Fooling Around with Kiwi Trains: Adventures in 3D Modeling & Printing (1:120 - 1:8 Scale) - N, HO, O, G, 5inch, 7.25inch & 15inch Gauges! No Ads, Just Some Nutty Tales from Peter Bryant @ Portland Railroad, Northland NZ
Much like 2020, 2025 starts off in my calendar as W. T . F! hopefully this year being exactly a quarter of a century should count for something in the luck department.
Much of my time has been divided between work and concreting with the occasional arch bridge thrown in for good measure. A concrete lip has been added to both sides of the roadbed ready for a layer of brick to bring it up to height.
The track will be removed again and the center filled with blue/brown crushed rock topped with perfectly level layer of cement.
With any luck I can finish this project soon and move on to bigger things!
The wood stakes glued in place show the final height I need to reach.
The latest arch bridge, holding everything together nicely and the dogs seem to enjoy it when chasing trains!
Things have been rather busy in the last month, I ended up getting my hands on a 7.25" gauge silver fern that appeared on trademe. The fern has always been special to me, dad took us kids on a trip in her to rotorua in the early 90's and everything about it felt modern, right down the air operated internal doors.
So to celebrate I decided it would be a neat idea to 3d print it in 1:24 scale, the 3d printing part is almost finished with the underside still in progress. I intend on 3d printing the seats this time around, this version is more of a test print as I've altered the front end and with a bit of effort managed to thin out the walls.
Continuing the 3d printed bridge for the garden layout, we needed a concrete base for the 3d printed piers to sit on so after searching countless plastic bottle types I stumbled upon the ice cream containers and quickly realized it would suit my needs. I removed the bottoms of the container and slipped it into position, I packed the outsides with clay & small rock and proceeded to pour the wet concrete which is where the container sides started to bow outwars requiring some reinforcing with small sticks embedded in the clay. I vibrated the container for a few minutes removing the bubbles and covered it up for the night. When I removed the plastic this morning I was very pleased with the result. The second pier finished last night and when test fitting in place this morning the friction of the wood halfway down was to much, thus its halfway through receiving #40 sandpaper to enable a better fit.
The rockwork has been redone somewhat, the white pipe has been removed and the water now dribbles down over the rocks. A concrete path has been hidden on top of the dam to allow people to walk over.
Cementing in a pad for the Pier, Ice cream containers are not ideal without reinforcing the sides I've discovered.
The next morning, plastic formwork removed and im quite happy with the result, the exposed pier has been sanded back quite a bit due to a slight warp in the wood itself. Without sanding there would be no removing the printed pier.
Second pier almost touching the concrete, a bit more sanding to get it down flush
Playing with paint, also experimenting with various top caps with the lettering '2024" & "Portland Railroad" embedded into the sides.
Continuing the bridge project along, it became apparent I had mucked up a step or two. Although the curves where nice its not ideal for this setup. The new pier was cemented into a 2ft hole unlike the old pier which was able to be pulled out after a bit of effort. The top deck is has been removed eliminating that issue.
3d Printed Pier still warm from the printer, a lick of paint and test fit. Still need to concrete in a pad for it to sit on and more weathering. Very close to finishing the bulk of the printing for this project, The material being 2.7kg of UV resistant ABS Plastic (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene is a very tough, very durable plastic used in a wide variety of manufacturing) & more than a few bottles of rustoleum spray paint. The parts screwed into the wood frame.
With the raised deck out of the way its time to tidy up the main bridge, I did have a nice truss before but dogs running under it and catching it on their backs ruined it. This time I'm sure 3d printing some girders can't go wrong. each section individually screwed into position and can easily be individually replaced/painted etc.
The first attempt to span 1.2 metres have been installed and continues to expand.
I have been playing around with the pier surrounds, brick would look good but a bit out of place.
Rake of 8 W wagons rides across the bridge.
The more I look at the bridge the more the top deck is irritates me, a step in the wrong direction all in fear of trains going for a swim.
Further Progress
The piers will slip onto the wood, strong & tidy.
English Electric DF takes a run. The last few moments show some dodgy track sections needing to be straightened out somewhat.
Years back, a bridge to fit the budget, iceblock sticks, balsa and steel shelving.
A quick post showing the pond 1 gauge layout expansion. A raised wooden deck similar to the Westside of the loop upgrade at the start of this year. The old/current path sitting on concrete blocks have each slowly sunk in various ways and I'm not really happy with the size of it all anyway, so time to redo it and better utilize the space for future 1 gauge railways running in & out of the area via spiraling & tunneling under the 7.25 inch railway as an alternative to the "fence line incline" route.
The deck is cemented in place, the posts & struts are H3.2 and the decking made up from the old 25cm long sleepers from the 5inch railway. my wrist has developed more muscles from all the hammering! 4x $10 bags of nails for the sleepers alone.
This morning I spent some time running trains in the freezing cold & then the sun appeared so started filming, it does show the raised deck midway through planking so its relevant..
The new bridge will replace the existing one only re-using the existing piers, looking at many bridges at the moment and figuring out what I can realistically 3d print in a human timeframe
Showing the west side connection in works. The 7.25 turnout will be shifted right about a foot and tracks realigned then the shed will extend out 4m further
The end point of the raised deck will connect with the wood deck coming in from the left
Reflections
Midway through decking, this design allows for the trackbed to be raised 2 inches if needed in the future? sinkage etc..
Loop complete
Siding entrance shifted back.
1:24 Ww makes another early morning run but now on the new raised track
I did borrow some audio from an actual Ww and attempt to poorly splice it in.
