To me, the chassis to use is the older Kato-Atlas RS-1. It is slightly longer than the RS-3/11 chassis and the RSD-5/12 trucks drop straight in. Randy's sideframes will work on the trucks, wheelbase isn't perfect, but acceptable. They were designed for the Atlas C-628/630 trucks which are a tad longer. I have put the Commonwealth sideframes on the older Atlas trucks and installed them on an RS-1, and the result is good. To me the chassis isn't the problem, just need the body! Then I will have a Rayonier AS-616 to go with my S-12. Cheers Steve
I'll see what I can do. It shouldn't take too much work to fix the cab. The grills on top of the long hood are blank because the 3D printed grills where unacceptable. The grills on the side of the long hood are in the same boat. Below is a link to the prototype I was trying to model. The features on the hood are laid out as closely as possible to WM 171. I have yet to attempt anything below the sill, so there is no fuel tank and there are no handrails. Still interested? http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/wm171.jpg
If you accept that FUD-printed handrails are still darn fragile, almost-but-not straight, and still a little heavy with their material minimums, then you find yourself back to etched metal as an add-on. And once you step off that pier, then you really need to ask WHAT ELSE on a carbody makes more sense to do from metal than FUD; i.e. your grill problem and maybe the cab roof, etc., and design accordingly. The only way the CF7 concept worked was to take the plunge and do the handrails, and then do the steps, details, whatever else made sense in brass. SS would have been nice, but... If you got the basic shell right in FUD, you're darn close; PM me if you want to talk about etching but the up-front artwork is the barrier.
Ok, its available in my shapeways store. I think that I have taken care of all of the issues, and shapeways gave me the ok when I uploaded it. The only serious problem I had with printability was that the roof of the cab didn't come out. But with some of the plans that you guys have, you could handle that. I decided to go with a one piece shell design. I had some fitment issues between the three parts, but with the shell as one piece I know that has be taken care of. Hope this gives you Baldwin guys something to get your projects going. If you have any questions let me know, and keep me posted if you decide to purchase some!
