I already posted this in the HO workbench thread, but now that we have the 3D printing 'department' I thought I would do an update here. I have the Fiberglass version done too, in addition to the first steel one. This is the steel version. When I first posted, it did not have roof hatches. I did not have a good reference photo for the hatches so I used a similar design to the one I made for the fiberglass unit. You can see the hatches and hinges on Street View at the museum, so I know the fiberglass one has trough hatches, but the steel one is more out of view, so I made the assumption that they have the same design. They had hatches as an experiment in containerizing materials that traditionally had to be carried by truck or covered hopper. This is the fiberglass version. You can see that it lacks the weld beads along the bottom panels and utilizes a different door design. The steel model has corner post castings at the point where the containers connect, but also at the absolute corner above the wheel well. The fiberglass one only has corner posts at the connection points. Its edges are totally rounded and smooth. I have both models on Shapeways as single-piece castings and I have a flat kit version of the fiberglass container already made. I am still working on the steel kit. Right now they are HO scale, but it would be easy to re-scale the one-piece casting to N scale if there is demand or a request. The kit option would be overcomplicated in N scale. Making a new N scale product would only take a few minutes on Shapeways. I might have to rework the roof hatches though. Some of the fragile details like IBC pockets and hatch latches may have to be modified or bulked up to print correctly.
The A-Stack universe has been expanded: I recently got a request for an N scale version, so those are available now, as well as the highway trailer designed to transport them. The trailer is available with or without wheels, for those that may want to add A-Line or other rubber wheels. I am having some issues with the HO scale version, so I may need to rework the file. The containers themselves have been updated with slightly different roof hatches too.
Another update to the A-Stack containers: Now I have the full lineup designed. Now you can model all seven containers that the Santa Fe constructed. Each of the four fiberglass containers are different, while the three aluminum ones are identical. In earlier posts I referred to these as being made of steel, which is incorrect. There are three different door types, two hatch types, and five sides. The reporting mark on all the containers is SFCM. The solid models are on Shapeways right now, but the kit versions will need to be remade. The Santa Fe 10-unit Fuel Foiler is also in the works. I am focusing on the modified units that carried these containers. Descending order on the left: 950003, 950002, 950001 Descending order on the right: 950005-7 (all three aluminum containers look like this), 950004
The Santa Fe 10-pack Fuel Foiler spine car is underway. Here is a shot of the underside showing the ribs on the trailer wheel deck. This will debut in N scale, so the articulation joints are sized for Micro-Trains truck pins. Hopefully this model will be an improvement on the Con-Cor cars that were way too tall and didn't run very well. The length is slightly out of scale to allow the cars to articulate and not have the trailers collide on curves; the car is about 8" scale inches longer than prototype to give the trailers some more clearance. Here is the modified spine for loading the A-Stack containers. I kept the structure of the car the same, but removed the trailer loading deck and replaced it with these strange-looking beams. The modified car has 8 of these intermediate units, the two end units kept their trailer decks to carry the prototype A-Stack truck trailer (see above posts - also on shapeways)
