Kabuto Models; Details for your layout!

[Kabutoni]

You are right the "Gamba de Legn" is standard gauge, but it really looks like your, I'll check the PowerMax motor for 9mm gauge, it looks tempting now :)

I hope you find it to your liking. It's a great little power unit. I think the Gamba de Legn also had Henschel locomotives in service, albeit a little bit of a different design.

 

Please remember, until Sunday it it free shipping for orders over $25! Especially for those a bit far away, this is a great money saver!

[Kabutoni]

The free shipping sale has just ended on Shapeways. A big thank you for all who supported me in this event!

 

The freight cars have arrived today as well. The closed vans are fine, but the open wagons needed a bit of workover (more space for the wheelsets), hence only the closed vans in movement for now:

 

 

The six cars might be the maximum the little Big Henschel can pull for now. It's probably due to the sharp curves (R70), so it might be able to haul a bit more with wider radii.

 

 

Next to that, a new prototype is in the works! This will be a Hohenzollern 0-4-0 as it ran in Upper Silesia (Poland) around the turn of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. It also ran around in other countries, like the Netherlands, Germany and Indonesia amongst others.

 

Edited March 14, 2016 by Toni Babelony

[westfalen]

I had a look at the Powermax chassis and saw the $50 international shipping (on an item that could rest on my little finger) which would bring one to about AUD$200. :icon_pale:

[Kabutoni]

I had a look at the Powermax chassis and saw the $50 international shipping (on an item that could rest on my little finger) which would bring one to about AUD$200. :icon_pale:

 

When there is no retailer, it will get expensive for Australia when you want to buy it individually. If you are really in a pinch for this item, I can try to get it in Japan over narrow-garage.com and send it over to you, though I don't know how much this will be, and will actually offset the costs from a direct order from SeaRails...

[Kabutoni]

Got a few wagons painted and found out some had design issues, like too low floors and axles being too wide apart (causing friction in the curves). All has been fixed in the models and a new batch will be ordered soon.

 

For now, a little movie of the Henschel running around with a short rake:

 

[Kabutoni]

By a request of a friend who also suggested quite a lot of other people would be interested in this, I started modelling the famous Dutch Blue Tram 'Boedapester' (made by Ganz in Hungary) interurban motor cars:

 

 

 

These beautiful interurbans ran on both standard and meter gauge networks with only slight exterior differences, so this is a good project for myself personally to work on as well! It can run on both 6.5mm gauge and 9mm gauge with only swapping out the bogies (and the optional removal of a pantograph on the standard gauge version). Of course, registration numbers would be different, but that's a minor detail.

[Kabutoni]

Last week, the newest prototypes arrived at Kabuto Models! The Hohenzollern steam locomotive (from the late 19th century) and a rather generic closed passenger coach that can be used anywhere, anytime:

 

 

 

This is how the GTW used to run local passenger trams before retiring all passenger services in 1949 (total abolishment of tram services in 1957):

 

 

This consist is 16cm long, but has unfortunately problems running through my tight curves (R70), as the wheels clip with the car body. Not such a big issue I think, since with very little filing, it's possible to traverse these curves anyway. I'm not going to change the design for this issue, as it might compromise some building qualities.

 

In a few days, maybe next week after some tweaking, I'll put these on sale on Shapeways for those interested!

[cteno4]

Excellent work Toni!

 

Jeff

[kvp]

Pretty good looking train! I would like to ask what material did you use for the windows?

[Kabutoni]

Thanks! It's really small work being done here. The black lines above the windows were drawn with a 0.1mm pen, hence the scribbly lines. The windows themselves are made with clear plastic that got corrupted by the vapours of the CA glue I used. Maybe I should redo the windows with some other method of glueing, as simple plastic glue doesn't seem to work well with acrylic polymer.

[kvp]

Instead of CA glue, i always use water based white synthetic wood glue to fix the window films as it won't fog anything and dries clear. However this has to be done after painting and before the final snap fit assembly of the coach (or the bottom/roof part will have to be fixed with wood glue too).

[cteno4]

Toni,

 

Good to get a variety of glues including household glues. Then do some mix and match tests to figure out what sticks to what. Clear plastics are not all the same as well, some are styrene and some are acetates (cellulose acetate) and will react differently do different glues.

 

cezllulose acetate is a bit more forgiving to fogging and such than clear stryene is and why I tend to use it for stuff like this. PVA does adhere to it pretty well, but it doesn't fuse it so you can pop it off if needed. PVA should adhere decently to your 3D printed surface due to the texture, but again not fuse with it. Down side of it is that acetates can yellow with a lot of uv exposure, but usually we are protecting our layouts from that!

