PENNSY!

[peteski]

That is amazing!

I do some basic (single-piece RTV mold) casting and I'm curious how superturbine was able to mold the holes in the in the stanchions and mold the free-standing railings on the nose without any flash (even if he used a 2-part mold).  I suppose that is his trade secret...

[Chris333]

wow on being able to cast so much detail all in one shot!

back on page 3

[Lemosteam]

Superturbine, I don't mean to embarrass yo in any way, I am honored to have one of your pieces.  Your work is phenominal and you must be proud of it.  And you are humble about it to boot!  They say that one's profession should both be what one is good at and that one enjoys.  I hope you are planning on starting a business so the N scale community can enjoy your products. 

Sincerely,

[RWCJr]

John, I too, have been fortunate to own some of Superturbine's beautiful casting. But I have also seen the castings straight from the molds.
Folks, those boilers are cast SOLID!!! The artwork is the boiler, but the craftmanship is what must be a messy and very delicate job in hollowing out the raw castings. Our boiler casting genius has to be putting in a lot of time for each unit.

[mike_lawyer]

That's some really fine work right there.  Those grab irons and handrail details are superb.  I have no idea how Superturbine gets those castings out of the mold so well.

And thanks Superturbine for sending me the Kato Mikado brake shoe hangars!

[superturbine]

Thanks for all of the generous comments guys.

[nstars]

For anybody interested, today we have seen pre production samples of the Queen Mary trucks (= T1 trucks) from N Scale Kits. They really look good and are very thin so they should be perfect on a T1 tender.

Regards,

Marc

[superturbine]

Next time get spy photos!!  But great to hear of the progress.  My plan was to provide the truck castings.  But since someone has invested the money into them already...we will need to support their efforts.

[chicken45]

After some digging, Max and I have sourced the FNS decals for the tender. If you are interested,
Rico's Rail Room has them. He has 25 left in stock, and got word from FNS that that's the last of them.
http://www.ricosrailroom.com/
Send Rico an email and he'll give you the hook up.

Josh

[nstars]

Next time get spy photos!! 

Spy photos?

I guess you mean these photos?





Top picture shows the 4 axle truck for the Queen Mary car (lower picture), which happens to be the same truck for the T1 tender (PS pictures shown with permission from Peter Harris). Peter told me he is thinking about two versions for the truck side frames. One with the brake rigging (as shown on the picture) and one without the brake rigging. In the latter case he is thinking about a brass etch with the brake rigging, which can be attached at the back of the side frame.

FYI, When we compared the side frame with a truck side frame on a Key long distance tender from an I1, the differences were absolutely minimal.

Marc

[peteski]

I might be a bit picky but to me the sideframe relief seems a bit flat and there isn't enough "air" in between the brake gear.   Looks like a flat slab. These kind of remind me of the too-flat looking sideframes Bachmann tooled up for their latest DDA40X locos.  But it might be just the way the photo was taken.

[mmagliaro]

I might be a bit picky but to me the sideframe relief seems a bit flat and there isn't enough "air" in between the brake gear.   Looks like a flat slab. These kind of remind me of the too-flat looking sideframes Bachmann tooled up for their latest DDA40X locos.  But it might be just the way the photo was taken.

I had the same reaction.  The overall shape looks okay, but it looks just too flat.

[superturbine]

Remember this is simply a proto type picture.
I think they will work for my T1 project since the trucks are largely hidden.  My thought is to eliminate brake rigging as Peter Harris has been considering.  The brake rigging is not as noticable to me to warrant filling in the space between the truck frames, -in my opinion. Peter do you think this might weaken the white metal of the truck frame?

[chicken45]

Yeah. Agreed. It is only a prototype. Let's not pass judgement yet. While it is true the trucks will be hidden in the T1, there is no hiding on the FD2 or FW1.

Josh

Josh "do I get a signature yet?" Surkosky

[pnolan48]

Thanks to Loren and Jason for taking on this project! I've been delving into N scale ship manufacturing, and am learning a lot about the vagaries and difficulties of various processes such as casting and photo etch. With these processes the true cost can't be measured on a per sheet or per cast basis for one-off projects. My research and drawing costs far exceed production costs, if I want to earn much more than $1.00 per hour. My last sheet of custom railings for cutters and tugs measured 300mm x 360mm and cost about $150 US. But it probably took me three days (or more) to draft and adjust for the sweep and curvature of the hulls. Parts of these sheets might be attractive to scratchbuilders of other subjects, especially the non-swept (i.e., straight) railings. Now, how do I cut these off, package and ship them? Not easily. But do I go out and commission sheets of straight railings in easily shippable subsheets? Maybe in the future . . .

I'm learning this manufacturing gig ain't easy. I suppose, if it were easy, a whole lot of folks would be doing it already. The production costs for a sheet of PE are a small fraction of the overall cost of providing a shippable product.