Every now and then something comes along in the model railroad hobby that takes you by surprise. One such arrived the other day in a drawstring black cloth bag from Holland. It was Walt's Z scale 3D printed brass version of the Jersey Central box cab diesel switcher from Shapeways and was a revelation. Designed to fit the Rokuhan 'Shorty' chassis the detail is fantastic I did have second thoughts about ordering one because it is not cheap but I figured it was still less than you would pay for an etched kit. I did have to modify the Shorty as the loco stood far too high if you used the moulded locating lugs. There is heaps of room inside if you want to fit a decoder and a lighting board and the extra weight certainly helps with the running performance. The only problem is I haven't got the heart to paint it yet! I'm going to run it at this years exhibitions as it is to show people just how far 3D has come How-To video here cheers Kev
I have to give a lot of respect to Shapeways brass offerings. I designed a pantograph set for n-scale that included the springs in the details and amazingly they rendered just fine in brass. I honestly didn't think they could do it but when I got my first set my eyes just about popped out of my head. Only problem in my case was that the results were inconsistent from batch to batch - only because of the fragile nature of pantographs. Body shells however - as you can see - top notch. Great lookin boxcab you got there!!! Mike
I'm always looking for the Pantographs! there hard to fine! I was hoping AZL or Rokuhan would make some replacement parts But I guess it's not on there list of thing to do!
I just showed my dad this thread, and being a big CNJ fan, he had me order one right away! Well he was thinking about getting the shorty chassis, but realized he has an FR Box Cab Diesel kit (Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik). He was wondering if he will be able to mount Walt's shell onto the FR chassis. Anyone know if this is feasible?
I designed this to fit the Shorty! Not to sure of the size of the FR Box Cab Diesel Kit! this one is in Z scale 1:220 scale about 28feet in Z scale clearance inside end to end about 8 1/2' wide inside side to side!
The FR motor is for Z scale. The dimensions for the motor are 1-1/2" long x 7/16" wide x 11/16" high from rail to top of motor. There are two screw holes in the top of the motor that align with the exhaust stacks in the shell to mount the shell.
1-1/2 would fit leaves a 1/32". 1/2"w. I have 10/16" from bottom of shell to the center curve of the top roof! not to sure hard to tell never seen the one you have. This boxcab Was 3D printed At Shapeways! the shorty is costly pretty good price! Plus the shorty coupler can be change out easy they just pull out and new one pushed in! http://www.zscalemonster.com/rokuhan/rolling/
Yeah, if the FR motor doesn’t work out a Shorty costs almost nothing and you know that will work. And the Shorty is a very good engine.
Walt, I have watched Kev's video regarding the mounting of the shorty under your shell. Does the Shorty still need to be modified or has there been changes to the shell? Do you know what size screws? I don't have the Shorty yet and wanted to make sure I had the fasteners. Thanks PS. I purchased one of your steam shovels, nice details.
Just ordered a set of boxcab trucks from Shapeways built by Shortpainter. Now I can help my dad finish his brass boxcab. Thanks Rudy!
Wow, how do the boxcab trucks pictured above go onto the shorty power unit trucks? I have everything to build this set aside but I didn’t order those trucks separately.
Eric, Just sand the sides of the Rohukan trucks flat(remove all detail), then glue on. As far as the decals go, Rudy has done some, but not for CNJ. https://www.thezmaker.com/misc-items/decals-cnw-box-cabs Scott
Thanks, I’ll definitely do the trucks then, but it has to be CNJ! Hopefully one day we’ll be able to make decals easily at home…