[OcTRAINber 2022 - Moc] - FS Vnx806.200 in 1:87 scale

[Paperinik77pk]

Hi all!!!

Some days ago, back from holidays, I found here on EB that the new OcTRAINber contest has been started earlier!!! Well, I was expecting it in October, so I was a bit "unprepared"!!! 

Topic is particularly interesting , but it's difficult to immediately figure out what to prepare. I was quite lucky, since during the holidays, I had the the opportunity to spot a special hystoric train on the Ceva-Ormea line, in Piedmont. This line was literally the last one adopting the three-phases alternate current "Italian" system, and was converted to diesel-only in 1973. Therefore, being unusable on the new DC system, all the old locomotives were scrapped, or abandoned...or in one specific case...CONVERTED.

Here's a specific page (in Italian - but can be translated by the browser), showing the Ceva Ormea in its electric and diesel era. As you can see,the AC system required two overhead wires. 

http://www.stagniweb.it/foto6.asp?File=l_aln2&Inizio=26&Righe=10&InizioI=1&RigheI=50&Col=5

Among all the AC locomotives, the FS E.550 was the smallest electric "three-phases" locomotive of the whole lot. A small wonder that allowed to pull trains on the terrible Giovi line, which was a real pain for steam locomotives. The AC system was affordable, easy to use, reliable, and smooth. The only problem was related to the fixed speeds (25,50,75, and the top limit of 100  Km/h) , which declared the end of the AC and the adoption of the still used DC system (started with the glorious E.626)

The E.550 is only 9.5 meters long, has 5 axles (central one with plain wheels, the outer axles have a lateral movement of 20mm), so it's a pretty agile locomotive. I sincerely DO NOT KNOW if it has ever been used on the Ceva-Ormea line.

 

Now that we've introduced the E.550, let's forget about it for a moment,and let's move again to the Ceva-Ormea line - to be precise to Ceva Station, which is near to my holidays house.

Back in the late 80s, my dad used to travel from Genova to Ceva during summer months, staying in our house for weekends. Therefore, on fridays my mom and me used to wait him at Ceva station. This station has a backyard with some dead tracks, which at the time were full of old stuff and easily accessible, since it was near the car parking. In this yard I could see a lot of things - an old shunter, some wagons, a tender... and THAT thing !

For more info, look here - the first photo is clearly depicting what I used to see back in the days:

http://www.stagniweb.it/foto6.asp?File=trifase2&Inizio=27&Righe=10&InizioI=1&RigheI=100&Col=5

At the time I tought it was an old, odd diesel snowplow, resembling me a...slug.  Then a very nice man working at the station explained me that it once WAS a locomotive and then it was converted to a dummy unit, needing another locomotive to push it. It's marked as VNX 806.200, and it's basically an E.550 without motor,rods,electrical equipment...and with a big snow plow mounted frontally. It was used to clean the Ceva-Ormea line and was permanently assigned (and parked) in Ceva station.

I saw a restored VNX at the Savigliano's museum, but it was another unit (VNX 806.221). The 806.200 is currently parked in another station near Turin (I hope waiting for a full restore).

 

This is what I want to propose this year for OcTRAINber contest, and I can tell you it will be in 1:87 (4-wide) and will be a display only model. There will be also an E.550, so I can show the BEFORE and AFTER together (in a pretty limited space!)

See you in the next days!!! 

Davide

Edited September 8, 2022 by Paperinik77pk

[XG BC]

nice! and even adding a twist by making it 4-wide!

[Hod Carrier]

Ooo!! 4 wide. That’s a fantastic idea. I do like a nice sub-scale build. I look forward to seeing this one come to life. 

[Feuer Zug]

Nice choice in both subject and size.

[Paperinik77pk]

 

Time to show something! 

During my visit to Savigliano's Museum (not so far from the Ceva-Ormea line) in 2018, I had the opportunity to take a photo of the vNX 806.221 just restored. 

This one is a bit different from the 806.200 I want to reproduce, but it is always useful to get an idea on some details. 

As you can see, it's a stripped-down, demotorized E.550. The snowplow is surely aggressive, but the lack of rods, the small wheels  and those headlights make me think to a big snail hiding behind some sort of shield (and taking a look around from time to time with her eyes).  I love this thing...

Back to details...

• No headlights on its rear nose, they are unuseful since this thing can only work if pushed.
• the only headlights are in the front (slug eyes) and in the 806.200 there's also a central headlight immediately under the roof.
• grills were mantained in the rear hood (probably also in the front one, but I don't know sincerely.
• obviously no motor and no pantographs, but the basic shape of the roof is the same (featuring a smokestack since there was an heater mounted inside the cabin).
• red wheels with white border, in the 806.200 the wheels were painted in a black-ish color. Let's see what is better between red and black 
• black painted chassis and side ladders, in the 806.200 the chassis is brown and the ladder is recalling the body color.
• side writings and snow plow stripes are similar, but a bit different on the 806.200.

