7mm + modelling EY UP ! Somewhere in Deepest Devon a 7mm adventure

[bgman]

As an additional note to the 517 build I replaced the laminated rods, which are the correct profile in the kit, for some Premier Components milled rods. 

I have tended to use these on all of my kit built loco's as I do like the quality and they just feel right. 

 

G

[bgman]

River Class Build - rolling chassis.....with a little help from his friend !

 

Following on from the last brief video I posted here is the ongoing build of the River Class which has been put away for some time.

 

Having received the various items for this build I decided to do an initial body to chassis fit to see how it runs, and so far all seems to be ok.

There is some minor fettling as always ( those leading wheels need to be sorted ) with my builds but look forward to installing the gearbox and motor soon-ish.

 

 

 

G

Edited August 21, 2021 by bgman

[bgman]

Progress with the GWR 2021 Class build

 

I have started to flesh out the bones of the kit today mainly around the boiler area. 

 

Chimney, dome and safety valve all placed temporarily to give it some character on the trail running-in, all other items have now been fixed in place.

 

Another short video of the loco in trails......

 

 

Not an exciting watch but made mainly for my records as with all the builds to date.

 

Thank you for looking.

 

G

[Adrian Stevenson]

Looking good!

[Miss Prism]

The 517 chimney looks to be leaning forward a bit.

 

[bgman]

18 hours ago, bgman said:

Chimney, dome and safety valve all placed temporarily

 

3 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

The 517 chimney looks to be leaning forward a bit.

 

 

Thank you Miss P, as with the 2021 Class built all these items are just placed with a minute piece of blue tack as a temporary measure until such times as they are soldered on in the upright position. I only wanted to get an overall impression of the finished locos.

 

G

Edited August 25, 2021 by bgman
word

[bgman]

3 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

The 517 chimney looks to be leaning forward a bit.

 

 

As an aside I also meant to add that I prefer to break the loco models down into various modules and fittings for painting / lining as I helps prior to final assembly.

[Miss Prism]

Sorry - I missed the bit about temporary placement.

[bgman]

A new departure ( In modelling terms ) 3D or NOT 3D - That is the question ?

 

During a conversion with two fellow modellers during a very pleasant day out this week I broached the subject of resin printing.

 

I am certainly NO expert in this Black Art, however, I could not help thinking about using this process as an aid to my modelling.

After much watching of the usual YouTube videos I decided to download Tinkercad and have a "play" with the software.

 

Before going any further I am well aware of other threads by more competent modellers which go into far more detail and expertise so may I respectfully ask that this post is not for an open discussion, merely my take on an initial "tinkering" with the possibilities.

 

That said after a day or so I have got to the following stage of drawing a "modern" wagon and some of its parts as work in progress.....

 

 

Some of those who follow this thread will know of my Silhouette Cutter work and I see this as a possible extension to further work.

 

So far I've found it to be a steep learning curve in 3D Software drawing but enjoyable nevertheless.

 

It also stems from the 2021 Class build ** which is a commercially produced kit using resin casting and whilst I haven't / may not get to a stage of producing a small loco of parts it is always a possibility ? 

 

I haven't bothered to follow this subject previously as to my mind those final prints I have seen show far too much of the stepping / layering process. With the newer processes of 2k mono resin prints I have seen they appear to be much finer / smoother together with very much finer detail which would be more acceptable to my eye as a finished product.

 

** If I had the knowledge and use of a 3D resin printer I may have produced a replacement footplate rather than using the Silhouette Printer ( which is fine to be honest ). As the footplate on the current build is a detachable part I could replace it with a resin print ?

 

Food for thought ?

 

G

 

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by bgman

[bgman]

All Sliced Up !

 

Following on from my above post I downloaded a slicer programme ( interesting name ) to see if the 3D drawn wagon would "survive" my work.

 

With some trepidation I imported the file into the software and having gone through its various stages it reported back saying there were no anomalies ! Happy with that.

 

I took a screen shot for my records.....

 

 

I find it all quite fascinating to watch the process. Those who are "in the know" and do this sort of work probably take it all as second nature but as a complete newbe I am happy with my progress.

 

I will carry on playing with various shapes and small items and build up a small library for the time being following which I may ? purchase a printer when I am confident enough.

 

All good fun ! 

 

G

 

 

[Tim Dubya]

wos they spider's legs underneath all about then

 

[bgman]

7 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

wos they spider's legs underneath all about then

 

 

Ize fed up usin" wheels !

[bgman]

Final bit of tinkering for tonight, adding side and end supports ( one too many on the end, there should only be two... whoops ! ).

 

It gets very addictive !!! 

 

 

Stopping whilst I'm ahead and back to some proper modelling tomorrow hopefully, that 2021 Class won't build itself.

 

G

[Tim Dubya]

On 24/08/2021 at 23:01, bgman said:

 

 

 

Not an exciting watch but made mainly for my records as with all the builds to date.

 

Thank you for looking.

 

G

 

Only thing missing is that cheesy background music you get on BRM YouTube vids... other than that 

[bgman]

49 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

Only thing missing is that cheesy background music you get on BRM YouTube vids... other than that 

I could always get my DJ equipment out and be really alternative mate ! 
Think I’m joking? 

[Barnaby]

Great work G and if you get to the "ready to print" stage I'll take one if the price is right to give you some additional incentive.

I think Shapeways will take your files and print them for you if you just wanted to see how your art work turned out.

