NZ120 Standard arrives

Firstly, A promo shapeways is offering

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Arriving today is the NZ120 Standard railcar. 

As soon as I recieved the box from shapeways, I quickly gave the model a bath in soapy water & scrubbed the model with toothpaste and toothbrush, removing the oily stuff. And running under a tap of cold water and continuing to scrubb.

Coated in Tamiya Fine Primer, painted Silver so far.

The white railcar in the drawing should be Silver

A green stripe to go and then glazing to be installed inside.

Standard Railcar - Painted but awaiting sideframes & decals

A youtube clip of it running.

NZ120 Silver Fern - Jolon's Build

Sent in from Jolon Sweeny

Starting with the Silverfern body. I looked at the nose and removed about 10mm back to the head-stock  mounted 2 plastic blocks that are 7mm x 4mm by the baggage doors, drilled 2 mounting holes for screws to hold the chassis. I drilled holes in the chassis for the screws. Mounting blocks are sunken into body by 3.5mm, so that the chassis sits in the body, and this makes the trucks just clear and turn. Mounting block on top of SD7-9 weight is 8mm long - this rests on the inside of the roof. Chassis is 75mm long x 15mm wide which sits comfortably into the body, as in photo. Bearings were fitted flush into the trucks. Fitted one first, and super glued, then fitted second loosely and spun freely to see that the depth was correct. Once correct, removed wheel, super glued in and then fitted wheel again to check smooth running. Have used a draw bar between carriages, but could use standard couplers if you wanted. Height of mounting block for trucks, used 2 pieces of thin plastic to get to correct height. Once correct height was established, super glued them to top of truck and screwed onto body. Could use small washers instead. When you receive the body, chop out the first 2 supports from the drive end for chassis to fit in, and remove the 4 internal supports as well, so that chassis fits snug with block on top of weight.

part two silver fern nz120 couplers and air-hoses fitted

New Arrival, NZ120 Ganz-Mavag (EM-ET Class)

A few days ago with the brass items from shapeways also saw the Ganz-Mavag.

Available here ; https://www.shapeways.com/model/1370753/nz120-ganz-mavag-em-et.html?li=shop-results&materialId=61

Info on the Class http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_EM_class_electric_multiple_unit

Printed in Frosted Ultra Detail, the overall quality of the print is again perfect, with cleaning up using toothbrush and paste under running water 

3 Coats of Tamiya Fine Primer

Bogies Removed & Primed Grey

Tamiya Black X-1 for the underside first

Tamiya X-14 Sky Blue on sides & X-8 Lemon Yellow for the front

Showing the undersides

window rims painted Black X-1

Pantograph attached

The real thing, Image Sourced From (http://nzrailwaysrollingstocklists.weebly.com/et---trailer-of-1982.html). This site is very complete!

All things shiny - Printing in Brass

With shapeways making printing in brass a reality some test items were ordered a month ago, and today turning up in the post are side-frames and couplers. With the brain now working overtime with new ideas about printing the detail parts for the steamers. The J & Ja need pony trucks so that will be a focal point to get started, Plastic was never going to really work as the trucks are best heavy! Perhaps all the fittings to the boiler etc as well. 

Taken from shapeways about printing brass (See https://www.shapeways.com/materials/brass) 

Gold Plated Brass and Polished Brass both go through extensive hand polishing to give them a smooth, shiny finish. Polished Brass has a bright yellow coloring and, with 22k plating, Gold Plated models will resemble authentic gold objects. They are both perfect for jewelry and precious objects.

Raw Brass has a rustic matte look, with rough surfaces and some tarnishing (color spots). It is great for antique-looking objects, functional parts, jewelry prototypes, and metal models that you’d like to polish and finish yourself.

Brass models are fabricated using a complex five-step process. First, the model is printed in wax using a specialized high-resolution 3D Printer. It is then put in a container where liquid plaster is poured in around it. Once the plaster sets, the wax is melted out in a furnace, and the remaining plaster becomes the mold. Molten brass is poured into this mold and set to harden. The plaster is broken away, revealing your new product. Raw Brass is briefly tumbled. Polished and Gold Plated Brass are carefully cleaned and hand polished. Gold Plated Brass goes through a final electroplating process for an outside coat of 22k gold. Please be aware that polishing and plating can wear down or fill in very fine details and edges.

Like all brass, our Polished and Raw offerings will tarnish over time and may need to be polished.

The products right after arriving. The gold covered sideframes won't be painted, but glued to a likelike pa-1 chassis truck sides.. after I find one someone may be willing to sell :P

NZ120 DQ/QR Bogie Sides, Printed in Brass - Coated with 22k Gold (HDR)

NZ120 DQ/QR Bogie Sides, Printed in Brass - Coated with 22k Gold (HDR)

NZ120 DC Bogie Sides, Printed in Brass - Polished (HDR)

NZ120 DC Bogie Sides, Printed in Brass - Polished

NZ120 Brass NZR Couplers & the W Wagon (HDR)

NZ120 Brass NZR Couplers & the W Wagon (HDR)

Zm's giving the couplers a go

NZ120 Db Decals

Today sees the completion of actually getting around to printing decals (Stripes) for the NZ120 Class. 

I only had 4 sheets of White Decal paper & no transparent sheets, so white paper will work considering my printer is unable to print white.

The image is freely available for anyone wanting to give decal printing a go. The local modelling hobby shops normally have decal paper & the bonder (Sprays on decal after printing to seal). The idea is to cut the decal carefully using a fine pair of scissors, and leaving a tiny black strip... 

Once the standard railcar arrives I shall use the same technique.

Source Image, Free to download, NZ120 Db/Da Stripes

Printed & decal bonder applied

After application on the Db Class attached to the Da Class which also shared the livery

Perhaps I went a bit to heavy on the weathering, note the fruit salad Da lurking in the background.

DB class sporting some bling..

And also, The silver fern running around with front main LEDs running

NZ120 NZR Couplers

Firstly, The W wagons are slowly receiving couplers, I'm trialing scale nzr nz120 scale couplers. To make these work prototypically is certainly a challenge given the size.

NZ 10 cent coin helps illustrate size! 

As you can tell by the pics, my idea of prototypical nzr running with wagons needing to be facing a certain direction is not a big issue, 2 minutes of work if your keen will see them couplers changed. Or an excuse to include a triangle on the layout.
These things are tiny, The example first received from shapeways are printed in FUD, and are surprisingly strong enough for the job. However 2 more sets in brass will soon be arriving following the successful trial period.

Tiny screws are required... from a local jeweller.

Coupler movement is quite free..

Good ol Trackgangs couplers, very reliable and robust!

Ja with posing with W Box wagons

Weathering the DL, DXR & EF Class

Some more work on decalling & weathering the 3d Printed DL, DXR & EF (Class 30) Locomotives.

NZ120 DL Class

NZ120 DL Class

HDR, NZ120 DXR Class

NZ120 DXR Class

NZ120 DXR Class

NZ120 EF (Class 30)

NZ120 EF (Class 30)

Purchased from Russell at www.trackgangproducts.co.nz

Are MWW NZ120 DX Rear Grills.

Before

Directly After, Need to touch up the outside rim