Westlake Publishing Forums

Thank you gentlemen for the kind words.

Russ posted recently on the frustration that can occur when trying to model to one's highest standard.  While achievable, it takes time and if you want to also produce some quantity it can be frustrating.  My solution is small scale manufacturing.  The digital side takes time, but is not hard on the eyes. The 'undo' command removes risk and the 'copy/mirror' commands remove tedium.  Time on the modelling bench then becomes far more productive. Obviously this won't suit everyone.  I've said elsewhere that kits always involve compromise.  The advantage of building your own kits is that the compromises are ones that you can live with.

The basic parts of the car are few and underframe/body/roof assembly uses brass threaded inserts to facilitate screw assembly.  Parts for a clerestory roofed version of the car are illustrated.  The clerestory clips and dowels together, which is pretty low stress.

If things go badly I bin anything I'm not happy with (as the financial, time and emotional investment is low).  I've become a lot more interested in painting and finishing since the actual fabrication time has gone down.

Beautiful work, Lawrence. Your painting ain't shabby either.
I'm curious why are the end platforms separate pieces rather than part of a single piece underframe?
Is it the limit of the size of the printing platform or something else.

Quote from: Bill Gill on April 03, 2025, 02:13:32 PMI'm curious why are the end platforms separate pieces rather than part of a single piece underframe?
Is it the limit of the size of the printing platform or something else.

An excellent question.  Partly, it's a limit of print bed size, but more importantly it's to orientate parts so that the most visible areas benefit from the printer's best orientation.  So the underframe has downward facing detail (printed upside down), while the platforms have upward and end facing detail, so printed on an angle or with the headstock upwards (varies with the needs of the specific car).

Thanks, Lawrence. Thank makes a lot of sense.

Beautiful!

I would have said G scale if I did not read it first.  Absolutely clean workmanship!

A little while ago Russ started a thread entitled 'An annoying HO project'. This, and similar discussions elsewhere, can basically be summed up as: Just because you have the skill to complete a project to your desired standard doesn't mean it will be fun to do so.

Which got me thinking about which bits of my projects were 'fun' and which bits were more of a chore.

The prototype for the attached wagon was built in the late 1800s and the last was written off in the 1970's.  There were an awful lot of these and Rewanui can justify quite a number, albeit with slight variations.  Over the years I've built these from mediocre injection moulded kits in need of time consuming scratchbuilt enhancement, plastic bodies with etched/cast underframes that were time consuming to build, the same underframes with 3D printed bodies, and now finally this version.

I call this the '1 hour L'. The whole thing is a 1 piece 3D print including underframe detail, brakes, piping, Westinghouse set, levers etc.  The W irons are etched brass as is the handbrake mechanism (There's an etched floor and ballast for some mass too). The brakecocks, couplers, sidechain hooks and brake ratchet are cast brass, but they are fine castings requiring little clean up that plug into printed holes.  The brake tie rod is wire threaded through holes printed in the brake levers. And it has working leaf spring suspension (Though not using the visible printed springs - It's hidden away).

Build time is less than 1 hour (and that's using etched parts designed for another kit that I need to modify).  Detailing (hand grabs, the handbrake, chains etc is another hour or two depending on focus.  Painting took ages, as I felt like making some effort. Obviously there's substantial digital time behind the project as well.

It's not perfect and this is, after all, a test shot.  There's one or two things here I'll take more care with in future or perhaps alter the design of, but It's not bad for a model with a footprint smaller than a credit card, built in a morning.

I've designed away almost all the things that caused me pain.  I'm not averse to assembling etches by any means, but when you want a batch of 10 or more the prospect is not enticing.  With this method I can easily look at all the subtle detail variations on the PC and produce the required train in a reasonable period, while avoiding the stuff that I don't enjoy quite so much. This model was a lot of fun to build.

So thanks, Russ, for your part in triggering the process.  Your trials were not in vain.

(Krusty - yes, the load plate should be 8ton by 1940, and quite possibly the wagon number and tare are not correct for this vehicle. It may not be a South Island L either. The load plate I'll fix for future wagons, and I'll revisit decals when I can get a list of vehicles/details that are more accurate. It's a progression - When there were a whole load of inaccurate elements to the model, the lettering didn't seem so important)

Yo Lawrence. You know the legal requirement: first you build the model, then I provide the information. I have a long-standing, hard-fought reputation to uphold in these matters, you know.

