7mm US model dabblings

mikjd

Member
They are 3R, with the usual 3R running gear. The intention is to replace the wheelsets with Roxey/Peartree, and salvage the drive gears from the original wheels if possible. If not then they will be dummies, which is not a problem when coupled to a powered loco.

I will try and get a couple of pictures tomorrow.
 

JasonD

Western Thunderer
I'm interested to hear how you get on with the gears! I have a Lionel U30C in D&H livery which does indeed take Peartree wheels as a dummy so the next step is to decide whether to rewheel the Lionel trucks and try the Lionel gears or scrap all that and scavenge some Weaver gearbox/wheelset components. It's not a bad model once the end-sills are upgraded for Kadees and fitted with a spacer, now they are mounted on the chassis rather than the trucks.

Talking of Peartree, Malcolm was up for producing 33" steel wheelsets to my spec (so NMRA RP-25 code 145 treads) for an order of 100 (25 frt cars). I've used his standard UK 2'8" (= 36" in 1:48) in a conversion or 2. Anyone interested? No price yet, so not looking for any commitment.
Jason
 

mikjd

Member
Nothing finer than a D&H U30C or C628, the livery seems to suit the big loco's. I can't remember if the Atlas U23B pilot spacers work on the U30C.

Am interested in 33" wheels.
 

JasonD

Western Thunderer
Thanks Mick, useful K-Line body, close enough for me. I have to admit for round the garden work those handrails are adequate, but you can see the spline that holds them together and folds under and slightly more annoying, they're not simply square U-shape, they're plain wrong. Are those Blombergs the right size? 108". Late Weaver and some MTH (haven't measured Lionel) are worth checking. For example Weaver GP38-2s going to China drives had the 108" Blomberg sideframes mounted on Alco RS3 powered trucks 112" w/b. Only 4", but once you notice they've done it...!

The Atlas U23B spacers are what I have tried. There are some minor details that assault with a file helps with. I should review my achievement (house move excuse again!). I'll contact Peartree and see what price he wants.

Jason
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
I'm such a sucker for US brass :cool:

Clearly needs a very good clean and some work, 'a project' is the favoured term for items like this :)

Sellers photos, currently passing through Sacremento en route to blighty :thumbs:

s-l1600.jpg

s-l1600 (1).jpg

s-l1600 (5).jpg

It'll clearly needs some work and it's obvious when people try to solder or repair these models and not realise they're coated in lacquer.

First job is to strip all that crud off, then give it a good clean and repair what I can and hopefully raid PSC for the missing bits.

The model runs 'with some hesitation' according to the seller so that will need tending too.

For the brass collecting technophobes, it's a Sunset Models (not 3rd Rail) import built by Samhongsa in 1982, number built unknown; current value in top form is nearly twice what I paid (even with postage and customs) so I have some headroom to put things right.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
I have my units set to 8 decimal places, or 256ths if using architectural units. Not because I ever intend to go to such extremes when creating drawings. But rather because for me one of the primary qualities of cad is the precision involved. There's no sense in my opinion in being casual with the numbers when you can be purposeful. I'm also compulsive about things, so I tend to quibble even when it isn't necessary.

One other thing that has changed my perspective a bit as well is diving into machining as a discipline and potential vocation. In machining terms, a 64th is almost 16 thou, 5 thou would be a generous tolerance in many cases. You might as well be doing carpentry at that point if those are the standards you're working to!!!:)):p:oops:


I presume you're talking about snapping to a grid with this comment? If so, I never ever have the snap on, unless by accident, as it's next to the F8 ortho toggle function key and I sometimes hit F9 by mistake. I prefer to simply draw things as they are meant to be, as Autocad supports the dynamic entry of distances and angles within nearly all drawing and editing commands. It's really quite simple. :thumbs:

Also, it's quite simple to switch from imperial to metric even if the drawing has been started in the opposite style. The "dwgunits" command will walk you through it.

Jim (US).....should change all of my users names across multiple forums to this....
I've moved this over here so as to not clutter Brians thread.

If you're working in Imperial as opposed to Roman then yes, 64th is a bit crude, 256ths is much better and is roughly 0.1 mm give or take; and, for the record, Col...who raised the initial 64ths jest is a an accomplished carpenter :))

The problem I have with 0.1 tolerances is that if you are using imperial materials, which still seems to be the standard for metal thicknesses, though metric do appear to be more common these last few years.....or is it companies simply quote (round up or down) metric and still use imperial.

Typical material for my works are 10, 15, 18 and 28 thou, which work out to 0.25, 0.38 (often quoted as 0.4), 0.45 and 0.7 mm; therefore a snap of 0.05 works favourably with those materials when drawing, especially slots.

