Chama Sandhouse
In parallel to the engine building, I have been working on
an N scale version of the Chama Sandhouse for the last 9 months. One of the reasons the project dragged out
was that I decided to change CAD programs and had to learn Autodesk123D
(freeware). It has no manual (that I can
find), but there are multiple videos on the net that cover the basics. In the long run, there are also companion CAD
programs that promise to do some pretty amazing things like create 3D drawings
from photographs, etc. In any event, I
like the new program but it takes a lot of time to figure out how to do some
tasks that were simple in ProE, but more difficult in 123D. On the other hand, the majority of tasks that
I perform in structure building are much simpler for me in 123D, so I’m pretty
happy with the change.
A prototype of the Chama sandhouse is shown in Figures
1 and 2. It is close to the final product,
which is printing now. I’m adding simulated door handles, trying to make the
doors more visible, and making the ties in the sand bin more visible. The prototype was also put together in
pieces, but the final version will be printed from the ground up, thought it
will interlock into a baseplate that has the sand bin printed on it. The tower is a separate structure because it’s
hard to finish the roof correctly otherwise.
The air cylinder is also separate because the legs are soldered wire – I
tried to print legs but they had to be too big if they were going to survive. I
had to make some concessions to N scale it, but it is a very close
representation dimensionally. The prototype
includes a prototype version of the sand delivery pipe, gate valve and counterweight
that is on the tower.
Photo 3 shows the
prototype next to a completed Banta Models kit of the Ridgway sandhouse. They have similar dimensions, with the Chama
house being slightly smaller, and the Chama sand bin being longer.
List of things I know could be upgrade: making the log
supports look more like logs; upgrade
the sand delivery gate valve (the valve and delivery pipe were simulated using
0.010” wire and #32 gray electrical wire. The counterweight is just a solder
ball). I welcome other comments and observations, particularly with respect to
the paint scheme (I will be simulating 1940-1950). For this prototype, I used D&RGW Freight
Car Red for the house, D&RGW Building Brown for the tower, Silver for the
dry sand cylinder, Roof Brown for the bin, and Mud on the visible log ends. Most of those look OK, and my guess is that
whenever it needed paint, it got whatever they had leftover from other
projects.
Chama Coaling Tower
Photo 3 shows the first draft of the Chama Coal Tower – just
a teaser - the concrete coal bin. I built two
components, a baseplate for the house and the coal bin (so that their heights
would be correctly modeled). The coal
bin was done in white acrylic, nothing fancy and I really like the sandy finish
– I think it feels just like concrete.
I already found a couple of dimensional errors, and a new coal bin,
along with the house and the complete tower itself are at the printers! That has been a massive project to
design. We’ll see how it comes out,
since several things may not turn out so well in N scale (particularly the guides
for the coal buckets, the sheaves, the coal bin gratings, and the mechanism for
the door and gate in the front.) I have
some backup plans for some of those, but others may need some inspiration…
Comments Welcome!
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