I've been taking a major diversion into 3D printing recently, so while nothing much has been done on the layout, I have been keeping busy. Here's an HOn30 model of the Monson RR snow plow that I designed and printed on my new Anycubic Mono 4k printer, based on plans by Wes Ewell (link). The model is assembled from several separate prints, including the chassis, cabin, plow blade, flanger blade, and trucks. I couldn't get the roof to print without warping so it's made from styrene, but I did design a 3D printed jig to ensure that the roof panel installs with the correct overhangs all the way around.
The plow was a challenge to design with all of those boards on the face of the plow. The ones in the middle actually twisted as they ran across the face, so it took a while to figure out how to design them. The rest of the design was straightforward although as usual it took a lot of trial and error to get everything to print correctly.
The prototype had a link and pin coupler but I mounted a knuckle coupler in case I ever want to push it around the layout.
