Double ended plow

I first saw a wooden version of this about 2 years ago at the PA RR museum in Lancaster county PA. Really neat to see in all wood. Also very dangerous as the description said it was not uncommon for obstructions in the track to derail the plow or come right through the wooden structure.

Stumbled upon the top image of an all metal version and felt I had to make this one. The predrilled holes and hand/foot rung treads came out pretty good. But sorry, this will never be for sale at Shapeways. Even though it had no problems printing, I made the hand rails .3 mm by the old rules so I had to print it using the “print it anyway” option that is not available to the buying public. They would have to be .6mm to pass and sell in which case they would look ridiculously out of scale and the predrilled holes would take up to much space… But the version at the bottom with no hand/foot rung treads is available here: www.shapeways.com/model/1879726/double-plow-04-18-14b.html?materialId=61. It’s a little pricy for the size but that’s because I had to leave a lot of material behind to support the plows. But it is hollow with lots of room to add ballast. I was able to add tungsten putty to get the weight up to .5 OZ and still enough room for a lot more. So it rolls nicely and stays on the track with no problems while being pushed. Couplers also lined up perfectly. They screw in form the top.

Jon,
I think they look really good! best I seen from shapeways they are getting a little better on cleaning and the printer lines. I have had some problems with the printer line and sanding some areas you will remove some of the detail which doesn't help the model. But I'm still learning the in and outs of shapeways. But the Double ended plow turned out really great even the foot treads my last model the DE Ohio crane they must have broken the handrail off by placing both models in the same bag when shipping. So the hand rail where in the bag on the two models only. One had one hand rail still on it. So nice job!

Thanks Walt, glad you like it!. This one still required a lot of finishing work to.... I use a model making trick I learned a long time ago when finishing acrylic, ABS and other types of plastics is to scrape the plastic with a harder material. I use the exacto chisel blades. I also grind one side down to make a really narrow chisel to scrape in between small details. Works a lot better than sand paper. But for large flat surfaces like the sides of this plow, sand paper works the best.