HO scale narrow gauge 25 foot cars

I'm planning on producing some of the rolling stock of the Ohio River & Western Railway, a 3 foot gauge railroad.They are suitable for both HOn30 and HOn3, there will be versions for both gauges.They are designed to sit on my trucks, available for both gauges.
The first one available is a flatcar, with or without stakes.
Here are the two versions with stakes,fitted with the appropriate trucks and couplers.


To weight the model I glued some strips of lead between the sills.I used EZ line to make the truss rods.


This is the HOn30 version, painted and fitted with micro-trains 1015 couplers.


There are two small supports for the handbrake wheel at one end.They need to be drilled out to accommodate whatever you use, I used some 0.4mm dia. brass rod.The finished model:


Coming next,gondolas.

I have updated the design, as part of the queen-post was too thin and fell foul of the thin walls rule.At least one order was rejected because of this.
The new version 'should' be ok.Apologies if you have been affected by this.There is a degree of uncertainty about detail parts and minimum wall thickness.

The gondolas are now available.The same build method applies to them.
I'll post photos of a finished one later, when I've finished it!

Some photos of finished gondolas.

HOn30 4 plank:


HOn30 2 plank:


HOn3 2 plank:


The underside is the same as the flatcar.

Coming next, boxcars.

A pipe gondola is now available.This is based on the 4 plank gondola, with the end planks removed.The handbrake wheel is moved to the side to make room for a long load.The supports for the handbrake assembly need to be drilled out, as indicated by the arrows below.



The finished model.

Boxcars.
My first design is with integral roof and roofwalk.The floor is a separate part, attached to the body by 4 bits of sprue.Take care to not damage the stirrups when separating them.
The floor has 4 notches in it near the ends for the truss rods.I used a loop made from EZ Line, about 5 inches long.
The handbrake assembly passes through the platform and lower support at one end (arrowed).
Weight can be added onto the top of the floor before final assembly.



Assembled:


I was not entirely happy with the test prints.The layering (stepping) was quite evident on the roof.This effect will of course vary with print orientation.
By painting and sanding I was able to achieve a smooth finish.To avoid this I've designed a version without a roof.Plastic card (styrene sheet) is used instead for the roof.You will need a piece 27x89 mm, scored down the middle.This also works out cheaper.The floor is integral with the body in this version, with holes for the truss rods.The roofwalk is attached to the body by some bits of sprue.
I have not test printed this design yet, but in theory it should work ok.

I've added another gondola, with a body only 1 plank high.Assembly method is the same as the other gondolas.



The test print suffered broken stirrups, which I replaced with metal rod.To try to prevent this happening again I have added some support material, which will need to be removed during assembly.

Maintenance of Way boxcars.
These are modified from ordinary boxcars.They have four windows added.Type A retains the original sliding doors.Type B has replaced this with new inset doors.
These pictures of the raw prints show how the roofwalk comes attached to the body.This must be removed before assembly.





Assembly method is the same as the other boxcars, except you will need some glazing material for the windows.
Finished models:

I've now added a caboose at last.HOn3 and HOn30 versions, same body, different chassis.
The body and chassis are linked together for printing by some small linking pieces.Cut through these to separate them, inside you will find the roofwalks.
There are no queenposts, but there are guides and holes for the truss-rods.



I've not got very far with this yet, the ladder is just a suggestion for the end.It needs lots of handrails and a handbrake wheel.
Note, on this prototype model the chassis was slightly too short, hence the cut-outs in the body sides.This has been corrected now.

See the next post for more useful info, the chassis is the same.

Baggage Car (developed from the caboose).
The model is printed with the body and chassis joined by some fine links.


Cut and remove these links and clean up the remaining parts.


There are 4 small holes in the floor to help with the truss-rods.
Here I have used E Z line, the ends are glued to the floor.



There are mounting points at each end for a brake wheel.


The body clips onto the chassis.

The new ( to me ) design rule about minimum wire size is affecting most of these models. It's going to take me some time to work through them and modify them. Until then there is no guarantee that any of them will print , even though they have done in the past.

edit : I think I've done them all , so they should be ok now. I've taken a few models off sale as I don't think it's worth modifying them.

I'm upgrading the brake gear on these. The brake parts are now separate parts, giving the option of either air, vacuum or no automatic brake.
Below is the Reefer body, which has the parts printed inside.


The parts removed and painted.


Both parts fitted to the underframe in their correct positions relative to the brake platform. Only one of these would be fitted.


Close up of the parts.


These parts will also be available separately in FUD.

UPDATE.
I'm making changes to the chassis of the freight cars, to protect some fragile parts and reduce the price slightly.
The things you need to know about are:
1. When the airbrake is attached to the underside, it is in a slightly different position.
2. The stirrups have a support frame added.

This means a bit more work is needed to finish the model. In the picture below you will need to remove the red parts.


On the boxcars the roofwalks will be horizontal rather than vertical.
Flatcars with stakes have thicker stakes than originally, plus supporting frames.

At last a new model. This is a MOW work car (type C).

This is the model as it comes.

The brake parts (air and vacuum) are inside the body. The roofwalk is attached to the floor of the open part.

This shows the parts separated and cleaned up.

You have a choice of air,vacuum or no automatic brake. See previous posts on how to use these parts.

Here the truss-rods have been formed using some EZline.

The build continues.
Body painted, Lead weight and glazing added inside the body.


A roof for the body, made from some styrene sheet, in this case planked.


Trucks (from my range) added, airbrake fitted. The couplers are Microtrains 1015.


Roofwalk fitted to the now painted roof. Handrake wheel made from brass.


The open part of the car can be customised or used any way you like.

What color paint are you using in these photos? The red rust color?

I think I used Revell Brick red (acrylic).

I know this is an old thread, but would it be possible to get some of these wagons in FUD rather than the White Natural Versatile Plastic?

It would take quite a while to go through all of these and enable FUD (or whatever it is called now). It would help if you could tell me which ones you are after (gauge, type etc) and I could start with those.

I've had a look and as far as I can tell FUD (now called Fine Detail Plastic) is enabled on all of these.