Re: C&S RPO 11 in HOn3 -- "floored" by Linn Moedinger

Posted by Jim Courtney on Apr 27, 2019; 6:56pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-RPO-11-Linn-Moedinger-s-Shapeways-Print-in-Sn3-and-Hon3-tp12427p13846.html

Well, once again Keith has finished his project and I'm not even half done. I haven't worked on RPO 11 since my last post.

I got hung up on how to do the under frame details in HOn3: How to model the truss rods, their attachments to queen posts and the car fasteners, brake rigging, etc.

Sometimes procrastination has its rewards -- every couple of weeks, I visit Linn's Shapeways shop, hoping to find a C&S baggage car or combine (hint to Linn). About a month ago, I noticed that the HOn3 version of RPO 11 had been removed from Linn's available prints. A few weeks later Linn posted a new print of RPO 11 in HOn3, call it "RPO 11-2.0"  The new body includes all the details that we discussed at the top of this thread--even includes the water fill hatch on the roof and the RPO letter drop slots!

More importantly, Linn now offers a floor and under frame for RPO 11, sold as a separate print:


https://www.shapeways.com/product/FC8LWKHW2/c-s-baggage-rpo-cars-10-11-12-body-only?optionId=95180334


Thinking this would be a great solution, I ordered a floor.

The floor is incredible, with brake rigging, cylinder/reservoir, piping, needle beams and queen posts printed as a single print. Even includes the queen post braces and the truss rods that support the needle beams.





There are 4 printed posts to protect the delicate queen posts in printing/shipping. The queen posts don't have webs for the truss rods, likely beyond the print tolerances of this small scale.




The floor also has printed bolsters, and coupler pads with mounting holes printed. The truss rod attachments are nicely rendered as well.

Too good to be true?  Well, yes . . . the printed floor for RPO 11 doesn't fit into my RPO original print.

Evidently, Linn's body print 2.0 must have a different layout of the underside of the car body, compared to the first body version.  To use the printed floor on my primed body (version 1.0) will take a lot of major reworking of the printed floor. It would likely make more sense to just buy the upgraded body print.

At any rate, my HOn3 RPO 11 is on indefinite pause. With retirement and a move to Waco, Texas, only a year or so away, these pieces will be boxed up and stored for the move. Will I ever complete my HOn3 RPO? Probably, but not just yet.

I've spent all of my limited model building time in the last 12-14 months experimenting in HOn3 modeling of the C&S, should I end up with only a large walk-in closet for layout space after the move. The experiment has been quite useful. With all the aftermarket parts available today (compared to my last HOn3 experience in the 1970's), such as Blackstone trucks, Sergent couplers, code 40/55 flex track, Loco-Doc re-motoring kits for Key brass locomotives, Shapeways prints, I'm convinced that an operating  C&S HOn3 layout is feasible. And as our own Jeff Young has demonstrated, scenery and structures can be constructed to a level of realism to rival the larger scales.

But for now, all the C&S HOn3 stuff is boxed up until I get settled in Waco and get the lay of the layout land.

But that doesn't mean no C&S model building in the year until the move. On the contrary, I've just started a new adventure in C&Sn3 . . .