My build ( 3D printing ) of a scale wild west 4-4-0 locomotive

Allan looks really good; the wagon top boiler is a challenge to model and it will be interesting to see that 3D printing can do with it. If you are interested in doing more with this in the future I'd strongly recommend getting a copy of Civil War Railroads and Models by Edwin P. Alexander as it is full of plans for locomotives and tenders in 1/4 inch scale plus has passenger and freight car plans as well. It would be easier than trying to upscale an HO model and copies can be found for less than $20 on the big auction site.

Oh, and Allen, you've got the chimney 90 degrees off on your box headlight.

@C&O Allan posted:

Steve,

Thanks - I've fixed it.

There you go Allen--that's it!

It's coming along nicely. Cowcatcher should be super easy!

Well, the cowcatcher was not easy, but I got it done.  The hard part was figuring out how to get the spacing correct.  I'm happy how it turned out though!

I don't think I will have time to do anything tomorrow as I have a lot of meetings, but I should have time on Friday.

Here is today's update.  With MS having issues today, I had a fair amount of time to work on the model.

I did the Tender Frame, the Detail under the Cab (at the back going down), and the Front Truck.  I'm using a Lionel 2055 front truck, so I took the dimensions for that with the change of shrinking the length to fit the model.  I'll be using the same wheels for the Tender trucks as they are the correct size.

Not shown is that I added a hole going through the boiler for the light wires.

On another note, I received my Lionel Trolley frame (motor/wheels) and it is small enough to fit in the boiler.  So I'll model it after I change the wheels out to the scale ones so I can insert it.  I'll probably do the tender trucks first though.

On to the pictures:

Everyone have a great weekend!

I got a lot of work done today.  I modeled the Tender Trucks, so the Tender is done.  I don't know about the height of the coupler yet, so I will figure that out in the final design.

Tomorrow if I have time, I'll work on swapping the wheels on the Drivers - I'll take pictures of the progress.

Here are the updated pictures:

To update everyone, I finished the main drivers this past weekend.  This includes modifying the Lionel Trolly to have the scale wheels and then modeling that inserting it into the overall model.

The getting the wheels on took a lot of trial and error, but I'm happy with the results.

First, I stripped the trolley and prepared it for the new wheels (sorry for the pictures in portrait mode):

I then installed the non-motored wheels by drilling out the existing axle holes to a size that will let me use the standard axle from the donor engine:

When I drilled out the holes, I had to get rid of the spacers to keep the wheels in line.  I used a couple of washers on each side to space them correctly to remove the sway.

Now on to the powered driver - this one was much more difficult because I had to use the existing axle as it had the gear on it.

What I decided to do was to cut the correct sized axle and then to drill the correct size in it for the trolley axle.  The sized needed was 3/32.  The two problems I had were centering the hole and not breaking the drill bit (I only went through 2).  To center the hole, I inserted the big axle a little way into the wheel and then used the largest bit I could fit to drill just enough to give me an indentation to use the small bit.

Then I drilled the hole with the 3/32 bit.

Then I pressed them on.  This is the delicate process because the small axle does bend (mine did).  Once on, I did my best to get rid of the wobble and I was able to enough for my satisfaction.  I also made sure both sets were quartered the same direction.

I made sure to test it with the motor out.  I did this by checking the width with the U-tool in several of the pictures above.  Then I put it on a part of the layout with a ramp letting it run free down the ramp into a Ross 4-Way Yard Switch doing an "s" curve into one of the middle tracks.  It ran smooth and stayed on the track.

I know the model I based this on has a smaller counter weighted driver wheel, but I'm fine with mine having it larger - it would be too hard to get make them smaller using a Dremel...

Once tested, I put in the motor (you can kinda see the washer spacers in the top set of drive wheels):

Lastly, I tested it using an HO Transformer and it ran great, so I was ready to model it and put it on the combined view.

I also modeled a piece of track for perspective.  The track above is 15" long, so this is a small engine (as I expected).

I won't do much the rest of the week as I'm going out of town, but the next steps are the rods, finishing the frame, and adjusting the boiler for the drive wheels to fit without overlapping.

So almost there!!

Here is this weekend's update.

I completed the side rods - they are set for the main rod to be against the driver wheel as prototypical and not on the outside as on most others.

After I was done, I was going to design the main rod, but I noticed it looked like I was going to have interferences, so I decided to print out the boiler, the steam chest, and the front truck.  After printing them out, I found out that I had to make changes to the front truck.  I removed the frame extension between the wheels and changed the pin to a slot.  I also narrowed it so I could use the original 2055 lead struck (shortened) to fit around it.

The pictures below are of the original print, so I'm not able to test run it (using a DC transformer).

As for the print, it took ~11 hours to do the boiler, 3 for the steam chest, and 2 for the front truck.  These were on the highest setting, so it will go faster if it is done on the low or medium speed.

Unfortunately, my printer doesn't know how to print circles (I guess), so I will be using the thinnest styrene to smooth out the boiler.  I will also be removing the detail on the steam check and make those by hand.

Lastly, I plan to use a Lionel RCDR / RADIO RECEIVER / INSPECTION VEHICLE - 691RCDR109 board to add TMCC to the engine since it has a pretty small motor.

I hope you like everything. 

Updated Truck:

Side Rods:

This is turning into an interesting project that might provide some great ideas for the future!

It's been a great weekend.  Since I got the trucks done, I decided to finish the tender, which I did.

I figured out how to break up the bolsters on the trucks to mount them to the frame.  On the pictures before, I had an upper and lower bolster.  I made the lower with a small collar that slides into the upper one.  I then used a collared screw that came with my 2055 trucks.  In between, I put either the drawbar or the coupler.  To see this:

I then mounted the upper to the frame and drilled through the frame so the screws would fit.  Notice in this picture I put an inner form that the shell fits around.  This way I don't have to permanently mount it with a screw/glue:

Here is the almost finished tender:

The last thing I needed to do is to put a cross member to keep the rear coupler up at the correct height.  Here is where I added the rear steps (it is upside down in the picture):

Lastly, I broke up the cab so I can print out the 5 parts which I did tonight.  I have to clean them up, so I hope to finish that tomorrow.  After that, I won't get much more done as we have family coming into town.  But I'm happy where it is so far.