Hi Folks After 2 Years I will start again with my "z-Makers Shay. In the past I mill the upper part, so I can install the engine. My question is, has anyone build the Shay and can give me some infos and picuteres. Sorry for these thread, but I found nothing under "search" about Shay. Thanks for your help
Jurgen, Nice to have you back! Here is some information I came across: https://www.shaylocomotives.com/ShayDrawings.htm https://www.mylargescale.com/threads/shay-drawing-to-scale.91507/ https://www.american-rails.com/shay.html#gallery[pageGallery]/0/ Hope these help. Scott
Hello! Z maker didn't design the Shay brass shell it was me who design this one and with the help of the Z maker was able to have a chassis done for it their was two ways it could be motorized one was with the Shorty using his chassis or the other using the Showcase Miniatures motor for the Z scale! I not so good at installing electric parts but I do have two of them working with both type of motors! this wasn't bought from Showcase Miniatures. I used a photo and some specification to build this 3D printed model done at shape ways! it's not the Nn3! I notice the stack you have is different then this one here so you have the show case Miniature shay that one is white metal! the one I posted has a two piece chasis! all brass!
He shows only my Shay on his web page! The Z Maker My shell! Shay Class B Revised 2 Z scale (L6TA73YW3) by southernnscale (shapeways.com) The Z makers Chassis Z Scale Shay Chassis (ND5Q63UST) by shortpainter (shapeways.com) the one you have there is the Nn3 you will have to contact Showcase Miniatures to get the information! here are two information piece on the Nn3 shay on showcase Miniatures!
one from the Golden oldies; NN3 REPUBLIC LOCOMOTIVE WORKS #2180: WSLC 2-TRUCK SHAY KIT RLW (RIP RLW) Republic Locomotive works had the best variety of Nn3 kits, from porters to Rio mudhens and other Nn3 kits like logging cars, building accessories etc. Long before Railex and Lok 14 started putting can motors in z and Nn3 locs (with life expectancy of hours.) RLW and the Gold Rush models et al were using bulletproof marklin loc mechanisms. But the Shay was special, it could pull 50 cars, because it used the MTL F7 chassis intact! As modelers who have had these kits in their roundtuit bins begin closing shop; you may find one of these kits on ebay. and the mtl F7 chassis will be with us forever.
Hi, Sorry for not chiming in for over a month. I don't frequent these forums much anymore. The chassis I designed to fit Walter's shay shell is a modified version of my SW1200 chassis. These instructions(click here), while not specific to the shay, are close enough to get you to a running model. The motor is more difficult to insert than the SW1200's because the mount is designed at an angle. The best way is to hold the chassis upside down and push the back of the motor (where the wires are) up into the mount. You'll see what I mean once you give it a try. When attaching the circuit board to the chassis, add super glue or some other method to insulate it from the chassis to avoid short circuits. I would print out or make a copy of these SW1200 instructions since I don't know how much longer I plan to keep the website up. I'll be closing down my business and the Shapeways store some time this year. I can no longer monitor and maintain it. As for the Showcase miniature powered truck, I did not design a shay chassis specifically for it. I gutted the motor mount of the regular Shay chassis with a Dremel tool then attached the chassis to the shell permanently. Then I drilled a hole in the shell's tender/fuel bin and used the Showcase supplied screw and bolt. The showcase powered truck ships with a screw, bolt and mounting system. In these photos you can see the Showcase screw before and after I cut it an painted it black. Sorry, I'm not good at photographing progress on my projects but I hope this helps.
We're sorry to hear you no longer have time to maintain your Z Scale offerings, but I would like to thank you for producing what you did. I was able to fill a big chunk of my NP Z Scale switcher collection with your kits and am so happy you spent the time to produce them. You are a true Ambassador of Z Scale Rudy!
Yikes. I guess I better get my 44 tonners built. Sad to see TheZMaker go as your designs were elegant, and you filled an underserved niche. Thanks for bringing us what you did. -Matt
I have a question regarding this Z scale shay. The parts on Shapeways don't entirely appear to be the ones used for the assembled z scale shays shown. Was some kit bashing done? The ZMaker chassis does not appear to have the lower firebox detail or truss rods. From the shay in TheZMakers Gallery, the frame appears to be for an older prototype I beam/truss rod chassis, and the current Shapeways frame appears to be a more modern "Fishbelly" chassis. Was this from an earlier version of the chassis design or did detail parts come from the Showcase Nn3 kit? It also appears that those wanting to build this shay would need the Rokuhan shorty truck side frames: https://www.shapeways.com/product/A...cks-z-scale?optionId=299277614&li=marketplace -Matt
Rudy, As the others have said, thank you for your time and creations! You and your work will be missed! Scott
Hi Rudy, I really enjoy your products and have built several of them. I would like to request that you leave your Shapeways store open. Remove the links to your web store so that you don't have to deal with that part if you'd like. You've already done the design work. It would be a shame to lose it. I have a Shapeways store that has only made $3. They paid me the $3 to clear it off of their books. I've only sold one item. It hasn't taken any effort on my part to leave the store open. Please consider leaving your Shapeways store open. Thanks for all of the great products you've designed and made available to us.
Hi Folks Thanks for your informations. I order the Shay in January 2021 from Walt's Trainz and Things (Shell)?? und Z-Maker / Rudi (Chassie). In the ZFI Forum was a thread from Armande from his way to build the shay (I save all his photos and his discription on my PC, but I found these in the week befor christmas. But now I finished my Shay with the same way as Armande (ok, my is not digital) and now it runs (not perfect, I must try different resistors, now I used an 680 Ohm). Also I wait for the Shinkansen trucks and the shay truck panels (I forgot these to order in 2021). The way to install the trucks at the chassie was the same way as the SW1200 (I cut the kopper plate from the shorty, that it was isolated from the chassie Here you can see the first test runs I plan now a Diorama for the shay, but only a commuter route.
This was the first shay before I put some better details on it! The newest shay has much more details! The boiler case inside the cab had to be remove to be able to fit the motor from the shorty using The Z Makers Chassis! No parts from the Show Case Miniatures was use to build the latest Shay! The Z makers chassis made the difference in getting it to run! it is all brass and no white metal was used! Not a Nn3! but Z scale design from a photo of a Class B shay!
Possibly Rudy has had my same issue with shapeways: arbitrary random rejections. You may not know, but no matter how many times you have printed and sold a model, it may, and in fact it eventually will, happen that one shapeways 'print engineer' will find that the design in an order cannot be printed. So he will reject the print and ask to fix things that he thinks will not work. Once this happens, the designer will get the infamous 'help us to resolve issues with model...' email. There is no arguing on the fact that the same exact model has successfully printed tens of times with no customer complain, you either 'fix' the model or shapeways will remove it from the offer. If you have several models and many customers, this continuous 'help us to resolve issues with model...' becomes very tiring. Myself, I eventually chose to terminate sales with the shapeways shop. Nowadays I only provide models that can be printed with the 'print-it-anyway' option with direct transaction (customer orders me and i order to shapeways with shipment to customer), unfortunately brass does not provide for the 'print-it-anyway' option.
