Rail Taxi - Inspired by Juergen

[Geeky Gecko]

Some drawings of a planned rail taxi. It is believed the designer may have recently visited Kraehwinkel.


The first is of the left hand side and will be laminated from cereal packet card. The right hand side is a mirror image. The drivers cab door can be deleted from one side if required.
The second is of the front. The rear and the bulkhead are the same without the windows

[Geeky Gecko]

Here is the right hand side laminations being cut out:



When cutting out use a sharp blade on a firm surface, with the ruler over the piece you require whenever possible so if the blade wanders you only damage the waste. Keep the blade vertical (side to side) and don't apply too much pressure, and do three or four cuts. When cutting internal corners (windows) start with the point of the blade in the corner and cut away from the corner to a point just over half way.

I have in the past had some problems with bonding the glossy surfaces of some packets, so here I am scraping the top surface of the card to provide a key for the adhesive:



When gluing the layers together, I apply adhesive to both layers. This gives more consistent bonding and allows the layers to be aligned by sliding.

Here are two of the three layers showing the recess formed for the windows:



Here are both sides assembled:



The ends and bulkhead will be made in a similar fashion.

[Tomo]

I use a 180# Sandpaper when playing around with gluing packet card to scruff up the printed side...

I'm following this project with interest.

[Geeky Gecko]

Yes, Tomo, I too use sandpaper sometimes but I can never seem to find any when I want it. Another alternative is to carefully peel the layer away.
I altered the ends to have a more traditional curved roof:

[Tomo]

Yes, Tomo, I too use sandpaper sometimes but I can never seem to find any when I want it.

Ditto... that's why I keep cheap nail file/nail buffers sticks in reach on my workstation!

[Geeky Gecko]

Here the body is being assembled:

The rule is being used as a square. I joined 1 end to 1 side and repeated this with the other two pieces. The two 'L' shaped halves are left to dry for a while before joining together.
PVA adhesive is used throughout, usually being applied neat in thin layers to both parts.

The recesses for the 'glazing' can be seen.


The 3 layers that make up the sides can be seen at the butt joint. I usually
chamfer the 2 pieces to be joined so the layered construction is hidden.

Now for the chassis section. I'm trying to use materials that can be found freely when possible. Attaching card to the Hornby chassis could potentially cause problems. This is the method I'm trying:






The original clips are being used, although the i-tunes card is thinner than the Hornby body or footplate.

The i-tunes card is sandwiched between layers of card:







This assembly will fit tightly inside the base of the body.
Here is the floor with side plates and headstocks attatched. Spot the mistake:





The clearance between the bottom of edges and the rail is about 0.5 mm. I've realised that I forgot to take any photos of the construction of this sub assembly so I will repeat it with more clearance.
(Ignore the date on the photos, the camera is not set correctly.)

[Geeky Gecko]

Here are the the new footplate (from below) and the headstocks (from behind) with dimensions:


Here are the sideplates being glued to the headstocks, checking the tops are flush, and they are square. The small rule is being used to push the sideplate tight against the headstock rear layer:







The headstock/sideplate assemblies are L-shaped and identical before being joined into a rectangle.
I forgot to mention that I have marked the locations for the suspension assemblies on the sideplates before construction.

[Geeky Gecko]

I have modelled some reinforcing brackets on the frames:



I embossed some rivets by pressing with a probe on the rear face with the piece on a piece of card. To get a sharp folded corner I scribed a line with a blunt probe on the front face with the piece on a hard surface. This crushes the card without embossing the rear. On the rear I scribed with a knife:



I have glued a second strip of card on the inside of the sideplates. Here is the frame on a mirror to ensure everything is flat:




Here is the frame placed on the Hornby chassis:



Instead of using the original clips to hold the new body on the chassis. it would be possible to use two small screws through the headstocks into the ends of the chassis.

[Tomo]

Excellent coverage of your current project!! Thank you for the details!

[Geeky Gecko]

Thanks, Tomo, I started the project to try and assist a new, young member who had requested help.
Here is a view of what it looks like so far:



This is he bulkhead between driver and passengers with the size of the cutout needed to clear the motor:



Here bench seats are fitted (my driver will face forward):

[Mark Goodwin]

Stefan,

Thank you for this article and I will be looking into using card for models in the future. Your work is inspirational and I can't wait to see the finished model.
Cheers,
Mark

[Eee Gee]

Really excellent tutorial. Great pictures and craftsmanship. I think I will be able to apply a lot of what you are teaching to my future projects.

