Guest Moria Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Well, so I decided this has to be tried since it seems like a future for models but where to start since I have no idea about 3d modelling and programs. So I decided the best thing to do was to just get started and see how it goes. Since I am off on holiday next week, I thought I would show my progress and ask for feedback and whether it's worth continuing or not. So I downloaded sketchup and started drawing, and after a lot of starting and restarting and watching videos, I am here. The idea is to do a basic shell and then overlay vinyl sides on it since I have a CraftRobo vinyl cutter and will help overcome the painting issue. Whether they are cut in vinyl or self adhesive label I haven't decided yet as the labels will be thinner. The glazing will be 15 thou clear sheet stuck into gaps left in the sides to add strength. The sides are approx 1mm thick, which may be too much but a first print will determine that and the overall length is 118mm rather than the Dapol 60' coaches which are 125mm. Looking at it critically now posted, I can see that although the roof is a three arc profile, it's not quite right yet, the side arcs aren't sharp enough, so that will get a rebuild after the holiday as well. I did think about printing in clear with no window cut-outs but that would be very expensive. The K42 was a full brake 57' long and 8'11" wide and the aim is to go with my Dapol Collett coaches which I believe are 60' so I wanted all the sizes and profiles to match up. I have yet to do the interior detailing, roof detailing and the end detailing and decide what I am going to do for bogies, but would be happy to get feedback. This will have to be printed in FUD to get the detail. I haven't yet converted it to see if it will print, but I think that any errors can be overcome if needed. Side view :- End profile :- Sides prepared for cutting in later full livery :- Edit :- woot just exported to STL format and ran through NetFabb and no issues.. should be good to send to print at this stage... still more work to do though. Regards to all Graham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidK71 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 This looks really interesting. If it all works, I'll want one: I'm not so keen on vinyl sides but once the coach body is done, getting brass sides etched shouldn't be too much of a challenge. For the interior, I don't think you'll need anything beyond a corridor partition: either printed, or some way to get a plasticard one in. For the roof I'd suggest trying to print the roof strips as I've not found lining tape thin that's really thin enough for this task - I have used 1mm lining tape on a few LMS coaches, which looks pretty good, but could be thinner. I'd also suggest adding dimples for where the roof shell vents go, then drilling out holes with a jeweller's drill and inserting plastic shell vents from Ultima in, which will give a better result than printing shell vents, at the expense of more work. You can source white metal dynamos and end gangways from Ultima too. For bogies, at the moment your only accurate choice is the 2mm Association's 9' GWR pressed steel bogie etch. This does produce a lovely bogie, and you can get suitable N gauge profile wheels from the Association too. I ended up joining the 2mm Association primarily for their bogie etches, though there's lots of other good stuff available through them too. I know that Dapol have agreed to supply Ultima with spare pressed steel bogies (as used under their Collett stock) when they next run some, but as yet that hasn't happened, so that would be an easier option if you're prepared to wait. On the bogie front you might want to think about how you would mount the bogie, too. From the look of the images, the underneath of the floor is a solid piece the same thickness as the solebar. If you do that, the bogies will have to sit so that the wheels are entirely below the solebar, which will make the coach very high, and won't look prototypical. Really you want the solebar to cover most of the upper part of the wheels that extends beyong the top of the bogie, which will involve a more complicated floor. A better plan would be a floor with the solebars as least partially below it, with two squares over the bogie centres to act as bogie mounts, with holes in the squares to accept a small screw that fits through the bogie (not easy to explain in words!). I'm still experimenting with mounting bogies on the kits I'm building, so hopefully someone else might have a smarter idea. By the way, the photographs in Russell Appendix Vol. 2, and the underframe plan for the 4mm K42 on the Comet Models website, both show the vacuum cylinders on the side of the V-hangers nearer the battery, so you might want to look at that, too. A more radical way to solve the above would be to buy a brass 57' underframe and truss rods etc. from Ultima and use that as the floor, with the printed body glued to it. I don't know how rigid an entirely printed body and floor would be, but having a brass floor would definitely give you an entirely rigid coach. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I would definitely be interested in a coupe of these if they turn out well. I am undecided about the sides, I am used to painting etched kits but I would be willing to give vinyls a bash. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Moria Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Many thanks both for the replies. David.. thanks for your astute observations, I can't think what came over me with the vac cylinders after all the research I did:) and yes to the dimples for the vents, I don't think I can do these small enough yet. However, as to the bogies, yes, I will be hollowing out the underframe to an appropriate depth when I have decided on the correct bogies. I may resort to Ultima corridor connections, but am going to try my own first. One other thing I am going to try, but no promises, is to actually do the proper coach side with windows and droplights in the model to get away from the printed sides. It seems both you and Karhedron might prefer this solution. The interior will litterally be the central corridor and the sloping ends.. just something to stop you seeing all the way through and attatched to the chassis to make painting easier before assembly. As I say, on a plane tomorrow, but will continue with these ideas when back home but will check in here from time to time all being well. Regards and thanks again. Graham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 What I did for the Ultima Greslsy suburbans and the Thompsons was pretty similar but using etched sides rather than printed ones along with glue on etched trussing. I've given up on trying to do trussing in FUD in N. The other advantage of doing it that way was I could then use a polished WSF material for the core so its way stronger and cheaper. Happy to sort something out on the corridor connectors if you need them by the bag load 8) Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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