ex-SRA 'NHBF' Ballast Hopper in N-Scale (1:160)

This one has been on the go for a long time… it was originally going to be an etched brass kit, however it’s been changed to a composite poly/brass construction, almost identical to the Peter Boorman’s Workshop ‘BBW’ kit, which is fitting as the NHBF design was based on the BBW, and is similar in a few ways.

Some projects are a little difficult to ‘get started’ – I knew that this series of wagons (the ‘universal’ J hoppers of the former Victorian Railways) would require modular construction due to the difficult shape of the hopper and frame, however finding the right place and method of assembling the items and making the difficult decision to go ‘overscale’ on the thickness of various components was quite hard. I hope that I’ve found a happy medium between cast-ability and scale appearance though.

VR 'JQF' Hopper in N-scale (1:160), in progress

So far, about 15 hours have gone into this, with a lot still to go. Missing is the braking gear and a heap of etched brass.

Edit:

The three main variations of hopper...

Victory! Two of the three “lids” and two of the three dump-doors, complete…

These will undoubtedly look familiar… this is the 1:160 (N-scale) version of the QRN 3800 loco. Addition of the coupler pockets (in a frustrating location!) and shelling-out has taken about 5 hours to complete.

'No. 2' end, N-scale (1:160) QRN 3800 loco

'No. 1' end, N-Scale (1:160) QRN 3800 loco

Overall view, showing separated body/cab

For many years, I’ve been the sort of modeller to say “shoot me when I start counting the rivets”… unfortunately that attitude doesn’t seem to get one very far in the manufacturing business! Some progress has been made this evening on the water tank rivets on this, the “seamed” tank style loco body. I’ll most likely draw the non-seamed tank style up as a future option as well. A small change to the models’ intended construction has taken place, with the cab becoming a separate part to the body. This allows for far simpler assembly, and permits the different styles of bunker to be replicated. Yes, this is as mind-numbing as it looks…

Partial rivet detail on SMR 10-class body

I’ve finally knuckled down and given the Ethan’s Models website a dust-off and update. Looking a lot more up-to-date now! Check out http://www.freewebs.com/ethansmodels/

QRN 3800-class Electric Loco

This project has been going for about 3 months now, beginning not long after the first two locos hit Australian shores from their country of manufacture, Germany. The solid model is currently at 1:1, requiring some additional work to be done before scaling to 1:87 and 1:160 respectively. The N-scale version is to feature in the Ethan’s Models lineup in the near future. This has had, in total, some 30+ hours spent in drawing and research.

Side details

Inspired by an email I received earlier in the evening, I started work on developing a bodyshell for an N-scale SMR 10-class 2-8-2T steam loco. If I can get the level of detail right (and find a suitable donor mech), I may look at putting this out in HO scale as well… if any HO-scalers read this blog and might know what’d fit, let me know!

SMR 10-class body in progress...

More to come…!

Since I realized that I was beyond the point of return, I decided to finish up the steps and stanchion/platform supports. The stanchion will be a folded double-sided brass assembly, soldered and sealed and then cast in polyurethane, as there’s 5 layers of brass in there! The segments for the platform support will be that same casting, cut in half and modified slightly. No point in re-inventing the wheel!

Detail view of step/stanchion arrangement

Each step is a separately fitted slot/tab item, fitting into the sides/handrails. Likely to be as tedious as the 3D gen process was! The overall sight of the bridge is quite spectacular though… I’m very pleased with it!

Complete assembly of the Elmore Footbridge

I’ve been playing a little with some of the perspective/camera tools in AutoCAD 2008 as well…

Perspective view of the former Elmore Footbridge

For anyone that might be interested in this, an N-scale kit (and potentially a HO-scale kit) is likely to be made available in 2-3 months’ time, as time permits…

I’ve just noticed that this page is lacking contact details, woops! My email address is:

Sorry that I had to use an image there, but I really hate spam-filled email boxes! While you’re internetting about, check out freewebs.com/ethansmodels, I expect to get it updated one of these days soon!

On top of the 3D artwork done for my own line and other clients, I have a modest amount of components etched for my kits and other sources. I don’t do the physical etching myself, however the artwork design is a big task. A project that I’ve been wanting to get down for a while has been a footbridge for my layout in-planning/construction, based on a structure that existed at Elmore, Vic, on the Bendigo to Echuca line. Incidentally, my layout will take heavy influence from this location. The prototype was demolished in the mid 80’s (around the time I was born!), so the artwork is based on various estimates and proportions. An image of a similar structure with people crossing at Echuca gave a relative height, a nominal width of 1500 across the crossing, and the structure was made to span 150mm in 1:160 scale (N).

Un-filled etching artwork for Elmore Pedestrian Bridge

The main span of the bridge is formed from two pieces of brass as can be seen – an outer wrap (with fold-over reinforcement angle at the top), and an inner U-shape with the timber decking detail. Knowing my luck, someone will produce a photo showing boring steel plating over the walking deck… but mine will still look flash!

Detail view of assembled bridge

Still to be drawn is the stairwells/vertical supports at each end, with individual steps to slot/tab together!

Overall view of the bridge

I wouldn’t ordinarily do a full generated 3D view of an etched part due to the vast amount of work involved, however I was keen to see the overall perspective of it. It’s difficult to estimate whether the necessary thickness of etched brass elements will look too ‘chunky’ in 1:160 or not, however I think I might’ve captured it this time. Just out of interest, the widest ‘track’ of brass on the artwork above, the ‘beams’ under the floorboard, is 1.5mm wide! In 0.15mm thick brass! Yikes.

The above artwork took approximately 6 hours to draft, with about 4 hours’ work still to do.