SteamPower4ever

I've used it to plan my N scale layout. It's highly recommended. Support is great too. Jens

Just to give you an impression of what I'm working on ... Basically the cars have horizontal features making them suitable for extrusion, but the skirts around the trucks are different. They are made from plate sections that are lined with vertical "corrugation" (in lack of a better word). After a few detours I've ended up with a design where the entire body section around the trucks is made from 3D printed parts, which makes the milling of the extruded body much simpler. Here's a picture of the design: The two parts will be fairly complex, as they have several jobs: Support the truck mountings and thus carry the entire car body Handle coupler pulling force Mount snug to the extruded body and align with the extruded corrugation Provide guidance for the coupler kinematics Look gorgeous The first four items are a matter of design, and that's what I'm working on fitting together. The last item is different. The corrugation and other details on the skirts call for one of the materials that Shapeways call "frosted detail". These material is fairly brittle and relatively expensive. A cheaper option is called "strong and flexible", but that doesn't offer the required level of detail. So - I've split the parts into a skirt frame carrier made from strong and flexible and plating parts made from frosted detail. This has the advantage that the largest parts are made from the cheapest material. The material name 'strong and flexible' raises some concern about whether the 3D printed part will carry a car body without deforming. The parts will have the body weighing down at the edges and the trucks pushing upwards at the center. I don't trust that, so the plan is to reinforce the skirt frame parts with a piece of brass where the trucks are mounted, so the brass will do the carrying. The grey box that seems to be floating in mid air is a dock for a Kadee coupler, which is supposed to be mounted in a kinematic mechanism so that the cars will handle S-curves and small radii. How small remains to be seen. Once I arrive at a design I believe in I'll print some test parts and do some 'real world' tests. Here's the plating parts with the details. They're not finished, but the basic pattern is OK now. Just like the real thing

They are ugly - but they were just for show

They could indeed I've been doing a lot of research on the hi-level cars, and along the way I've ran across a lot of other information. The three main builders of lightweight streamliners were Budd, Pullman Standard and American Car & Foundry. Where I have previously thought that US passenger cars were a mixed and non-standardised bunch, it seems that with only five or six extrusion dies, almost the entire classic streamliner market is within range at a reasonable cost of the tools, just by varying the milling. I certainly see the business opportunity. The hi-levels are the proving ground. Time will show ... Now, should I succeed with making the hi-levels, I will of course need a transition car. Amtrak 9993, a former Santa Fe baggage-dorm modified to match hi-level coaches on the El Capitan at Barstow California in 1983 by Tangled Bank, on Flickr It has not escaped my attention that some of these transition cars have a Budd profile, which is the same as practically all the coaches of the California Zephyr, and others have the Pullman profile, which is identical to all the coaches of the Super Chief. I haven't dived into the Senator, but a quick search showed those cars seem to have a slightly different Budd profile, but still a common one which - as you say - could be used for a lot of different models. Jens

My plan right now is to make the extruded body as a part to be purchased. All other parts will be 3D printed and available from some service - probably Shapeways, which is the cheapest I've found thus far. So basically the cars will be kits where you buy the parts, and as such they should be so simple to assemble that anyone can do it. That means spending a considerable amount of time on the design choices, which is basically what I'm doing right now. The twist to this story is that I plan to make the 3D models of the parts - other than the extruded body - available for download, so if anyone has access to a 3D printer, they can print the parts themselves, which may be cheaper than buying them on the web. Or if they want to modify the parts because I've made a mistake or to make it cheaper or to match a particular model at a particular time or whatever. And this is why I think maybe the time is not ripe and I'm taking my time with the design while I have fun doing it. As I said above, the prices of 3D printing and printers are dropping all the time, and my expectation is that decent quality 3D printers will be pretty common household items in a not so distant future. It's a spare time project of course, but I do expect to make initial test runs this year - probably some time this summer. I already have the couplers - two sets of Kadee 907 and two sets of 1907 - and I have NWSL wheels on order for four trucks, so I can test for minimum radius and s-curves / crossovers. The result of that test may affect the design of the trucks and the skirt sections. So you know ... slowly but surely moving ahead. The first goal is to get the design to such a state that I can get a fix on the cost. Then I'll make the call as to what to do next. I'll show more pics when I have something to show. Stay tuned.

