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NSR Brakevan in 4mm scale by 3D printing


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I thought I'd relate my experiences with 3D printing as I have found this topic on RMweb to be really inspirational and useful over the last few months. Moreover I was prompted to finally put a posting on here after meeting Richard of GLR Model Design at his demo table at the Warley show this morning, and I realised I had not actually met and talked to anyone who was using this technology before!

 

FIrst let me share some pictures of the designs I've been working on and the results received from Shapeways, which have more than exceeded my expectations. I wanted to make a North Staffordshire Railway brakevan, which was a long-lived design, produced from at least 1874 through to WW1. There were two basic variations, of which the later 20 ton has been available as an etched kit in 4mm scale but no-one has made the earlier 10 ton type. Having built a few from a 7mm scale resin kit I knew from experience already that this was a complex prototype, with the following difficult points:

- deep wooden framing making an etched kit difficult, needing laminations or lots of folds,

- asymetrical design needing 6 key parts, none alike, meaning 6 masters for casting in whitemetal or resin

- several windows and a semi-open verandah, meaning my favourite method of a one-piece resin body would be very tricky.

 

Having heard about 3D printing a couple of years ago, two advances made me take a serious look at 3D printing:

- hearing a talk by Andy Boothman of the HMRS, at the HMRS Study Centre, on use of 3D printing to make cast components for Gauge 3 wagon kits, and seeing the quality of the results

- reading about the Warwell and other wagons made by Wild Boar Models and an N1 0-6-2T loco body by AJ427 on this RMweb forum (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50852-3d-printed-warwell-now-includes-other-wagons-military-industrial/ and http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58891-ivatt-n1-fud-final-prototype-reprint-arrived/)

 

As a total novice to CAD I learned to use Google Sketchup by watching the various tutorials and having a go. I've added an STL file export add-on from http://www.guitar-list.com and fix the files using the basic program from http://www.netfabb.com. I draw everyting full size, taking feet-and-inches dimensions straight from a historic GA drawing, and have added all the bolt heads and handrail fixings as individial components in Sketchup, each then "exploded" and integrated into the model to ensure it does not remain as a seperate shell.

 

To save time I copied and mirrored one side to make the other. Everything else was drawn individually and I lost count of the hours it took as I was learning as I went along! The resulting model was then rescaled down to 1:76 and the dimensions changed to milimetres so I could get it spot-on to scale. This has been the most tedious part because the rescaling operation seriously taxed my home computers and I had to resort to doing the rescaling on my work computer. Wall minimum thickness I set at a scale 2 inches which is pretty much dead scale for the verandah planks and works out at 0.667mm when scaled down, which seems to be acceptable for Shapeways and is strong enough with all that heavy external framing anyway (just like the prototype!) The floor is seperate to enable glazing and painting, and is attached to the body with temporary sprues. I have since added a hand brake handle to the model. The holes for handrails,etc are an interference fit for 0.45mm handrail wire. I've not bothered to produce buffers or any underframe equipment because these are available as whitemetal castings from existing suppliers, and the floor is designed to accept MJT brass suspension units.

 

The resulting 3D print from Shapeways is in Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD), at a cost of just over £40 including postage. The quality is first class, with 99% of the bolt heads, etc appearing perfectly. The exceptions are a couple I forgot to integrate properly. The surfaces are very smooth, take a look at the photos but remember this is a few times actual size... One print has been passed round at least 50 people now, including all round the table at an LMS Society dinner, and has only suffered a slight chip to the roof, not really noticable now its painted. I have concluded that Shapeways FUD is reasonable value when compared to a £20+ etched kit plus all the time, skill and burnt fingers needed to build it. And when I want another, I can simply order it. For a simpler prototype, using a print as a master for home resin casting makes this quite a cost effective method, eg for a set of open wagons.

 

Currently also completed is an NSR Ballast Brake variation, and I am working on a twin window type with a lot more ironwork on the sides.

 

As a result of todays meeting I think I need to try some other materials such as White detail, or iMaterialise Prime Gray for comparison.

 

Have also made a start on a NSR/LMS KS class 0-6-0T body, and made a special trip to the NRM Search Engine to copy all the relevant drawings a couple of weeks ago. Why a KS? It would Anglicise that foreign Electrotren thing offered at the moment as an NCB loco on sale at Hattons, Cheltenham MC, etc at under £50: from what others have said on RMweb the chassis looks to be an almost perfect match.

