Old 21 a Customized Trackmaster Lexi

[Super]

My mistake, I was confusing using molds to 3D printing.

Ah, another brain-seize mate, it comes to us all as we get older : I thought maybe it was flat on one edge or something, which of course would make sense to get better grip on the axle

BTW Super - Can you give me the dimensions of the tops of those flat wagons (in mm) please length and width, I've got something in mind that you may like

[Super]

Not sure I have a ruler in MM, maybe my digital calipers do, I will have to check.

All I have to measure in metric is my Digital Calipers and it only shows MM's so I don't know if that helps you.

I have 2 measurements, the first is just for the deck itself and the second includes the buffers and axle brackets (see picture)

81.12mm x 37.54mm

87.80mm x 39.45mm

[Ucwepn]

Fantastic job.

[Super]

Thanks Ucwepn!

That's perfect Super, watch this space :-D

Ok, Super, here's the unveiling.  It struck me that it might be nice to have some nicer wagons to go with your great little engine, so I took an originally designed HO gauge hopper wagon model and re-sized it to fit the wagon you have.  I've reduced the dimensions slightly to take account of the 'lip' on the flat beds.

Here's a couple of pictures of the components after printing as they come off the printer, you will see some extra material there, this is partly to help support the build, other parts to help the model adhere to the printer bed.  These will get trimmed off after.  The components are top left to right;

1. Top - if you want an open hopper
   
2. Bottom - this may not be necessary when mounted on a PlaRail chassis
   
3. Closed Top
   
4. Main body
   
5. Accessories, including ladders for both ends, the foot steps and a brake and wheel arrangement (optional)
   

The next bunch of images show the components with the supports etc removed, a small amount of polishing up with some needle files or sandpaper wouldn't do any harm, doubly so if these are to be painted.  But I think you can see more clearly how this would assemble and how it could be mounted on top of the flat bed wagons.

The last image shows you the 'debris' which gets stripped off, it looks a lot, but frankly weighs very little so wastage is not as great as it may appear

Anyway I will be putting this prototype in the post for you to look at and try out as a conversion if you wish, if it works out as well as I think it may then I would be happy to provide enough kits to convert a rake of the wagons (I know you love to have 'sets' of wagons etc... )

Hope you like it and if you get any other ideas of stuff you think would be cool let me know and I'll see what I can do!

[Super]

Very cool. It must take a long time entering all those measurements into the Cad program to get all that detail right?

Well it all depends, if you use primitives (shapes) and plug those together, cloning for example uprights it doesn't take too long.  However in this instance I picked up a design online and then used the slicing program to change the dimensions of the print so it was all about scaling so doesn't take so long at all