Looks like fun

Will you keep all four axles in each truck, or are you thinking of removing one or more (using dummy axles, presumably) to make a 2 or 3 axle critter?

Cool!

There is still a part of me that wishes that when I made the jump from N to HO that I had gone ahead and moved to On30. I love the layouts I'm seeing and it seems to give you so much freedom to do projects just like this. Problem is I have a hard enough time affording HO scale. Ah well maybe someday..... I will definitely be following along to see how this one turns out.

On30 Critters

Ken,

I'm staying with the 4 axles. And speaking of axles, the gears on these show signs of cracking. Going to try a new fix. Going to try and use casting resin to make new ones.

noah,

So far the only cost I have into this projects is a sheet of .060" styrene and a sheet of .020" brass and a few screws. The hobby, no matter what scale, is as expensive as you make it.

Ok it was raining pretty hard the rest of the day so I did a bit more modeling, I can't call it work. I made the brass floor to fit over the styrene one. The styrene is used as an insulator since both sides of the gear tower has power to from the wheels and using only brass will short out. What you see in the picture is one truck with the floor attached and the other shows all the parts.

That's it until it rains again. Which looks like it will again tomorrow.

Bernd

Expense by scale

Bernd,

I was more or less referring  to the cost of structures and locos. The cost seems to go up as the scale gets larger.

I do agree though that there are lots of budget projects you can do in any scale. I'm working on my layout with a shoestring budget right now while waiting  for hobby funds for locos and rolling stock to come later this year.

Cost of things

Noah,

I have to agree with you there. Some of the nicer structures and locos are expensive. Here's hoping your train comes into the station early.

Bernd

Progress for a rainy day

Here's how far I've gotten on number #1 critter so far.

Motor mount made and motor mounted. Looks off center but it's the camera angle.

I made a mock up of what I want the engine to look like in cad. It's had a couple of design changes. I'm going with this one.

3/4 front view:

3/4 rear view:

Bernd

Who will stop the rain?

Great looking build Bernd, coming together nicely. Interesting track I see it on. Truescale? I have several Truescale turnouts (motorized & fully functional with original boxes) and a few straight sections, if you are interested....

P.S: Where are you getting your drive linkage? Northwest?

Stopped raining

for today anyway.  Yes that is true scale. I also have one left and one right hand "closing frog" turnout. Appreciate the offer, but I won't be using True Scale. I have a few feet and use it for display purposes such as this.

The drive linkage will be scratch built. I'm working on putting a flywheel in between the motor and worm wheel and using silicone tubing since it is a straight through drive.

And since it isn't raining today, some brick work is the order of the day.

Bernd

Neat project

Great idea, but with such a compact drive train, it's almost a shame to cover it with a boxcab.

Windows

Sounds like I may need to add more windows so you can see the drive train.

It's not that unique. Think of it as half an Athearn drive without the universals.

Bernd

"Expense by scale"

   I've found it is pretty much the same per square foot or square inch no matter what the scale. One needs more N scale models than HO or O models to fill a given space.  S scale costs a bit more than it should in the size spectrum due to scarcity of product and O is a bit cheaper than it should be due to over supply of older models.So the style of layout is more important than the scale in determining costs. It's possible to build cheap or expensive in any size. I wouldn't base scale choice on costs but more on what will fit into one's space and be the closest to portraying the desired operations or scenic views..DaveBranum 

More rain

more work done on critter #1. Rainy afternoon spent in the shop making a flywheel and getting the mounting surface tuned in. The motor was 1/32" higher than the worm shaft, so had to do a little bit of milling on the motor mounting pads. Turned up a 7/8" flywheel with a spigot on the end. Now all I need is a piece of silicone tubing and I can install the decoder and take it for a test run and possibly make a short vid of it running back and forth on my test track.

Bernd

Box Cab Plan

Bernd,

Your "Critter" project looks like fun and I think it will look great, too.

I wonder if you would share your mockup in a format that we could use to make our own?

I guess it would have to be a pdf or jpg, since many people do not have CAD software.

Looking forward to more of your build.

Rob Morrison

Box Cab Plan

Rob,

It is a fun project. There will be more to come. It all depends on how much rain we get.

I'll see what I can do about a drawing. If one doesn't show up in a couple of days give me a poke, OK?

Bernd

Drawings

I hope this works. Here's three formats, JPEG, WMF, & BMP.

EDITED: didn't work. Pictures were to big.

Bernd

New Drawings

Ok these should work better for you. They are jpg pictures with some added info on sizes and dimensions.

If you have any questions on dimensions don't hesitate to ask. I'll get them for you.

Bernd

Drawings

Bernd,

Thank you for posting the drawings.  Now to find a DD40.

What are you using for the grills?  I'll have to browse the Grandt Line catalog.

Rob

Grills

Rob,

I was thinking just some plain old wedding gown netting, regular window screen or just use wire to make a bared grill.

Here's another idea for the grill. I used this on my R/C crane project.

Just thought of this as I was typing up the answer to your question. Forgot I had this. I'm thinking the size would work in O scale. Many ways to approach that grill. You could even use louvers as I did on this crane.

I used the louvers from an HO C420. If you use the whole set of louvers I think that would also work.

Hey it's your model play around with different materials and see what you can come up with. You have to post a picture of you model in case I want to steal your idea.

Bernd

Grill materials

Bernd,

I like the K&S grill mesh - my local hobby shop is 45 miles away, so it may be a while before I get some. Then, of course, there are the other projects I'm working on: 2 BVM hunkered down 18-foot boxcars, an On30IMA wood hopper, one Bachmann 4-4-0 with motor problems, a couple structures to finish, and a gallows turntable structure to build on my Atlas turntable.  ButI don't have a DD40 yet either.

Thanks for sharing,

Rob

Your welcome

Rob,

I see your one busy modeler with all those projects. I wish I as down to about that many.

Have fun and if you have anymore questions, ask away.

Bernd

P.S. Oh, hey you could use a 3 truck axle too. Just shorten the body. Just a suggestion.

DD40 trucks

Rob,

Don't know if you do E-bay. There are a pair of trucks on auction plus several engines. Prices vary.

Here's the link to the trucks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-ATHEARN-DD40-TRUCKS-VERY-NICE-/121127822660?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item1c33c7e544

Bernd

DD40 trucks

Thanks Bernd, but I missed out. The auction ended. $13 for the pair.

I was at a modeling friend's last night and just now got to see your post. (4:15 PM).

Rob

Trucks

Sorry to hear that. Well, keep an eye out. I'm sure there will be more.

Bernd

Test Run

I finally got some silicone tubing so I can hook the motor to the worm shaft. I temporarily attached a NCE N scale decoder (N12SRP) for the test run. It ran pretty rough. That was do to the split axles. I fixed that and it ran better. That's about all I've done so far. The second critter now needs a motor and base installed.

I'm getting anxious to build the wooden box cab for it to see what it'll look like. That's next. Here's a pic from the test run.

Next, taking some wood, brass and styrene to fabricate the box cab.

Bernd