Model Train Thread

Discussion in 'Miniatures and Scale Models' started by stonysmith, Aug 4, 2014.

  1. JohnDeAlto
    JohnDeAlto Member
    If you asking questions about My NYC Transit Subway Signals please send me a e-mail to kb2agpjohn@aol.com

    Not familiar with the threads on shapeways If not please this regard.

    Thanks john
     
  2. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    No! no question! I'm new with this to it seems a little mess up with all the models on one page they should set it up different! But nice work! I did do some city sub way entries buildings in Z scale 1:220 IMG_5243.JPG IMG_5244.JPG
     
  3. I model in nscale. The past few years I have been photographing structures I like and scratch build them.
    My first big attempt was building the coaling tower in Bluefield, W. Va. in 1998, which turned out quite nice. The main structure is wood. The rest is store bought and scratch built.
    I would like to get my latest sttuctures 3d printed. The drawings are straight line old school drafting.
    What process do I hage to do to get them converted to 3d printable work?
    Any suggestions would be appreciated.
    Jeff Wood
     
  4. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    Jeff,
    you would have to find a 3D drawing program that you could use your drawing to make a 3D type building! You would also have to follow the 3D printing rules on Shapeways site and wall size and support wire size since this is done in plastic and they use a wax to help support your model when 3D printing the building. Each material has it own type min. wall size I have been using FUD (Frosted Ultra Detailed) material because it has the smallest wall size and support wire size. It not easy to explain in messages. I've been working in 3D printing since 2013 when I started and still learning there process! I'm not a professional designer. I do Z scale because I have trains in that scale and have a hard time finding stuff so I just design what I need! "N" scale will cost a bit but you just have to experiment with size like I did. Once you have your drawing converted to a3D file and then to and STL file you can up load it to Shapeways then you will find out the cost and if it will print. They have information on their site that shows if you need to fix you drawing. I use 3D Max 8 by Autodesk and from that program save as an STL file . Then use Netfabb Basic which is a free program that you can check your drawing and scale it and save as a STL fie then upload to Shapeways!
     
  5. stonysmith
    stonysmith Well-Known Member Moderator
    As an old-school draftsman myself, I faced many of the same questions. There are many tools/techniques for converting 2d to 3d, but for the most part, you have to re-draw them. You can take a floorplan and "extrude" it to get a good bit of the work done, but that doesn't create sloped roofs, etc.

    I wrote a mini-tutorial about the process here: https://stonysmith.com/wired/stepvan/default.asp Personally, I use TrueSpace, but several other tools (Blender, Sketchup) can be used to achieve the same results. My "first" model here at Shapeways was done with OpenScad.

    The biggest thing when facing 3d printing for the first time is to understand that surfaces must have "thickness", and that most items will need to be hollow to keep the price down.

    Consider these two simplistic "houses". The red one is going to be a solid block of plastic (expensive), whereas the blue one will be considerably cheaper to print. The trick is maintaining the necessary wall thickness (the yellow area) for the material you are wanting to print in. Each material has different thickness rules.
    Houses.jpg
    Apply the KISS principal.. KEEP IT SIMPLE to start! Don't jump in with adding bricks and stucco for your first model... Develop your skills and do a few test prints before you frustrate yourself trying super complex details.
     
    Model_Monkey likes this.
  6. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    As Stony has said, it take a while to learn the in and out of printing and every drawing is a challenge to do! I started with the the above simple structures to design my buildings. Then cutting out windows and doors. Then went to more detailed buildings like adding block and brick but adding more material the price started going up so I had to find a way to cut back some of the material. So I took the main wall and cut the thickness in half and adding the bricks to make the material to complete the wall thickness size but still cut back on materials. adding a base to help support the walls and keep them straight. Here are some of the designed pieces with brick added these are standard size bricks in real scale then scaled to 1:220 scale. you can see the details in the brick work! The bridge was done the same way with the brick supports.
    IMG_3934.JPG house.jpg Bridge (3).jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2017
    Thomasd and Model_Monkey like this.
  7. Google your State archives and search for railway building plans. There should be a whole large section dedicated to railways. You should be able to access info and indexes on line but will probably have to go there to view and order copies the plans. I'm in QLD and I'm modelling specifically QLD Government Railways. State Archives provide a hi-res copy service of the plans. I have collected more than 40 original plans now of all types of railway buildings. Some of these plans are more than 100 years old, they are very detailed and of course hand drawn and works of art in their own right. I like your work and have ordered a couple of things from you. I'm currently developing a range of buildings, not sure if I will use the Shapeways prints as masters and resin cast or have a shapeways shop and sell prints. Stay tunned though, I'm currently drawing a small 10'x10' cream shed drawn from original plans from around 1910, looks good so far.
     
