Several weeks ago I posted about the N Scale Architect’s new kit for a set of Pennsylvania Railroad F22 Flatcars & Naval Gun Load.  This kit, which was still in development, was announced at the Amherst Railway Society Show 2018, in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

And I spoke about it again two weeks ago as the sample came to the Bournemouth N Trak convention here in England.

Well, this kit is now complete and it looks amazing.

Here is what the N Scale Architect has to say about them:

“The Naval Gun Load kit is based on the Mark VII Naval Gun designed in 1939 and first used aboard Iowa-Class Battleships during World War II.  Measuring 16” in diameter, these guns could fire a 2,400 lbs projectile up to 24 miles. Each of these 68 foot guns weigh nearly 270,000 lbs and were shipped (breech first) across two(2) heavy weight flatcars with a third flatcar used as an idler. Many of these guns were manufactured by Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania and transported via the Pennsylvania Railroad across three(3) F22 flatcars. This kit comes complete with Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD) 3-D printed parts, full-color illustrated instructions, sixteen(16) inches of phosphor bronze rod and a ‘DO NOT HUMP’ placard sheet.

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) F22 Flatcar 3-Pak Kit builds three(3) of these wood-decked 30 foot heavy-duty flatcars which had a loading capacity of nearly 200,000 lbs when upgraded to the Crown 2F-F1 cast steel trucks modeled in this kit. These flatcars were originally designed in 1913 and, at their peak in the 1940’s, there were over 100 in use on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) roster with some of them surviving into the 1960’s. This kit comes complete with Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD) 3-D printed parts, full-color illustrated instructions, photo-etched stirrups & cut-levers, brass car weights, Micro-Trains brake wheels & body-mounted couplers, Fox Valley metal wheel sets and a PRR F22 decal sheet that features nine(9) verified road numbers, pertinent car data and prototypical reporting marks.

The ‘Naval Gun Load’ kit (#20100) retails for $39.95, the ‘Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) F22 Flatcar 3-Pak’ kit (#20101) retails for $69.95 and the ‘Box Set’ (#20102) retails for $89.95… a $20.00 Savings !!!  These kits are available exclusively at the THENARCH.COM.  Additional 3-D printing material options are available at our Shapeways Shop: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/the-n-scale-architect.”

This was a project I really enjoyed working on as it’s such unique load. It was great to get everything correct from the trucks to the length of the gun barrel. The lack of restrictions, which are often caused by donor chassis and other parts that I have to use when designing a locomotive, are what made this easier to do. Only the wheels and couplings are bought in items.

As The N Scale Architect says the kits are available direct from their website or via their Shapeways shop if you want to order them in Frosted Extreme Detail (FXD).  If you do purchase a kit from Shapeways don’t forget to contact the N Scale Architect via their website (THENARCH.COM) or e-mail (thenarch.com@gmail.com) to obtain the additional pieces and instructions needed to finish the kit.  Be sure to include your name, mailing address and Shapeways order number in this message. These items will be mailed to you at no additional charge (including international orders). Please allow 7 to 10 business days for delivery (international orders may take longer).

For me it’s back to the virtual drawing board and on with my current projects, and I hope next week to have some more progress to share with you.