5D_Stoke

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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...

Hi Martin, 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. 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,

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)