TSD's Workbench - SECR and Industrial modelling

[TurboSnail]

I may have done a little jig of joy when I discovered that for the first time ever, after multiple attempts on different chassis, a set of 3D printed conrods worked perfectly, first time, no tight spots or adjustment. Hurrah! The F class chassis went together pretty easily and rolls up and down a short length of test track quite nicely, which will improve with the addition of some weight. What are the odds it will run the same after disassembly, painting and rebuilding?

 

Still can't get the R class chassis to work though. Maybe the limit is a four-coupled wheelbase!

 

And I couldn't resist putting the body on the chassis just to see what it would look like...

 

 

[Edwardian]

Excellent.  I'm rubbing my coppers together in the hope of being one of your first customers! 

[Skinnylinny]

Oh wow, that looks *gorgeous*! Now I just need to find an excuse for one to visit Linton, and dust off the Precision SE&CR green and crimson... Could I get away with a boat train? Hmmmm...

Edited September 19, 2018 by Skinnylinny

[sem34090]

Very nice... 'Blackstone West' will have little use for one, but I may have to get one anyway!

[TurboSnail]

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments, but let's wait until I've got one working before getting too excited! Speaking of which...

 

It's time to start chronicling the many and varied cock-ups made during the build. The first of which was me forgetting to allow the conrods space to move in. Out with the Dremel and the footplate has been sanded back to make this work. The inside of the conrod space was also slightly too small, so that has also been embiggened. These fixes have also been applied to the CAD models, so hopefully will be fine for the future. 

 

In my last post, I wondered if the drive unit would roll as freely when dismantled, painted and put together again. It didn't, but this wasn't helped by me dropping it in the process! One part of the chassis cracked and broke off, taking one of the bearings with it. After the application of some superglue, some plasticard and some mild language, it was fixed and seemed to be rolling freely again. The I dropped it again... This time the only casualties were one of the brake shoes and a conrod, which shattered and deposited itself across dark and mysterious locations under and behind furniture. Rather less mild language ensued as I didn't have a spare conrod with the same size holes, but a bit of fiddling with some brass tube meant I could use a spare conrod with larger holes, using the tube to reduce the hole size, hopefully reducing friction in the bargain. Finally the chassis rolled again... then I gummed it up with superglue when attaching the drive gear. Much cleaning up later, the chassis rolls once more, and I have resolved not to touch it again for a while.

 

The photos rather give away my choice of livery too. I do seem to like making life harder for myself. Personal ham-handedness aside, it's still going quite well.

 

 

 

 

[TurboSnail]

More F class testing today, the drive unit is currently sat running in, I'll upload a quick video of that at some point when (if) I'm satisfied it works well. Adding to the errors from yesterday, more minor ones this time, namely that the front driving wheels and the bogie wheels have too much sideplay. This has been corrected by putting spacers in, both in real life and in the CAD model.

 

The footplate height seems to be pretty much in line with RTR stock, so that's a plus, and the buffer height and spacing is about right too - it's all very well having the right measurements in CAD but it's always worth checking in real life. The chassis and body fixing works as well, the driving wheels section slots into two tabs at the back of the body and then is held in place by a bolt at the front, this bolt also going through the bogie coupling. The bogie coupling is also held into the bogie itself by a bolt and captive nut, so it has free rotation at both ends and some up and down movement. No bodging required!

 

 

 

[TurboSnail]

Taking a day off the F class, some more work has been done on SECR 313. Fitting the motor was a real challenge, it still doesn't quite fit so will require a little bit of sanding inside the smokebox, but I'd rather do that than make the part too thin to print properly. I do have an even smaller backup motor option if needed but I'd rather use the more proven method. This thing really is tiny! This motorisation method should allow a reasonable amount of space to add weight as well, which will be essential for it to run well.

 

Part of the reason for doing this loco is that it has outside cylinders, which I've never done before, so it will be interesting to experiment with. I think I have a method of doing it involving brass tube in the cylinder to keep the friction as low as possible but the clearances are so close around the conrods and the wheels so it may require a fair bit of testing - hence why I chose the smallest (and cheapest to print) loco!

 

 

[richard i]

Taking a day off the F class, some more work has been done on SECR 313. Fitting the motor was a real challenge, it still doesn't quite fit so will require a little bit of sanding inside the smokebox, but I'd rather do that than make the part too thin to print properly. I do have an even smaller backup motor option if needed but I'd rather use the more proven method. This thing really is tiny! This motorisation method should allow a reasonable amount of space to add weight as well, which will be essential for it to run well.

 

Part of the reason for doing this loco is that it has outside cylinders, which I've never done before, so it will be interesting to experiment with. I think I have a method of doing it involving brass tube in the cylinder to keep the friction as low as possible but the clearances are so close around the conrods and the wheels so it may require a fair bit of testing - hence why I chose the smallest (and cheapest to print) loco!

