N Gauge Class 390 Pendolino (post Kickstarter) with Rapido

[Revolution Ben]

Hello all,

 

Another trip to the Virgin Talent Academy at Crewe to try to laser scan their Pendolino and this time success!

 

A cold, cloudy but dry day - apparently ideal scanning conditions as bright sunlight, or a wet reflective surface - can cause the scanner difficulties.

 

Many thanks to Andy Y for making the trip too and assisting with some video explainers that will come later...

 

 

So how does it work?

 

The laser scanner is a tripod mounted laser unit made by Leica costing around £70K.  The operators - in this case David and Jonathan McCrory of Scantech International - move it around the vehicle to generate a series of images that can be stitched together to create the full 3D image.

 

 

The whole operation took around 3 hours - first they circled the vehicles at low level, to ensure the captured the underframe detail and bogies, before making another pass using platforms and their 5m tripod to ensure the upper bodysides and roof were captured.

 

 

 

Due to the modular nature of the prototype the driving car has almost all the information required - except details of the pantograph well.  So this was scanned separately on the neighbouring vehicle.

 

 

As some have identified, the vehicle we scanned is the remaining driving car from unit 390033, which was involved in the Grayrigg crash some years ago.

 

 

The resulting “point clouds” from each pass will be stitched together, cleaned up and extraneous items such as the track and any fencing/shrubbery removed to give Rapido’s CAD designers a clean outline to begin designing the model. Look out for more updates soon!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Great Western]

Really interesting stuff, thanks for keeping us updated. I wish the other companies would do the same, it's not a big ask is it?

 

I always though laser scanning was something really big and amazing (with all due respect) it looks quite erm.......unspectacular although impressive what such small bits of kit produce.

 

Are you working to the kickstart production dates, as in scanning Jan, 3D model March, first EP (if that's what's called) around June for ammemdenments and circa Septemeber for production ?

 

Extremely impressive work do far though, top marks.

 

I've also just clicked where I've seen Mr Ando before, although I can't remember what your news speciality is?

 

Regards

Great Western

[Revolution Ben]

Hi GW,

 

The actual laser scanning operation itself is relatively straightforward, however the computer work that follows in turning a point cloud from the scanner into a cleaned up image the model designers can use requires considerable skill and specialist expertise and will take a few days.

 

Because Rapido were so quick to confirm that we could proceed with plan B and because those who backed us were so quick to get their orders in once the revolutiontrains.com website went live, we aren't really behind at all despite the Kickstarter not reaching its target and our being thwarted by snow last week!

 

The timeline always envisaged the scan to be at the end of January, so having to wait until Feb 2nd I don't think will make an appreciable difference.  Though, of course, there are lots ot steps along the way yet!

 

A fair bit depends on how good the model designers get the first draft of the CAD drawings.  If they need few alterations, then we can proceed to metal cutting relatively quickly, if more changes are needed then that step will have to wait...

 

In answer to your other question, I did specialise in crime reporting for 4 years (and wrote a book on some of the stories from people I met) however now I am more of a generalist... though I do still do a fair bit of court reporting, as I enjoy it.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Ben A

[acko22]

Ben,

 

Looks like idea conditions there today then unlike Thursday, glad to see things went to plan the second time

 

But I now have envy I wouldn't have minded having a chance to play around in research the driving compartment! 

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Gareth,

 

Yes, when I went to say hello to the Virgin people they asked if we wanted access to the interior - so we did!  And put it hopefully to good use with lots of shots of the interior and a couple of (hopefully) interesting videos recorded inside which I think Andy Y is planning to upload a little later when we have some of the day's scanner imagery to go with them.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Andy Y]

Ben talks to Scantech in the forthcoming clip and gives us a 'behind the scenes' look inside the Pendolino, it's a cracking little short film as an intro to the project and there was even enough material for a little trailer.

 

 

It was a pleasure to do the video when there's a pro on one side of the camera!

[acko22]

At least Bens phone didn't go off this time

[Andy Y]

The Virgin Pendolino video service from Crewe to RMweb readers is running early.

 

Here's the video from today following Ben talking to Scantech International and a guided tour of the driving trailer and the kitchen!

 

[Multiple identity account]

Can't wait to see the 3D models from the scans...

[Stu from EGDL]

Hi all,

 

Great couple of videos Ben and well done to Andy for the quality and speed of upload.

Please make sure the CAD guys add the windscreen wipers!!!

 

Later,

Stu from EGDL

Edited February 3, 2015 by Stu from EGDL

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Stu,

 

Good spot with the wipers.  I am officially tasking you with making sure they are correct on the CAD drawings too!! ;-)

 

There are a couple of other little details Mike and I noticed that may be modified from how the units run in service.  I've been checking these against photos and the 2D drawings we have!

 

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[TomE]

Thanks Ben & Andy for the updates & videos, a fascinating insight into what goes in to the early stages of producing the model. 