 

If I can get something out of this technology then anyone can ... hope this inspires others to have a go!

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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Nice work Sir.. and welcome to the group. Looks like you have made pretty rapid progress :)

 

I was very impressed and inspired by Richard's work, hopefully is not to 'broken' by this evening. But the in sites he gave are priceless in helping my progression in the 3D world.

 

Keep us posted with your efforts

Regards

Tom

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Hello Mark

 

I am very envious of your high quality FUD print compared to a test I did of part of a diesel loco body.

 

I recently did a search for FUD on this forum, and there seems to be much inconsistency in the quality of FUD prints from Shapeways. Most people seem to have problems with "ripple" or "frosting" of the surface, and I ended up with both on my test, which made the part unusable. Shapeways offered me a credit but could offer no explanation of why the part had turned out badly.

 

I would really be interested to see a photo of your painted model if that is possible? Did you use acrylic or enamel paints? Did you have any problems painting it or any suggestions regarding painting?

 

Thanks

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Hi Martin,

 

being a great long distance fan of the NSR i find this really interesting stuff .Would it be possible to obtain models of these from you at a future date ??

 

Thanks for your interest, yes I will make the 10 ton Brake Van and Ballast Brake available via Shapeways in the next few weeks but I need to upload a new version of the 10 tonner first with the handle included and the width for the suspension units improved. I also want to experiment with slightly cheaper materials.

 

Who has the NSR break van kit at the moment BTW ??

 

51L Models produce the 20 ton Brake Van as an etched 4mm scale kit at £21.00 - see http://www.51l.co.uk/nsrd020.htm

 

They also do some whitemetal kits of the later NSR vans and an open wagon.

 

Thanks for the interest,

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Nice model and an interesting prototype. Looks like you managed to get a good print from FUD first time around. I see you are also maybe looking at prime gray - I think it will work quite well for the sides - on my experiments with it I got quite a bit of rivet detail that shouldn't have come out at all based on the stated minimum resolution. You will get stepping on the roof though but as it's a fairly shallow curve it should be easier to smooth out than a boiler. Have a look at Red Devil's tram models on here as many are done in prime gray.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've just taken delivery today of my first print from iMaterialise in "Prime Gray" and the results look very promising. The prototype is the North Staffordshire Railway Ballast Brake number 216, a vehicle unknown to members of the NSR Study Group until a photograph turned up a couple of years ago. It is shown in the bottom corner of the first photo, and distortion makes it look a little taller than it really could have been if it was a conversion from a NSR 10 ton Brake Van (also we know NSR 4 wheel Loop Line carriages, like the one next to it, were only 6ft high from floor to eaves) and so knowing the principal dimensions it was a relatively short job to rework a copy of the NSR 10 ton Brake Van model into my interpretation of the Ballast Brake. The ends I assumed were the same as the normal Brake Van because they are invisible due to the cropping of the print, and this assumption is supported by other NSR brake variants we know of. This model was easier to do because it is symmetrical and has no internal partition, though I did put in horizontal spacers across the middle at roof and floor level for strength.

 

The iMaterialise model is clearly produced slightly differently from the Shapeways one, because small support sprues have been added to some of the overhangs to aid printing, and the underside is a bit rough as a result of these. The other surfaces are a bit smoother than Shapeways' FUD. The roof shows more pronounced stepping though, but once the chimney hole has been drilled I can sand that smooth to a good finish, and I've thickened the roof slightly compared to earlier versions to enable a bit of sanding. The last of the four photos shows the small sprues cleaned off in a couple of minutes with a fine needle file. The handrail holes have not come out asmore than small dimples which will need drilling out, and curiously the door hinges have not printed, but all the bolt detail is there. The cost of the iMaterialise is a bit cheaper than Shapeways' FUD, coming out at about £25 instead of £40 (though I did order on a post-free promotion so not sure what IMaterialise charges for postage), I have ordered an identical print from Shapeways for comparison which should arrive in a few days. Then I'll end up with two Ballast Brake Vans, which is a bit unfortunate because the NSR probably only had one like this!

 

Comments welcome...

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I would really be interested to see a photo of your painted model if that is possible? Did you use acrylic or enamel paints? Did you have any problems painting it or any suggestions regarding painting?

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for the comments RIchard, I've just had another FUD print arrive from Shapeways and it seems pretty good but I'm moving in favour of iMaterialise Prime Gray despite the stepping problems on the roof.