I do seem to be a solo flyer with regard to snap to grid, but cannot fathom or comprehend how folks can work with out it. Snap to grid ensures that the end points of your lines are perfectly joined, quite important when flood filling for photo tools. The only way I can reasonably get end points to join is using F3 but then there is the odd occasion (frustrating) where it'll join to the wrong place.
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
In Rhino I just use object snaps as I do not get on with the grid snaps. Horses and courses! Grid snaps in a 3D view? Nurse, the screens!
 

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
In QCAD I make a basic grid with construction lines and then go from intersection to intersection to build the actual shape. I find that quite functional. I've not investigated if I can change the grid line spacing, maybe that is something I should look at today.

Ian
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
No grid snaps in 3D, but then that's about 5% of my CAD work at the moment.

My CAD art work tends to be very....how shall we say....linear, thus grid snaps work very well. Grid snaps work well, for me, when tabbing up as I know there will never be a gap between the tab and object if everything is linear.

That does pose issues with round or curved objects but now instead of trying to align two ( tab and object) curved faces I simply overlap the tab, it's all the same metal and it took a while to grasp that concept and ultimately speeds tabbing up.

I also find grid snaps helpful as a basic aiming tool for the cursor, it's a visual, spacial, mental thing.
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Object snap is far more useful than grid snap in AutoCAD. Grid snap is the first thing to be switched off. There are lots of options with object snap, I tend to work with snap to end, snap perpendicular, snap mid point, snap intersection and snap tangent switched on. I also usually have polar tracking on and set to 22.5 degrees to speed things up. Construction lines can be useful to align objects, type h (horizontal) or v (vertical) on the command line to control the direction. As well as the trim and extend commands, fillet (type f and return on command line) is very useful for ensuring there are no gaps, fillet joins 2 lines (including curves) and if you type R on the command line after starting you can set a radius for the connection, useful for things like curved corners on diesel windscreens. Chamfer is a similar command.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
I do seem to be a solo flyer with regard to snap to grid, but cannot fathom or comprehend how folks can work with out it.

Mick,

In AutoCAD LT, Draftsight and NanoCAD, I use OSnap. This allows you to preset where you want to snap to, or you can right click when placing to choose a position once only. I now prefer the right click method since pre-setting several snap options could get a bit confusing in complex parts of a drawing.

Jim.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Object snap is far more useful than grid snap in AutoCAD. Grid snap is the first thing to be switched off. There are lots of options with object snap, I tend to work with snap to end, snap perpendicular, snap mid point, snap intersection and snap tangent switched on. I also usually have polar tracking on and set to 22.5 degrees to speed things up. Construction lines can be useful to align objects, type h (horizontal) or v (vertical) on the command line to control the direction. As well as the trim and extend commands, fillet (type f and return on command line) is very useful for ensuring there are no gaps, fillet joins 2 lines (including curves) and if you type R on the command line after starting you can set a radius for the connection, useful for things like curved corners on diesel windscreens. Chamfer is a similar command.
Sorry, I got lost right after Object....

Seriously I have no clue what you wrote or how to apply it.

I draw a line from A to B, I know how long it is because a little box tells me, then I draw another from B to C by simply placing the cursor at the end of B, I know where B is because I have a background grid to aim for.

Give everyone else's clearly more technical feedback I do feel like the dip shit at the back of the class lol.
 
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mickoo

Western Thunderer
Well, given the quality of the etches produced from your drawings I do think you are being a tad harsh on yourself.........

Dave
Cheers, but as we say at work 'if everyone keeps telling you're (insert expletive), then at some point you might just have to consider you are (repeat expletive)". ;)
 
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Genghis

Western Thunderer
Well, we have a saying at work 'if everyone keeps telling you're (insert expletive), then at some point you might just have to consider you are (repeat expletive)". ;)

Well give up the day job..........

Mind you I am not in a good position to offer that advice!
 

JasonD

Western Thunderer
Don't worry Mick, there's more than one of us sitting behind you at the back of the class! I'm alright, at my age the doc's given me a note about my unpredictable (so, only the nice things??) memory ... bah!, it's here somewhere or is it in that pile upstairs?. I knew there was black magic involved when someone told me 1/16" was 1.6mm. Yeh, yeh, I know, he was nearly right....
Jason
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Sorry Mickoo, it may have been a bit shorthand. I was just explaining how I use AutoCAD in an architectural office where time is money. AutoCAD is a program which can be used in lots of ways, every command can be accessed in two or three different ways and there is a lack of consistency in how some commands work. Users mostly get used to doing things one way and there is no best method, but it can make hours of difference to a drawing.

I was first taught to use AutoCAD in the late 1980s before you could use a mouse with it. It was horrible as you had to type in coordinates to draw lines, after working out where they were meant to be, and all the commands had to be typed out in full. The current versions are much easier to use but can do more so are more complex. It is much easier to show people how to use AutoCAD than it is to explain in writing.
 
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