 

There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?

 

Jeff

Edited April 5, 2016 by cteno4

[kvp]

I would like to say that i think, it's best to avoid cellulose acetate as it tends to decompose over time, much faster than plastics. Both by uv yellowing and over time turning non transparent, down to heavy warping and even falling apart for biodegradable cellulose film. (good examples are old metal 0 and H0 maerklin trains that used it and have non transparent milky white or milky yellow 'glasses' that have to be replaced or yellowed and warped early run CA Lego bricks)

 

For modelling purposes, i alway suggest the usage of non bio degradaing plastics that are predicted to be around for hundreds of years even when exposed to the elements.

[cteno4]

I have a lot of acetate stuff that has lasted many decades so far. Most of our modeling stuff is not things that will be around for many decades. Uv is an issue but it's an issue for a lot of the paints and plastics we use so it's usually well taken care of with layouts. I'm not suggesting it be used on commercial models, I've found it useful and easier to deal with for structure Windows and such.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Kabutoni]

Wood glue is an okay idea, but the yellowing comes to mind again (at least for the variant I have). I'll have to experiment a bit, but CA should easily snap off from the painted surface anyway, so getting the windows replaced is easy.

[tossedman]

Testers Clear Parts cement is what you need.

http://www.amazon.com/Testor-Model-Master-Cement-Window/dp/B0006NDZDU 

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[Kabutoni]

A little update on the NZH Blue Tram "Boedapester". Progress is slow, but steady.

 

 

 

The power unit will be a PowerMAX!, but I'm contemplating setting up a Kickstarter or something like that if there is enough interest. That way, prints, parts and power units can be ordered in some kind of bulk form at reduced costs for everybody's benefit. However, a prototype print (or two) and testing first needs to be done before anything like this can go off successfully. If so however, I'm going to opt for a Craft Sakamoto power unit, instead of a PowerMAX.

[Densha]

Ohh nice! Are you also thinking about doing an H0 1/87 version? At the moment I'm really getting into Dutch trams in this scale and these are obviously must-haves on a Dutch tram layout.

[Kabutoni]

Ohh nice! Are you also thinking about doing an H0 1/87 version? At the moment I'm really getting into Dutch trams in this scale and these are obviously must-haves on a Dutch tram layout.

This model will be an N-scale model, but at enough requests, I can try to work on an H0 model as well. Because I make my models directly for printing, instead of making a base 3D model and resizing that for printing. Doing that will cause complexities with the thickness of parts, won't make details stand out, etcetera. Another issue with H0 is that I don't have anything to work with in the sense of power units, wheelsets and so on. For power units, Tenshodo spuds would be the most logical thing to use, since they're easily available worldwide. Even so, a 3D printed model with all 3rd party parts, import and so on, will probably be miles cheaper than the insanely expensive Philotrain sets...

[Densha]

It's just that there are so few European/Dutch tram models available in 1:160, that most people (including myself) decide to collect tram models in 1:87. If 1:160 models would be readily available, I would consider changing to that scale, but there are just so few available now that I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

Halling makes power units, wheelsets, pantographs, couplers and whatnot for H0(m/e) trams and is not that expensive: http://www.halling.at/ (go to Zubehör in the menu on the left)

Sommerfeldt also makes pantographs, I believe Sommerfeldt 752 is the correct pantograph for NZH Boedapesters: https://www.sommerfeldt.de/data/sommerfeldt-katalog-2009.pdf (page 57)

 

Don't make me start on Philotrain prices...

[IST]

It's just that there are so few European/Dutch tram models available in 1:160, that most people (including myself) decide to collect tram models in 1:87. If 1:160 models would be readily available, I would consider changing to that scale, but there are just so few available now that I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

 

Do you know Michal Hübel? He makes a lot of European trams,check his homepage below. He made for me a Tatra T5C5 and a Ganz ICS type trams only because I asked him and provided him some drawings and pictures, so I think he can make almost everything. And his prices are not so bad.

 

http://www.modelytramvaji.websnadno.cz/

[railsquid]

You've bought the models - now buy the noodles! http://www.kabutonoodles.com/

 

;)

[cteno4]

Here is Toni's model

 

[railsquid]

Ramen to that.

[maihama eki]

Kabutoni, how can we encourage you to create some more of your excellent little Japanese-centric detail bits?  I have very much enjoyed the ones you have out there now on Shapeways. Here are a few photos of them - hopefully as encouragement.  I would like to see more n-scale layouts detailed at the level you see in HO layouts and your detail bits are a gold mine for those of us working on Japanese scenes.