5" gauge tank wagon

[darrene]

With the old and increasingly problematic Ender 3 now relegated to the cupboard and an Ender 3 S1 Pro taking up the slack, printing can progress apace once more.

First up has been a second Lowfit Wagon and a tank car. I'm pleased with both although I wouldn't particularly want to print out a rake of tank wagons - far too involved, but probably mainly due to the repeated issues I was finding with the old printer.

It's the first time I have tried using spray-putty filler to help smooth print lines and sort out joins on the tank end-caps. Detail parts were resin-printed whilst the rest of the tank (with the exception of the wheels, rods, springs and tank cylinder) were filament-printed. It does go together incredibly quickly with dovetailed joints providing a great fit of the frame parts.

Darren

[dhamblin]

That's come out really well Darren. Sorely tempted to re-size Andrew Wildish's models for 3 1/2" once I work out the best way of sourcing wheelsets.

Regards,

Dan

[darrene]

Cheers Dan.

I really rate Andrew's design. It's so nice to assemble and it's well thought out. It should scale down nicely.
His files include wheels and axles if you need to resort to them. It's such a shame Slaters haven't filled the gap in their range for 3 1/2"

It could be worth asking DNCSystems in Oz, whether he'd make up a set - the quality of his parts is fantastic and the prices are very competitive so don't come out too badly even when you factor in the shipping. I ordered a set of CNC'd wheels for the A4 tender when I couldn't source an alternative in the right size over here

[dhamblin]

I might look at making my own Slaters style wheel using the 3D printer and a steel tyre.

Loco first though!

Regards,

Dan