 

Regarding painting, here is a photo below of an early print of the NSR 10 Brake Van brush painted in grey enamel primer and with the handrails added. The plasticard spacers are instead of the handrail bosses I added to later versions, and they do look a bit crude, but not too bad at normal viewing distances (bear in mind this is 4mm scale and therefore the model is only 64mm long!). The primer dried perfectly and did show up some areas of the body side planking the would benefit from gently sanding or scraping to reduce the horizontal build-up lines. However when I applied Precision Paints topcoat it took a week over a radiator to get it touch dry, and the finish was awful. I should really have got the airbrush out but it didn't seem worth it for a one-off model. The problem seems to be with the paint which had gone a bit thick and gloopy, having not been opened in about three years and may have been affected by storage in a cold shed. Anyway its all got to come off again and so I'll send a photo of it when it is finished. I don't think that's been caused by the FUD material, because the primer adhered well. I only use spirit based paints for basic colours on models, and acrylics for most of my weathering, so I've not tried acrylics directly onto a 3D model (yet).

 

Hope that helps answer your qus,

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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Hello Mark,

Looking very good, very interesting to see the comparisons between FUD and Prime Grey (I'm still looking for an excuse to use it) Some very nice prototypes as well. the stepping of the prime grey on curved surfaces was also fairly noticeable on AJ427's N1 boiler, but not quite as severe.

Good luck with your designs,

Regards,

Wild Boar Fell

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I've just taken delivery today of my first print from iMaterialise in "Prime Gray" and the results look very promising. The prototype is the North Staffordshire Railway Ballast Brake number 216...

 

This model is now available to order at: http://i.materialise.com/gallery/north-staffordshire-railway-ballast-brake-van-4mm-scale

 

Please let me know via this forum if there are any questions. I will upload some photos of the Shapeways FUD print from the same file shortly for comparison and am thinking of making the model available through Shapeways too, in FUD and WSF.

 

Just after Christmas I hope to have the more common NSR 10 ton Brake Van available on iMaterialise too, and am hoping to arrange a test build and review by a friend who models in S4.

 

Happy modelling,

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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I've just had another FUD print arrive from Shapeways and it seems pretty good ...

 

I've just uploaded some pictures below showing the Shapeways print in FUD of the NSR Ballast Brake van in 4mm scale, as a direct comparison with iMaterialise Prime Gray shown a few days ago. The FUD print is noticably finer in details but in some ways the vertical surfaces are not quite as smooth as prime gray. The photo of the side shows that in FUD the hinges and handrail holes have printed well and it is even clear that the bolt heads and nuts are hexagonal, exactly as I drew them, though it's invisible to the naked eye or even under my workbench magnifier!

 

I hope others find this direct comparison of the same model as interesting as I have. Comments welcome.

 

Just experimenting with the detail on a 7mm scale model to further push what I can get 3D printing to do, before getting back to the NSR KS 0-6-0T - the curved boiler, cab and bunker shapes will test my new Sketchup skills a bit...

 

My wife's beginning to glare at me for spending pre-Christmas evenings on this, but still having a lot of fun with it!

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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  • 1 month later...

 

This model is now available to order at: http://i.materialise.com/gallery/north-staffordshire-railway-ballast-brake-van-4mm-scale

 

Please let me know via this forum if there are any questions. I will upload some photos of the Shapeways FUD print from the same file shortly for comparison and am thinking of making the model available through Shapeways too, in FUD and WSF.

Many thanks to those of you who have ordered an NSR Ballast Brake from iMaterialise in Prime Gray, I know the first ones have now been delivered so please let me know how you get on with them and post some photos on here!

 

As an experiment I have created a CAD file of the Ballast Brake in S scale and had that approved by iMaterialise but as I don't model in that scale, nor know anyone who does, it would need someone to step forward and say they want one before I can go ahead with it.

 

I have now had approved some complete 4mm 10 ton Brake Vans in Prime Gray and when the post-Christmas piggy bank is replenished I'll test order them before making them available for sale too. Also in the pipeline is a 4mm scale LNWR 6 ton Refrigerator Van to Diag 46 (built from 1884) for which the CAD file is 99% completed so I should get a test order placed for that in early February.

