Had to halt work on the Viewliner due to the Bachmann Parts store being closed due to COVID-19. I chose a pilot truck from a 4-6-0 locomotive as the wheel trucks for the Viewliner cars, based on the wheel size and spacing. At the time, I only ordered one as a sample and intended to get more later down the road. Without those trucks, I have no way of testing to see how the articulation and clearances works when the train is moving down the track. Fortunately as of a mid-June, the store opened! Before long, I had all the trucks for both trains as well as another motor chassis for the second locomotive.

I pulled out the test track loop meant to be the benchmark for the Viewliner layout. While the curves on the eventual layout will be a little wider to make it easier for the trains, I aim to have the trains work successfully on the test loop so every bug could be worked out. As Frank Sinatra once sang "If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere"... the same applies to the Viewliner on the test track!

The first test was to see if the cars had enough clearance with each other to make the curves. I don't have the locomotive shell or the latest Car A (see previous post) so it was just 4 Car B's linked together. Because of how everything temporarily rigged, the cars will be moving backwards but the results should be the same no matter what direction the train is moving.

A lot was learned on the first test. The cars pivoted correctly on curves, but they still felt too tight and would occasionally derail because of that. Not enough "slop" tolerance for the trucks underneath to move around.  Another issue that I didn't anticipate was the locomotive being too light; the wheels would spin out at times and the chassis needed more weight for traction. Part of this issue is probably the wheels "applying the brakes" by not having enough room on the curves and rubbing against the car skirt. Not by much, just a few thousands of an inch. Even with truck clearance issue solved, the locomotive chassis still needs more weight. The cars will probably need more weight as well.

One aspect that was very successful in this test was the mounting of a .01F supercapacitor in parallel on the locomotive. The smaller you get in scale, the more of a problem dirt and dust become for power pick-up. Even though all the wheels on the locomotive pick up power, a little boost when power gets cutoff wouldn't hurt. The supercapictor makes that happen. For such a small size, it provides enough current to help smooth out any rough running due to dirty track or a wheel randomly not fully touching the rails on a micro level. Since the train doesn't need to run very fast or in reverse, a 5.5V polarized capacitor will work just fine. There is also an added bonus of the train coasting to a stop when the power is cut.

Back to the computer model, I looked for more clearance on the wheel trucks. The skirting is as thin as I can possibly make it and I didn't want to raise the entire train so the trucks can freely spin 360. I ended up just making the entire car wider, not by much, just .050". I figured it was enough to get the model to run properly without making it look odd. The difference between the wider version and the previous version is only noticeable when comparing the two side by side. I essentially split the model right down the middle, move each half from the centerline .025" and then lofted the shells back together. I did have to go back in and fix the pivot points so they weren't oval.

Wider car on the left, previous tested car on the right.

Once the new version of the cars were printed, the trucks were mounted and placed on the rails. Much better! The cars rolled around the track for hours at a time without an issue. The widening helped the trucks shift and pivot more efficiently and the car diaphragms had more clearance to prevent binding. When the permanent layout is built with wider curves, any issues I had earlier should be completely eliminated.

Here's a video of the latest test in action!

With the cars shaping up into their final functional form, attention flipped back to the locomotive. Cosmetically the locomotive is pretty much there, it's just a matter of getting the motor chassis to fit and all the extras accounted for. The test loop proved the locomotive needed more weight so a tungsten weight will be placed in the very from of the locomotive-- right where I planned to put the capacitor. I looked into putting the capacitor on the top of the chassis, occupying the cab area, but there wasn't enough room. It's not my favorite solution, but I'll have to run wires to the car behind, with capacitor mounted in the floor of Car A.

In the picture above, the green blocks represent all of the volume that needs to be subtracted from the locomotive shell. This includes the motor chassis, the weight cylinder, the windshield AND the path in and out of the shell for all those items; a common mistake in modeling everything virtually is forgetting how things move in and out of each other, even if there is plenty of space! The windshield I planned to vacuum-form the shape out of clear plastic over a buck,  but at this scale it might be easier to just print it in clear and drop it in.

With the capacitor now in the the first car, wires have to be run from the motor, through the resin shell and into the floor of Car A. While making room for everything else, I subtracted (or "difference boolean" in digital terms) a pipe that wound it's way to the back. Also in the picture above, the red block is the "path volume" that will be subtracted to allow the windshield to move in (and hopefully not out).

