More incremental progress - my SMAR 0-6-0 has gained:

• a smokebox,
• a chimney,
• a dome,
• boiler bands,
• a safety valve mount,
• sandboxes,
• some semblance of water tank filler lids.
  

And frankly it's starting to look like the real deal... (If I do say so myself). I feel close to a test print, now. It's hard to say. Cab steps and buffer housings are definitely going on, and I want to put some small holes in to help locate some of the details I'm not going to print (handrails, pipes, etc.). Beyond that, I'm not certain what else I want to include at this point. I'm very conscious that the 3D printed shell is going to be quite brittle and require a fair degree of primer and sanding to get rid of the banding created during the print. This will obviously make any small details vulnerable to damage if I include them at this stage and I'm minded not to. Rivets also feel relevant to this discussion. I've actually seen them rendered very nicely on 3D prints, and it'll be less fiddly to include in the design at this stage rather than trying to introduce them later with resin transfers.

A few other decision points are also knocking around my head. Namely brass components - Shapeways will produce brass components (I presume it's some form of 'lost wax' casting method) and designing them myself would mean they'd fit the model like a glove, but fair representations of most things that I need are probably available at more economic rates through conventional means. I'm also undecided on how best to represent the smokebox hinge arrangement and feel disproportionately afraid of adding the cab steps in case they wind up being too brittle and unsupported, wind up fouling conventional 00 loading gauges, don't look fine enough or any combination of the above.

Still at work until Thursday this week, but then should have good chunks of spare time to get this over the line and maybe still get a print done (or at least ordered) before the end of the year. We shall see...