5 Inch Gauge

Recently to celebrate my recent 40th birthday my dad shouted me a couple hundred $ of steel to build and expand my 5 inch layout. With dad in tow we drove to Vulcan Steel in whangarei to purchase 3x25mm steel bar cut into 2.5mtr lengths so to fit the car. Already 8metres were cut into 25cm lengths to form the sleepers. Welding with a very old MIG welder with the highest setting it seems to be doing the job, I need to drag the ARC welder out and see if that's better suited. Yet to unpack the grinder and clean things up, blury pics taken in a very dark garage. Also need to sort out some better lighting.

In preparation for welding the track together I knew I needed a Jig of some sort, so I quickly designed handy spacers in CAD software that would friction grip and hold the track in place & 3D printed half a dozen or so, these proved the value hugely. So much so I'm printing some to hold the track in place for the turnouts & make things easier before I weld.

That got me thinking about wagons and what I could do, watching clips on youtube some places run scale wagons, not to sit on just for decoration. So my spin is to 3d print a working 1:8 Scale NZR Q wagon, although with not so prototypical couplers. I found some neat american automatic couplers and decided to download the file and experiment, sorta knowing how they worked but never really opened one up until now. Heres a link https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4700824

The ABS Plastic I use is very strong, i'd be keen to hook them up to a scale and do a load test. Me and dad both held a coupler each and gave it a good tug, nothing broke so i've decided to use em practically until they brake apart.

I'm using meccano for the axle, although I need to find something sustainable if I want a rake of these. I purchased some "Utility Comp Springs" from bunnings. Also of note are hand brakes that will actually work.

A "test" print of the couplers, the next pair will be twice as large.

Axle boxes & frame with springs installed. Also, working grease doors, although I only need a small reservoir if any grease at all. 

24 Hours after coming up with the Idea of printing a 1:8 Scale NZR Q wagon

The initial plan calls for 2 straights then at least 2 curved sections to make 90degrees and then lastly a turnout. From there one can only dream.