And here's the latest print test of the locomotive. Still lots of adjustments and details to dial in. The skirting on the bottom looks like it's broken-- that was done on purpose. Since the beginning of the project, I knew I had to machine down the fuel tank weight on the motor chassis, something that still hasn't been done. Antsy to check the fit of everything else, I snapped off what was in the way to get the motor in! Next print test I should have the block trimmed down to fit....

Work continues on the Viewliner, with the car connection integration and articulation being the main driver for the workflow. Everything seems to be working in theory and through some physical print tests, the results are falling into place. 

The articulation is by far the trickiest part of the project, keeping everything aesthetically pleasing while being practical and having the train actually negotiate the curves specified. The passenger cars had to be developed a lot further since the articulation workings will dictate the car design, potentially visually too. This was very challenging, keeping track of pivot points, trucks centers, car clearances and keeping a close eye on material thickness. 

While the Viewliner at a glance may seem like "a locomotive and passenger cars" the miniature version has a couple different model designs that make up the train:

• Locomotive
• Car A (peg coupling into back of locomotive)
• Car B (hidden peg coupling between cars
• Car C (same as Car B, just with "Observation car" detail on the end)

Locomotive, Car A and Car B

The connection between the locomotive and Car A is unique to the rest of the train because of the motor block issue; if it wasn't there, the connecting point would have been hidden in the diaphragms like the rest of the cars. Here the connection works as a peg from Car A resting into a pocket on the back of the locomotive.

And here it is in practice; I'm printing prototypes on my own machine to dial in details and make corrections in the files on the fly. 

The recessed area for the trucks on the passenger cars took some time to work out. By about the 4th physical print test everything seemed to shape up and function correctly. I'm relying heavily on slop tolerance in the trucks to help negotiate the curves. Won't really know until it's running on the test track. 

I'm quite pleased with how the connection design for between the passenger cars worked out; there's a satisfying 'clink' when they go together!

And lastly here's a look at the prototype cars/locomotive put together on the desk. Pencil for scale. Unfortunately there's not much I can do on the car design for now; I need more trucks in order to do testing and COVID-19 has closed up the Bachmann parts store! Boo! But luckily with articulation somewhat figured out and in theory works on the physical version, more can proceed on the locomotive. 

Once of the most challenging things on the Viewliner has been how it'll negotiate curves-- more specifically, how the cars and their diaphragms between them move and have enough clearance to do so. 

The original Viewliner had an interesting set-up between the cars. While most modern passenger (and even the Disneyland Monorail) have flexible and moving diaphragms, the Viewliner's are rigid; you can see how they are a piece of sheet metal mounted to the front each passenger car, and they move within a cavity of the car in front of it. 

Photo: Gorillasdontblog

To accomplish this on the miniature was quite a challenge, especially when the model is going to be taking tighter turns than the prototype. In the picture below, you can see the diaphragms in light green intersecting into the passenger cars. This is the tightest curve designed, so if everything clears here, it should in theory work in the physical world. Based on where the wheel trucks are mounted, I took that center point and figured out where to chamfer the diaphragms based on the pivot point. This helped gain more room in the passenger cabin and keep the lengths and proportions of the cars and their windows prototypical. 

Below you can see how the diaphragm from following car (not yet seen) in grey will nestle into the previous car. The chamfered edges will mostly be hidden and may be barely seen when the train is a on a curve. 

Above is the first few phases of working out how the passenger car wheel trucks fit within. How the cars will be mounted to them is still being figured out. The light green bounding box helps figure out the clearance of the truck swiveling. These trucks are actually pilot trucks from a Bachmann N scale 4-6-0. 

While the diaphragm design seems to work for all the passengers cars, getting the transition to work between the locomotive and the first car proved to be tricky. The biggest problem here is the motor block for the locomotive actually sticks out of the body and into the cavity where the diaphragm is suppose to move within. 

The solution to this problem is to flip where the cavity goes--the first car will be the only car to have cavities on both ends. This way the diaphragm actually hides the motor block and still allows movement. The design compromise here is the first passenger window had to start a little further back than the prototype, but the car's design otherwise stays the same. A tiny change I'm willing to live with. 

Interestingly enough, most people don't notice that the passenger cars are not symmetrical! This is due to the rigid diaphragm design. 

In this photo cropping from Davelandweb, you can see the Viewliner passenger cars were not symmetrical looking from a side elevation

Top view showing how the first car (and only the first car) will have two cavities for the diaphragms from the 2nd passenger and the locomotive will protrude into.

