Very nice. So, is HDA available to the public yet? And is it measurably more durable, less prone to fracturing/ shattering as FXD is? And how is the pricing working out compared to FXD? I've been anxiously watching these developments as I've always been just a little disappointed with the surface texture on FXD. It's better than nothing but doesn't stand up to much handling or much close scrutiny. As I said, it's a mixed bag for me. Part thrilled to see the detail and then just a little disappointed at the same time. Especially when a detail breaks off with little warning.
I am not sure whether it is available to the public right now. For me it was a try out, it worked out reasonably for the Darby gondola. Although there were still some printing artifacts visible on the sides.The brake wheel was slightly wrapped, had to replace it for an etched brake wheel. For my dropbottom gondola FXD would still be preferred because of the fine details. HDA is stronger than FXD, but it still can break. I doubt that the switching steps would survive for long on a FXD printed car body, it works well in HDA until now . If a lot of small detail is required, FXD is still the way to go, in my opinion. For Z scale HSA is just slightly less expensive, since we use mot so much material and setup costs are similar. No sprues possible. In the larger scales HDA would be fine.
Awaiting AZL DRGW tunnel motors, but nothing for them to pull. Would these be a good solution ? I see them on shapeways. Then its just a question of decals
https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/azl-february-2024-new-items-part-2.154283/ They're available now!!
As far as are these a good (correct) train for D&RGW tunnel motors, absolutely yes. PSCX had trainsets of Thrall cars, NORX (https://flic.kr/p/LirsCW) as well as some second-hand PLMX blue end cars (https://flic.kr/p/KX5u9J), all running coal on the Rio Grande.
Neat. I did find decals in z scale for rotary gons in z. Your photos also have basic lettering, so not too hard to do. Think the decal set I found are for cars bought by drgw with orange ends from OEGX Would a unit train run with all same cars ? Drgw bought rotary gons from several utilities, varying in colors. Once they owned them, would they get mixed up ? Orange, acid yellow , blue ? Phil