 

If anyone would like to see some of these 3D printed models, hear about how they were created and ask some questions, I've agreed to give an illustrated talk at the HMRS Study Centre at Butterley on the evening of Wednesday 10 April - see the HMRS What's On page at: http://www.hmrs.org.uk/whatson/index.php

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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mark if you have any brakevans left can you give one to John Sherratt to mail to me please 

Martin

Hi Martin,

 

I know John Sherratt has successfully ordered a Ballast Brake to build in S4; I also took a sample round to his house last week so he could have a look at the different materials before his had arrived from iMaterialise. A good feature of the iMaterialise website is that you should be able to order a print from anywhere in the world and have it delivered wherever you want it: http://i.materialise...e-van-4mm-scale.

 

I'll work on a pdf of the instructions shortly to post on here, meanwhile the 10 ton Brake Van will be available in a few days time. Curiously iMaterialise has quoted me exactly the same price for a print with and without a floor unit. I was hoping to resin cast some floor units from a master to save money, knowing that iMaterialise and Shapeways price 3D printing by material volume so I reasoned that would work out cheaper. But if they are the same price incl floor then I'll just stick to that option.

 

All the best,

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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  • 1 month later...

 

I hope to have the more common NSR 10 ton Brake Van available on iMaterialise too,

 

 

I've just got the latest prints arrive from iMaterialise for the 4mm NSR brake van plus some 7mm stuff, and the quality seems pretty consistent, perhaps slightly more flash this time but is cleans off in just a minute or two with a sharp blade.

 

This model is available to order now at: http://i.materialise.com/gallery/db6d2b71-8cf7-4a75-9f8b-80f852d648f2

Please let me know via this forum if there are any questions.

 

These are images of the model as it arrived in the post, the last one shows a bit of cleaning up of the small sprues added by iMaterialise to support overhangs.

 

Best,

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

 

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These are photos of the print available now from iMaterialise at Euro 22.61 excluding VAT and postage. It includes the floor unit and a handle to fit onto a wire brake column. The ridges on the roof will sand off easily with a very fine flat sheet of wet & dry. The printers at iMaterialise seem to have slightly thickened the walls around the side windows - I had incorporated recesses inside for conventional glazing but one of the recent liquid glazing products could be used instead.

 

Best,

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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Is the inside of the van full of supports or remnants thereof?  Otherwise, I don't see how they could print the roof without it being supported underneath.  Also, there must be supports between the floor and body.

 

Also, I noticed the raised lettering on the underneath.  I did this on my current model and realised that recessed lettering would be better as, otherwise, the individual raised letters would need supports in order to be printed on the underside, and it is difficult to clean off the supports without damaging the lettering (not that it is critical for the finished model.)

 

What dimensions are you using for the grooves between the boards?

 

I am working on another strategy for printing curved-roof vehicles.  I should be sending my first test print off in a couple of weeks, so I will report back when I have an actual print.

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Is the inside of the van full of supports or remnants thereof?  Otherwise, I don't see how they could print the roof without it being supported underneath.  Also, there must be supports between the floor and body.

Yes, there are the minute remains of some supports visible under the roof so they must have taken some support sprues from somewhere. But not from the upper surface of the floor - that is as perfectly flat as glass. Virtually all the remnants of sprues have been cleared away before it was shipped so it is difficult to see how they've done it. I may see more when I separate the floor unit from the body by snipping through the large supports at each corner under the headstocks. I'll do that after this weekend as I'm going to a meeting of the NSR Study Group on Saturday and want to show exactly what is supplied by iMaterialise. The I'll get on with building this one up into a finished model.

 

Also, I noticed the raised lettering on the underneath.  I did this on my current model and realised that recessed lettering would be better as, otherwise, the individual raised letters would need supports in order to be printed on the underside, and it is difficult to clean off the supports without damaging the lettering (not that it is critical for the finished model.)

That's a good suggestion, I think the raised lettering looked amazing on the Shapeways FUD prints I had made (see earlier on this topic) but in iMaterialise Prime Gray they are not so good due to remnants of some tiny sprues. This would be more important if I was using these particular models for resin casting masters, but not so vital here as these will just be built up as models. I'll experiment with some recessed lettering too.

 

What dimensions are you using for the grooves between the boards?