I've been experimenting with super capacitors and how they can improve a model locomotive's performance. Think of it as a "digital flywheel". N scale locomotives have hard time with even the slightest unkept track, so experiments are underway with a 5.5V 0.1F super capacitor. I've chosen a super capacitor versus a regular one because it can hold more current for the size and size a premium on the Viewliner. The trains will never go backwards and to keep the speed realistic the voltage is kept low so this capacitor is perfect. Should provide a few seconds of coasting when the power is cut, allowing much smoother operation. 

Super capacitor hastily soldered on for testing. 

If all goes well during the testing phases with the motor under load, the capacitor will be implemented. I've already started designing the void where the capacitor will go. The nose of the Viewliner should do nicely! 

And here's an overall view to wrap up the update. The locomotive continues to get tweaks and adjustments and it continues to get closer to finishing. Figuring out the diaphragms was a big step in getting it closer! 

Well, now that it’s been exactly a year since an update, what’s new? haha

Now that life has given little more time than the rest of last year, I’ve been slowly picking at the Viewliner model. The latest change has been the motor chassis. While it is the same one, this is a non-DCC version, ordered directly from Bachmann parts so there’s less crud I have to take off and throw away. And it’s a bit cheaper. While I do lose the function of DCC in the future, it does simplify wiring within the loco and removes the bulky circuit board that has messed with the proportions of the locomotive body size. 

With the absence of the circuit board I can drop the body lower and “un-squish” it vertically which had to be done with the previous iteration. The body shell can also drop back to it's intended height, which use to be higher with the circuit board clearance. 

Car articulation has been a tricky one, especially at a small scale with tight curves. Slowly getting things worked out with the diaphragms between them. Like the prototype, the diaphragms are rigid and mounted to the front of each car and protrude into a cavity in the first car. Since I will have tighter curves than the prototype, there will be some gapping issues which I will accept since the scale is tiny. One challenging aspect of this also is the fact that the diaphragm for the first car juts into the back of the locomotive. Unfortunately for the model version, the motor block goes right to the back of the body shell, which will need to be adjusted. The proportions may change to accommodate the clearance of the first car into the locomotive. 

The layout itself has been in the planning phases since the beginning of the locomotive modeling. I've done close to 30 versions of different orientations and sizes, as well as different features. This is an [b]"inspired"[/b] Viewliner layout, which has the best elements, but not totally accurate to the real thing. Just aiming for a neat little loop of track to run the trains on that has the same feel of 50's Tomorrowland (and I guess Fantasyland too!). 

There was a criteria I had to follow for designing the layout; learning from the hassle of trying to wrestle my Nature's Wonderland model every time I moved it, the Viewliner model has to be extremely light and compact. My hatchback can nicely accommodate material 3' X 5' so that would be nice size should I want to take it on the go with me. I have to make sure all curves are not tighter than 7.5" radius. The controls will be discreet and compact, also unlike my Nature's Wonderland model.  For design elements to be featured on model, I wanted ones that stood out to me the most--some very obscure and specific-- including but not limited to:

-- Both stations with awnings and platforms full length to accommodate the trains
-- Room for Tomorrowland lake on both sides of the Tomorrowland trestle. 
-- Barren Tomorrowland hills with hints of Autopia track. 
-- "Parallel moment" when both tracks run close to each other, and perhaps the a section of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad! 
--  Portions of the Motorboat Cruise

Haven't landed on a version yet as there is still lots of fussing with the curves, spacing and a number of other features, but this one is a close contender:

To wrap up, here's a new render of the body shell. 

Got the first print sample today, first step into translating the Viewliner into the real world! This version of the model is a little old, since it was a couple versions back from what I posted earlier today. Gives a pretty good insight into what it actually looks like in 3 dimensions; some details I obsessed about are hardly seen and others overlooked need more attention or exaggeration. This is something a lot of people don't understand about 3D printing: Your model is not exactly perfect in the computer since the computer screens basically lie to you with false lighting and perspective. You're still looking at a 2D picture on a screen, not in stereo in person. It's not until it's in the real world you can fully understand what your model actually looks like.

This model is printed in Shapeway's "Frosted Ultra Detail" which looks quite good at a glance. I hit it with some primer after cleaning it just to see the surface and form better. This is primarily a test to look at the form and make and changes. The next test print will be to see how well it fits around the motor chassis. That will probably done in the company's "Frosted Ultra Detail Extreme) which prints in finer layers than shown here. That will help with the visible build lines, which at this stage could be taken out by sanding anyways.

