Background

From Dale Jenkin's Book - The Illinois Terminal Railroad - "In April 1913, ITS took delivery of yet another group of St. Louis Car products: 11 passenger motors, 273-283. The cars were 55-feet 10-inches long and seated 55, and were used to introduce a variety of services in years to come. The roster was supplemented with cars 284 in 1914 (to replace car 279 destroyed in a 1913 wreck) and car 285 in 1918, which had the distinction of being the last standard interurban car delivered to the ITS. Cars 282 and 283 migrated to the CO&P, returning in April 1922."

These Combines lasted until the end of passenger service in 1956. West Coast Traction Supply which can be found here is a store on Shapeways that offers 3D printed interurban cars, one of which I am going to build. If you have time, check out his stuff as it is really neat. This car comes as four separate parts. The first set consists of the roof, ends, truck side frames and front cow catcher. The second and third parts are the right and left car body sides. These parts are all printed in Frosted Ultra Detail plastic. The fourth part is the floor which is printed in black plastic which isn't quite as detailed but much stronger than the FUD.

This is how the parts come from Shapeways. This is the outside view.

This is the inside view.

This kit is designed with pegs that are used to guide assembly. So, the plan of attack is to add the exterior details, clean it, paint it, assemble it and glue it together then fit it on the bottom. The designer has an excellent video series on Youtube showing how he built his 3D printed version of an Illinois Terminal Class B freight locomotive.

The Base and drive

The picture below shows the fourth part of the kit, the base/frame.  This view is the underside which comes printed with the underbody detail such as tanks, boxes, and resistors already in place.  The queen posts are there as well so I will just add the wire and turnbuckles.  This frame is made to accept the replacement Bowser trolley mechanism as shown below. 

The picture below shows the "inside" floor of the combine.  I will work from right to left in describing the holes.  There are three holes along the top and a matching set of three holes along the bottom.  These are for 2-56 screws to fit through and screw into the FUD shell once it is glued together to hold everything in place and give the frame some more rigidity.  The bow tie-shaped opening is for the powered truck tower of the Bowser mechanism.  There are two holes above and below it that need to be tapped with a 2-56 tap to screw the powered mechanism in place.  For the six middle holes, the four outside ones are where the motor mounts lock into and then the two middle holes are clearance holes where 2-56 screws are screwed through the frame up into the motor mounts to hold the motor in place. The half moon on the left is for the electrical leads from the nonpowered truck and then the pivot hole for the nonpowered truck is to the left of it. 

The picture below shows the drive system I will use for the combine.  This is the powered mechanism from Bowser with their 33" wheels.  I ordered it along with the A-line flywheel from Customtraax.  They do have the correct 36" wheel one as well that can be special ordered. This picture from left to right shows the can motor, the plastic motor mount that was tapped with a 2-56 tap, the A-line flywheel, the replacement adapter drive from the flywheel kit, then the worm from the powered drive. 

The picture below shows the flywheel and ball couplings that have been secured into place using red Loctite 271.  

The picture below shows the drive system mounted into place.  The Bowser mechanism comes with 2-56 screws but they were too long so I used 1/4" 2-56 screws I had to attach the motor and the drive tower.  The nonpowered drive has a special shouldered screw that I used for it.  

This picture shows a closeup of the motor mounted in place. 

Getting on the move

The combine will eventually be wired up for DCC with lights and wired for two rail operation.  I plan to have overhead wiring but it will be a dummy installation.  Just to test the mechanism, I wired it for straight DC.  I purchased a bunch of two wire connectors off of eBay.  I soldered these from the truck leads to the motor leads.  This way I can quickly disconnect each of the trucks.  

This short video shows the first test run before I oiled and lubed the gears.  You can tell this thing is going to need some weight. 

 

grab irons and hand rails

Several handrails and grab irons are needed for the combine.  I looked over several pictures I found online so that I would know where they go.  I used some 0.012" wire that I had from somewhere and bent my own grabs to fit the place they go.  I found a #79 drill bit worked well for this wire. 

Here is the first grab iron being installed.  Kind of like jumping in the deep end, just take a deep breath and go.  And yes, I need to sand a little around the windows.  

Below shows the grabs installed in the left side wall.  They haven't been glued yet.  I bent the wire using the pliers on the right.  I found the third grove in gave me the right distance for the ladder grabs.  The needle in the drill was used to make a starter spot and then the hole drilled.  It is quite challenging to see a #79 hole in clear plastic.  

The front end is quite complicated.  I bent the handrail, then I need 7 eyelets for which I used Plano's lift rings.  I used flush cutting nippers to cut the lift rings from the etch. 

I then bent them in half and fed them onto the handrail.  Yes, I lost a few in the process.  

