wizmacnz

I've been very quiet here of late. Well actually I'm shocked that it's been more than 18 months since I last posted anything. The "day job" has been a bit all consuming. I have been doing a bit of modelling for 3D printing. Mainly in response to specific requests. Everything that I model for a specific person is subsequently available for anyone to buy, so I don't charge any premium for producing a custom design. So go ahead and ask! Most recent request was for some chimney pots for Metcalfe Terraced Houses.

Well maybe I underestimated the affluence of my fellow hobbyists. Today some kind person bought two of them.

The footbridges are available in OO scale, but I'm afraid they are pretty expensive. The 3D print bureau Shapeways charges by volume in the print machine as one of the key price driving factors and although it doesn't use that much printed material the volume drives the price high. The idea of making it in components to put together yourself is a good idea, and could reduce costs. It would require me to make some design changes and probably require printing in a different material that will take strong glue joints. For those with bulging wallets, here is the link to the OO scale model. https://www.shapeways.com/product/SKBVBSYJ8/footbridge-type-4-oo-scale

Following on quickly from the three platform three track bridge is the three platform four track bridge. Ideal for the larger station. Currently only available in N Scale from Shapeways at US$29.

I've just released for sale a new footbridge design in N scale to suit 3 platforms. This version spans a twin track then a single. No doubt I'll create a version to span two sets of twin track soon. At US$27 I believe it is very competitively priced. Not that I've seen anyone else selling something like this anyway.

Arched sash windows will be pretty easy to model. Just something I've never got around to. I suppose if someone gives me a picture of a prototype or some dimensions it might encourage me to get around to it. I've already made some lean to canopy trusses. I think at two different pitches. Here's a picture of the shallower pitched truss used on a customers layout. (I do have his permission to use the photograph he sent me). I have valancing to suit, but I'm not sure if I have created the gable panel for the shallower truss. I can quickly create one if someone's interested. My Type 2 Valance goes at the eaves. And the Type 3 Valance cut in half will close off the end for the steeper pitch truss. I also have roofing panels, but although I think they look great, are a bit pricey because of the amount of material that has to be printed. Not so tricky to make your roofing from card, although, being biased, I have to say it would have looked better if you had used one of mine. I have many roofing panels available, but most are not put on display for sale. I'm waiting for the printing costs to come down, as they inevitably will at some time.

I've finally finished updating all my current range of 3D printed doors. A useful information sheet can be downloaded from http://www.modelrailwaystructures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Door-Range-1.pdf To browse through the doors with sizes and pricing go to my website page. http://www.modelrailwaystructures.com/doors/ Pricing shown on my website is for HO scale. At Shapeways you can select the scale that you want and the price is updated. OO and HO are similar in price. N Scale is normally cheaper than OO even though it is printed in a more expensive material. S Scale and O Scale uses more material and is therefore more expensive.

I'm following your thread with interest. Particularly interested in your use of York Modelmakers doors and windows, but was prompted to actually comment by the chimney breast and fireplace. Now I'm not particularly skilled or patient with a knife, so I started modelling my "trick bits" and having them 3D printed at Shapeways. I've also made all the models available for others to buy, and have adapted them when requested or even modeled brand new things for others if I think there will be a general demand for them. One of the things I've modeled is chimney breast with fireplace. Yours looks great, but mine is just plonk and stick. Anyway apart from just wanting to say "what an interesting thread", because my layout is back in the design stage, I thought you might be interested to know that there are quite a few of my plonk and stick items at https://www.shapeways.com/shops/modelrail if you are ever looking for some modeling time savers.

They are all available from my Shapeways shop. If you are not familiar with Shapeways, they print once you have placed your order. They handle all the money and the postage and packaging and pay me a small portion of the money as a designer fee. The process is explained in a bit more detail on my website http://www.modelrailwaystructures.com/about/ The seats are available at Shapeways (I've sent you some direct links by PM)., but my website hasn't caught up yet. Shapeways print the objects either in Holland or the USA. For us kiwi's the post and packaging can be a bit steep. But it's the same price however much you order. I tend to wait until I have enough on my shopping list to make it worthwhile. Also every now and then they have free global postage offers.

Well in response to the request from Wigan Wallgate, I've produced some more modern seating types. It made a pleasant distraction from remodelling and re-scaling doors There are now 16 different types of door, which will be available in OO, HO and N Scale. Most will also be available in a variety of sizes. This has meant a lot of repetitive resizing and rescaling. Fortunately I'm through the worst of it.

Well subject to the limitations I'm currently operating under, as mentioned a few posts above, I'm always interested in new ideas and challenges. What did you have in mind?

I often get asked to put together items in larger batches in particular sizes. The beauty of 3D printing is that it's pretty easy to do if the computer model has been set up correctly. It's easiest if the object has a hole in it that allows a loop of plastic to pass through it. This links all the objects together through the printing and cleaning process and allows Shapeways to process it as a single part. Doing this certainly keeps down the cost per part. Below is a batch of doors made in HO scale to suit particular opening sizes requested by the customer. There are 40 of the single door and 10 of the double doors. The windows below were a batch prepared for a war gamer wanting particular windows and sizes to build a diorama.

I made these park benches for OO scale modelers some time ago. They have now been re-scaled and made available at 1:148 scale for N scale.

