Walt, these are indeed extremely well printed. Were these done in FUD? HDA is still not good for Z in mu opinion.
401Z - part 1 This time it will not be a conversion project but some info about building PKP car (cars) from scratch. This project was developed mainly by my friend Szymon. I try to consult some stages and of course to have my own cars assambled and painted. This project is about typical Polish construction: family of 401Z cars. This is family due to the fact that there were several variations of the car. It was primariry designed as a gondola to transport ore which can be easily converted by remowing sides into flat car for heavy loads (during Cold War - to transport tanks). Original gondola: http://www.wgk.cal.pl/data/media/202/qtas.jpg Flat car: http://www.el-tor.pl/18-thickbox_default/wagon-platforma-typu-401z.jpg Those cars were rebuild to transport coal - with higher sides: http://www.sigman.kolej.org.pl/foto/eamos4.jpg They were adopted by adding special containers to transport chemical materials: http://adamusadam.pl/system/assets/1423512185_normal.jpg They were also used for technical trains: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhUqbnqiB2o/UiYwliu3N5I/AAAAAAAADhU/_7WPgtSmEJ8/s1600/maszyny1.jpg and rescue trains: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...-Special_rescue_vehicle_-_Flickr_-_faxepl.jpg
401Z - part 2 The first results of 3D designed project for 401Z family of cars (PKP). This project was mentioned at the beginning of this page some time ago. Body parts and chassis were 3D printed. They were printed in Poland and some kind of resin was used as a printing material. Frames ready for painting. You can see also real wood lasercut floors behind them:
Very popular Marklin Banana Car converted into PKP car. It was repainted, decals were applied as well as some weathering. It is good to see the quality of decals...
Some more advanced kitbashing project. The starting point is standard coal gondola by Marklin. The prolem is that this model is equipped with two pairs of doors on each side. This is the case of most of those cars in Europe. BTW many national railways use very similar design. I wanted to make a model which follows the rebuilded cars with only one pair of doors. The prototype is like this: The project starts with some amputation: New side is added: Some vertical elements of construction were added and the car was painted with primer: to be continued ...
This time I am working on SP47 diesel locomotive by PKP. My friend designed the shell for 3D printing. This shell use the chassis of BR232 Ludmilla by Marklin. The inner part of original mechanism has to be shortened by 2-3mm. At this time locomotive is painted but still waiting for some photoetched parts, windows and lettering.
That SP47 is looking good. Will you be adding glazing and lights to it? Also can you give us some details about how you shortened the Marklin mechanism? Carim
That was not complicated. The front part together with LED lighting of original locomotive was cut: Locomotive got photoetched parts on sides - black vents. It is still waiting for decals and windows:
I came back to ST44 model: http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/pkp-conversions.92580/page-3#post-1010131 Finally I got photoetched number plates for it. Finally the engine is ST44-1103. There are also some small number plates on each front of the engine.
My SP47 is still waiting for windows and decals but it was tested on my testing layout with long distance train. All the cars are repainted Marklin cars. The roofs were modified to look more prototypically for Polish Railways:
