Monthly Archives: September 2020

A New Drive Gear For an OO Airfix Class 14xx

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This week I have another replacement part to share with you.  As with most of my replacement parts, this was a request from a customer who has one of these locomotives with a damaged part.

The Airfix class 14xx 0-4-2 model has been around since the 1970s, and was a mainstay on many UK model railways as they were the only maker of the model.  It’s had several upgrades over the years as the model moved to Dapol and then to Hornby but the original can still be seen running today.

However, constant use over time will always cause parts to wear out and with the 14xx it’s the main drive gear that starts to go.   The original chassis had a thicker gear which can be seen at the top in the image below.  The thinner gear is for one of the newer chassis introduced under the Dapol line.  Interestingly Daopol also moved the traction tire to the other wheelset.

The metal worm gear on the end of the drive shaft drives sits directly over the main axel drive gear and the metal eventually wears down the plastic gear, especially if the wheels get jammed up or start to bind, due to lack of lubrication.

The gear in the image below is still in good condition, but you can see the teeth are intentionally not square to the axle.  This makes the mesh between the two gears smoother and improves the running of the loco.

Using the original I was able to 3D model a replacement.  Because the gear is thick, 3.18mm, it should be strong and hard when printed in Shapeways Smooth Fine Detail material.

The test prints came out very well and were immediately ready to use.  The hole in the center has been printed slightly smaller than the axel size to ensure a good tight fit.  If it’s too loose the gear will spin on the axel. If it’s too tight the new gear may crack. To allow for any 3D print shrinkage or oversize on the axel, I’ve 3D printed two gears; one has an even smaller hole to allow for any differences mentioned above.  It’s always easier to remove material if it’s too tight than it is to add some!

To identify the two different gears I’ve marked the side of the gear with the smaller axel hole with a hole in the sidewall as you can see on the gear on the right.

The replacement pair of gears for the Airfix OO 14xx are available using the link here.

As long as I can find an original gear, even if it’s cracked or damaged, I can replicate it using 3D printing, so contact me if you’re in need of a new gear that you can’t get hold of.

Next week I hope to have some more to share with you on the HO DT6-6-2000 project, the brass etches are in production, and the different variants of body shells are being drawn.

A Personal Post

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This week’s post is a little different, it’s not even about trains!  It’s about something my partner and I do each year to help a very good cause which is relevant to a lot of people in this hobby.

This coming Sunday we’ll be riding our motorcycles in one of the most important events in our yearly calendar – The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride.

Those of you who’ve known me for a while know we like to try and combine overseas travel with our yearly fundraising ride, but this year we’ll be riding in the UK again given the travel issues.

Despite the situations created by the pandemic the world over, as motorcyclists around the globe we’ll still come together as a community to raise money and awareness for men’s health.  Instead of the usual organized group rides we’ll be riding solo to support the cause.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride raises funds for research and awareness of prostate cancer, as well as providing programs for men suffering from mental health issues, creating resources to break down the barriers for men to talk and deal with their mental health issues, in the hope of reducing the number of suicides. We support the cause by dressing dapper for the ride and, usually in groups, we put on a fantastic show for the public in whatever city we chose to ride in. It really is a day of celebration and joy designed to bring to the forefront men’s health. This year folks will be riding and fundraising, just solo.

If this is a cause you feel is important to you I’m asking you to make a small donation to do something to help stop men dying from prostate cancer, or by losing their lives to mental health issues.

Understandably a lot of people are experiencing challenging times because of the pandemic, but if you are in a position to make a small donation, please do. The link is here – https://www.gentlemansride.com/rider/thedrawnstudio

If you are not in a position to make a donation you can still help – drop a message to a male friend you haven’t spoken to for a while, and just ask them how they’re doing.  Our hobby is largely a social one, and with so many modelers having to shield through these difficult times it’s easy to get cut off and isolated, so let’s just keep checking on each other. There’s some handy guides on the DGR link here – https://www.gentlemansride.com/about/mens-health, so have a read, and reach out to someone who may need a lifeline right now.

Thank you.

Next week I’ll have a train-related post for you, once I get back from the ride.

A Cover for an In-Track RFID Reader

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Model railways have seen many great technological improvements through the years and Digital Command Control (DCC) is one of the biggest, but sometimes I get asked to work on something that’s totally new.  This week I have a small project to share with you for a customer who’s experimenting with RFID.

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification and is used in all sorts of things; there’s a good chance you have an RFID chip in your wallet.  Bank cards that have the contactless payment option have an RFID chip inside the card which reacts to the RFID reader when you hold your card up to pay.  This technology has been in use for a long time in all sorts of industries, from such environments as warehouse management to automatic bridge toll devices.  Now it’s making its way into model railways, at least on one model railway anyway.

To add another level of realism to the customer’s railway, all of his freight wagons have been fitted with an RFID chip.  There are readers either under the track or within it at multiple places around the railway.  This means, when a train enters a freight yard, the computer will know exactly which wagons make up that train.  It’ll then work out where each needs to go, such as a local industry or added to another train, and the operator then has the fun of shunting the train as instructed.

With a newly-constructed part of the layout, adding a readily available RFID reader under the track was fairly easy, but on the already existing section it’s a little bit more of a challenge without ripping up the track.  The answer came in the form of these custom made RFID readers by Eccel.

This are designed to fit between the rails allowing space for the wheel flange to pass.  A hole at one end needs to be driled between the sleepers to allow the cable to pass through. However, they don’t look very realistic for a model railway, so the customer has asked me to design a 3D printed cover to make them look like a timber uncoupling ramp.  The uncoupling ramp below, made by Peco, is designed to clip into the track, but also sits above the railhead so it will engage the UK-style couplings.

The customer uses American-style Kadee couplings so the uncoupling ramp will be purely cosmetic and needs to sit just below the railhead.

As always, I have 3D modeled the original part, and some track, to ensure everything is correct.

The ramp is designed to clip over the RFID board, with space inside to allow for the circuit components.  The RFID reader itself will be fixed using the two holes in the board.

To get the wood grain effect I’ve recessed the patten so it will, hopefully, print and be visible when painted.  I’ll spray these to ensure a thin coat of paint as brushing would probably fill the recessed wood pattern.

Although this a simple project it’s been very interesting to do and I’m eager to see them in use on the layout.  Once they’re all printed and installed I’ll take some video of the trains running, and the computer screen capturing the RFID data.  This may be several weeks away, but I’ll share it with you when I can.

If you have something different like this on your layout that needs a special part, get in touch, I may be able to help.