 

3132.JPG

 

3133.JPG

In essence that is what brass loco kits do. So no reason why it should not work here, as long as the rod is lined up to go straight over the centre of the driving wheel.

Richard

[Buhar]

In essence that is what brass loco kits do. So no reason why it should not work here, as long as the rod is lined up to go straight over the centre of the driving wheel.

Richard

 

And you can put the tube a smidgen outboard of centre to create some extra clearance.

[sem34090]

As and when these come on sale... I need a Manning Wardle.

 

Reminds me that, at some point, I still need to get some more work done on the crane tank.

[TurboSnail]

My workbench has relocated for the second time in as many weeks, but all set up again now. Some things arrived this morning from Scalelink, and a little modification later we have the Neilson's wheelset ready to go.

 

[CarriageShed]

I really wish that sort of thing was easily available in N...

[Gareth Collier]

I won't need 313 shooting down to N, I've already got one scratch built from brass

 

[Caley Jim]

I won't need 313 shooting down to N, I've already got one scratch built from brass

Very nice, Gareth, but I can't help thinking it would benefit from finescale wheels.  

 

Jim

[Gareth Collier]

Very nice, Gareth, but I can't help thinking it would benefit from finescale wheels.  

I may be in the 2mm SA but it's never going to happen

[TurboSnail]

I won't need 313 shooting down to N, I've already got one scratch built from brass

 

portrait 5 003 (800x600) (300x225).jpg

I'll struggle to beat that for detail even at double the scale... How have you done the livery?

[Gareth Collier]

I'll struggle to beat that for detail even at double the scale... How have you done the livery?

I draw most of it up on the laptop using Word then print it onto transfer paper. Here's the transfers I did for my P Class, the bottom 4 rectangles are the elements you overlap to make a panel.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Gareth Collier

[Edwardian]

I draw most of it up on the laptop using Word then print it onto transfer paper. Here's the transfers I did for my P Class, the bottom 4 rectangles are the elements you overlap to make a panel.

transfer.png

 

Impressive.  How do you do that in Word?

[Gareth Collier]

Just set up various blocks of relevant colours and build up layers. You can also add extra layers of curves etc to go over splashers etc and have scalloped corners.

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Gareth Collier

[Edwardian]

Just set up various blocks of relevant colours and build up layers. You can also add extra layers of curves etc to go over splashers etc and have scalloped corners.

portrait 2 027 (300x225).jpg

 

How, if you don't mind me asking?

[sem34090]

I'm not sure if this is the right way, but this is the way that I do it. Note that the images are a bit fabricated (note that the time doesn't change much!!!) due to my using paint to erase certain personal details!

I use publisher, by the way.

Open a blank document!

I started by making a black video, with red lining round the edge. This forms the base for the SECR livery, or so I thought. It should actually be green I realise now!

The next shape to make is this one, a 'plaque' is what Microsoft call it.

This will form the outer line and the thick, middle, line of the lining. I have coloured it roughly appropriately!

Once that shape is drawn and aligned centrally on the black (should be green!) rectangle, copy it and paste it.

Then recolour it to form the inner line of the lining and the main livery colour.

Adjust its size and shape as appropriate to leave a suitable part of the middle line exposed.

Find a suitable SECR Crest image!

Paste it into place.

Then adjust its size as appropriate. After that, create a text box of an appropriate size to put the lettering in.

Change the font as desired. I chose a very approximate one for this purpose, you'd probably want to match it better for an actual piece. Colour the lettering as appropriate - this will form the top layer of the lettering.

Copy the text box three times, colouring one set of text vermilion, one white and one black. Set these behind each other and arrange as appropriate until something resembling the appropriate lettering is produced. Again, mine is very vague here for demonstration purposes.

And done! Far from perfect, the colours, font, even the basic livery are completely off but it does the job here.

The advantage of doing this is that it's very easy to edit the schemes.

Including fictional ones... what if I.E.G. had ever been done in the SECR Wainwright style? Not that it ever would've been...

[Edwardian]

Thanks, Sem

[sem34090]

You are, sir, most welcome!

[Gareth Collier]

Cheers Sem, exactly how I would have described it except I use standard Word. You'll see the four layers I use on my screen shot exactly mirroring Sem's.  Looks a bit complicated but it's just simple shapes laid on top of each other.

[Regularity]

I'm not sure if this is the right way, but this is the way that I do it. Note that the images are a bit fabricated (note that the time doesn't change much!!!) due to my using paint to erase certain personal details!

I use publisher, by the way.

 

Thanks for all that info.

The next shape to make is this one, a 'plaque' is what Microsoft call it.

 

Strange shaped teeth in Seattle, obviously...