ALY to QLX

As a the ALY and QLX wagon share common panels, so I thought it would be a quick simple project to convert a ALY into a QLX. I do not need a QLX, as I have a few models already, but thought it would fun to see how much work would be required.

The conversion was simple for the body of the wagon and only took a night to do. But the underside / chassis and frame is a lot more complex than I had anticipated and still a "work in progress". Luckily I have a couple of QLX photos that show some of the underside detail and there is a good set of presentation notes in the "Modelling the Railways of Queensland Convention -1998" handbook that shows the location for the brake gear. Once I have the chassis completed I will add a photo.

A battered QLX at Warwick Qld.

Version 1 print out of the QLX body

 The side walls are over 200 mm long so would not fit on my printer (My print bed is 200 x 200 mm). To resolve this issue, I printed the roof and side walls of the QLX on a 45 degree angel, problem solved.

The test print out worked out good. The roof will need a bit of filler and sanding to help remove the layer marks. I am slowly getting the settings of the printer under control.

A latter version QLX in Meriba, Qld.

A long time since the last update, sorry.

My 6 meter long "Texas" shunting layout  has been demolished to make room for house renovations. Unfortunately it never progressed beyond the track and electrical stage.

Eventually I will build a new but smaller shunting layout in a IKEA book shelf in my hobby room. This new layout will only be about 2.8 meters long. So I plan on using mostly shorter 4 wheel rolling stock and my DH class locomotives to help save space. 

I have decided to build some more 4 wheel wagons, to increase the amount of suitable rolling stock levels for the eventual new layout. Traditionally I would have built these from scratch or from kits, if available, but recently got a 3D printer and have some success in creating / printing my own 4 wheel home made wagons.

So far I have produced a ALY and a FJS wagon that have a reasonable amount of detail for viewing  arms length distance.

My Version 4 of a ALY wagon and a Version 1 of  a FJS

Because the 3D printers have a low X-Y resolution I have printed my wagons flat, with no details less then 0.8mm wide. On the Z access I can take advantage of the finer resolution of 0.1mm per layer. I feel for a smaller scale, a print nozzle smaller than the 0.4mm one supplied with the printer would be required.

The ALY Walls and Roof, printed with a skirt. The roof requires some sanding to help reduce typical 3D printing horizontal layer line marks. 

A early Version 1 chassis of the FJS wagon sitting on the printer. I have since added more details such as hand brake and door stops. The printer setting have also since been adjusted to help minimize the stringing affect.

Start of a new fleet of wagons, the details get added with each version of the wagon as I learn the limitations of 3D printing. Some of the older versions of the wagon may get re-assigned to being static tool sheds in the background of a future layout.

The model prints are very accurately and only require a little bit of clean up and  a light sanding before gluing the pieces together.

For reference, the wheels that I am using are Hornby 12.5mm / 26mm axles with Romford "Top Hat" 2mm flange bearings. The ALY wagon weighs 40 grams, so will need to have another  40 grams of ballast installed to get it up to the correct weight / length ratio.

The 3D printer has helped me to get some enthusiasm again to start building models with a flexibility that I have never had before.

Now off to design the latter version of the FJS wagon.