Update: Thanks to Maurizio Boi (thanks thanks thanks!!!) I can share two photos of "my prototype", the 806.200: this is exactly what I saw on the station's backyard 

End of update!!!

 

Now let's take a look to the E.550, since it will be the first one to be reproduced.

I would like to create a "2 in 1" set, with all the parts to recreate the E.550 (in this case, the E.550.030 conserved at the Science and Technology Museum in Milan) and then, to CONVERT it into the vNX. This will be achieved with a modular approach, dividing the locomotive in parts that are then modified to convert the locomotive into the snowplow vehicle.

• two hoods, one is plain, the other one has a sort of protruding trap door (also present in the vNX). Both have grilles, but in a different shape.
• ladders on both sides of the chassis
• connecting rods
• two buffer beams
• two...things...whatever they are (you can see them near the ladders)
• a five-axles chassis
• a reservoir
• a roof to support the pantographs
• a double pantograph
• internal cabin structure supporting the two sides
• sides of the cabin with specific lettering.

I am preparing all the renderings, so I can explain how it will work.

See you later! 

Davide

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Paperinik77pk
I added two photos!

[Paperinik77pk]

And here's the first render, with all needed part to recreate the two vehicles:

Some parts are in common, some are in other colors, some are completely different. Looking better at the photos of the vNX806.200 I think I should consider the small black wheels also.

The chassis is pretty straightforward - it's 6mm longer than 1:87 exact scale, but  don't tell anyone! Rods are moved as if they are in lateral position, otherwise, the ladder won't fit properly. In any case , the ladder would have covered that part of the rod.

Then, let's add body components , supported by the central part in black.

Next, we attach the small frontal detail (which will become the central headlight in the vNX). Pity there's no double 1x1 slope in dark tan, I'll try BB, but in case it will remain as it is.

Doors are without windows, since I did not like the effect of transparent 1x1 slopes. I will show that solution later, but the plain door looks better in my opinion.

Finally, the roof and the big, red pantographs...

....and we've completed the little E.550! 

Stickers are still missing, but I'm working on them! 

Ciao!

Davide

Edited September 13, 2022 by Paperinik77pk

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Stickers are still missing

There is no need, whatsoever, for stickers.

Just let the bricks and plates play out their capabilities and creating imagination.

Man. 4 wide - and then this beautiful engine materializes - created by you. In credible - and for me - incomprehensible. Just a glimpse on the brick-built model (as interpreted by Kraftwerk: "Sie ist ein Modell - und sie sieht schön aus ...") just beams you to the locations, where E.550 was on duty - as you said "A small wonder that allowed to pull trains on the terrible Giovi line, which was a real pain for steam locomotives."

Wonderful.

Thank you very much for sharing.

All the best,
Thorsten

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Toastie

[Paperinik77pk]

On 9/13/2022 at 12:45 AM, Toastie said:

There is no need, whatsoever, for stickers.

Just let the bricks and plates play out their capabilities and creating imagination.

Man. 4 wide - and then this beautiful engine materializes - created by you. In credible - and for me - incomprehensible. Just a glimpse on the brick-built model (as interpreted by Kraftwerk: "Sie ist ein Modell - und sie sieht schön aus ...") just beams you to the locations, where E.550 was on duty - as you said "A small wonder that allowed to pull trains on the terrible Giovi line, which was a real pain for steam locomotives."

Wonderful.

Thank you very much for sharing.

All the best,
Thorsten

 

 

Thanks Thorsten for your always kind words!!!  Some stickers are needed to refine the whole machine, especially the vNX - my doubt is if I'll succeed in creating them for real (in PartsDesigner it's easier )...I'll try to explain better here below, since...

...It's time for showing the metamorphosis from E.550 to vNX806.200 

As shown above, the two vehicles share some parts, so let's start again from the bare chassis, which has been modified with specific rear buffers and front link for the snowplow (and black wheels without rods).

The platform of the vNX is painted in the same color as the body (dark tan), and has a specific front hood, including the "snail eyes" headlights. The two cabin sides are the same as the E.550, but will have specific stickers.

The cental headlight is then attached to the cabin's internal structure (you'lll spot it in the next picures below).

The roof is very simple, so I'll jump directly to the snowplow, which is composed by four parts, the two big blades and two small lateral "wings". The snowplow is centrally linked to the chassis and can reach some level of articulation.

Here's the completed vNX !

As you can see, there's a lot of "yellow" where some yellow/black stripes should be. For this reason I'm working on specific stickers.

