Oh no, I’ve bought an O gauge wagon.

yes... it is true. I’ve actually bought 3.!

But there is a reason, and they will only be for display.
Now for those who have followed my other threads re the OO PAA sand wagons, it will come as no surprise that the wagon is again the sand hopper but in O... and it’s not my kit. This has been designed and part printed by Simon BRBlue (As from the RM forum) I contacted him over a year ago about the model when the full size one arrived. It’s taken nearly 12 months to get it to a stage where he’s listed it on a Shapeways.

Anyway, the box arrived yesterday, but as I had come home from work ill, I didn’t feel like opening it.

So, this morning I opened the box. Simon had 3D printed the hoppers and tops himself and they came last week.



There was a little cleaning up required, but for extrusion printing, it’s not uncommon.



The one on the left is to clean up, the one on the right has had some fettling with a file.

Anyway, the expensive bits were from Shapeways.


The end ladder (only one is used- not sure why he included 2?) is stored between the frames and needed trimming out.

Once done I could fit the hopper, but I also wanted to look at the fine detail end units.


These are the pistons and operating arms for the doors and also (hidden in the middle) handles for operating the door systems etc and some other details.



So here’s where we are at. Nothing glued, but have to say I’m impressed. But then at £90odd each, i should be.

Need to source some wheels and couplings if anyone has a suggestion?

Andy

 

‘Tis true. One for me, one for Martin and one for the NSRC display cabinet!

 

Solid wheels, no holes, and they are clasp braked..

Any idea for air pipes?

And maybe one day, but not yet. I will be sticking with OO..

 

Not made much progress as yet. Got two wagons cleaned up and ready to start assembly, but .... the hopper doesn’t sit far enough in to the chassis and leaves a gap between the hopper and the discharge doors.

Not sure if I need to just sand the sides down to sit a little lower between the end stantions or, pack the bottom gap out.

Still got wheels to purchase and couplings and air pipes.

 

Not much to report really.. been mocking up the livery ready for transfers. They will all be white in the BIS livery, but I thought the other would be fun to see..



Also been to see the real thing today, nice to see it back on the sand line with a 25 at the fore

 

The joys of having a 3D printer of your own is sometimes to can have a go at knocking up some of your own parts.

As I’ve said else where, some of these wagons were built with a single top door originally. I decided to see if I could back date a wagon with a scaled up version of the OO version I’ve done (there is no end detail as yet as the plan is this would be printed in the finer detail plastic by Shapeways)



Had a few print issues, but as it’s purely a mock up, doesn’t really matter. It’s a bit like me, a little too thin on top and rounded at the edges.

Moving on, I’ve finished mocking up the liveries.


The first wagon has its end details also fixed in place.


As above, this is made from the fine detail plastic by Shapeways.

And just a few more details to add. These are filters, operating handles and also the hose feed plugs and top door opening handles (the chamfered rectangle part)

Just awaiting some more detail parts from Shapeways which I’ve designed myself. These are for the end doors (small panels where the pivots sit for the arms) and also the lower door locking handles which are not on SimonBRBlues model at all.

Sadly, I’m also finding a few errors. Wondering if to correct them or live with them. Some are not obvious unless you’ve crawled the real thing like me!

 

Thanks.
Work in progress. First one is nearly ready for paint. Wheels have been dispatched today, but still need couplings, air brake pipes and also lamp irons (I realise are also missing)

I’ve ordered some lower door locks which I’ve designed myself too. The handles hand down vertically in the middle of the wagon.

 

It’s already on Shapeways, but this is by SimonBRBlue, not mine.

 

I’ve now completed the supplied details on the first wagon, that’s fitting the end upper pneumatics and the door operating handles (down on the centre sole bar)

Wheels also arrived yesterday, but will fit them post painting. Still need to get some instanter couplings and air pipes.

 

I’ve done all the supplies detail fitting to the first wagon, drawn up some extra and that came within 4 days from Shapeways. This included some detail for the top of the doors (small plates where the pivots are located) and the locks for the discharge doors which are released by pulling a lever.
I made a cock up here as I simply scaled up from the OO version and found the gap was double what length I had printed from the operating lever to the doors so I had to print new arms.

We’ve started in the paint shops now.



First hopper has gone in. Now in white primer. Rub back and then start adding some pipework runs for the air feeds before a second primer and top coat.


Top back on the chassis ready for the pipe work to be added. You can see the fine lock handles hanging down in the middle.

Still to fit is the couplings & wheelsets (post painting)

Still to source are air pipes and lamp irons.

More soon.

 

Not a lot of progress...waiting on this and that. Hopefully get some small bits I want tomorrow at the narrow gauge exhibition at Burton upon Trent.

It’s mainly been about fitting missing details, mainly piping and the door locks. The couplings have arrived but on checking photos they stand off the buffer beam so need to step it out a bit as if they are fitted flush the instanter couplings won’t reach at the slack setting (not that there is much chance of these seeing a layout in operation) probably the lack of working buffers doesn’t help.

Anyway, on with the photos.



Pipe feeds to the pneumatics. Sadly this is where the designer made the biggest errors, and I can’t really correct them.
I’ve also made the hole a tad too big at this end where the pipes go though, but this may be reduced with the evergreen parts I need tomorrow. (Small block that all three pipes run though to keep them neat)



Showing the door lock handles and the lower door pneumatics to open and close them.



From below, I’m not sure the. Discharge doors are the correct size and shape having sat under one in the inspection pit when they are opened. (Empty wagon obviously!)

Hopefully more soon.