has anyone thought to ask Menards or the LCCA? they seem to be able to do short runs.
I feel I need higher resolution printing before I could do that. Shapeways has some of the best printers and even at high resolution, they smallest detail they print is 1mm, or for an o scale part, 2". I suppose I could have to make do with that, but I wish their technology was better. Perhaps it will in time, but that time isn't now. The reason I bring this up is my trucks that I have designed in 3-D specifically for printing look terrible, but every part is at least 2" thick. I will mention that I made mine stereotypical, and not like a cast brass piece you attach on the side of a regular truck frame work.
I do want to make these, and what would be nice is if I did, any profit I could put towards my project. Only problem, I have to make them. Maybe a few more posts on this thread will solve my problems.
Originally Posted by Bobby Ogage:
Madison,
Considering Mike Wolf's position re the McKeen car, you can expect that the rest of the O-gauge manufacturers will have the same opinion. So it's not likely you will see a mass produced McKeen car because of inadequate market demand.
However, kits lend themselves to low volume production, so why not put your efforts into using stereo lithography (AKA 3-D printing) to produce kit parts, and combine this with detail parts already in the market place to come up with a reasonable facsimile of a McKeen car?
In both cases, they are working with new decoration schemes on existing molds, not on totally new tooling. The difference in investment to produce a run of product is several orders of magnitude.
Originally Posted by bigdodgetrain:
has anyone thought to ask Menards or the LCCA? they seem to be able to do short runs.
Madison, you have done your homework on that Lakeside and Marblehead McKeen; I
had seen published some of those photos, but not all of them. That was the car the
Carson City museum asked me about when I was in there some years ago. They were
looking for an original engine. I know some of them, if not all? were re-engined by their owning roads. I wonder if any of original McKeen engines escaped WWII scrap drives? What is powering the restored Nevada version now?
Also bummed that McKeen cars were not made.
Still secretly wishing for Brill Bullet cars also.
Originally Posted by BillP:
Still secretly wishing for Brill Bullet cars also.
These were produced in resin a few years ago and may be available as 3D printed body shells, floors, and details. I have one of the resin kits along with the proper trucks sideframes. Have not gotten a big round TUIT towards getting a drive into those sideframes....
mwb: First I had heard of those....no chance you can easily post photos of that resin kit and sideframes, is there? Who did the kit?
Well, I know the engine in the Lakeside and Marblehead lasted the longest, although the V&T McKeen Car's engine was used up to lateer then the L&M, all the way till 1945. Now I've read a rumor from a post from 1999, that the Naragansette Pier McKeen car engine and motor truck still existed at that time, but I don't know any more about that report. Other than that, there are no known McKeen Engines out there. Today, a caterpillar 241 H.P. diesel engine powers the V&T McKeen car.
Also, if you would HiRail, please email me, I want to talk to you privately.
Originally Posted by colorado hirailer:
Madison, you have done your homework on that Lakeside and Marblehead McKeen; I
had seen published some of those photos, but not all of them. That was the car the
Carson City museum asked me about when I was in there some years ago. They were
looking for an original engine. I know some of them, if not all? were re-engined by their owning roads. I wonder if any of original McKeen engines escaped WWII scrap drives? What is powering the restored Nevada version now?
Originally Posted by Madison Kirkman:
Other than that, there are no known McKeen Engines out there.
------------------------------
I see the original engines were Standard Motor straight sixes. It's possible they were adapted from one of the marine monsters around at the time, especially the notion of no reverse gear, the engine being reversed instead.
Maybe there's a marine motor out there somewhere. I dabbled in some of those old pigs years ago and did some horse-trading. Maybe I can find something out........ a quest!
I would doubt that any McKeen Engines still exist. There is a small compressor engine that McKeen did make, and one is known to exist, but it's not one of the 200H.P. Engines. McKeen also made 50H.P. Engines because (I believe) he used it on the gasoline weed burners and the concrete car. I saw the page for them in a 1912 catalog...
Originally Posted by Firewood:
Originally Posted by Madison Kirkman:
Other than that, there are no known McKeen Engines out there.
------------------------------
I see the original engines were Standard Motor straight sixes. It's possible they were adapted from one of the marine monsters around at the time, especially the notion of no reverse gear, the engine being reversed instead.
Maybe there's a marine motor out there somewhere. I dabbled in some of those old pigs years ago and did some horse-trading. Maybe I can find something out........ a quest!
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Originally Posted by colorado hirailer:
mwb: First I had heard of those....no chance you can easily post photos of that resin kit and sideframes, is there?
Not easily - would require archeological expedition into a closet......although I might be heading in there yet this week before taking off to the East Penn meet.
Who did the kit?
Imperial Hobby Productions
Thanks, "mwb". I am well aware of those archeological expeditions, which I why I used the term "easily". That is also why I occasionally find I have two of an item, one long buried, when I only want one. I had never heard of those or the manufacturer, which goes back to comments I have made about tracking down stuff that may have actually been made, but forgotten. There is a lot of archeology in finding old O scale kits, or even complete models.
Originally Posted by colorado hirailer:
Thanks, "mwb". I am well aware of those archeological expeditions, which I why I used the term "easily". That is also why I occasionally find I have two of an item, one long buried, when I only want one. I had never heard of those or the manufacturer, which goes back to comments I have made about tracking down stuff that may have actually been made, but forgotten. There is a lot of archeology in finding old O scale kits, or even complete models.
Those archeology expeditions into that closet, or worse yet into my project queue are a contributing factor to my selling off a bit of my excess rolling stock and soon some of my trolley items.
Not enough time, not enough space, not enough real need........
That resin cast kit is actually fairly recent - within a decade, but it just kept getting pushed lower and lower in the queue. I probably should sell the thing!
