Hulett Unloader

[BCR751]

Has anyone ever seen, or made, a model of one of the Hulett ore unloaders in N-Scale?

Doug

[Santa Fe Guy]

A friend of mine who lives in Edison has made one. Rick Spano has been in N Scale for many years and has a large layout. He has a web site that unfortunately I can not recall.
You might be able to search for it.
Rod.

[aikorob]

http://trainweb.org/ironbelt/projects/hooch_jct_huletts.htm

in HO:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17649

plans in HO:
http://www.bearcomarine.com/blueprints.htm

[nstars]

You can find Rick Spano's Hulett on this site:

http://scenicedandundecided.net/phase_3.htm

Marc

BTW, Rick doesn't live in Edison, but it is close 

Marc

[Santa Fe Guy]

Hi Mark
Thanks for posting Ricks web site. Sorry about the incorrect suburb.
Regards
Rod from down under.

[nstars]

Rod. No problem, everything good down under?

Marc

[Santa Fe Guy]

Hi Marc
Yes all good here. The SFRSD has grown by 50% gone Duplex radio and full CTC since you were here so we are having a lot of fun.
Check out my blog, the address is below.
Regards
Rod.

[keeper]

Wasn't there an article about the unloaders in Railroad Model Craftsman a few years back?

[crappie]

  yes there was. plans included

[pnolan48]

Got one coming, folks. Prototype built in N scale. Will need some adjustments, and then some more adjustments to cut it out in a reasonable manner. Was working from a single profile and plan view, but it seems to have mostly worked out. Photos later. What are folks willing to pay for a styrene craftsmans kit? This thing has a zillion cut parts laid out all over styrene sheets, and the instructions will kill most of a week or more.

[pnolan48]

Here are some images of my prototype in N scale. Is this what folks are looking for? The tape is just to keep the placeholder wire pivots in place.







Of course, I have my own custom made brass for the railings and stairways, and there are a mess of details still to add. It will be not that difficult to build, but with many hundreds of parts and subassemblies. The first model is movable, and could be animated with some care.

I'll have to get back to Ohio and see how this cuts on my big cutter before setting a price. I suspect that, even with a ton of brass, the price can't be very high. What do you folks want to pay for something that takes a l-o-n-g time to cut with a digital cutter, and has a lot of brass? I've found that, while a lot of folks ask for this type of project, very few are actually willing to buy it at $75, $125, or $250--the price point seems immaterial. That's just a reflection, I think, that a harbor scene with Hulett unloaders would have to be on a fairly large layout, and most folks with those layouts have already build their own Lakers and ore docks and unloaders.

This will be offered in Z scale, perhaps before the N scale production model is finished.

[rschaffter]

Pete, all I can say is...WOW!   

[seusscaboose]

holy crap.

you do that... and I gotta extend my layout to include more of the PRR branch via Huron, Ohio....    or... at minimum... expand my Metropolis/Cleveland area for the NKP docks.

wow.

keep me informed Pete.

Eric.

[pnolan48]

It might be a while. I built this first one out of .015 styrene, usually laminated, because the Silhouette Cameo cutter can almost cut through it with three passes at a slow speed. That's fine for Z scale, but I'd prefer .020 for N scale, which the BlackCat cutter handles easily (?) with two passes. The switch means re-dimensioning the parts, as those .020's add up quickly. But it took only three days (albeit very long days) to draw and cut this, as these monsters are actually pretty straightforward (and plumb). It's getting the cutter to perform that accounts for the majority of effort in producing kits. The BlackCat is an awesome machine, but cutting a lot of styrene is one tough job, as many have found out.

[PROPULDUDE]

Hi Pete,
    Nice , fast work..But with the way the loader is posed it looks pornographic...