part and separate loads work so well, very versatile, both for civilian and military use.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark.
DeleteI'm using this method to make other interchangeable loads as well. It will be something more 'warlike' next time....
Hello Roger. I do like that 3D Crane, and the ability to interchange cargos is very logical. But I do have one concern about 3D. I have heard various opinions on the stability of 3D products over time, do you have a view? Are there different material qualities for such models?. Cheers, Michael
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Michael. You are correct about different materials for 3D printing or types of filaments. Different kind of filaments has different qualities, pros and cons, and usually you chose a filament for what your going to use your model for. My 3D-printig is 'filamentprinting' or FDM (on the contrary to resin). For my FDM-printer I usually use PLA filament as each layer bonds better, gives better details and you get a better looking model with less obvious layerlines. The 'con' with PLA-filament is that it melts on 'low' temperatures and doesn't stand direct sunlight and heat very well. It's not the ideal filament for longterm outdoor use. I only have my models out for 'short running sessions' so they're not affected by this. I think layers of auto spray filler, paints and varnishes also helps. For models you want to use outdoors in direct sunlight and heat over time, you would want to use ABS or PETG filament. They're a little more difficult to 3D-print well with than PLA, need higher temperature and the ABS is 'smelly'. I usually do some finishing touches with my 3D-printed models anyway to make them look better, so I'm actually more curious about how car spray filler will act over time.
Delete...I'm primarly using PLA for my models, which works just fine indoors. -I have not experienced much problems with my limited outdoor use with PLA either, except for one 'false floor' which started to sagg in the middle during one of our BBQ and coffee breaks on an extremely warm and sunny day. It's nothing worse that warm water can't fix. This reminds me to give the fals floors in my next project som support underneath to make it more rigid.
DeleteRoger, that is very interesting. I appreciate your detailed reply. I have seen some rather nice 3D printed figures but I do wonder how they will stand up to the passing of time. Surprisingly, some of them are as expensive as cast metal.
DeleteMichael
When coming to miniatures, they are best 3D-printed in resin. I don't think they are much for outdoor use, and I don't know how they "age". I'm not into resin-printing as it is smelly and toxic. FDM (filament) -printing is a much 'cleaner' process, but you don't get as good results as with resin-printing. I have some (54mm) miniatures on my workbench now which I have given a couple of coats of car spray filler. They looks almost 'molded'. Only time will show how this will 'age'. I will cover these miniatures in a future blogpost.
DeleteIt's very cheap to 3D-print miniatures. I'm not only doing it because of the cost, but also it enables me to get 'special' miniatures, characters and poses and the market is almost non existent in Norway.
Perfect timing. Finish the model then get to try out the model at a meeting. It looks good too!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Peter. Yes the timing was just perfect to bring all my MoW-wagons for a ride. It's been so nice weather here, so we have actually been out for more running sessions which I'll cover in following blog-posts.
DeleteDette syns jeg er artig og interessant å lese. Liker bloggen din godt!
ReplyDeleteTusen takk for vennlige ord, Nils. Det gleder meg at du finner noe interessant i denne bloggen.
Delete