TEA 1 – OO
Tooling is now well underway on the TEA tanker in OO, our first crowd-funded model in 4mm scale.
The photo below sent by the factory shows the main tool for the tank barrel. The detail slides shown here are, confusingly, the bottom (top) and the top (bottom.) Or you could think of it as uppermost is the lower section, while the top section is below!!
This photo shows the same tool, but this time with the bottom at the bottom and the side slide above.
The barrel end caps are different to each other, as one has the ladder mounting plugs and the other does not. The top shows the inner part of the tool, with the large holes in the centre for the ejector plugs, while the lower photograph shows the outer face.
Sadly we won’t be getting test mouldings in time for the DEMU Showcase on the weekend of June 4th/5th, but we do expect something fairly soon afterward and will post images here as soon as we receive the components. Don’t forget the EarlyBird price deadline of June 30th.
TEA 2 – N
Away from the toolroom, the N Gauge models are now at the painting and lettering stage. Many of the parts are painted before assembly, as can be seen here with the Greenergy green barrels, the first pass of lettering on the EWS version, and some ends ready for final assembly of the VTG red models.
The multitude of different logos, warning panels and numbers on these wagons mean each needs numerous passes through the tampo print machine, and each pass has to be aligned to within fractions of a millimetre.
We are hoping that, while there is clearly work still to do, these models will be ready for shipping within the next few weeks.