AEC Railcar Project

[Mol_PMB]

I have a long-term plan to develop a model of an AEC Railcar, primarily etched brass with 3D printed components.

Others have expressed interest in contributing, including @Rob R and @lucas, so I thought I'd start a thread for the project rather than have it scattered around other threads. 

As part of my research for my talk on AEC Railcars this autumn, I have been gathering photos of them and I now have an index of about 640 images. Once I've tidied that up a bit, I'll post it here. 

I've also been gathering drawings from various sources, none are perfect but I think that between them I can develop a reasonably accurate shape. Here I've just pasted them all onto a drawing board. They're not even all to the same scale yet, bear with me (and sadly I don't have the originals to smooth out those folds).

If only we had the bodywork jigs and tools that Park Royal offered to Bulleid in September 1954...

This is a long-term project, I'll potter away on it from time to time. The first thing I want to do is create an accurate 4mm scale drawing, which is quite a task in itself.

 

[leslie10646]

Hi Paul

I assume that you've got Richard McLachlan's scans of the IRRS Archive set of the drawings?

You realise that now that you have announced your intentions that IRM will announce theirs for delivery RTR, with sound, lights, passengers and ten liveries by Christmas (although not saying which year).

[Mol_PMB]

8 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Hi Paul

I assume that you've got Richard McLachlan's scans of the IRRS Archive set of the drawings?

You realise that now that you have announced your intentions that IRM will announce theirs for delivery RTR, with sound, lights, passengers and ten liveries by Christmas (although not saying which year).

Hi Leslie,

I do have Richard's scans, but there aren't many good ones featuring the railcars - mostly livery diagrams of the front ends. Unless I'm missing something?

If my work makes IRM produce a model, then great! I think it's unlikely in the present climate, but we'll see.

 

[Mol_PMB]

The drawing with the most comprehensive dimensions is a photo of a rather rumpled original. It is pleasing that drawing up cross-sections and plans based on the quoted dimensions gives something that can be overlaid over other drawings that are flat, but less well dimensioned. This starts to give some confidence in what I'm drawing (in red).

A long way to go yet - the proof of the pudding will be when we can produce a 3D 'face' that looks right.

[Bullet_Wanderer]

Very funny timing! I've been modelling an AEC railcar in Blender, doing it by eye as I couldn't find any good scans of 'em, and here you have a ton! Hope you don't mind if I borrow the scans to rework my model

You're right about the 'face' of it as that's been the most finicky part despite being relatively simple. Looking forward to seeing how this project progresses!

[Mol_PMB]

2 minutes ago, Bullet_Wanderer said:

Very funny timing! I've been modelling an AEC railcar in Blender, doing it by eye as I couldn't find any good scans of 'em, and here you have a ton! Hope you don't mind if I borrow the scans to rework my model

You're right about the 'face' of it as that's been the most finicky part despite being relatively simple. Looking forward to seeing how this project progresses!

Welcome to the team! 

[popeye]

5 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I have a long-term plan to develop a model of an AEC Railcar, primarily etched brass with 3D printed components.

Others have expressed interest in contributing, including @Rob R and @lucas, so I thought I'd start a thread for the project rather than have it scattered around other threads. 

As part of my research for my talk on AEC Railcars this autumn, I have been gathering photos of them and I now have an index of about 640 images. Once I've tidied that up a bit, I'll post it here. 

I've also been gathering drawings from various sources, none are perfect but I think that between them I can develop a reasonably accurate shape. Here I've just pasted them all onto a drawing board. They're not even all to the same scale yet, bear with me (and sadly I don't have the originals to smooth out those folds).

If only we had the bodywork jigs and tools that Park Royal offered to Bulleid in September 1954...

This is a long-term project, I'll potter away on it from time to time. The first thing I want to do is create an accurate 4mm scale drawing, which is quite a task in itself.

 

It might be easier to 3D print the whole thing Body, Roof, Floor and Bogies.

[Rob R]

3dp ends, interior, roof and underframe details with etched chassis and sides?

Limited by the size of the available printers for the roof, although it might be feasable to do two halves. 

Suck it and see..

Edited 12 hours ago by Rob R

[Mol_PMB]

I think etched brass has many advantages for the main construction of the chassis and bodyshell - strength, thin so that glazing isn't recessed, less likely to suffer from distortion or build lines.

But 3D printing has a major part to play no doubt, much as Rob R says above. I'd add cosmetic bogie sideframes to that list, probably overlaid on etched brass structural frames.

Etched brass is also the technology I am familiar with - if people want it 100% 3DP then someone else would need to take the lead.

 

There's a lot of work to do before we can start detailing up any parts, so please be patient.

[lucas]

I agree that etched kits always look a lot better for coach/railcar sides. A hybrid etched/3D printed kit would be my preference too.

 

Not sure what you want to do with the roof?

The front section above the cab would need to be 3D printed. The rest could be brass but it might be tricky to get the curve to match up perfectly. We could also print it and get the curve exactly the same, but that would probably have to be printed in a few sections giving a few more joins to clean up.