3D Printed Model Tasmanian
DQ Class locomotives
About the DQs
The DQ class are 16 former Queensland Rail 1460 and 1502 class locomotives rebuilt in New Zealand as a stop gap measure between 1995 and 1997.
12 of them were sold to Tasrail in 1998 and entered service between January and November 1999 being numbered 2001-2012.
Liverys where a bright red and orange with green lettering and all white handrails (2001-2002) and Wisconsin Central Maroon and Yellow with white and some red handrails(2003-2012)
Despite not being overly powerful they have been used all over the state including the now closed North West line to Wiltshire Junction and North East Line to Tonganah. Theyre main use however was on the pool roster hauling the high profile freight trains such as the Hobart to Burnie Intermodal trains (35-36) and the Paper Train from Boyer to Burnie (31-32), in this duty they ran alongside the D,ZP,ZR and MKA class locomotives during the time period from 1999-2014. The remaining four DQs in New Zealand were intended to be used in Tasmania also but with the impending sale of ATN to Pacific National in early 2004 ended the chance of this happening.
With the new TR class locomotives arriving in 2014 from America, five of the class were withdrawn from traffic (2003,2004,2005,2007,2008) requiring heavy overhauls to get going again.
A domain of the DQ class since 2002 has been the former Emu Bay Railway line from Burnie to Melba Flats on the west coast, hauling Iron Ore concentrates. Because of the large wheel base of the TR class engines 7 DQs have been retained in service to cover this service with four on this service and another 3 either covering loco shortages, cement trains or in for maintenance. DQ 2008 was brought back in traffic in 2017 to make 4 locomotives on the Melba Line possible with the available DQs and as of October 2022 DQ 2004 is also now being reactivated.
Despite not being overly successful in Tasmania they are the only class remaining of the pool of locos that kept Tasrail afloat during the changing times of the 2000s and are still earning there keep today.
Photo by Toby Rowallan taken in 1999
The 3D Printed DQ class Models
Ever since I was really young I have been a massive fan of Tasmanian Diesel locomotives, especially in the time period 1998-2006 and I have always wanted to have my own models of locomotives from that time period especially the DQ class.
Unfortunately the chances of having ready to run locomotives in HOn3.5 was pretty low until incredibly recently, so people started making 3D printed models.
The opportunity presented itself for me to do my own 3D prints in early 2022 when i found out about the 3D printing class at Croydon Community school.
The first locomotive to be printed was a TT scale(1:120) DQ class which was printed and supports removed on the 24th of March 2022. The idea was then brought about to make one in HO scale (1:87) and on the night of April 5-6 Michael Taylor the 3D printing teacher pressed print on the first HO scale DQ class
Once it was printed we painted a layer of undercoat before storing it at my house during the holidays. when we returned to school in late April I painted the body and numbered the loco 2005. A few weeks later a friend of mine printed a Resin DQ class which I painted in the same colours and numbered 2003 during the middle of May.
At this point I decided to go to a scale much easier to detail, be able to run it on track I already have easy access to and able to make it battery operated. This is 1:24 scale, a very popular size for 3' 6" gauge modellers, running on 45mm or G gauge track. To make this we would have to print the body in 7 sections, each section taking 24 hours minimum, with one section taking 42 hours. After a lot of
trial and error all 7 sections were finished by mid September 2022.
With one day to spare before term 3 exhibitions the locomotive body was glued together finally looking like a proper DQ.
At the start of October when we returned to school, sanding of the body began which showed a serious issue the superglue we used was incredibly week especially on the parts that were holding up the body and while sanding both the end parts came apart. We decided to make stengtheners using 3d print panels which are incredibly strong.
During this time 3D printed couplers were assembled and fitted as well made by Alexander Jamison of the Eltham South Electric Tramway. Alexander also designed the bogie side frames while Michael and I designed the main frames, including the base plates that the was not only going to hold the bogies and fuel tank but also connect to the body itself with the added ability of fitting a power unit and traction motors in the future as there is room in the body for a motor, radio control systems and lighting.
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On the evening of Thursday October 20 I moved the body and one bogie home for sanding and painting. Supplies were bought on the afternoon of the 23rd and sanding began that evening. The one down side of printing such a big loco in 7 sections is when the locomotive was glued together and in 1 piece is that the gaps are very clear. So to make them non existent some Tamiya model filler was used to fill the gaps, and once they had set it was able to be sanded to a smooth surface. This took a little longer than planned to get perfect but after a week of filling and sanding it was finally ready for painting on Sunday October 30. First coat was Yellow on everything except the frame and running boards which got masked up. A second coat of Yellow was done later that evening. Next day the stripe that goes the length of the locomotive was masked up with tape. This was probably the most tedious job of the whole process as the whole thing had to be perfectly straight and be 20mm wide. After 5 hours of working on it the locomotive was ready for Cherry Red. The afternoon was spent doing 2 coats of red at 2 hour intervals.
At about 6pm on Monday 31 October while the neighbourhood was doing Trick or Treat, the locomotive finally showed its true colours of the ATN days of Tasrail as I removed the tape for the stripe, and the underframe as well. Next day (Melbourne Cup Day) I covered the top half of the locomotive in newpaper then did the underframe and running board in gloss black to make it pop.
Finally the locomotive returned to school on Wednesday November 2 to begin detailing and final assembly. The wheels and axles for the dummy bogies were fitted during this time.
As of November 3 the locomotive detailing has begun with testing of the locomotive to begin this weekend minus the fuel tank which will not be ready for the weekend.
More updates to come!
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