Flatcar weight plan

The thing that makes flatcars challenging is surely how to make them heavy enough to stay on the track when they are empty. If it makes you feel any better, it looks like real railroads had the same problem back in the wood car era. They appear to have blocked empty flats near the back […]

Weights and wires for 622

There are two things that I didn’t design well when I built #10 (okay, there are more than two, but I’m going to write about two tonight) — weights and wires. Weight, even on the first iteration, was largely composed of scraps of lead that I squeezed into nooks and crannies wherever I could. On […]

OnShape vs SketchUp! – a model railroader’s view

Well, I’m a few weeks into my OnShape journey now, and I must say I’m impressed. After my experience with FreeCad and Blendr, I was almost ready huck my Linux machine out the window when Vince pointed me toward OnShape. I’m thankful he did. For several years I was a staunch advocate for SketchUp! but […]

622: Backheads are harder to draft than make

It’s generally invisible except through the windows. So I don’t want to spend too much time on the cab interior and specifically the backhead. A modeller’s sketch is sufficient, I think. If I recall, the backhead for #10 took an enjoyable day of modelling. It was styrene plus a few pieces of lost wax jewelry representing […]

622’s pilot and the power of parametric CAD

I just finished drawing 622’s pilot. Actually, it is 623’s pilot as I don’t have any photograph showing 622 after she lost her link and pin. I think it’s a pretty good match to the photo. Perhaps the angle needs to be a little more acute. But here’s the thing: five minutes ago, it looked […]

Boiler fittings for 622

This week has seen me drawing the domes, stack and smokebox front for 622. These will all be 3D printed to start; depending on how they turn out, I will either use them as they are and fill them with lead, or cast them from Cerro-bend after cleaning up the castings. Again, OnShape amazed me […]

Drawing 622’s Stephenson gear

I just finished drawing up the valve gear for 622 in OnShape. This is certainly the most complex part I’ve drawn yet in the tool, and the idea is to have it 3D printed as a single piece. Sadly that means it won’t work, but in the interest of getting the locomotive running, I’m going […]

622 virtually roughed in

I’m starting to think seriously about the drive train for 622. On #10, I built my own gear box, which enabled me to model the full backhead and floor of the cab. That’s all very nice when you take the roof off, but most of the time you can’t see it. For 622, I’m considering […]

622 suffers do-overs in CAD too

If you’ve been reading my blog for any time at all, you know that I throw out about half the things I make. The first version is never good enough, but it does teach me how to make one that is. So, it should come as no surprise that I just deleted almost the whole CAD model […]

Figuring out OnShape connectors

After watching the tutorial again, and sinking another night into learning OnShape, I’m not only in danger of dying prematurely because my body didn’t break down enough sugars and triglycerides, but I’m also in danger of becoming effective at creating Assemblies. Perhaps I should explain for those SketchUp users out there. OnShape (and FreeCad) work on the basis […]