This shows the end grabs all installed in the end.  

After I had test fit everything, I used CA to glue them in place.  Below shows most of the grabs on the sides after being glued in place.  I still have a few handrails that go next to where the walls glue together.  I wanted to wait till I had it glued together before drilling those holes.  There are also a few grabs that go on the anticlimber on the end.  

I am working on getting some pictures of the prototype that I will have permission to post.  Until then, these are the main photos I've been looking at. 

Hicks Car Works

Nice build

Doug,

Nice looking build.  All those grabs on the front end seems to be a signature IT feature.  How do you maintain correct depth when installing your grab irons?

Dave

Enjoying the progress

I have been contemplating getting one of these. Interested to see how this all turns out

Some pictures here of the real thing if you haven't seen them already

http://www5.irm.org/gallery/IT277

Replies

@Dave - my method for getting a consistent height off the car for the grab irons is probably unique, but I have a pair of long then needle nose tweezers that I like to use when installing them and as they are thin I find they are at about the right height.  Therefore, I use them to get the grab in the holes then shove it down to where the tweezers are flat on the surface, run it to both sides, then I'm good to go.  I feel like a get a good consistent height that way.  

@kpinict - thanks for sharing that link, nice photos.  This is my first full blown 3D printed "kit" so I'm excited to see how it turns out as well.  

Nice Job

Very nice job on the castings and assembly.  Hope to work on a couple of your hopper bottom gon prints later this summer.

Hey Dave

Hey Dave,

Thanks.  Let me know how the hopper bottom modeling goes.  I think I might be working on a GAc hopper built for the P&R next.  

Progress

I've added the truss rods to the underframe.  I used Tichy turnbuckles and glued some 10-pound test fishing line into each end and let that dry.  I then glued one side to the queen post that was on the frame and let that dry.  I then pulled the fishing string up through the holes that are in the frame and glued them tight.  After that dried, I lifted up the line and glued it to the other queen post.  I repeated this for the other side.  I will say that this is more tedious than just using wire, but I have bumped it several times and the fishing string goes right back to where it should. 

The roof had pulled in some in the middle.  To get the walls to fit correctly, I braced the holes for the walls with some square styrene.  This helped quite a bit. 

This shows the walls and roof mocked up but not yet glued together. 

Next will be to wash everything up and then glue the shell together.  Then there are a few more grab irons to install as I didn't want to install some edge ones while it wasn't glued together.  After that, it should be paint and decal time.  

Assembly

I sanded around the door and window openings to smooth everything out.  Then I soaked the parts in simple green and scrubbed with and old toothbrush to clean off the waxy residue. It is almost transparent at this point. I used CA to glue the parts together which seemed to line up really well. I thin fitted in the frame just so it would keep everything straight as it dried. I also glued the pilot on as well. I have a few more grabs to add and then it will be time for paint. 

Back side

Front side

side view 

bottom view

Just stumbled on this

I am enjoying this so far, and I can't wait to see more 

update

I've managed to add all the parts, except for the horn.  The horn will be interesting, stay tuned.  I added a few more handrails where I couldn't before the shell was glued together.  I also moved one of the trolley pole hooks to the opposite side as apparently this thing never ran backward.  I also added two single stirrup steps on the baggage door side and one double stirrup step on the non-baggage door side.  For the gutters above the doors, I used some 0.015 wire and some styrene for above the baggage door.  

Just to show how crazy I am, I took a picture of the freight motor I've been working on alongside the combine.  I think they are ready for paint. 

Drive system

Hi,

the model is coming together very nicely.

Looking at the pictures of the drive mechanism (on the first page)... This reminds me of an older N-Scale locomotive of mine... The loco has two two-axle trucks. The motor has a worm gear attached at both sides and drives the two inner axles directly (they have a sprocket on the axle). The worm gear and sprocket have just enough slop so that the mechanism does not even need a universal joint even if the truck swivels. Which is basically the simplified version of what you have...

Have fun!

Back at it...

Well, it has been a while but I'm back working on this 3D printed ITRR modernized combine.  I've got the painting done, I think.  I'll look over it some more though to make sure. 

For paint, I used Tru-color black, Tru-color IT tangerine, Tru-color terra cotta for the roof, and Scalecoat B&O maroon. 

I like it

That model is turning out great!

Decals

Got the decals applied and partially assembled for a photoshoot...  Still need weight, LED's, couplers, a DCC decoder, and window "glass".

It sure is amazing how 3D printing has added to this hobby. 

Nice looking Trolley

Looks very nice - is this your design you had printed on Shapeways?

Regards,

Brian

Reply to Brian

Hey Brian,

No, this was designed by West Coast Traction on Shapeways.  It can be found here.  

IT Modernized Combine