Recently, I've dipped my toe into the (big, scary) world of CAD. This wasn't really a deliberate choice, but a recent purchase of the Southern Wagons book opened my eyes to some tempting SECR (and earlier) wagons which I can only have by designing them myself. I was also inspired by the quality of recent 3D printed wagons I've bought, so thought I'd give it a shot.
On a whim, I started drawing up a SE&CR gunpowder wagon (before this I had only tried making some bottles/lego bricks, following along to a tutorial, so this represented a bit of a leap into the dark!)
I foolishly started this design whilst away from home, so was reliant on a fairly vague drawing (and no prototype pictures) until two days in when I got home, opened the Southern Wagons book, and instantly spotted several mistakes! The door locking mechanism, and the rivet patterns on the ends, roof, and doors aren't right but I've got myself in a bit of a muddle and can't really change the design for the van body without everything breaking!
I was particularly pleased with the W irons and springs, which aren't perfectly dimensionally accurate, but should be a fair approximation of a SECR J hanger suspension design. Likewise, the brakes are based on the Stones pattern system with blocks on one side but handles on both.
The current project is a SER/SECR D1340 open wagon. I've got some other round ended wagons (d1327 and a LCDR example), but have recently been reading Brian Hart's book on the Canterbury and Whitstable (which is inspiring yet another layout scheme). Pictures of Whitstable Harbour in the period I'm interested in (1880s-1910s) show vast numbers of round ended wagons, so I will both need a variety of types, and also the means by which to make them cheaply. Hopefully 3D printing my own will be a very cost effective way of achieving a decent sized fleet. The below wagon only took about half a day to design, and some parts should be reusable, so it also doesn't take all that long once you've figured out the basic techniques.
I don't yet have a printer (but that will be changing soon) so at present I'm just staring longingly at the renderings in Fusion 360.
I think the thing that has most surprised me though is how much I enjoy the design process. It's very satisfying and still feels new and exciting in a way that physical modelling sometimes doesn't (hence the recent dalliance with etched brass, more to come). It's also immensely rewarding to be able to design these things from scratch, and liberating not to be reliant on the commercial market.
My approach to modelling has been rapidly escalating from RTR stock and buildings, to scratch built structures and now designing my own stock, and I think it's only a matter of time before I crack out Templot and start building my own track. It's not that I'm consciously trying to make my life more complicated, but it really is a slippery slope. Pattyndenne and Rye Sands each took about 4 months to build, but at this rate the next layout won't be completed for decades!
I just hope I don't end up being drawn in by EM gauge or P4... I'm not sure I fancy re-wheeling all my RTR locos!
Will
