Z scale big hook wreck crane

Hi Everybody,

I just got into Z scale. I grew up with American Railroads as a kid in an N scale only house and my favorite piece of equipment was the big hook wreck crane. As a kid I had a N-scale Con-Cor 250 ton crane based off of the Orton big hook crane. But there are no American cranes in the z scale market that I could find. These big beautiful machines really are a mystery. No two cranes are alike. In house steam conversions to diesel and railroads customizing their equipment to suit their needs make each crane unique. This was good because it gave me a little artistic license. But it was also difficult because there was no real good documentation on any one machine…

I chose the 250 ton Industrial Brownhoist diesel version to prototype. I really wanted to have a crisp model so I designed it in CAD and thought about having an SLA model done from my CAD data. But SLA is extremely expensive so I chose Shapeways to print out a model for me. It has its pros and cons. But best pro was price… I ended up making my own trucks in CAD since the only 3 axle trucks on the market are Marlin European trucks which would have driven me nuts to look at on my American style crane…. It also had to be fully functional like my N scale Orton big hook crane I had as a kid.

This is the fully functional prototype. It should have been the final but they used the wrong cleaner on it and it left some heavy texturing on the model that filled in some of my parting lines. So they are resending me the model. I have a few kits already in my shop on Shapeways (a z scale CAT 955 track loader and a CAT D-8 that I’m just about to post for sale). I’d like to make this as a kit to after I proof it and get a solid final model like I did with the CAT loader and D-8. I’d love to get feedback on this model and I’m also curious if this is a model z scale folks would like to build or even be interested in. The CAD rendering exploded view is an older model but it gives you an idea of the part breakdown. Ladders and hand rails will be on the final model . I’ll use nylon string on the final model. But I’ll probably have to squeeze in a spring or torsion bar on the boom to keep the rigging tight.

Hi Jon
Its great to have a new Z scaler join our comunity, and please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Most of the members here at ZCS are more then happy to help in any way they can.
Welcome
Steve aka Mr. Styrene

More photos:

Welcome to Z and Z Central Station, Jon! Your crane looks great. You should post the link to your Shapeways page. When will this be available for purchase?

Welcome aboard ZCS Jon - Thanks for joining!! And posting pics of the crane. It's a beautiful car and I look forward to further information. Finally! - the MOAC- the Mother Of All Cranes Keep us posted on additional items and your Shapeways site. It will be great to see this painted up and rigged

Jon,

Welcome to Z!

WOW!!!! Within several months we have gone from zero American derricks and cranes to three!!! Fantastic job on your crane!

Can't wait to see what you do next.

Yours,

John Bartolotto

This is nice. And you know when they have a wreck, you might find several hooks, different sizes and from different railroads on wreck site. Thing is, I remember a thread a loooooong time ago somewhere about the ethics of putting a wreck on a model layout. Anyways welcome on board.

Fantastic!

PS if you want to make a few people happy, add those 3 axle trucks, separate from the crane, in lots of maybe 20 or 40 to your Shapeways page.

PPS make sure to link to your Shapeways page.

stonysmith wrote: Ya'll need to pay better attention.... I added Jon's site to the TOP of the list...

List? You have a list somewhere? I look in the thread something was posted for a link. I saw no link here, and don't know where any list would be located. Would it be under "Linkz", or "Buy, Sell, Trade board", or maybe somewhere in the "Forums"?

I don't mean this as a cut, but to those of us that don't have ZCS memorized, it's really not the best organized at finding stuff - especially if one doesn't know it exists.

Joe

Hi Kelly,

To put layout karma at ease, I'll be producing 2 finale cranes for myself. One in UP colors with boom down traveling on a wreck train and one in Conrail colors (I grew up with Conrail) with the boom up helping raise a bridge. These big hook cranes quite often where used in NOW heavy lifting jobs to help earn their keep. So no worries, no wrecks on my tracks...

I'm producing a depressed center flat car using the 3 axle trucks (ends warped down on the first go around). I think I have the bugs worked out on the warped flatcar ends. Once I get those models squared away, I'll design the trucks to work with the MTL straight side 50" gondolas and 60' flatcar (have to also buy those cars first to). Hopefully both have body mounted couplers. Then I'll sell those in sets (Since I offset the bolster in, the trucks are not symmetrical).

They work well. I have a lot of slop in them. Right now I'm using 36" wheels because i was afraid of the old trucks dragging on the tracks. These knew trucks should work well with 33" wheels. The biggest drawback is that the cars are really light. I would be nice to be able to add some weight. My depressed center well car and Brownhoist crane work well on 195R curves. But I cant grantee any curves tighter then that.

Here's a few images if products I have for sale right now. I'm not here to get rich but it would be nice to make back the money I spent on these prototypes. I'd be very happy just to break even.

My official Shapeways URL is www.shapeways.com/shops/Micro%20American%20Rail%20Prototypes (yes it works with the spaces).




















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Zcratchman_Joe wrote:

stonysmith wrote: List? You have a list somewhere?

Yes, Joe... there is a list. As a matter of fact, you even added links to the thread!

Zcratchman_Joe wrote: ... if you want to make a few people happy, add those 3 axle trucks, separate from the crane, in lots of maybe 20 or 40 to your Shapeways page.

Yes! I agree with Joe's suggetion 100% percent. You are sure to get more than a few sales, if you make your 3-axle trucks available separately.

Jon- Any update on the Big Hook??
Fred

Jon,
The 3 axle trucks look very nice. Makes the gondolas and flat cars appear ready for heavy duty work. Looking forward to building the Big Hook when available.
Fred

Jon, any new updates on your equipment??
Fred