My apologies for the lack of posts over the last month but this week I have an update to share with you on the Baldwin RT-624 project; the test print has arrived.

The photo above shows the shell and parts after they’ve spent twenty-four hours in white spirit which was used to remove the waxy residue left over from the print process. Some of this residue has turned to powder and can still be seen on the shell. To find out how I remove this see my ‘How To’ post here. I will be doing that next.

The 3D printed parts included with the shell are the crew in the cabs, horns, pilot blocks, Trainphone receiver, and end handrails centers with walkways. As you can see below the receiver and walkways have broken away. This is not an issue but I will update the 3D model to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

The receiver is designed to fit into a ‘n’ shaped slot at the top right of the nose; there’s only one on the loco, the other end doesn’t have one. You can just about see the slot in the loco shell below.

The receiver fits perfectly and once cleaned up can be permanently fixed in place with a touch of superglue.

On the pilot beam in front of the nose you can see four holes; these are for the end handrails centers.

These also fitted perfectly and have the holes to receive the brass handrail section which will complete the nose handrails. But both handrail center posts should have a walkway between them; this is the part that broke away and which I will ensure is 3D printed as one part in future prints.

The reason they came apart was an incorrect joint in the computer model which has been fixed. For this model the parts have simply been glued back together with superglue. Superglue is ideal for this because it’s made from acrylic, as is the 3D printed model. Other glues may have an effect on the 3D printed material and plastic glues may melt it.

The floor tread pattern actually faces towards the nose of the locomotive; this is because when it folds down to allow loco engineers to walk from one loco to another, the walkway pivots at the lower connection so the pattern will then be facing up. The face you will see looking at the nose will be the underside of the walkway. The square holes are for the MU (Multiple Unit) hoses which will be on the brass Additions fret.

With the handrail centre section repaired it again fits nicely into the holes in the pilot beam.

Looking from along side the locomotive you can see the walkway patten. You can also see the radiators in the side of the shell and I’m very pleased with the finish on those. You can also see I’ve added a little material under each handrail location along the side which will ensure each fits in the right spot.

Before I went any further I was keen to test fit the shell onto the chassis and did hit one design flaw. A different feature from the DT6-6-2000 is the RT-624 has a longer walkway on one side for extra batteries and a hollowed-out area. I copied the modelling for this from my N Scale model not thinking about the HO chassis and as you can see below the chassis hits it.

But that’s why I do test prints. The problem is easy to fix in the computer model and I can make a correction to this shell so that it’ll fit the chassis. I think apart from that, the shell is looking good.

I have ordered the first batch of etched brass Additions for this locomotive, and thank you to those who pre-ordered these. Once they arrive I’ll be able to do the final checks on the shell and, if all goes well, the HO Baldwin RT-624 will be made available to buy.

Hopefully next week I will have a cleaned up test print to share with you fitted to the chassis.