Gone fishing (in a different pond)!

[John Candy]

After a succession of Swindon-built milk and scenery vans. I have cast my hook in the direction of Dukinfield (GCR).

Although a GCR design, this particular Lot of 15 ton / 45ft bogie fish vans was built by Birmingham RC&W in 1903 (a later Lot  was built "in- house" by the GCR in 1913/14 and differed in having open-slatted upper sides). Both types survived beyond WW2 but all had gone by 1948.
They ran on 5ft 6in WB "Fox" pressed steel bogies.

Background : It is around 10 years since a prominent G3S member (originally from Grimsby) persuaded me to produce the stock for a fish train, comprising LNER/GNR/GCR vans. Two of the types (a GNR van and a LNER dagram 23 van) I produced several years ago and the patterns I subsequently passed to Mike Williams (Williams Models) who added them to his range of resin wagons (so far as I know they are still available from Mike).

I was not convinced the fine louvre detailing on the GCR bogie van would turn out well as a resin casting and that project went onto the back burner.

My use of 3D printing to successfully reproduce louvres on the GWR Siphons , led to my dusting off the drawing for the GCR van.

The 3D printed parts will be fitted around a laser-cut plywood core (as with the GWR vans).
The photos show the parts loosely laid out prior to assembly.
They were printed in black PLA and given two coats of Halfords red oxide primer. My example will be finished in the LNER brown livery as applied to all types of NPCS.
An experiment with applying Humbrol "Dark Brown Wash" (AV0205) over the primer has produced a result almost identical to the Phoenix Precision colour and gives a lightly weathered look (see photo of a door thus treated).

More on this in due course and a GCR 18ft 10 Ton 4-wheel fish van....when I remember where I put the drawing!

Just to prove I don't have a one- track mind (I have been accused of being obsessed with the Great Western) , there is also a LNWR brake van on the drawing board!

I have another 3D printer (No.4) due for delivery this week; a Bambu Lab P1S which, being a high-speed printer, should reduce my enormous print queue!

John.

[cabbage]

I do seem to remember a committee meeting where I espoused the benefits of 3D printing for the membership.

Someone local said "Why would anyone need one of those?"

Regards

Ralph

[John Candy]

Well Ralph,
With what we have produced between us, I cannot imagine anyone could now pose that question!

Using plastic card, I can't imagine it would be possible to produce all those neatly-spaced louvres manually with consistent results.  I certainly wouldn't have attempted it. Even etching and laser cutting wouldn't produce the correctly angled/sloping profile.



3D printing is a "game changer" and it was only your encouragement that persuaded me to "give it a go".
I find the OpenScad language easy to use as I cannot get on with graphics-orientated CAD packages.
It also (using "projection" command) enables me to export the SVG files I need for the Xtool M1 laser cutter.
I am now addicted and the machines clunk away day and night!

The sides and ends of the fish van took 100+ hours at 160 microns on the Snapmaker A350 (at 50 microns it would have taken forever but I am happy with the results). The P1S is down for delivery tomorrow and (if the promises and reviews are correct) it should substantially increase productivity.

Regards,
John

[John Candy]

I unearthed the drawing for the 10 Ton GCR fish and the OpenScad files were written.

This was the first print off the new Bambu Labs P1S (no I haven't gone "Southern"....it was the sample roll of Bambu Lab high-speed PLA formula filament supplied with the P1S).

Printing at 120 microns, the ends each took 43 minutes, the sides each took two hours and each door 36 minutes.
The speed of the machine has to be seen to be believed and the quality of finish is better than either of my other two FDM printers, which are much slower. The parts are as removed from the print bed, they required no trimming or fettling.

If anyone is thinking of buying their first printer (or replacing an older machine) I can thoroughly recommend the P1S.

Meanwhile, the underframe parts and bogies for the 45ft 15 Ton bogie fish have arrived from Mike Williams (the parts were laser cut from steel some 10 years ago as this was a joint project which got shelved for various reasons).

John.