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Just saying …

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MicroMimesis is the name for my company (to be). Right now I only have a store set up on Shapeways .. but .. I DO have the Domain Name – MicroMimesis.com registered. My plan is to supply a few items for the Model Railroad and Military Modeler. At some point I need to set up a website/store .. but .. need products first!

Power and Paints

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Didn’t accomplish much today. Went to a TCA meet and picked up a non-running Atlas 0-6-0 Diesel switcher for $5. Worth it to me as I want to turn it into bits and pieces ..

Dropped by New Brookland Hobbies then and picked up some Floquil .. Aged Concrete, Dust and Grime .. so in the end .. not a bad day.

On18

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O scale – 1:48 scale superstructures on HOn30 track. Now .. HOn30 is actually for running HO superstructures on N scale track. For HOn30/HOn2½ refers to using HO (1:87) using a track gauge of 9mm (0.354 in). Strictly speaking that works out to a 30.8 in gauge. This is only 6.8 in wide for modeling the Maine 2 ft gauge railroads – or 0.078 in too wide .. or .. 0.060 in narrow if modeling the three ft gauge railroads.

Using that same HOn30 track with a 1:48 superstructure results in a gauge measuring 17 in. That’s nominally rounded-up to 18 in.

My question was .. how wide the equipment?

Found the following on Trainorders.com

  • Q: What is the width of a narrow gauge passenger car, and what is the width of a standard gauage passenger car?
  • A: A standard gauge (56 1/2″) car is 10′ 0″, 2.12 times gauge.
  • Colorado narrow gauge (36″) cars ran about 8′ 6″, 2.83 times gauge, while Milwaukee Roads narrow gauge equipment ran closer to 8′ 3″.
  • Maine 2′ gauge cars were very narrow, about 6′ 5″, but that is 3.2 times gauge!

That gives me enough information then to calculate the width of the car for On18 ..

If I keep the same proportion to the gauge that the Main 2′ used .. then …

3.2 x 18 = 57.6″ or 4’9.6″ .. which I will round off to 57″/4’9″. In O scale that is 1.1875″

Foaming …

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Experimenting a bit here. I cut three pieces of foam to fit into the corner and between the structures .. then hot-glued them together. What I want to do is carve a hilly slope that connects the two into the backdrop.

The ‘method behind the madness’ is to give the impression that the buildings are built on very un-level ground. Retaining walls inserted at the appropriate locations and winding steps and roads should help. The slope itself will be rubble and dirt with perhaps a little grass. There’s not much room really but should be enough with trees against the backdrop to hopefully (and magically!) blend the scene into the backdrop. I’m thinking though .. that this will be pretty much an example where forced perspective may work since the buildings form a view block and restrict the view .. so that might work better then if it was out in the open.

Just how well that works is still to be seen. I’m thinking though .. that if that little bit of foam is left ‘loose’ .. then like the buildings, it can be taken to the workbench for detailing.

Structure Arrangements

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Maintenance Shed etc.
With the Maintenance Shed finished I need to place it. The Critter Shed was placed on a piece of Styrofoam so it was the same height as the track.

I cut out another piece of foam the same thickness for the Maintenance Shed to sit on – then another thinner piece. The idea is a little vertical movement there to make it interesting. I’m thinking that  a rolling hill between/behind the buildings that blends into the backdrop would work .. I think.

If I do that – it gives me opportunity to have retaining walls of various shapes and sizes.

Test

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Narrow Trak 12

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Great Weekend
Last Friday and Saturday I attended the Narrow Trak 12 meet. This is an annual model railroading narrow gauge and logging convention in Transylvania Co., NC. It’s not very big .. but was fun. Mostly clinics.
Clinics
MMR Ben Bartlett’s clinic was on Constructing a Laser Kit. He used Motrak Models’ HO Scale MOW Shed as an example, covering basic construction methods.
Johnny Graybeal gave clinics on the Eastern Tennessee & Western N.C. RY and Steam Shovels of the Narrow Gauge;Matt Baumgarner talked about the Ritter Lumber Co., in Mortimer, N.C.; Gordon Fewster gave clinics on Small Control Panels and Scenery; Yvonne McCall-Dickson on the Carr Lumber Company (interesting in that the buildings had been right outside where the convention took place); Jerry Ledford on Western Carolina Logging.
Tom Yorke gave a clinic on Working with Balsa-Foam
Models
Dioramas
Ha. There were only two .. my clinic model and the one from Tom York. He’s building a Gn18 operating diorama. This is the first part of it (his clinic on carving balas-foam was on the entrance).
Motive Power
The large tank engine in On18 was from Tom York; I believe the two ‘home builds’ were also by him and in On18. The other two engines were both HO. The one with the powered pulleys (they DO have a name .. I just forget what you call them) was very nice as was the Climax. I believe they were by the same person but managed to not get it which is a shame as they were very well done. The smallest was the Nn3 Shay shown with the penny. This had a note that it was produced using RP (Rapid Production .. aka .. 3D printing). Again .. I didn’t manage to find out who did that .. would have liked to talk to him about it.

Small Dia Threaded Rod – Pt 2

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I was curious as to the actual size of a 1:48 scale 1-1/4″ Acme threaded valve stem .. 5 tpi .. would be. In the drawing the major diameter of 1-1/4″ is reduced to 0.026″/0.661mm. The various dimensions are shown .. all of which are below the minimum detail that FUD can be printed at. The red square shows that minimum size .. 0.1mm

Im not necessairly saying that I have to print in FUD .. but that was the first thing that came to mind.

Using that minimum 0.1mm for FUD I drew out the best that I could possibly hope for if I printed this in FUD. The therads per inch end up around 2.5 .. twice as coarse as the scale version but I think would look fine if the printing was possible.
Is this possible? Not sure but I kind of doubt it .. at least for printing in FUD. The minor diameter of 0.461mm is below the 0.6mm minimum for a ‘wire’ when printing FUD. It *might* slide by .. but would be ‘iffy’.

What I was looking for was some basic dimensions that I could work toward. I would like to go another route and create some rollers with the thread on them. I could possibly use them to roll the threads onto a length of small dia solder. Not too crazy .. that’s how bolts and screws are mass-produced .. the threads are rolled into a metal rod with dies. The problem is .. what to use. The example above is using FUD .. but that is too soft, brittle, weak to act as a die .. even for solder (at least, I believe so). There is Stainless Steel at Shapeways but the minimum detail is way too big for this – 1.0mm .. ten times that of fud.

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