I believe the smoothness if the finished product is down to the quality of the [?plastic toner?] layered down, some can be quite crude in their finish but my knowledge is quite vague on this.

 

Exciting times BG 

[bgman]

1 hour ago, Barnaby said:

Great work G and if you get to the "ready to print" stage I'll take one if the price is right to give you some additional incentive.

I think Shapeways will take your files and print them for you if you just wanted to see how your art work turned out.

I believe the smoothness if the finished product is down to the quality of the [?plastic toner?] layered down, some can be quite crude in their finish but my knowledge is quite vague on this.

 

Exciting times BG 

 

Thank you, all very much trial and error at the moment and as I said previously, a steep learning curve for me.

 

This is for a basic 4mm model at the moment which has been sent to a friend to assess and hopefully resin print with a view to achieving a better, smoother print quality.

 

I wouldn't consider using an outside company for the amount I want to produce, just a personal thing really. I'm more inclined to give serious thought to getting my own 3D resin printer if this works out. I'm very flattered that you would want one from such an amateur, lets see what comes of this before making any hard and fast decisions.

 

Here is the artwork I have sent off for consideration.....

 

 

If, and it's a BIG IF currently, all seems to be fine I want to make a small portfolio of useful items for my on-going 7mm stuff.

 

Rodding stools, signal posts etc come to mind initially.

 

Fingers....and everything else crossed for now ! 

 

G

 

 

[Adrian Stevenson]

All clever stuff. I look forward to seeing how they turn out.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[bgman]

Good morning playmates !

 

A brief update regarding my efforts in 3D drawing :

 

Having sent the file for the wagon body to be "examined" by someone who knows about such things I received an encouraging email this morning part of which states - 

 

" Grahame, good morning, firstly your CAD & STL file is very 'clean', no repairs necessary. Good to see you are getting the CAD right, all joined up in the right places. "

 

This bodes well I think so I am having it printed as a trial and will await its arrival.

 

Fingers crossed eh !

 

G

[Barnaby]

Great news Grahame you have picked that skill up quickly.

When you are satisfied with the 4mm trial I'm hoping that to make a 7mm one would be just a scale change and the CAD FILES would automatically scale up, I could be interested in one. 

I understand you are more into wanting this for a portfolio of useful items for your on-going 7mm stuff.  

 

Looking good.

[bgman]

1 hour ago, Barnaby said:

Great news Grahame you have picked that skill up quickly.

When you are satisfied with the 4mm trial I'm hoping that to make a 7mm one would be just a scale change and the CAD FILES would automatically scale up, I could be interested in one. 

I understand you are more into wanting this for a portfolio of useful items for your on-going 7mm stuff.  

 

Looking good.

 

Thank you, it has taken many hours to get to this stage, very intense but enjoyable.

 

I would rather try and fail than not try at all, it's something I have wanted to try for many years and only done in 2D as per my Silhouette Cutter work. The Silhouette is a good way to produce many items and I will still be using it in my armoury of modelling tools. 

As I think I've shown somewhere previously the cutter was used to make this 7mm coach which was my first attempt at a scratch build...

 

 

If I could achieve something similar with 3D work I would consider a machine a worthwhile investment.

 

The drawing of the wagon body is far too modern for me but a good way in which to attempt the many angular sides etc for future work I may well be doing.

 

 

Any useful items I can manage to draw for the 7mm layout that work will be an obvious bonus.

 

G

 

 

[Tim Dubya]

G, What software do you use please? 

The Mrs has the Cameo Silhouette cutter thingy and uses the software that came with it.  I'm thinking of relocating said asset and using it for buildings, multiple overlays of thin plastikard or even paper.

Pretty sure the South Western Circle have scale plans @ 4mm:1' etc for such and I was wondering if there was a program one could simply scan plans into and convert into something the cutter understands.  As I cba arsed to learn any of that cad stuff, although I can get the Autodesk stuff for free from work.

 

Cheers 

Dubya

[bgman]

57 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

G, What software do you use please? 

The Mrs has the Cameo Silhouette cutter thingy and uses the software that came with it.  I'm thinking of relocating said asset and using it for buildings, multiple overlays of thin plastikard or even paper.

Pretty sure the South Western Circle have scale plans @ 4mm:1' etc for such and I was wondering if there was a program one could simply scan plans into and convert into something the cutter understands.  As I cba arsed to learn any of that cad stuff, although I can get the Autodesk stuff for free from work.

 

Cheers 

Dubya

 

Hi mate good to hear from you,

 

I have only ever used the software that came with the Silhouette ( downloadable for FREE ! and I think you can have a play with it even if you don't have a machine )

 

I understand other CAD design software files can be imported into it but quite which ones are compatable I'm not sure .

 

There is a section in RMweb specific to these machines and it may be worth having a look over there, albeit it is quite a lengthy thread, maybe ask the question there ? 

 

Sorry if I'm not much help but I've taken the KISS approach with the cutter and found their software more than adequate without trying to complicate matters when designing something.

 

G

 

 

[Tim Dubya]

Cheers youngun', I'll take a look and try not to have a nosebleed when I get there.

 

Thanks mate 

[Siberian Snooper]

Have a look at the silhouette thread, sorry no link. If you can use the Autodesk software and it will save as a .dxf file, it can be opened by the Silhouette software, you will need to make sure that it's the correct size,  I put a boundary of known dimensions around my drawing and make sure it's the same size in the cutter software.