As the OcTRAINber 2002 contest is asking also for some "functionality" I tried to replicate the possible movements of the snowplow - first, the vertical movement, achievable thanks to the Technic friction pin. When moved up, the snowplow is "at rest".

 Then I illustrated below the extension of the blade and wings. The lower right picture represents the "at rest" position (the same you see in the prototype's pictures at the beginning of this thread.

...and I'd say I am done with the "digital design" - now it's time to retrieve the real bricks!

Ciao!

Davide

Edited September 14, 2022 by Paperinik77pk

[Paperinik77pk]

Sorry for late reply!

On 9/8/2022 at 10:08 PM, XG BC said:

nice! and even adding a twist by making it 4-wide!

Thanks mister!!! I thought a display model would have been a nice idea, plus I'm not working on my 1:87 models from awhile, so it is a good opportunity to have some exercise! 

On 9/9/2022 at 1:30 AM, Hod Carrier said:

Ooo!! 4 wide. That’s a fantastic idea. I do like a nice sub-scale build. I look forward to seeing this one come to life. 

Thanks!!! I thought at this possible solution looking at our old thread of 4-wide trains! 

On 9/9/2022 at 3:50 PM, Feuer Zug said:

Nice choice in both subject and size.

Thank you!!! 

[XG BC]

...and i thought i was fast...granted you want to build it irl too but still.

[Paperinik77pk]

23 hours ago, XG BC said:

...and i thought i was fast...granted you want to build it irl too but still.

You were indeed fast, considering the difference in size and number of bricks involved in our projects!

In this case I had quite clear in mind what to do and I was lucky with availability of parts in dark tan, since it's a pretty limited color in terms of bricks (and special parts like clips and brackets).

Today I prepared the list of bricks in Stud.io and I realized that ONE part was not available in dark tan. This is the bracket holding the central headlight in the vNX, so I had to re-think a bit also the cabin of the E.550, which is now a bit more...let's say pointy...and better supporting the roof.

Since I was there, I changed also the couplers with ball joint ones, which give a bit cleaner side shape...again...the only part I needed is available in light bluish gray only...

Ciao!

Davide

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Paperinik77pk
inserted photo

[Toastie]

3 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

I realized that ONE part was not available in dark tan

... from TLG.

It is from the dark side of the bricks.

Spoiler

https://www.bluebrixx.com/de/brackets/607158/BPP36840-dark-tan-Bracket-1-x-1-1-x-1-Inverted-X-200-BB-Part-Packs

Best wishes,
Thorsten

Edited September 15, 2022 by Toastie
Hide link to the the Dark Side of the Bricks

[Paperinik77pk]

11 hours ago, Toastie said:

... from TLG.

It is from the dark side of the bricks.

  Reveal hidden contents

https://www.bluebrixx.com/de/brackets/607158/BPP36840-dark-tan-Bracket-1-x-1-1-x-1-Inverted-X-200-BB-Part-Packs

Best wishes,
Thorsten

The black market of ABS!!!

Thanks Thorsten for the nice suggestion!!!

I am still evaluating costs/shippings and needed parts - let's see if it's worth to order a lot of them and sustain the shipping costs instead of using another color 

Ciao!!!

Davide

[Hod Carrier]

On 9/14/2022 at 3:35 PM, Paperinik77pk said:

Thanks!!! I thought at this possible solution looking at our old thread of 4-wide trains! 

Well it definitely works!! I like what you've done with your builds. So often 4-wide forces big compromises onto a build, but I think you've done an amazing job to capture your chosen subject, especially when you consider that you're building in a rare and awkward colour.

[zephyr1934]

Oh wow, that is amazing! How on earth did you get so much detail in such a little space?

[Paperinik77pk]

On 9/20/2022 at 5:12 PM, zephyr1934 said:

Oh wow, that is amazing! How on earth did you get so much detail in such a little space?

 

On 9/18/2022 at 2:48 PM, Hod Carrier said:

Well it definitely works!! I like what you've done with your builds. So often 4-wide forces big compromises onto a build, but I think you've done an amazing job to capture your chosen subject, especially when you consider that you're building in a rare and awkward colour.

 

Hi and thank you @zephyr1934 and @Hod Carrier!!! 

When designing small things, I use this kind of approach - I get photos of the prototype, and make them smaller and smaller. If a detail or shape remains clearly visible - it means it is "important" and must be reproduced.

Also the proportions need to be more or less correct to please the eye. This often means the scale is not EXACT 1:87, but it can be kept very near. For instance, while the vNX is quite correct, the snowplow part is BIGGER than it should be to include the articulations, since "functionality"  was something worth to add in this otherwise completely static thing 

But I was lucky to find a pretty compact link solution, so it's attached very near to the chassis 

Ciao!

Davide