WABTEC 3000 BEL , N Scale 3D print project

Carl Sowell Aug 27, 2022

  1. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Agreed
     
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  2. alister

    alister TrainBoard Member

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    Smokin hot!!! Beautiful job.
     
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  3. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

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    This shall be my last post for this project.

    As a reminder here is the 1st image of this thread posted on 8/27, the photo was shot 08/25 :
    [​IMG]

    Here it is as it will run during our upcoming Fair show. This is the way the 1:1 was tested in late 2020 on the Barstow - Stockton route :

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Thanks for all the interest and "likes", very much appreciated.

    Be well, see ya'll on the next project ( AC-9 or GS-1)
     
  4. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    That turned out really great Carl! Excellent work. (y)(y)(y)
     
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  5. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Excellent work!!
     
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  6. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    I knew you could do it Carl !! Great build thread and an even greater looking locomotive !! (y)(y)
     
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  7. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks to all for the "likes" and comments, much appreciated.

    Next up for this build thread and I promise the LAST posting will be a YT vid with her in a revenue run.

    Be well !
     
  8. baldylox

    baldylox TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG] this came our real well Carl. Thanks for doing a build thread. Your milling job is much better than my own "prototype" lol Did you run into any issues mid shell? i made a new tweak inside to try and open it up more for less milling, but I think its too thin now and will crack over time. always testing :D

    FYI - my decals are NOT CMR. I design all my decal sets to fit the model as designed. especially on something as custom as this. CMR has nice decals, but I will feel the product from Circus City is superior and thats who does all my printing. I know prices may not always be the best, but it reflects the time, effort and resources I put in myself to hopefully deliver a top notch product.

    I am always looking for feedback to make better products, other than cost, what about the CMR was your final decision vs what I created?
     

    Attached Files:

  9. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Nice water mark! :D
     
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  10. Carl Sowell

    Carl Sowell TrainBoard Supporter

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    Brett,

    Thanks for the comment and showing interest. Up front, I hesitated answering you on this thread but decided to do so.

    First let me sort of apologize for not mentioning the shell quality that I had to work with. It is/was fantastic with the small detail. As with most all 3D prints I have built, including the "old stuff" as well as new liquid materials, they tend to be delicate and brittle. So, with my 82 year old fingers that don't work as they used to I felt very good that I only broke off one little piece of hand rail behind the engineers side. I made a replacement out of
    .010 pb wire attached with IC-2000 ca glue. Looks like a real repair made by "the RIP track". I did have a problem with the coupler pockets but it was my self created issue as I did not do enough test fitting. No biggie !

    Now the chassis. Yes, I found the center to be too high so I milled off a little more of the tops of the tabs so the shell would fit down lower. As you saw in my image I used the factory light board and cut traces so that I could attach the red/black wires at the head end of the decoder and attach the grey/orange decoder leads to the tail end of decoder and that allowed me to use the factory board motor contacts. That makes the wiring quite easy. In retrospect I think the real clearance issue was because of the wires. If I did another one I would mill a v shaped "trough" down the center of the chassis to run the wires through.

    Decals, No comment as I am not sure which set I used. I can tell you that the 1st decal I cut came apart so bad I had to remove and discard and then I sprayed both sets with a clear sealer. They both worked fine after that. I would say that IMHO, the decals need to have a tad more space between each other to make cutting them apart easier. PS I use a razor blade to cut mine.

    Great product Brett and if I had another chassis I would order another one and paint in My "Home Road" colors.

    BTW, here is another one of your prints, heavily weathered. The side is one decal :
    [​IMG]

    Be well my friend !
     
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  11. baldylox

    baldylox TrainBoard Member

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    awesome love the info. i’ve recently been told by a few others to fix the spacing on my decals. i even yelled at my own self when trying to cut a set recent. ‘why the F did i draw these with no leeway for slippage?’ lol

    if you do figure out which set of decals tore lmk. this is a first for the decals fem circus city paper that i’ve heard tearing. but none the less a note i’ll pass along

    i think in time i’ll learn more about the resin mixing and can start adding a little flex resin to make things sturdy but with more give.

    i think this is great and i think i’ll post this thread to the etsy page and my FB for mother to see how well it’s done.

    oooooomg love the skybox :)
     
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