Work in progress: Westinghouse boxcab electric

[Hauk]

Seems like I havent bothered you gentlemen with any pictures of my 0m (1/45 scale, 22,2mm gauge)  gauge boxcab electric building project in a while, if ever.



Have been working on this model on and off for more years than I care to think about, but I am hoping to finish it pretty soon!

The model is mainly etched brass with some lost-wax brass castings.
Currently I am working on the pantograph (That picture with the P. raised and ready is a fake, it is stuck together with white glue just for the photosession...).




The white "ceramic" isolators are machined teflon rod, a great material for this use since it is heat resistant and you can solder right up against it!

Since this is my first scratchbuilt model ever, I have to learn as I go. So the first pantograph will be a semi-operational one, since I realised that to rivet together a fully functional set of  bars and piston, a lot of the parts would have to be assembled before soldering up everything.

In this picture all the parts have moving links:

It takes some practise to tighten up the joints and still have them loose engough to move freely.
Up next is the rest of the assembly of the pantograph. Stillwondering how to keep everything in just the right place while soldering up everything.

To be continued!

Regards, Håvard H

[Chuck Doan]

Just beautiful, as we have seen from you before. True art in scratchbuilding.

[Ray Dunakin]

Beautiful! Like a Swiss watch.

[MrBrownstone]

Hey Hauk,

Now that is some of the smallest high level craftsmanship that I have seen in many years.
(and I do believe the last time was looking at a nice watch)

It is just beautiful...

Mike

[Hauk]

Thanks for the positive feedback!
But belive me, there is plenty of room for improvement. My soldering skills are very basic, for starters. Some times I am so frustrated when things gets out of alignment, parts get accidently desoldered or blobs of solder gather in the wrong places. Not to mention the (literarely) total meltdown of parts that happens occasionally.

So the main reason I have gotten this far is mainly because I am a stubborn b****rd. I do, and redo over and over again.
And I search the net like a google index-bot for webpages, discussion forums and companies that can aid my modelling.  And I ask. On forums, in real life, in emails, on conventions and meetings.

And I do not limit myself to railroad modelling, or even modelling. I have studied webpages on watcmaking, goldsmithing (can you say that?), miniature cannonbuilding, you name it.  Any craft that involves small parts and delicate work will catch my interest. You can learn something in the strangest places. I have for instance discovered a lot of interesting tools on jewellers webpages.

Another of my modelling secret is this: I cheat a lot. I am still not capable og turning and assembling a set of wheels to finescale standards. The wheels for this engine is the work of a truly gifted danish modeller named Erik Olsen. His models is the "gold standard" for my work. Take a look for yourself:
http://www.modelbaneteknik.dk/model/index-e.htm
(Unfortunately, some of the best stuff is Danish only)

I cheat in other ways as well. Even if I designed all the etched parts for this engine using CAD, I did not etch myself. In England there are several companies that are happy to do work for modellers, even if you are just ordering a single Letter-size or A4 sheet:

http://www.ppdltd.com/index.html
http://www.photo-etch.co.uk/

And don´t be put down by the somewhat basic webdesign of these pages, it by no means reflect the quality of their etchings!
The quality is superb, and the etched parts are the totally central in my project. I would strongly urge ambitious modellers to take a look into making your own etched kits. There are unlimited potential here. I will answer any question on the subject as best as I can.

The ultimate "cheat sheet" must be CNC. I am thrilled by the possibillities here, but I have little access to CNC machinery since leaving Architectural school.
If you have seen this before, bear with me, but Its my favourite example of what a CNC mill can do:




It´s more like a custom made kit than a truly scatchbuilt model in a way.

But lets not forget that plain old machining is quite useful (and more fun, really):



This turnbuckle was turned on a small hobby-late and the slot was milled by soldering all the tb´s in a straight line on a brass plate and using an endmill to make the slot.


So if anyone have tips & tricks on soldering, machining in brass or any other related subject, get in the thread! Feel free to hijack the thread,  digressions are welcome.

Regards, Håvard H

[finescalerr]

Truly outstanding craftsmanship. And excellent photos, too! Thank you very much for posting them. -- Russ

[TRAINS1941]

Perfection at its finest.  Beautiful work.

Jerry

[Hauk]

Perfection at its finest.  Beautiful work.

Jerry

Thanks a lot for the kind words!

I am not putting myself down here, but what we actually are looking at is some extremely precise photoetched parts soldered and riveted together with quite average skills.

Anyone capabel of making semi-technical drawings in a Vector-based illustration software like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw could make kits/parts with similiar quality.

Regards, Håvard H

[Ken Hamilton]

WOW!!!...........This knocked me out!

If you posted this before, I missed it, Hauk.  What fantastic work!!!
The mass-produced clevises are outstanding, as are the turnbuckles.
EVERYTHING is so well-done it's almost beyond words.
Great job, Havard.  Can't wait to see more.

[RoughboyModelworks]

Beautiful work Hauk... love those clevises  .  This is porn for us machinists in miniature 

Thanks for posting and keep us updated on the progress.

Paul

[Hauk]

Beautiful work Hauk... love those clevises  .  This is porn for us machinists in miniature 

Thanks for posting and keep us updated on the progress.

Paul

"Clevises", so thats what they are called in English! Frankly, I am not really sure what they are called in Norwegien...
By the way,  If anyone think that CNC is just a matter of pressing a button (besides preparing the CAD-files), please bear in mind that these parts are made on a 3-axis machine. This means that the workpiece had to be turned 90deg between two sessions of milling. Manually repositioning the workpiece with totally accuracy is quite a challenge!

Paul, it was really your postings on the On3 shay that inspired med to get off my A. and start working on my Westinghouse project again. Hope to see a lot more postings of your work!

[John McGuyer]

May I make a suggestion for soldering a strip of parts as you are doing and don't want them to move? Get some ceramic foam and T-pins from Micro Mark. Then you can pin them down and they won't move as you solder them.

John

[Hauk]

May I make a suggestion for soldering a strip of parts as you are doing and don't want them to move? Get some ceramic foam and T-pins from Micro Mark. Then you can pin them down and they won't move as you solder them.

John

Funny you should mention it!
Just a few days ago I tried to order said items from MM. But unforunately, the ceramic foam was out of stock.

I have ordered some samples of machinable ceramics for making soldering jigs, but if anybody have tried the ceramic foam I would love to hear their opinion on their usability.

[John McGuyer]

This is why I suggested it. I use it all the time. I am presently doing a 1/32 stock car that has all the underside brake details which has strings of pieces similar to what you are doing.

John

[RoughboyModelworks]

Machinable ceramics...? Interesting. I'm curious to learn more about that material. I'm still working with an old block of asbestos... don't tell the EPA 

Paul