Work, a damaged shoulder and interminable house alterations have somewhat limited my ability to sit in front of the computer in the evenings and create new models for 3D printing. I have been able to get a little more done recently. One of the things I've been working on is classical columns. Not the easiest of things to make in card or plastic if you want to have the correct form of taper in the column. Easy to replicate though with 3D printing. The columns are available on Shapeways at various sizes, to allow you to make anything from a simple front porch for a georgian house, to an imposing facade for a civic building. I've put a couple together with a door and a couple of steps as a single printed item that can be stuck on the front of scratchbuilt building. The columns have yet to make it onto my website http://www.modelrailwaystructures.com but can be found at my Shapeways shop at https://www.shapeways.com/shops/modelrail . Updating the website is another one of those tasks that has got a bit behind.

Well, I've been very remiss in updating recently. I've been extremely busy, but unfortunately not really related to railway modeling. The software I use for creating models for 3D printing is the same software that I use for the main day job, designing buildings for the real world.This is an example of what it can do, when I'm using it for what it was intended. I have found a bit of time to add a few windows, doors and chimney pots to the N scale models available for Scalescenes kits, and I've started on providing drawing documentation with dimensions for people planning to use things I've got available in their own models. The first of these is available for download from the Blog page of my website at http://modelrailwaystructures.com My model railway structures facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/modelrailwaystructures isnow past 500 likes, which is fantastic considering I've yet to do any proper advertising for my products, website or facebook page. I'm almost looking forward to a slow down in our current construction boom and I'm certainly looking forward to the end of my house renovations, both of which are keeping me away from creating new projects for 3D printing.

3D printing companies, such as Shapeways, seem to have now standardized on a cost model that puts an emphasis on how much space a model takes up in the printer. Shapeways used to charge by how much material is actually printed. Models like the footbridge don't use much material, but do take up significant machine space. Apart from the N scale footbridge, that is still a bargain, the larger scale footbridges now have a cost penalty and are not really selling. Until the cost penalty is reduced, and I get some sales, I'm not really planning to do further variations of the footbridge model. Of course I could make lattice work sides to the steps and will put some time into further variations when pricing improves. Peter

The footbridge is available on Shapeways at OO, HO and N Scale. Unfortunately the HO is quite pricey because of the material it has to be printed in and its' size. The N scale is a real bargain. The OO was ok until Shapeways changed their pricing structure. Hopefully they will at some point change the pricing structure again to restore its competitiveness. NZ modelers use a variety of scales (my layout is OO). Quite popular is NZ prototype in S Scale (1:64).

I wouldn't really know where to start. I'd spend hours modeling a a carriage side, only to be told that it's available from Hornby. Peter

Hi Peter The main thing that stops me modeling rolling stock etc, is that I don't have the knowledge of the prototype to know what I'm doing. If I had dimensioned plans I'm sure I could create the 3D computer models. I have seen some examples on Shapeways of model rolling stock, but I think in OO scale, what you are suggesting could turn out to be pretty pricey at current print charge rates.

Hi Jim Anything that can be printed at 4mm can be scaled up to print at 7mm; provided that it will still fit in the printer. The main issue is cost. If you look at the price of something in 4mm the shapeways price for 7mm would be about 4 times more expensive. If there is anything in particular that you are interested in let me know and I will give it a go and see what happens to the price.

Added to my range of bits and pieces for Scalescenes kits are chimney pots for High St Shops. A lot of pots for the money. Peter

Hi Black Sheep I'm still having more than a few issues with Shapeways, but that relates to their WSF material. I think the Chimney you were interested in was N scale which is not affected by the price structure changes. Peter

Hi Captain Kernow The way my online Shapeways shop works is that they take the order, print the item(s). package and mail them to the customer. I get a cut of the money they charge as a designer fee. My fee is around 10%. If I were to do this as a business to where I take the order and arrange dispatch , I would have to place my own order with Shapeways, have it mailed to me in New Zealand (min post and packing fee from Shapeways to NZ is US$15), and then mail it back to the customer. The cost increase to the customer and the time increase to mail to NZ and back again to Europe (where most of my customers are), would provide a much worse service than the current offering. If there were a local 3D printing company that could undercut Shapeways it might be viable to change things around a bit. I know a NZ 3D printing company that would have the type of equipment capable of printing my items, but their current focus is providing high-end product for product development and their pricing is also way higher than Shapeways. Things will change as technology improves and gets cheaper.

Shapeways have sent out notice of a change in their pricing calculation for 3D printing that will have a drastic impact on the cost of my items at Shapeways. Some of my items will have a ten fold increase in price. The proposed price changes will come into effect on 7 October. If you were thinking of buying some of my things, you'd better get in quick. I will be reviewing how to make many of my models viable under their new cost structure. Until I am able to optimise to work with their new rules my Shapeways stock post October 7 is going to be listed at rediculously high prices. For example, by adding to the model a loop of plastic to a set of windows (as per the picture below), the Shapeways proposed new price is reduced by US$ 28.50. The twenty windows are still more expensive than in the old pricing structure by about 50%, but at least it's not the 1000% + that it was without the addition of the plastic loop. Peter

I've made some lengths of simple wall mounted bench seating. It comes in 160mm lengths in OO scale. You can just cut the seats to the length you want and glue it onto a wall. Peter