1:24 Scale NZR P Coal/Rubbish Wagon

I spent some time redrawing the P wagon in 1:24 scale, breaking down the chassis into 6 sections to print everything in the right orientation while not needing any support material. A big factor being time, I printed it in 0.2 resolution instead of 0.15 set to normal speed. The detail inside the hoppers weren't rendered by the printer properly but looks fine from a distance, especially loaded with rubbish material etc. 

I drew up the braking rig so that from a distance it looks about right without functionality or being too carried away with accurate detail no one sees.

My idea is to print maybe 6 or so here in Portland where they were numerous up until just before I was born. I'm a bit unsure on the colour scheme except the wood panels were painted white or a light grey and the framing & chassis black or a dark colour, need to explore this further.

Found this picture of the P wagon stored at Motat in Auckland, need to go visit, looks like it's seen better days.

Printing wagon parts. Very different size, feel & build styles since I last built this wagon frame, an effect some modelers' call "rubber banding".

Cutting Grass

The 5 inch portland railway slowly plods along. Lots of grass cutting fun has been had. The wagons have had a coat or 2 of paint and today they ran all the way down and back without issue. Before painting I fully loaded the hopper with clay to see if the door mech could hold it which it did. Hopefully soon I can load it up with balast & get a shot or 2 of it in action.

 

1:8 Scale NZR P, Q & E Wagon Build

Another progress update. 

Finally cut up some 3mm mdf using printed the hopper parts and using them as a stencil. I 3d printed the brackets which there are 3 types to match their respective angles. Not sure why it took so long as it ended up being pretty simple. When I get some bog I will fill in the joins and give it a good sanding before the detailing goes on.

The E wagon was a pretty simple affair, just wanting a flat wagon this time so didn't bother with all the underneath area with this build. I've built a library of pictures for the E wagon & could be anything from a box, flat to a tank wagon. Could also be useful to have a couple flat wagons for the eventual coaling crane.

1:8 Scale NZR P Coal/Rubbish Wagon & Q Wagon Build

While stuck on the hopper build of the Q wagon dad gave me The Stoker magazine, issue July 1966 which has the following plan of the 3 Wheeler Coal Box wagon, since these are a local wagon its about time portland had some rolling around again, albeit reduced in scale. 

The main chassis is reinforced with 3x25mm steel, giving the wagon a nice solid heavy feel to it.

The hoppers look quite simple yet interesting, I'm thinking building e'm out of some nice wood n plastic.

Next on the agenda are the Q Hopper sides, so far I printed these but now am thinking of using these as stencils and fabricating some up out of something cheap. The wagons have headstocks and 3d printed hooks now attached.

1:8 P & Q's in varying stages of their build's a few days later, Hoppers remain elusive but progress is steady.

A neat project would be a working coal loading crane, in this scale could even use a car battery for weight.