FMC prototypes

I have slowly been working on painting a set of FMC4200 N-scale gons as demonstrators. Unfortunately, progress has been slow due to other projects and my day job which seems to drag on into the night. I got the original set of six models on July 6th. Here they are below:

The prints came out well, although I will admit that the stirrups are fragile! Just like on most N-scale models. The individual gons can be easily trimmed with my trusty nippers.

In minutes I had 6 individual gons. I also purchased coal loads, in sets of 3 trying both the versatile plastic from Shapeways and the professional plastic - both in black. I prefer the versatile plastic, which is fused Nylon. It has a slightly grainy texture, a flatter color, and looks a bit more coal-like to my eye. You may need to compare them to see which is better.

Professional Plastic Coal Load

Versatile Plastic Coal Load

Again, out came the nippers and I had individual coal loads. Which I quickly posed in a car.

I don't quite have it sitting in the car the way I would like it to yet. My plan is to glue a little foam on the bottom to give a soft friction fit - and I may revise the model a little once I have a fully painted car for comparison. But, for a first try - not bad. So, off to the paint shop. Well, not quite. As these are the FUD material, the cars needed a cleaning with bestine, followed by an ultrasonic bath, time to dry and then...the paint shop.

After a base coat of gloss black, I masked the cars and went about painting the blue ends. Lacking an airbrush (yet), I went to the spray paint aisle with a few pictures in hand. I settled on a spa blue color as being close enough.

Rustoleum Gloss Spa Blue Paint

Masked Cars - Sorry Black Cars don't photograph well

Blue Ends Applied

After allowing the cars to dry for a couple of days, I removed the masking to reveal...

Note the slight dark band where the black paint settled in the car seam. The seam is there - but it is a fine detail. Weathering will need to pull it out - but I got a plan.

The paint isn't perfect, but from what I saw in photos of the original cars, the same could be said of the cars in real life - particularly on the insides, where it seemed pretty clear that what paint there was if any was haphazardly applied. I figure that the load/weathering will clean that up. So, now it is off to the decal shop, followed by brake wheels, weights, weathering, a sealing dull coat, truck installation - and then 6 new FMC4200 Gons will be in service.

Sorry that progress has been slow - other projects have had some attention, including Gilpin Gold Tram Cars for another project. But they have not been forgotten.

FMC 4200s - Officially Released!

As of last night, I was officially able to put the FMC4200 models up for sale.

As I announced last week on the DRGW list, I have been working on a model of the FMC 4200 Rotary Bathtub Gondolas to offer via Shapeways in N and Z. I received my first prototypes last week, made the necessary changes to improve the model and printability (at least until Shapeways changes their guidelines), and today, the models are now available. See:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/the-model-works-at-otowi-station?sort=newest

They are currently available in N and Z. They are available as single, 3-, 6-, 10-, 12-, and 18-car packs. Prices (for Frosted Ultra Detail - my recommendation) are:

N Scale: $21.95 / $62.95 / $119.95 / $197.95 / $235.95 / $349.95 - (less than $20/car for the 18-pack)
Z Scale: $11.95 / $32.95 / $56.95 / $92.95 / $109.95 / $159.95

The N-scale prices are competitive with other N-scale products, and are exciting for the Z-scale cars. Both scales will need wheels, trucks, couplers, brake wheels and additional weight. Sorry, some details are just to fine to print yet. Unfortunately, I also cannot offer more than 18-cars due to file size limitations. The cars are also available in Professional Plastic, although the prices are higher, the weight is a little lighter and the resolution is a little less, but the cars are generally tougher. Note however, that the professional plastic cars do show a little bit of warpage after 10 days of handling, which is typical of the material in fine detailed parts.

I also designed loads to go with these cars. The loads will look great (in my opinion) out of the box in either the Black Versatile Plastic (Laser Sintered Nylon) or in the Black Professional Plastic (HP Fused Nylon) which both have a fine grain to them. Some may however prefer to add a bit of fine coal detail to the loads. These are also offered in single, 3-, 6-, 10-, 12- and 18-load packs. Prices for the Black Versatile Plastic are:

N Scale: $5.25 / $10.95 / $19.95 / $29.95 / $34.95 / $52.95
Z Scale: $4.25 / $7.95 / $11.95 / $16.95 / $18.95 / $25.95

I'd like to thank Jeremy, Rod, Robert, Jim, Jay, and Glenn for their comments and feedback. I did go in and modify the model to reduce the car height by 6 scale inches, add stirrups, and the all important seam to the side of the car. I am hopeful that that feature will print well enough to be visible. Thank you all for the information and feedback that made this model come together. Hopefully, we will see some CCTX coal trains in the near future.

