Bubbly bolster

The wheel plan for 622 requires perfect castings. Unfortunately, every attempt so far using my test molds has resulted in large bubbles. These bubbles are not there when I pour the resin, but seem to be forming during the curing process. According to the Smooth-on website, this could be due to humidity, and I should […]

Solvent fail

I should have known I was in trouble when the Tamiya cement so reluctantly entered the syringe. But, my trusty MEK Pak has finally breathed out the last of whatever makes it work, and so, I was stuck (so to speak). So I went ahead and made that test mould with Tamiya Cement. Plainly this […]

Test masters

I was just about to glue my 3D printed wheels to the bottom of a box and rashly pour rubber over them, when my inner project manager whispered in my ear and pointed at the risk register. Wrecking the Shapeways wheels would put me back a couple of weeks and $16 in shipping alone! For […]

First four tyres

The photo above presents the first four Proto:87 tyres to be found among the chips around my lathe. These are the 30″ pilot wheels, and their brass centres need to have spokes cut in before getting soldered into the tyres. They’re not perfect, but every wheel is better than the last, and I think these […]

Wheel Progress

Parts for the first wheel rolled off the lathe this week. The engine truck wheels are only 8 mm in diameter, and have eight spokes. The spokes themselves are only a couple of millimetres long, and so, I have elected to make these wheels in two parts – a tyre and a centre. I actually […]

Momentum

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the worst thing about the great flood of 2018 was that it completely destroyed my momentum. At the end of January, I had finally arrived at a place where I thought I might be able to cut Proto:87 wheels for #622. I had even cleaned the lathe […]

Treasure at the Winnipeg Railway Museum

The day after our trip on the Prairie Dog Central, I carved half an hour out of the family vacation to visit the Countess of Dufferin at the Winnipeg Railway Museum. This venerable old engine is the one that I could find that has a mud drum, and she was going to help me with […]

Frame pattern for 622

Working fifteen minutes at a go, I’ve finally finished putting together the pattern for the thicker Nickel Silver sheet. I think if I’d been more cunning, I almost could have fit two whole models on there. As it is, there will be plenty of leftover etch and there are doubles of all the riskiest parts. […]

Mutually Assured Alignment

I’m telling you this because, in a few months, you might be me, and we will want to take advantage of some of the cunning plans that we laid in the summer. We’re going to attempt to fold the crossheads up from etched material. I’ve put four of them on the etch because there’s loads […]

Etching pattern begins

As I start work on the pattern for etching, there is good news and bad news. First the good news: it appears that OnShape have improved the compatibility with Inkscape, and so, now I can take flat patterns from OnShape and import them directly into Inkscape without traversing through QCadCam. Someone is still resizing the […]