Went back and remeasured the power chassis model and had a few dimensions that were off in the computer model. Off enough to mess up the sizing and proportions of the overall model. Turns out I need to make the Viewliner model smaller than what I had originally, keeping the truck centers on the Viewliner and the Bachmann motor block the same distance.  Unfortunately that caused a couple problems when I scaled down the Viewliner model.

Here you can see the Viewliner model over the red stand-in for the motor chassis. The red motor frame is busting through the model shell in some very inconvenient points. I already knew I had to modify the fuel tank weight on the frame, but the circuit board on top punching through the roof doesn't look very nice. Not only that, the shell would be extremely thin because it's so close.

Although the model would be the right scale in proportion to the 9mm track, it isn't very practical, so I had to pinch myself and fudge the accuracy enough to make the model work.

I started by stretching the model vertically slightly, then enlarging the overall scale, and finally lifting the shell so it will actually ride a little bit higher. The goal is to get the circuit board on top of the motor to sit underneath the interior roof of the shell (colored in blue). The shell was also pushed backwards so the circuit board corners where moved into the higher part of the sloped roof.

The overall enlargement was about 10% larger than what is proportional to the track. Not too bad. What I did lose in accuracy the most is the wheel placement. I'm hoping I can hide the spacing difference with the truck cover plates, keeping their proper placement-- even though the wheels are not where they should be. The front truck pivots are lined up, but the back truck did not fair so well.  Luckily the wheels will be painted black and in this scale-- with the model at only 2.85" long at this point--shouldn't be too noticeable that the wheels are in the wrong spots.

Here's a 3/4 view of it ghosted...

Designing this model has been like designing a Hot Wheel or Matchbox car; since the scale is so small, you have to beef up areas that wouldn't survive the manufacturing process. The window frames and side mirrors are good examples of that. Quite a challenge but kinda fun!

Also, the headlight and Mars light is in! Non-functional at this scale!

Modeled a crude version of the motor chassis that will be underneath the Viewliner's shell. This will help when it comes to designing the skirting around the trucks. 

The model gives me a good idea of how the motor will sit inside and what needs to be adjusted. 

So far looks like the fuel tank weight will need to be machined, milled down on the edges to fit the shell. At the time these screenshots were taken, there was a circuit board on top I forgot to add. That seems to be poking through the roof on it's edges, so there might be some squashing and stretching of the shell to make things fit. Maybe even have the shell ride a a few thousands of an inch higher.  Just enough no one will notice, other than me. The end of the motor chassis peeks out at the end, but that will be hidden by the diaphragms that go between each car (which will be rigid, attached to the leading car in this model)

Turns out the Viewliner locomotive has a taper from back to front! So many little intricacies you don't notice until you really study the train. This is most prominently seen when looking at the edge of the station platform. 

Side windows have been punched throw, just need to get a strategy for the front. Thinking of printing a buck with a plastic thickness offset, and then vacuum forming the actual windshield. Aluminum side paneling is in, awaiting integration with the motor chassis trucks.

(In response to a comment: "Are you sure the wheelbase on the Bachman engine block is accurate for the Viewliner? The trucks just seem like they're really close together" )

When choosing a motor chassis and scale, I was mostly concerned with the truck spacing, since I based my scaling off of that. The Bachmann was also the smallest motor block I could find that had the best truck spacing. If I based the scaling off the wheel spacing and size, you are correct, the spacing is a little close. As long as I split the difference, I'm ok with the wheel spacing since this locomotive will only be 2.5" long and such differences will be hard to see that small.

Since the wheels are hidden pretty well with the cover plates and skirt plates on the prototype, I could probably cheat the look while keeping everything as accurate as possible. Probably could hide the bigger wheels and longer trucks as long as there's enough turning clearance for the flanges and skirts. Kinda did the same technique with Nature's Wonderland tenders in On30, hid them in the frame as much as possible despite being larger.

I originally looked at a KATO F7 unit which had perfect wheel diameter, truck length, and spacing for the trucks and wheels. The caveat of that is having to make the train larger in scale because of the motor block size and the train couldn't make the curves because of the car articulation (trying to keep the curves under 18" diameter).

Pardon the crappy photo, I literally put the chassis on the scanner glass! Drawing is a photo from a Van Eaton auction listing.

More curve tweaks and finished the bezel for the windshield, one of the hardest areas to model. Since the Viewliner is a 56/57 Oldsmobile sliced in half, middle section reduced, and then welded back together, I've been using old car photos as reference for the window areas. Punching out the side windows is next.