Katzhagen - Archive - December 2010
The beginning of winter
happened quite early this year, hence it was possible to have lots of fun with the snow plow and to enjoy the hobby in a wintery scenario already on the 1st of Advent. It seems to be somewhat of a little miracle that the equipment still cooperates at temperatures of -10°C ...HSB 997222-5 in wintery Katzhagen - display larger video
RhB depressed-center freight car Sb Part 2
After having mounted all of the component parts as well as the letterings it was due to the weather conditions simply to cold in the garage to varnish both of the modells with a final clear coat using the aibrush gun. This circumstance led to the idea to build a cabin which should make it possible to make use of the airbrush gun inside the house. The result was a cube shaped cabin (edge length 1m) made from chipboard with one open side. Two illuminations were mounted inside the cabin and a fan was mounted at its rear side which provides that the exhaust air goes outside through a flexible hose (10cm in diameter).This "rapid method box" worked extraordinary good - the pictures of the result do speak for themselves:
Due to a length of more than 70cm the cars do not really look small. The cement container which will be build next, will probably emphasize this impression.
The following pictures show the car in various (detail) views. When moving the the mouse pointer over the picture, a view from a different angle will come up.
A different but more detailed side view will show up when moving the mouse pointer over the picture.
Aluminum rods were used for one of the cars' compressed-air lines - simply because they were handy. This material turned out to be quite brittle when bending it. Hence the lines for the other car were made from brass which is more flexible. The compressed-air tank is a metal cast of a LGB part.
A chaotic mix of materials: Brass, aluminum, tin, high-grade steel, epoxy resin, polystyrene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene... - remains insible after varnishing.
Only the sum total of details ends up in the given visual effect of the otherwise more or less modest car - all sorts of letterings and final touches.
Compressed-air lines and hoses in four different colours and letterings made from four different materials...
As mentioned before assembling the brake system's parts was like playing mikado due to the numerous small parts which had to be connected to each other. The lever arms which in the prototype are moved by the actuators are connected to the rodding which activates the brakes. The interacting leverage effects when mounting all the parts, especially when inserting the model connecting bolts were, hmm... let's say time-consuming.
The brake and compressed-air system with distributors, actuators, lines and rods. A mix of epoxy resin, aluminum, polystyrene and brass.
A further detail of the brake system is the lever for changing the brake system's operation mode which on the prototype determines the brake's power and response time.
The next project is hidden behind this picture of the lever for the brake's operation mode: Cement containers for both of the Sb modells.
Building the cement containers certainly will turn out to be "fun", given the fact that the vessel's front side with the fittings and instruments has an "interesting" shape. This most likely will ensure, that things do not get boring...
November 2010 | Archive "Current Affairs" | January 2011
