This week I’d hoped to show you the 3D printed replacement Minitrix Crosshead from last week’s post however due to the heavier than normal snows last night I’ve had no delivery today. So this week I’ll share with you something else which should also be arriving soon.

The venerable Con-Cor Alco PA has been around since 1967 and has been improved over the years but the original design, made by Kato under the name Sekisui, can still be found going strong on many layouts; mine included.  One of the things which made this design different from the later is how the chassis sections are fixed together.  The original design had a solid metal section on the top and two metal sections below, one making contact with each rail through the trucks. Between the top and bottom sections is a strip of plastic for electronic isolation.  It’s all clamped together with screws, metal ones on one side to conduct power from the lower section to the top, and plastic screws on the other to isolate that section.  This works well, but the plastic screws, if removed a lot, can easily be rounded off.  Plus if you drop one into the bottomless depths of an exhibition hall they are very hard to replace.

But thankfully I have a solution.

These have been designed to be 3D printed in Shapeways’ Frosted Ultra Detail material to give the required accuracy for the thread and hardness for the actual screw.

Hopefully these will be delivered soon, along with the other parts, and I will be able to share some photos with you next week.  Plus it will be nice to have my Alco PA back on the tracks.