Looking at RMWeb, as I do often, I came across this supplier of 3d 009 loco bodies, mostly designed to fit on Kato chassis. You will find his posts in the "smaller suppliers" section containing some nice photos of his range that he has completed and painted. At £20 a throw (current sale price) for an unpainted body, plus some detailing parts. I have ordered one and eagerly await its arrival. I note today that he is setting up a competition for customers to send in photos of their completed locos with a prize of one of his kits of their choosing for the winner. He is a professional photographer, so he is well qualified to not only judge the quality of the loco finish, but the photo too. I look forward to the challenge if domesticity doesn't impede my modelling time!
Happy modelling folks, stay safe and well,
Tod
He posts a lot on NGRM as well.
I did a Matt Ditch long tank KS Skylark last month with the kato chassis.
I added as much lead as I could, smoothed down all the 3d printing ridges on the surfaces, driled out the chimney and saefety valves as they do not have holes in them, rounded off the corners of the buffer beams, fitted strips to the roof edges as gutter strips, added a couple of pipes and rods to the steam dome and smokebox, added a whistle made of wire, added central handles to the tank fillers and fitted the fixed part of Greenwich couplings. Once painted I added coal in the bunker. I had the whole loco finished and painted in a day!
I am now working on a short tank Matt Ditch KS Skylark body. But this one is getting alot more work as I have removed the tram skirts and I am using a Fleischmann 7000 0-4-0.
It should be noted I find it is best to purchase from him direct. Here is a link:
https://www.mattditch.photography/online-shop-1
Here are photos of my one:
They look very good and its the short tank version I have ordered. My plan is to use an Arnold 5501 chassis, so perhaps some fettling to do to get it to fit and sit nicely. Matt's recent post tells us that he has done some mods, drilling the safety valves, tank filler handles and rounding the buffer beams as you have done. No mention of drilling out the chimney though, but that should be easy enough. I may remove the sideskirts, but not sure yet.
Tod
Quote from: Tod Sloan on September 29, 2020, 18:01
They look very good and its the short tank version I have ordered. My plan is to use an Arnold 5501 chassis, so perhaps some fettling to do to get it to fit and sit nicely. Matt's recent post tells us that he has done some mods, drilling the safety valves, tank filler handles and rounding the buffer beams as you have done. No mention of drilling out the chimney though, but that should be easy enough. I may remove the sideskirts, but not sure yet.
Tod
I recommend using an electric mini drill with suitable attachments to remove any unwanted material from the body. You will find that 3d printed bodies are too brittle to use a handheld knife or saw etc. Because of the dust make sure you do this in a well-ventilated area and/or with a mask on and also that you ware eye protection.
It should be noted that at about 1.2mm the wheel flanges on the Arnold 0-6-0's are too large for the flangeways in the Peco 009 points that are 1mm deep. I always mill down the flanges on these chassis and on the Arnold 0-4-0, but others file the points. If you do not they will ride up on the plastic in the points and then stall at slow speeds.
Thanks for advice about fettling the moulding. Always safety in mind with these type of materials. The flange issue has been mentioned before, so I'll give it a go on my dual gauge test track to see how it behaves. So far only run on plain track just to ensure it was ok at various speeds. As I write this I have just run it through fairly old Peco pointwork
and it goes through them faultlessly. I also measured the flanges and they are a smigin over 1mm. I inherited the loco from a dear friend who passed away a few years ago and it looks brand new, boxed etc. The flanges don't appear to have been altered in any way, so perhaps a later model has finer wheels. In any case, it is a memory item from a good friend I met at my first model railway club in 1973. His prototype and model knowledge surpassed mine by a long way!
So back to the main subject, I await delivery of a Skylark loco, so I can get busy with pairing it to the Arnold chassis. I will report back here when the two are married successfully.
Tod
Quote from: Tod Sloan on September 30, 2020, 16:45
......As I write this I have just run it through fairly old Peco pointwork
and it goes through them faultlessly. I also measured the flanges and they are a smigin over 1mm. I inherited the loco from a dear friend who passed away a few years ago and it looks brand new, boxed etc. The flanges don't appear to have been altered in any way, so perhaps a later model has finer wheels.
Tod
Yes I think the very last few Arnold 0-6-0's that have the final version of the plastic valve gear may indeed have smaller flanges. but I have never owned one so this may be wrong.
But anything larger than 1mm will give you problems in Peco 009 points.
I can not find a photo of this last version of the Arnold chassis other than the one under David's Snowdon Ranger in the link below that shows this last version of the valve gear:
http://www.buccabury.co.uk/ltr/rollingstock.htm
A successful marriage of body and loco today. Both needed some fettling so that the chassis is a snug fit and doesn't need any other form of securing. I have yet to add any ballast to the body as the one in the original N-gauge body is too big to fit into the Skylark. However, there is a space towards the front of the boiler because the lower part of it has not been printed. I will form that from some lead, completing the barrel and providing a bit of ballast at the same time. If I can squeeze some more lead in other cavities, that will help with traction, if necessary. I will conduct some load testing once I have fitted couplings So good effort today and more episodes to come when I get time to progress things along .
Tod
Quote from: Tod Sloan on October 09, 2020, 16:34
A successful marriage of body and loco today. Both needed some fettling so that the chassis is a snug fit and doesn't need any other form of securing. I have yet to add any ballast to the body as the one in the original N-gauge body is too big to fit into the Skylark. However, there is a space towards the front of the boiler because the lower part of it has not been printed. I will form that from some lead, completing the barrel and providing a bit of ballast at the same time. If I can squeeze some more lead in other cavities, that will help with traction, if necessary. I will conduct some load testing once I have fitted couplings So good effort today and more episodes to come when I get time to progress things along .
Tod
On the short tank version I am doing using the Flischmann 0-4-0 I have removed a lot of material from the boiler and smoke box and filled it all with lead. I have also replace the chimney with a cast white metal one to add a bit more weight.