 

Tom.

[Revolution Mike]

Hello folks

A quick update with the first image from the scan:



We've also received some more CAD from Virgin:



If you've placed an order for a Pendolino then you can view all the images (and latest updates) here:
http://www.revolutiontrains.com/pendolino/pendolino-development/ (please note you must be logged in to your account - the user name / email and password are the ones you supplied when you placed your order).

Cheers, Mike

[Joseph_Pestell]

I just tried to order two sets one nine car and a 11 car. Desperately looked for a 'continue shopping' button; I then when back to the home page and ordered a the second one only to find it had removed the first! Whoever set up the webpage should stick to modelling!

 

That will be the same web-designer that does Ryanair's site.

[Great Western]

A quick question in general and specific for this project do Rapiod, Bachmann, Hornby etc work full time on each projecf or do they say do one project ona Monday etc?

 

I'm so glad I boarded this project, very excited seeing just the first cads, can't wait to see the 3D models and first EPs !

 

Great Western

[mikeharvey22]

That will be the same web-designer that does Ryanair's site.

Post #697 explains how it works.

[Revolution Ben]

Hello all,

Some more progress on the Pendo. While the scanning company are doing the CAD work to prepare to send our 3D scan files to China, Virgin have been sending more information on the liveries.

Among them, this rather lovely drawing showing details of the Poppy Pendo cabside markings which I thought I'd share....
 

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Padishar Creel]

Hi,

I can not express my joy enough that we are going to get a Class 390 in N. Very glad the Kickstarter Project came into being, that Rapido joined the project and that the buyers themselves showed the manufacturers that there IS a market for the model.

 

The project is still very young and I would like to ask Rapido how "close" will the close coupling be? This is probably the only part of the model's design I am passionate about. The current Farish mechanism on their MK1s and MK2a proves that coaches can be coupled with the gangways touching on straights whilst the gate mechanism pushes them out far enough so that they can still negotiate 1st radius curves, and that a mechanism can be tight enough that this is irrespective of push or pull mode. I have only seen Rapido coaches on their site, but not seen them in the flesh.

 

It would be disappointing if the gap is per the Arnold Belle or the mechanism as slack/loose as the Dapol MK3s.

 

Thanks in advance for any info and as ever

es grüßt

pc

[Revolution Ben]

Hello PC,

 

The models will be designed and manufactured to NEM standards and be prorotypically close-coupled on the straight.  This issue is simplified for the Pendolino because within the rake there are no buffers.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Padishar Creel]

Hi Ben,

Thanks!!!!!

[Revolution Ben]

Hello all,

 

As most will know, we 3D scanned the Pendolino up at Crewe a couple of weeks ago, and after much hard work behind the scenes by Scantech International here is a "point-cloud" image showing part of the data we will be working from.  Obviously this is a 2-D rendering but the "real" data is in a 3D file...

 

 

Here too is a very early "cleaned up" CAD showing the rough outline generated - naturally there is a lot of detail to be added to this yet!

 

 

Any comments, albeit at this early stage, feel free to share!
 

cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Ben A

[Multiple identity account]

Looking forward to more

[TomE]

Excellent start Ben.

 

Out of interest, is it possible for the CAD info Virgin provided to be used in the CADs for the model, or are they just for reference only?

 

Tom.

[Revolution Ben]

Hi Tom,

 

I am not a CAD designer, but my understanding is that the data from the 3D scan has been imported into whatever program the model designers used and used to form the basis of the shape - I think they probably have to trace it but if the program is like 2D versions I am familiar with then it's straightforward to "snap" nodes to the pattern, ensuring an exact match.

 

Both the 3D scan and the Virgin/Alstom files have been sent - I imagine the designers will use the latter to "check" the former.

 

With modern manufacturing techniques it's far more likely that the prototype we scanned will match the maker's drawings than when the locomotive's angles and curves were created by a pattern-maker and then panel-beater's renderings of a 2-D drawing!

 

I am hoping to have some actual CAD renderings of the model, as opposed to the prototype, in another 2-4 weeks, and provided there aren't too many corrections needed (with my NGS experience I am certain there will be some!) then we should be ready to go to tooling sometime in April. 

 

 

Comparing this with the original Kickstarter timeline we are around two weeks behind schedule; but I think that's understandable given that the 3D scan was delayed due to snow, and we had to raise the funding via plan B as the Kickstarter itself did not reach the target.  And there is some "slack" built into the original timings so I remain optimistic that the models will be ready when planned.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[bmthtrains - David]

Depends on what software they are using, but generally a laser scan or light field data is simply converted to an editable polygon mesh, which allows adjustments to be made as if you'd drawn it from scratch.

 

I presume Rapido use Solidworks (most manufacturers seem to), which allows for multiple component design, testing and assembly.

 

David