Long time coming - New Products!

It has taken me a lot longer than I wanted, but new products are on the horizon.

FINALLY!

What can I say, a lot of other things have been happening. Not only do I have the previously mentioned track gauges ready, just waiting to create the store entries, but I also have several T-gauge bridges and tunnel portals from my Central Railroad and Historical Society Layout project, but I also will soon have N and Z scale FMC 4200 Rotary Gondolas as part of another project. I just got the test runs yesterday.

These cars were part of the Coleto Creek Coal Train that ran to the Coleto Creek Power Plant in Texas from 1979-1998, often loading on the Denver and Rio Grande in Colorado (near Axial on the Craig Branch) although I have also read that there were loads also from Utah. The train ran over the Moffat Line to Denver (although again, I have read that it did polish the rails of Tennessee Pass) and from their down the joint line on Burlington Northern. Power was often pooled, BN-DRGW units, giving it a unique character. Notably, Union Pacific and Helms Leasing still own/operate a lot of these cars.

As part of the project, I found a few photos, and received a few from a wrecked car. These became the basis for the model.

And the wrecked car.

But the real find was a drawing, which at least gave me some basic dimensions to work from. With that in hand, next up was building a model.

After a bit of work, these models were the result. I was able to scale them to produce both an N-scale and a Z-scale version. Here are the prototypes. I printed them in the new HP Professional Plastic and in Frosted Ultra Detail, and the Z-scale version I also printed in Frosted Extreme Detail. Here are the prototypes. First off, N-scale in Professional Plastic.

While the grain is noticeable in the pictures, it is difficult to see in person, and once painted, gloss coated for decals, and dull coated after decals, I suspect that it will be essentially invisible. The Frosted Ultra Detail Models also look good.

They still need to be cleaned, primed and painted. But they are even cleaner than the HP models. In Z-scale, I also tried the Frosted Extreme Detail settings, but found that both Professional Plastic and FUD seem to do the job fine.

 Frosted Extreme Detail (Z in front) - Frosted Ultra Detail (N in back).

  Frosted Ultra Detail (Z in front) - Frosted Ultra Detail (N in back).

Professional Plastic (Z in front) - Professional Plastic (N in back).

With this design, I went to a concept of providing only a centering dimple for the truck pin hole. Thus, the circularity of the hole comes from a drill, not the printing process, which was difficult to get a consistent result. In N, this means I used a 5/64" drill to drill a hole for the MicroTrains Trucks (1035- Barber Roller Bearing Trucks with couplers that I had on hand). 

In Z scale, I used a 1/16" drill instead. The cars are designed to accept body mounted couplers, but I did not install them at this time. 

With trucks installed, I decided it was time to put them on the rails to compare to other cars. Here is a MicroTrains 100T 3-bay BN hopper. 

And here is a TrainWorx DRGW Quad hopper.

The car looks to be a little high compared to the TrainWorx car, so I got out the calipers to take some measurements. Turns out it is a little high, about 6 scale inches higher than it should be per the drawings. The truck centers are also a little off, but I based those on the MicroTrains trucks to put the couplers in the right spot, so I think that is a minor compromise. The final version is going to be lowered about 6 scale inches. Everything else is within 2 scale inches. Turns out this is due to the printing process, the Z-scale version is virtually right on in all measurements, including height.

Weight is a different issue. The cars are light! In N-scale, the cars are 8.8g for Professional Plastic, and 9.8g for Frosted Ultra Detail (including couplers and trucks). The NMRA recommended weight is 45.4g. However, there is plenty of room in the tub for weight. It will take about 3 cubic cm of tungsten powder to bring it up to weight. Some of that will also be made up by a separate coal load part that I still have to design.

Anyways, hopefully, they will go live over the weekend. I plan to offer at least singles, 3-, 6-, and 10-car sets. They come without trucks, couplers, and brake wheels, and I may offer them with and without ladders for those who would rather install their own. Coal loads will be a separate part.