Santa fe whaleback tenders. I'm back to modeling!

[draskouasshat]

After a spring/summer/fall hiatus, I'm back to modeling. I usually do all of my modeling while I sit in hotels 8 days at a time for work but unfortunately we've been installing ptc on the BNSF Railway st Croix sub before peak season hit. It's kind of hard to take a 50 pound tale box of supplies on the plane so I've had to take a break. Also I've been trying to get a 12 valve Cummins swap done in my little f250 drag truck. Anyways back to the modeling!

I picked up a couple Bachmann 2-10-2s to polish off my ATSF 900/1600 class little 2-10-2 fleet. Just to change things up they will all have oddball Santa fe tenders different from normal stuff you see. The 1627 that was in the ntrak steam addendum had a 6 able tender from one of the dismantled mallets. The second loco I'm about to start on will have a whale back, or turtle back as some call it, tender.

The body is cut from a piece of mdf particle board and hand shaped to get the contours correct. The inside was also hollowed out.
The oil tank is filed to shape styrene followed by being overlaid with acc saturated paper. The steps are also acc paper. I still need to add a couple till boxes a hatch for the water tank, and rivets.

The trucks are old pecos river brass passenger trucks under a brass frame. Overall I'm happy with it so far. I'll get more pictures up later

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[Philip H]

Dude, that's flipping brilliant! Will you add diamond tread to the steps or just paint and he done?

[draskouasshat]

Thanks! Just paint and done. Diamond plate in n is useless and completely out of scale IMO!

[johnb]

That looks great!

[randgust]

If you feel sadistic enough to do a second one, give me a holler and we'll see if the base shell can be done in resin - with some nice Archer rivets added.   I'd take a crack at it if you're willing to do another basic body shell.

That's the kind of shape that still messes up 3D printing, lots of curved-to-flat surfaces, and then try to put detail on it so it can't be sanded smooth.  Resin is still the champ on that one.

[draskouasshat]

Randy, I was going to send this one off for casting so I could get some extra copies. It's hardly noticeable but from front to back, I lose a little bit of width. I cut the mdf with a circular saw and I guess I was a hair off. The next one I'll cut on the table saw. Instead of starting over I decided to just hone my skills with this one, especially with the shapes and applying archer rivets. I'll let you know when I go for #2!

[rodsup9000]

  WOW Adam, that looks awesome.

[mmagliaro]

Really nice idea  (shaping the body out of a chunk of mdf)!
How is it on weight?  MDF is pretty dense stuff, so I would think it makes for a nice weight over the trucks
all on its own.

[draskouasshat]

Thanks max! It's actually got some heft to it. The inside is hollowed out but I'd say it's about double the weight of your normal plastic tender shell. The brass trucks and frame underneath give it a respectable weight. I might add a shade more to it but we will see once I test electrical pickup. Overall I'm happy with it so far. MDF might be my new material choice for things like this plus it's cheap with all the leftovers from finishing my basement! And the best part is if you use acc on mdf, whatever is glued on sticks like concrete!

Adam Draskovich

[Cajonpassfan]

Randy, I was going to send this one off for casting so I could get some extra copies. It's hardly noticeable but from front to back, I lose a little bit of width. I cut the mdf with a circular saw and I guess I was a hair off. The next one I'll cut on the table saw. Instead of starting over I decided to just hone my skills with this one, especially with the shapes and applying archer rivets. I'll let you know when I go for #2!

Nice idea, and such a cool, unique prototype!
When you go for #2, these should help...
Best, Otto K.

[draskouasshat]

Thanks Otto. I was working out of the iron horses off the Santa fe book on this one. Only problem is I was working off of a picture of the rear of one tender and it seems to be the only one with the stairs on the engineers side. Every other one has them on the firemans side so #2 will have that issue corrected also.

Adam Draskovich

[Santa Fe Guy]

A very neat bit of modeling indeed.
Rod.

[mmagliaro]

Adam,
One thing that might be very important is to paint that thing thoroughly inside and out.  MDF can warp and
bow if it is exposed to moisture.  I would think that a spray coat of
some flat solvent-based paint would protect it.

[craigolio1]

Beautiful!  Welcome back!

[draskouasshat]

Thanks max. It's about to get a nice coat of sandable primer so I can clean up the sides before applying rivets when they show up. Luckily with an indoor environment, I shouldn't see any issues while I build the tender. Also it has been decided I will be making a master for casting. Now the question is, would anybody interested in buying a shell want it in resin or white metal? @rodsup9000 and I will try casting the trucks in white metal in one of his numerous machines and we're going to try to do the shell.

Adam Draskovich