Thanks,
EeeGee

[Geeky Gecko]

Thankyou Mark and EeeGee. Perhaps you or anyone else would care to give some feedback on the following pictures. I have made an bearing boxes and suspension assembly(not finished) and temporarily placed it in position. My questions are; does it look right, is it in proportion? Is the spring too small? Is the bearing box too large?

[Artizen]

The spring and axlebox look in proportion to me. I assume the pinhole is the second axle and it looks like the springs will almost touch in the middle. Which is a good thing.

[WaterleyShunter]

Thanks for this tutorial. It has inspired me to try making locos and stock from card again, now that I know what I was doing wrong in my attempts, principally using only single layers of card for most components.

The railcar reminds me of Peter Barnfield's creations. Might it be similarly finished, with scruffy paint, the roof overloaded with luggage, and a kettle balanced on the radiator?

[Kevin]

The spring and axle box look very good to me.

The card you have used looks very similar to thick packaging that I have salvaged from stationery supplies. I've just bought 2 Hornby 0-4-0's to add to the 2 I already have.

Your card / plasticard sandwich has helped me enormously in deciding how I am going to use these chassis and attach them to scratch built bodies.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Geeky Gecko]

Daffyd, the inspiration is here:http://www.minimumgauge.info/viewtopic.php?t=9071
Kevin, the card used so far is from cereal packets and is about 0.5mm thick. I have started peeling the outer, printed layer from the card to ensure a good bond with pva adhesive.

[Artizen]

You could also use a combination of superglue and PVA to grab two sheets of card. If the cereal box originally had aqueous varnish then you need to use something better than PVA for grip. Getting rid of the print layer can also be achieved by changing the method of construction so the printed side is to the outside of the two layers. You will be painting over all the fancy graphics later anyway and etch primer will allow for any paint type to be used after that (such as acrylics with a spray gun).

[Geeky Gecko]

I have left the outer layer to be painted in some cases previously, Ian, to get a smooth high gloss finish, but in this case especially I was trying to reduce the amount of different types of material required with a view to keeping costs low, and I wasn't after that sort of surface finish.

This shows the bearing boxes in various stages of construction:



The method of construction should be fairly obvious I hope.
The next stage:



I usually paint pieces with a dilute (50:50) coat of pva before painting. It helps to protect the ends and corners from damage while handling.
The construction of the leaf springs:



Ignore the pencil markings. The leaves are 32mm, 24mm, and 16mm long in this case. The leaves are straight because of space constraints. The spring locating brackets on the right need the fold line to be indented on the rear before folding. I used a screw driver pressed down hard with the piece on a hard surface. These assemblies will be painted separately before joining, but first the spring mountings need to be constructed.

[Tomo]

Instructional as always!

[Geeky Gecko]

Some detailing on the bearing boxes:



The tool at the top is the probe I use for scribing and embossing the bolt/rivet heads. At the bottom is a length of brass tube (2,5 mm) with one end sharpened with a round file used for cutting holes or discs of card. The pin is used to apply pressure on the tube with a thumb.



One of the springs:



The cylinders on the springs are made from rolled paper. A strip of printer paper 5 mm wide is used:



The screwdriver is 1 mm diameter. In this case I want to remove the cylinder of paper from the screwdriver used as a former (obviously), so start by rolling the paper 1 turn round the screwdriver then apply pva before rolling further turns repeating until the required diameter is achieved (2 mm).





Instead of cutting the strip of paper at the required length, place the back of the knife blade on the paper and tear the paper. This results in a less obvious ending on the surface. Fill the ends of the cylinder with pva.

[Geeky Gecko]

Here is the progress so far. The suspension and bearings have been painted and fixed to the chassis and the body exterior has been painted:



The construction of the roof was achieved by cutting two pieces of card. The larger piece is the outer layer and is cut the full size of the roof making sure it will overhang any timber framework to be fitted. The smaller piece is cut to fit inside the body after it is curved. Coat both sides of both pieces with dilute (50:50) pva and leave to dry fully. Each piece should then be curved by placing them on a soft surface (eg a folded blanket on a table) and then roll a pencil repeatedly across the inner surface with firm hand pressure. This will cause the card to curve. It may be necessary to use thicker soft surface to achieve the required curve:



When both pieces are curved to the required shape:


glue together using neat pva:

[Geeky Gecko]

I realised I have neglected to post this:


This shows the front end of the vehicle with strips of very thin card embossed with rivet heads to hint at the prototypes method of construction.

[Tomo]

Bravo! To see this work is very encouraging to me and my choice of building materials.

[demaine22]

Such beautiful work! Card appears to be a very fun medium to work in!