nkp_174's On My Duff Challenge!

[nkp_174]

While I've been following a few of the Get off your duff challenges, I've decided to post on my current project which doesn't quite qualify for the contest.

I've designed, in Google Sketchup, a 30t Oahu Railway truck. As I type this, I'm awaiting confirmation from Shapeways that it has passed their printer checks. I'm trying two different materials. The price is competitive with commercial On3 trucks...possible even cheaper...but no commercial trucks exist for anything Oahu Railway! I spent my free time in December learning the software and creating an aesthetically pleasing but unprintable version of the truck. Since then, I've re-drawn it so that it shouldn't have any printing problems. If the durability is insufficient, I can either shelve the design for later or use the printed trucks as patterns for resin casting (I'm in the process of tooling up for pressure casting).

Here are 2D images of my design:




I packaged them up to print a complete pair of trucks as a unit. The brake beam is based on a 1:1 scale 45lb rail profile. The sideframes scale out to a perfect 53.25"wb and the holes in the journals are the proper depth for NWSL/Grandt Line axles. The trucks are designed to rotate. If the design is a success, I'll produce another version which uses functioning springs instead of the sideframes rotating within the bolster.