AjModels - NER Horsebox, Ivatt N1, Aspinall 27

[AJ427]

An ongoing project of mine has been the creation of an Ivatt N1 for my West Riding layout. The model has been created in AutoCAD purely because it's what I use in the day job and so involved only a small learning curve into some of the more obscure 3d techniques. It's designed to fit a Hornby/Dapol/Airfix N2 chassis and there are therefore some compromises.
When I started I designed for FUD but reported quality problems with this and the price put me off and I re-designed for i-materialise Prime Grey after seeing some excellent models created with it on RMWeb. The chosen N1 is no 69474, a West Riding allocated loco all it's life and one that therefore never had condensing gear. Additional detail, such as handrails, pipework, steps and coupling hooks, will be added later and holes or slots have been created in the model to place and hold these items more easily. The lumps on top of the bunker are sacrificial and are intended to facilitate placement of the coal rails. I suspect I may be pushing it a little with some of the smaller details but we shall see as the finished model has now been sent to i-materialise for printing. Gulp.

Edited July 8, 2015 by AJ427

[S.A.C Martin]

Andrew, that's superb. As it happens I am modelling a corner of Leeds and so an N1 bodyshell to plonk on a Hornby N2 chassis would be most welcome! If all goes to plan, will you be offering these for sale? I can say categorically you would have a decent bulk order purchase here!

 

Delighted to see such a handsome prototype being made in such a fashion.

[AJ427]

Andrew, that's superb. As it happens I am modelling a corner of Leeds and so an N1 bodyshell to plonk on a Hornby N2 chassis would be most welcome! If all goes to plan, will you be offering these for sale? I can say categorically you would have a decent bulk order purchase here!

 

Delighted to see such a handsome prototype being made in such a fashion.

 

Hi Simon,

 

Thought you might be interested An N1 would make a worthy addition to Copley Hill.

 

Yes, indeed, if it all goes to plan I will be making it available for general purchase.

 

I will report back here and on my blog once I get the model with an update.

[S.A.C Martin]

That's fantastic news Andrew.

 

Saves me getting the soldering iron out I suspect to have a go at the N1 London Roads kit (nice as it is, this is more in my comfort zone!)

 

Looking forward to updates immensely.

[ianwales]

Hi andrew

 

Can I add a "me too"

 

Ian

[Wild Boar Fell]

Wow,

Very nice, I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out as its an interesting project, also I am using prime grey in my next project too so I can see from yours what it is capable of.

Best of Luck,

Wild Boar Fell

[AJ427]

So my Ivatt N1 arrived back from i-materialise in just over a week!

 

The model is remarkably sturdy with a slight level of flexibility not dissimilar to a RTR body. The level of detail is quite impressive although a couple of the very small parts are a little vague and fuzzy. I knew I was pushing the limits of the prime grey resolution though so all in all I was quite pleased. In hindsight it would have been better to have requested the model be printed boiler up as there is quite a bit of stepping on the boiler top.

 

More details on my blog.

 

[S.A.C Martin]

I know there's a few flaws you've mentioned, but frankly I think that looks utterly superb Andrew. The excitement is building as this would fill a very big gap in the stocklist!

 

I take my hat off to you, you've produced something special there. Amazed at the clarity of the 3D printed curves on the chimney, cab and splashers in particular.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Clearly 3D printing is making rapid progress as a technique and very useful for those (not me!) who have CAD skills. But what sort of cost per body are we talking about? Last time I enquired, it was prohibitively expensive for a production run. Much better to use it as a method of producing a master from which moulds could be made for resin casting. But things may have changed as the technique becomes more mainstream.

[AJ427]

I know there's a few flaws you've mentioned, but frankly I think that looks utterly superb Andrew. The excitement is building as this would fill a very big gap in the stocklist!

 

I take my hat off to you, you've produced something special there. Amazed at the clarity of the 3D printed curves on the chimney, cab and splashers in particular.

 

Thanks Simon. Some of those details really had no right to come out as well as they did with the prime grey resolution.