This has been tricky to get right. It's an area where scale dimensions just don't work. Real tongued and grooved boards have only very tiny gaps of about a sixteenth of an inch between them and what we see as a line in a photograph is usually a shadow made by a chamfer at the top of each board to ensure that rainwater running down the face doesn't penetrate each T&G joint. Open wagon planks are also similar but tent to have a bigger chamfer. On a 4mm or 7mm model we like to see a line for each joint and some processes like etching can produce a really over-emphasised groove on a model. Then we apply a few layers of paint, the grooves fill up with more paint than the flat surfaces and we end up with something that looks about right. I've deepened the lines on my NSR 10ton Brake Van since having the first FUD prints made. I initially tried making a proper chamfer 1/2 inch high and 1/4 inch deep but it was almost imperceptible on the 3D print and vanished under some paint. Now I use a 1/2 inch wide rectangular groove 1/4 inch deep and this works fine on some 7mm models I've had done, but is still probably too narrow and shallow for 4mm models. I draw everything full size and then scale down, so it can be difficult to know what the finished effect will be. Changing all the plank lines later is very tedious...!

I am working on another strategy for printing curved-roof vehicles.  I should be sending my first test print off in a couple of weeks, so I will report back when I have an actual print.

I'm always interested in methods for curved roofs, and boilers, loco fittings etc because it is the stepped nature of 3D prints which seems to be putting some people off designs where the look of the curves is important. Van roofs are relatively simple, I make them a few thou over thickness and then lightly sand them on a very flat new sheet of the finest wet & dry paper. I'll start a new topic shortly on a NSR KS class 0-6-0T body shortly, my first 3D print of a loco and this is will be testing the technology on its ability to produce convincing complex curves.

 

Many thanks for your interest Marbelup, I look forward to seeing your results,

 

Best,

 

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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This model is now available to order at: http://i.materialise...e-van-4mm-scale

This model is available to order now at: http://i.materialise.com/gallery/db6d2b71-8cf7-4a75-9f8b-80f852d648f2

Please let me know via this forum if there are any questions.

 

 

Many thanks for the orders that have come through in the last 24 hours for the NSR 10ton Goods Brake Van and NSR Ballast Brake Van.

However I am very sorry to have to report that iMaterialise have suddenly taken them off sale and altered the Gallery items to "display only" so no more orders can be placed.

This is because the floor and body are connected by four short sprues therefore the staff at iMaterialise in their wisdom have decreed I am trying to get two models printed, ie floor and body, when it is surely perfectly clear to anyone that this is one model?! Apparently iMaterialise classes them as a "connected grouped model" and this deprives them five Euros handling fee. After accepting, pricing and delivering them, their technician Darya mailed me to say "we do not accept connected grouped models for production in Prime Gray anymore. This causes troubles during finishing and the handling cost is paid only once for two models." This is very frustrating and annoying to me and to anyone else who wants one of the Brake Vans but had not yet ordered. It sounds like a money-making strategy to me and I frankly don't believe the point about "troubles during finishing" as they have already printed and delivered several perfectly good examples - I have two on my desk in front of me.

I'm assured all those of you who have successfully ordered today will get your models.

Meanwhile I'll try to get these Brake Vans reprinted by Shapeways, probably in FUD and WSF, which have different properties and cost/cm2 to Prime Gray. This will probably mean extra time and cost for me, paying for new test prints to be done which I don't really need myself.

Clearly Shapeways doesn't think the same, they readily make and sell "connected grouped models"; has anyone else come up against iMaterialise's dogma on this?

Ho hum, on with the next project...

Mark (5D_Stoke)

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Hello Mark

 

It is a pity you have run into this problem.  I was wondering about removal of the supports from the inside, which is why I asked the question yesterday.

 

I wonder if you could negotiate with i.Materialise if the design was changed so that the underframe was next to the body, but still attached to it, rather than underneath?  Surely, that would eliminate any problems removing the support structure.  You could also point out that the items are part of the same model, not two models, and that the model has been separated to facilitate the 3D printing process (includnig removal of support material), not for any advantage to you or purchasers of the model.

 

The Prime Gray process uses a fine support structure made from the same material as the model, whereas the FUD process uses a solid wax support which is laid down by the print head along with the FUD material.  The wax support is removed by water jet whereas the Prime Gray supports have to be removed by hand.

 

I have had 2 models recently done in Prime Gray which combined fine detail with complex supports, so I opted to remove the supports myself in order to get the models printed without modifications.  It has been quite interesting to see the support structure, and I had no problems removing it but I can see that it could be time consuming for i.Materalise.

 

My new plan for printing a round roof van (or similar) is to print in 2 pieces with a longitudinal, vertical joint.  Each part would be printed on its side, which should result in much less stepping on the roof and also a smooth surface finish on the van sides which are the most visible.  Assuming printing in Prime Gray, the support structure would be on the inside so there would be no need to remove any tiny fragments.