It's a long long way from being anything physical. I'm working on the truck/skirt/coupler sections. Truck design, truck mounting/yaw/minimum radius, couplers/kinematics and body details must all come together and be assembled in a cheap and easy way. The body is pretty much done, i.e. the extrusion shape is complete - unless the design of the skirts/couplers and truck mounting section calls for changes. The plan is to make the entire end skirt sections 3D printed parts, so the plating details can be included. They'll slide into grooves on the extruded body, but the design is not final. I'm currently designing the coupler kinematics and I've managed to make an NEM style coupler dock where a Kadee 907 or 1907 snaps right in. Still don't have the truck drawings, but I'm working on that too. Then when the kinematics and trucks are designed, I'll have a couple of the skirt sections printed and do some test runs. Lots of work still ahead, and even when the design is complete, there's the question of financing. In summary: Don't wait for these cars. I'm still working on the design as a labour of love, and I'll see how cheap I can make correct and to-scale models. Eventually it may turn out that even the body without interior is too expensive to be feasible for production. Maybe the time is just not right and the design should wait until 3D print cost drops - which it does all the time.

Ah, the Strabag warbonnet I had high hopes when I first heard that one of the Nohabs was going to be painted like that. Unfortunately I don't like the final result very much. If I should a get one of the compact ABAs (brilliant name for it) it would be the classic DSB maroon. However, many of the guys are getting one, so I'll pass. Waiting since 2012 ??? Wow, poor guy. That must be a Brimalm model you're waiting for. Their shipping schedules are really off the charts, but at least they stay mum all the time. Jens

And as we're running out of days in April, MTH has now changed the Santa Fe F7 AA shipping date to June ... Sigh!

I've been working on the design and ended up with a fixed floor as the body frame for stability. The profile is almost done. Working on windows and insets - all the milling for the various car types - to see if the profile design holds. Still waiting for drawings, but I've added wheels to the 3D model just for fun - and for illustration. Jens

I am thinking along those lines, yes. The trick with extrusion is making the die work for you and build in everything needed for assembling the car. From the perspective of the extrusion, the hi-levels are a bit tricky, as they have two floor levels, but the utility areas over the trucks are effectively a third floor level. It's not a problem, just a challenge. Right now the design is a little bit on hold while I'm waiting for drawings of the trucks.

Like this?

They will get the correct trucks with ball bearings, and I will sell. The trucks will be designed for NWSL 36" wheelsets and the car bodies will be the correct scale length. I'm imagining some sort of kit with some parts 3D printed or bring/build your own, but right now I'm working on pricing for the extrusion with and without milling. The price for the extrusion die depends on the design of the profile, which depends on how the car should be assembled, so lots of things need to come together. The outside of the profile (basically the corrugation) is done, however. Jens

Picking up this old thread and getting back on topic, I am currently designing a profile for the hi-levels, which is meant to be made in extruded aluminium. Much work has yet to be done, and this is not the final result, but here's a quick glimpse of what I'm doing. It's exactly to 1:32 scale and it should be possible to use the profile for all types of chair cars, sky lounge and diner. Jens

Thanks I don't mind the wait, which seems par for the course in large scale even on the European market. It's the constant delays that piss me off. When I ordered in May 2014, the shipping date was June 2014 and they've let it slip almost two years in two month increments ! Either they have no control or they don't care. I don't know which is worst. They could have told me back then that they expected to ship in two years - or posted a production progress bar like KM-1 does - and I would have been fine. But never mind. I can't say that along the way I haven't considered canceling my order, but I'm still looking forward to my F7s. I'm done preordering anything, though. Meanwhile, I'm scanning the market for shipping across the pond. My forwarding service offers to match the price of the competition, so a quick stroll around the web can't hurt Jens

Santa Fe F7 shipping time now moved from February to April ...

Cool. Too bad I'm not subscribing anymore. While the MTH coaches are still too short for my taste, the ON colours are absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for posting. Jens

Be prepared for delivery to be delayed well into 2017. This is apparently no different from European manufacturers. I talked to the guys at the club about the constant delays on my F7s, but they're waiting just as long for German models, so I guess it's par for the course. My problem with MTH is that they post shipping dates that they must know will not hold. When I ordered my F7s in May '14 they were scheduled for June '14. Since then I've lost track of the number of delays. Instead of posting a date, I'd prefer they did something similar to KM-1. They post an estimate - with a progress bar that is actually being updated. Anyway, with half the F7s out and the SP version close, mine must be close also. I'm not taking any bets on February, though. Jens

Do you know if they arrived on Schedule? Jens

Not coal, but chickpeas and something we call "rasp" here. That's breadcrumbs according to Google translate, but I wouldn't pick that word myself. We're simulating sugar beet and grain loading. Jens

It's 1:6 - mostly made from plywood, although the barrel is built around a steel tube for stability. Doesn't shoot ... or only does it once More pics here: http://www.vonabt.co.uk/models/Dora/index.html

Yep - I got that mail once before. It's only the NS and Ontario versions. The rest are still (at the time of writing) scheduled for January-February 2016 even though the mail says they're all available now.

OK, thanks

What does it mean that they are released, by the way? Immediately available or what? Ray?

It's the holiday run allright - but I bet it's mostly 0 scale.

Son of a gun And those are scheduled for November ...