 

Clearly 3D printing is making rapid progress as a technique and very useful for those (not me!) who have CAD skills. But what sort of cost per body are we talking about? Last time I enquired, it was prohibitively expensive for a production run. Much better to use it as a method of producing a master from which moulds could be made for resin casting. But things may have changed as the technique becomes more mainstream.

 

A body like this is in the region of €40 to €50 for a one off with this material which includes a set-up cost and postage. Ordering several at once reduces the set up costs and negates the postage. Also the increasingly favourable £ to € rate is a help. Obviously there is still a lot of work to do to make it a finished body so you could only really sell it as is to individuals who are prepared to do their own finishing.

[Wild Boar Fell]

Hello,

That looks very impressive, the stepping doesn't seem to be much of an issue on yours. I like how well the rivets on the base of the chimney have turned out, I look forward to seeing it when its finished.

 

Keep up the good work,

Regards,

Wild Boar Fell

[Red Devil]

Should answer my PM's on time, sorry Andrew!

 

If you do reprint, definately ask them to orientate it with the layers running vertically on the model, that should make cleaning it up much easier, hope you don't mind me posting these pics but it should make it clearer, they are of two 7mm/ft Trams, the Gateshead single decker has it's layering running vertically, this give you a pretty smooth roof, as it has a fair bit of roof detail trhat's what I need, wheras the Leeds Pivotal Double Decker has it's layering running horizontally which gives a smoother curved end at the expense of the roof, on a 'flat' roofed tram this is easily sorted.

 

I suppose the best bet would be to leave the smokebox door off and print that in FUD, just an idea?

 

Pics

 

 

 

 

 

I Materialise are pretty good at printing stuff the way you want it, they are very accomodating with me. I currently have a 7mm Leeds Middleton Bogie to finish for them to display at 3d printing shows, they seem quite keen on the ralway modelling market from various conversations I have had with them.

[AJ427]

Should answer my PM's on time, sorry Andrew!

 

If you do reprint, definately ask them to orientate it with the layers running vertically on the model, that should make cleaning it up much easier, hope you don't mind me posting these pics but it should make it clearer, they are of two 7mm/ft Trams, the Gateshead single decker has it's layering running vertically, this give you a pretty smooth roof, as it has a fair bit of roof detail trhat's what I need, wheras the Leeds Pivotal Double Decker has it's layering running horizontally which gives a smoother curved end at the expense of the roof, on a 'flat' roofed tram this is easily sorted.

 

I suppose the best bet would be to leave the smokebox door off and print that in FUD, just an idea?

 

I Materialise are pretty good at printing stuff the way you want it, they are very accomodating with me. I currently have a 7mm Leeds Middleton Bogie to finish for them to display at 3d printing shows, they seem quite keen on the ralway modelling market from various conversations I have had with them.

 

Thanks Mark - that illustrates the issue perfectly. Unfortunately it was too late to change the print orientation as i-materialise were working to super-quick schedules and the model had already been shipped! The model is still viable though and will just take a lot more cleaning up like this. Next time I will have it printed boiler pointing up and I may do the smokebox door as a seperate part maybe fixed on a sprue to the underside of the model orientated so as to get the best of both worlds.

[Atso]

Hi Andrew,

 

The N1 looks excellent (I've got one to do in N at some point!). Mark has beaten me to it regarding the orientation of the model... I would recommend using FUD for some of the smaller items such as the chimney and smoke box door while taking advantage of Prime Grey for the main body.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Hi Andrew,

 

The N1 looks excellent (I've got one to do in N at some point!). Mark has beaten me to it regarding the orientation of the model... I would recommend using FUD for some of the smaller items such as the chimney and smoke box door while taking advantage of Prime Grey for the main body.

 

Presumably (and remember that I don't do CAD myself), if someone has done the drawings for a model at, say 4mm scale, it should not be too difficult to simply resize for other scales.

[Atso]

Presumably (and remember that I don't do CAD myself), if someone has done the drawings for a model at, say 4mm scale, it should not be too difficult to simply resize for other scales.

