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#11
05-30-2011, 02:02 PM
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Chris, I think if I were doing this over, I would back the base platform with 0.5mm cardboard. I think if you cut the backing pieces so they are attached just to the flat portions of the platform (between the various little folds in the cab region), it would give the additional stiffening without throwing off the dimensional stackup too much. When dry, the doubled cardstock of the frame rails are stiff enough not to need any additional backing.
I totally forgot that today is a holiday, so any nearby mom-and-pop stores carrying rubber bands will be closed up tight (if you happen to be in the local area, the grinding sound you hear at five pm is the sound of the sidewalks being retracted). Not wanting to blow $10 in gas just to buy a $1 packet of rubber bands, I improvised with supplies on hand to cinch the frame down on the jig...here it will stay until the jig has to be removed to install the fiddly parts. Not to say it might not still go 'sproing' at that point, but hopefully will stay straight (at least as straight as the jig is, anyway).
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It's not good to have too much order. Without some chaos, there is no room for new things to grow. 
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#13
05-30-2011, 05:45 PM
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Taking advantage of a cold, blustery, rainy day to spend my time building rather than being nagged at to till the garden, I now have the boiler assembly completed. I personally don't like attached joining tabs, and eliminate them whenever possible. Using existing formers, I create a few additional ones to use where it "looks right" out of 2mm cardboard. I use this to show one of my personal favorite methods of joining cylindrical segments. I insert the former at segment joins only about 1/2 the thickness of the cardboard, so it leaves a "plug" extending beyond the segment end. (After, of course, lots of dryfitting and sanding to get the former to where it easily slides into the segment and just stays in place by friction. This is why I go ahead and join the longitudinal seam of the segment before fabricating the formers.) Once all segments are complete, I start somewhere in the middle of the segment stackup (easily done with only three segments) and join segments by applying a bit of glue to the inside lip of the open end of the segment, then pushing the segment over the "plug" end of the adjoining one, holding them together long enough and firmly enough that the segments closely butt together. How well does this work? I let the photos of the completed assembly speak for themselves. (On larger models, I often use 3 or 4mm foam for formers to get enough gluing surface.)
       
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It's not good to have too much order. Without some chaos, there is no room for new things to grow.
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#14
05-30-2011, 06:35 PM
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Very smooth work on the boiler. I like your method of constructing cylinders and will try to replicate it.
The boiler is straight and true. Looks like you have accomplished the hardest part until you get to the running gear. Don
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#15
05-31-2011, 08:33 PM
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Just about through with the next subassembly on the instructions...only one more fiddly part to install at this stage of the build. The instruction page infers the bumpers should be installed about now. Previous experience with the snowplow indicate that would be a mistake, as everytime I moved the plow, something would snag the bumpers and pull them off. I'm leaving them till last. No major glitches encountered but I (GASP)
 have encountered my first fit problem with a Zio kit. If you bend up the end tabs on the 'lid' of the coal bin (the part with the simulated coal), the part will be amout a mm too short. Already having it glued in, I left it as was, and have a slight jog in the sidepieces of the cab. I've reached the point where the jig becomes more hinderance than help (i.e., my next step is to do the wheels, even though instructions show installation of the superstructure fiddly bits as next step. Again, previous experience tells me to leave that stuff to the end. Good news is that I didn't hear a loud "sproing" when I undid the jig tiedowns.          
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It's not good to have too much order. Without some chaos, there is no room for new things to grow.
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#16
05-31-2011, 09:09 PM
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I missed the boiler post for some reason. Great work and a technique that obviously produces excellent results, at least in the hands of a skilled modeler.
The cab and side tanks came out beautifully as well, especially considering the small scale of the work. Chris
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#17
06-01-2011, 05:53 PM
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Wheels....lots of wheels. Using an actual HO track for the wheel gauge required a bit of surgery on the cutouts in the base platform, but no real problem. I couldn't resist seeing how the snowplow is going to look in front of this little beast. My ideas for the diorama are firming up...will need at least one additional car, maybe two. The baggage car for sure. Does anyone know if European RRs use snow sheds at tunnel portals?
  
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It's not good to have too much order. Without some chaos, there is no room for new things to grow.
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#18
06-03-2011, 12:58 AM
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With exception of the cab steps, everything below the platform deck is attached. For the next few steps, the parts get a bit bigger again...then back to more eyestrain, as the fiddlyest bits are yet to come.
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It's not good to have too much order. Without some chaos, there is no room for new things to grow.
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