 

In the case of my current project pictured below (a sheep wagon), there is also an intermediate floor so both floors and the roof should print OK without supports.  Both floors are actually double floors to handle the sheep poo, but they should still print OK.  With the sheep wagon, I intend to position the join in line with a prominent vertical frame member on the end, which will help disguise the vertical join on the ends.  The roof is free of detail, so it should be easy to smooth off the area of the join.  I will have to design some sort of interlocking pins or tabs to accurately locate the two pieces.

 

Please be aware that this idea has not been tested yet, so I don't know how it will work in practice.

 

Below are screenshots which I have cropped and rotated to illustrate the proposed join line (at the bottom of each image):

 

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Re raised vs recessed lettering, I have also discovered that recessed lettering on the underside of a model doesn't work all that well either (with STL process, e.g. Prime Grey) as you end up with a forest of supports to support the centre portions of the letters.  

 

One of my recent models had almost a solid block of supports on a portion of the underside.  When I finally removed them, I discovered this is where I had placed the recessed lettering.

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Re raised vs recessed lettering, I have also discovered that recessed lettering on the underside of a model doesn't work all that well either (with STL process, e.g. Prime Grey) as you end up with a forest of supports to support the centre portions of the letters.  

 

One of my recent models had almost a solid block of supports on a portion of the underside.  When I finally removed them, I discovered this is where I had placed the recessed lettering.

Hi Marbelup, sorry for delay in replying, work got in the way!

 

You have an interesting idea there for maximising quality in prime gray, I'm hoping one day that there will be a material available with the durability and surface finish of prime gray, the detail of FUD, but the low cost of WSF. That day will surely come! In the meantime I have had to come to terms with the fact that I can't use prime gray for most of the models I have designed, as iMaterialise won't budge on their policy about "connected models". Hence I have uploaded three of my models onto Shapeways site and offer them in FUD and WSF. However it should be noted that I have not had them printed in WSF myself (yet) so the only pictures I've loaded up are associated with the FUD prints, which are much dearer that WSF.

 

They are:

LNWR 6ton Refrigerator Van - 4mm scale - in WSF Euro 19.42 inc VAT + P&P

http://www.shapeways.com/model/938068/lnwr-6ton-refrigerator-van-4mm-scale-in-wsf.html?li=productBox-search

 

LNWR 6ton Refrigerator Van - 4mm scale - in FUD Euro 49.56 inc VAT + P&P

http://www.shapeways.com/model/877414/lnwr-6ton-refrigerator-van-4mm-scale-in-fud.html?li=productBox-search

 

NSR 10ton Ballast Brake Van - 4mm scale - in WSF Euro 17.36 inc VAT + P&P

http://www.shapeways.com/model/937901/nsr-10ton-ballast-brake-van-4mm-scale-in-wsf.html?li=productBox-search

 

NSR 10ton Ballast Brake Van - 4mm scale - in FUD = Euro 44.45 inc VAT + P&P

http://www.shapeways.com/model/788440/nsr-10ton-ballast-brake-van-4mm-scale-in-fud.html?li=productBox-search

 

NSR 10ton Goods Brake Van - 4mm scale - in WSF Euro 17.28 inc VAT + P&P

http://www.shapeways.com/model/937851/nsr-10ton-goods-brake-van-4mm-scale-in-wsf.html?li=productBox-search

 

NSR 10ton Goods Brake Van - 4mm scale - in FUD Euro 44.22 inc VAT + P&P

http://www.shapeways.com/model/877625/nsr-10ton-goods-brake-van-4mm-scale-in-fud.html?li=productBox-search

 

Unfortunate you've not found a way round the lettering problem in Prime Gray, I tend to think raised lettering works best all things considered.

 

My NSR KS class loco project is well advanced but I've got sidetracked experimenting with some 4mm scale and 7mm scale figures in FUD, not yet ordered any but it seems to me the ability to make realistic figures in 3D printing should surpass anything possible by any other method except perhaps lost wax casting. Preiser and others have found some ingenious ways to injection mould figures but with 3D printing there are no limits imposed by undercuts, parting lines, etc. Watch this space for my first experiments! Has anyone else been trying this - there don't seem to be many figures available for sale on Shapeways at all so far.

 

All the best,

 

Mark

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