 

Hi Joseph,

 

The basic structure can be scaled down as you suggest, however the wall thicknesses etc would all need to be adjusted manually to allow the resultant print to survive. I've done this in the past and on that particular CAD model spent almost as much time making it printable again after scaling as it would've taken me to design it from scratch...

[AJ427]

Whilst I am fairly encouraged by my first attempt at 3d printing, sanding and filing of the model has proved to me that a complete single part body is perhaps not the best way to go. The i-materialise prime gray works best on flat surfaces (see Red Devil's trams above) and where I'd had these (on the running plate and cab roof for example) the surface was crisp, smooth and shiny and would require little or no finishing. I'm therefore thinking along the lines of a flat pack sprued kit as shown that will maximise the number of smooth flat surfaces on the model and minimise the amount of areas that will need sanding. The boiler will be orientated up which will result in lines around the circumference rather than steps along the length which will be easier to smooth. Detail parts - chimney, dome and smokebox door - will be done seperately by Shapeways FUD. The flanged bases to the dome and chimney are thicker than they should be to allow them to print properly. I have designed recesses (shown in green) in the boiler/smokebox tops to allow them to drop in so that the flanges will appear as the correct thickness on the finished kit. All parts will fit or slot simply together somewhat in the manner of an Airfix kit. Other possibilities would be to seperate the smokebox from the boiler and offer alternative saturated or superheated versions (the chimney is further forward on the s/h version) and offer alternative smokebox numbers on the small parts sprue as well as the condensing gear.

The alternative would be to offer the model in one-piece as a Shapeways FUD but this would be nearly twice the cost and the results still seem to be hit and miss at the moment.

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

The box will be a funny shape

[Atso]

Excellent idea and one which will hopefully result in less time spent cleaning the model...

 

Interesting to see the similarities to an injection moulded kit here.

[S.A.C Martin]

...Put me down for a few sets...!

 

No really, I think it looks absolutely brilliant. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

[Gordon A]

Is it worth doing a different number on each smokebox door?

 

Gordson A

Bristol

[S.A.C Martin]

Is it worth doing a different number on each smokebox door?

 

Gordson A

Bristol

 

That's a great idea. That way you've a choice of engines. It might also be a good idea to offer LNER variants without the smokebox door for other era modellers?

 

The kit is coming together beautifully. Very well thought out.

[Nile]

That looks to be the way to go, just make sure Materialise print it the right way up!

As for the smokebox door, I'd like to see it without any number on the plate, and a version with no number plate at all.

[davidw]

Very interesting. Any thoughts on doing any other loco's?

 

An N7 comes to mind...

Edited August 18, 2012 by davidw

[AJ427]

Is it worth doing a different number on each smokebox door?

 

Gordson A

Bristol

That's a great idea. That way you've a choice of engines. It might also be a good idea to offer LNER variants without the smokebox door for other era modellers?

 

The kit is coming together beautifully. Very well thought out.

That looks to be the way to go, just make sure Materialise print it the right way up!

As for the smokebox door, I'd like to see it without any number on the plate, and a version with no number plate at all.

Very interesting. Any thoughts on doing any other loco's?

 

An N7 comes to mind...

 

Thanks for the comments guys. It's nice to see something which just started out for my own use/pleasure escalate into something other modellers will be interested in.

My current thinking on the small parts sprue and the doors is that the number plate will be a seperate part and several will be offered including a flat one (although it would be very easy to file the numbers flat anyway). The kit will include just one door, numberplate, chimney and dome - I will be printing them in multiples to save money. I may also create a sprue for the condensing gear for those who want it - however, the ones from the donor N2 may be appropriate. As mentioned above I will also probably seperate the smokebox from the boiler and offer both saturated and superheated variants. There are just too many variations in the class to cover everything but I think this provides a good range of options.

As for future projects, initially at least I will be looking to create ex-GNR locos appropriate for use in the West Riding and the Queensbury Lines in particular. So that means a J50 and J6. The problem here is the lack of a donor chassis so that will require some thought. However, these would be a long way off and I still live in hope that a manufacturer will do a J50.