  8. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    Yes! it is hard to find drawings with measurements. Some of my projects I use just photo's fine something in the photo to use as a standard size like a door or window and go from there. if bricks I use standard size in real scale the scale when project is finished. siding the same use 6" inch strips. Most of my projects have come out really close. I wish I could find that link you use that would be nice but every thing I fine you either have to buy a blueprint or drawing. I just finished this from a photo!

    https://www.shapeways.com/product/9EJQSTZJS/switch-station-2-z-scale
    5447.1396730306.jpg
     
    Thomasd likes this.
  9. Thomasd
    Thomasd Member
    Hello Everyone,
    Walter, you've done some nice modeling here. I especially like the house, but the brickwork is nicely done on all of your models.
    Myself, I work in HO scale. So far, I've been concentrating largely on vehicle details (just because that's pretty much what I've needed), but I have a number of older models available including machine tools and structures. Most of them need some cleanup as they were designed for the limitations of the fused deposition method on an old Stratasys machine that printed in ABS. I'm not yet sure about the economics of printing structures in HO scale but will be checking that out soon..You can check out what I've done so far here:
    https://www.shapeways.com/shops/tomsmodelrr
     
  10. ehincapiem
    ehincapiem Active Member
    Hi Tom, I believe must cad packages allow you to save as wrl or vrml which stores colors within the model, you can give a try,

    Best regards

    Eduardo
     
  11. tramdriver
    tramdriver Member
    Hi ya´all
    I am building modeltramcars and just lately I have dropped my HO-scale and card constructed trams in favour of O-scale, and I have found a company here in Sweden that are doing lasercut profiles at very affordable price. I will only use 3D-printing for small parts like fotsteps, controllers, destination blinds, gates and trays and maybe rthe roofing. Other material will be MDF-board, aeroplane plywood and different metal profiles.

    Now I wonder what kind of glue I should use, for bonding WSF to WSF, bonding WSF to MDF, and plywood and WSF to metal. The glue market is a jungle and the wrong glue can really ruin/destroy a model.

    Best regards
    Goran
    HALMSTAD/Sweden
     
  12. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member

    Hello! I have done mostly Z scale buildings. With the price of material that shapeways does trying to do detailed building would cost quite a bit. Some of by Z scale building with lots of details are pretty pricey being really small! The support wall size seem to be the biggest problem larger building would need thicker wall to keep from warping. even my smaller building I have to use a base with a open bottom with support strips to middle from side to side to hold shape. here are several building I have done. I think I have only one HO building this is a small buildng https://www.shapeways.com/product/P436GCHJG/toll-booths-ho-scale
    IMG_4857.JPG house.jpg IMG_5426.JPG IMG_5437.JPG
     
  13. rogerpir123
    rogerpir123 Member
    Hello. I am hoping you may have some advice for me. I am trying to have printed in 1/35 scale some rail trusses for a diorama I am building. The material would need to have a little flexibility so it could follow a shallow arc. Is there a material that would be appropriate for this? Do you have a designer you might suggest? Thank you very much
    doramt1.jpg
     
  14. stonysmith
    stonysmith Well-Known Member Moderator
    Many/most of the materials are not flexible enough to do what you want, however, designing pre-curved sections is very simple. We'd need accurate measurements to get exactly what you desire.

    The one thing you'll have to be careful about is the cost. If those are several hundred feet long, at 1/35 foot scale, they're going to be expensive to print in 3d.
     
  15. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    I would have to agree with Stony! You would have to know what type of curve you need and design it that way, then you would have some play in either direction in placing it were you want! most Model train track is already bent to angle to make a curve in track so using those pieces you could make your curve. The pieces in your photo has cross pieces in between so they will not bent without breaking and would add to the price. Information would be needed to design such piece to have them done correctly!
     
  16. mrhsmith8
    mrhsmith8 Member
    Hello All:

    My first time on this forum although I've been printing off and on through Shapeways for some time now.

    One of my current projects in 1:32 is steam locomotive drivers. My thought is to have the tire machined in steel by somebody like eMachineShop then press fit a printed wheel center. The axle would be also be pressed onto the printed wheel center. See the screen shots of the tire and the wheel center (without axle hole as this point). I realize I'd have to true-up the printed wheel center before pressing it into the tire.

    I use WSF for most of what I do and I was wondering whether that would be the best material for the wheel center. Any material ideas along that line would be most welcome. Also any thoughts about the relative diameter of the printed wheel center and the inside diameter of the wheel before attempting a press fit would also be welcome. I was thinking I would start with the wheel center being just a few thousandths oversize relative to the tire.

    Thanks for any thoughts,

    Hilary Smith
    Pacific Northwest, USA

    Steam Driver Tire & Center.png
     
  17. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    Mr Smith,
    I do most of my work with FUD and fine it the best for Miniatures. As for your insert for the drive wheels on a steam Engine. I would design a small pilot hole to get dead center that way you can easily drill out for what ever size wheel shaft you are going to use. I do that with the bottoms of my railroad cars. I use a pilot hole center, then it's easy to then drill out the bolster pin hole with a small size drill bit first then use the size I need. that way it tends to keep the hole straight and not on an angle! WSF I have only used on one model and found the surface like sandpaper and details desorted and not smooth like FUD.
    Best Regards,
    Walt Smith, southernnscale
     
  18. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    Goran,
    I've been working with FUD material a plastic material. I have been using this 5sec UV glue as seen on TV. It's a gel form and parts can be move around in place till you use the UV light then it's there! pretty strong hold. but I haven't had any damage with using it but I also had one model were the support pieces between the legs where broken when shipped so I cut up some fine wire and used this glue to put the wire in place for the bottom braces. IMG_5460.JPG
     
  19. mrhsmith8
    mrhsmith8 Member
    Walt: Thanks so much for your good suggestions! Hilary
     
  20. southernnscale
    southernnscale Well-Known Member
    Glad to help! Would like to see your end results! your process with the steam wheels would be hard to design in Z scale 1:220 but would look great if could be done but I don't have the skill eyes and hands for that in Z scale! But it would be a challenge to do!