Quote from: Krusty on May 14, 2025, 01:56:35 AMYo Lawrence. You know the legal requirement: first you build the model, then I provide the information. I have a long-standing, hard-fought reputation to uphold in these matters, you know.

Well, I've built it :-)

Since you asked politely:

L.4894 was a South Island 5-board coil-sprung (two per axlebox) wagon built at Hillside in 1898 and written off in June 1959. In later life it was fitted with laminated springs and boring modern hornguides. Drawing 1732 underframe. Recorded tare weights were 3-17-2, 4-8-2 and 4-7-1 at unknown dates. It had type B drawgear, a trapdoor over the drawbar and one cotter pin hole in the floor for said drawbar. In the early 1930s it reportedly had type B axleboxes, later type G and 3G.

So, you've got the right axleboxes (near enough).

This do ya?

Quote from: Krusty on May 15, 2025, 01:43:28 AMSince you asked politely:

L.4894 was a South Island 5-board coil-sprung (two per axlebox) wagon built at Hillside in 1898 and written off in June 1959. In later life it was fitted with laminated springs and boring modern hornguides. Drawing 1732 underframe. Recorded tare weights were 3-17-2, 4-8-2 and 4-7-1 at unknown dates. It had type B drawgear, a trapdoor over the drawbar and one cotter pin hole in the floor for said drawbar. In the early 1930s it reportedly had type B axleboxes, later type G and 3G.

So, you've got the right axleboxes (near enough).

This do ya?

I hate that we do this  . It does have a 1732 underframe, and it is South Island! So where I'm presently at is that all 4/5 board, handgrab, handbrake pivot, spring and axlebox options are achievable. As are various brake arrangements/triple valves etc. Holes in floors are less flexible as it's an etch, but it has the little traps over each coupler. Numbers, tares and coupler code are entirely flexible, but decals come in batches with lead times so I need to plan ahead.

If you're in a generous mood we can arrange the Rewanui wooden L fleet to be about as accurate as it's possible to be without photos of actual wagons at the site.  I need 20+ L/La of which most will be variants on this theme.  There will be some iron Ls and La-2s to make up the balance.

Probably a Drawing 7040 La too as it will look very cool. Modelled loaded the light construction won't be an issue. An added benefit is that you've already published the article and we know 15321 was in Westland, so I've got a head start for once.

Quote from: Lawrence@NZFinescale on May 15, 2025, 03:24:05 AM

Quote from: Krusty on May 15, 2025, 01:43:28 AMSince you asked politely:

L.4894 was a South Island 5-board coil-sprung (two per axlebox) wagon built at Hillside in 1898 and written off in June 1959. In later life it was fitted with laminated springs and boring modern hornguides. Drawing 1732 underframe. Recorded tare weights were 3-17-2, 4-8-2 and 4-7-1 at unknown dates. It had type B drawgear, a trapdoor over the drawbar and one cotter pin hole in the floor for said drawbar. In the early 1930s it reportedly had type B axleboxes, later type G and 3G.

So, you've got the right axleboxes (near enough).

This do ya?

I hate that we do this  . It does have a 1732 underframe, and it is South Island! So where I'm presently at is that all 4/5 board, handgrab, handbrake pivot, spring and axlebox options are achievable. As are various brake arrangements/triple valves etc. Holes in floors are less flexible as it's an etch, but it has the little traps over each coupler. Numbers, tares and coupler code are entirely flexible, but decals come in batches with lead times so I need to plan ahead.

If you're in a generous mood we can arrange the Rewanui wooden L fleet to be about as accurate as it's possible to be without photos of actual wagons at the site.  I need 20+ L/La of which most will be variants on this theme.  There will be some iron Ls and La-2s to make up the balance.

Probably a Drawing 7040 La too as it will look very cool. Modelled loaded the light construction won't be an issue. An added benefit is that you've already published the article and we know 15321 was in Westland, so I've got a head start for once.

Nerd alert!

Very good, Håvard ... as though any of us were less nerdy. -- Russ

Quote from: finescalerr on May 15, 2025, 11:48:09 AMVery good, Håvard ... as though any of us were less nerdy. -- Russ

Wot,me obsess over details? I don´t think I spent more than a month of evenings researching that radial drilling machine for my diorama...

Very nice! This is one of the things where 3D printing really shines -- models that can be quickly knocked out when you need many of the same item.