04.Hornby O Gauge Locomotive Smokebox Doors

thingiverse

I recently stumbled upon an old 1950s Hornby tin plate engine in a charity shop, a find that was too good to pass up. It instantly transported me back to my childhood days when I inherited the same model from my older siblings and spent hours meticulously oiling its motion, quartering its wheels, and re-pinning its broken spring. As a kid, I used to be known for fixing other children's trains, which often involved liberating them from a seized state with some well-placed oil. Occasionally, however, parents would ask me to take things a step further by removing the back of tank engines to access the cab or loosening the tags holding the smoke box door in place to get inside the boiler. No wonder this engine was missing those parts – it seemed like karma had finally caught up with it. Now I'm faced with a dilemma: should I hold out for a cheap body to appear on eBay, which would allow me to cannibalize it and breathe new life into my old friend? Or should I take the plunge and design my own custom body using 3D printing technology? As part of my ongoing restoration project, I've been making great strides in replacing worn-out wagon wheels and even entire tenders. It's a painstaking process, but the results are well worth it. To that end, I've put together a series of prints that will gradually take shape over time as I continue to add new parts to my collection.