simon br blue

I've seen the new material and ordered some parts yesterday. On the blog a figure on 0.032mm layer thickness was mentioned which should give a better finish. With the minimum wall thickness being reduced from 0.7mm to 0.3mm I tried scaling down a 25 bogie to 4mm from O gauge as all the scaled down parts should still be printiable. Also ordered is a 25.1 cab in 4mm to see what how it comes out in the new material. I've redrawn the cab and modified the wings next to the headcode box to and added some headboard clips to see if they will print ok. I've ordered a couple of n gauge class 25.3 cabs to see what they will look like in the new material- I've also changed the roof profile as the roof shape of the Farish body isn't the same as the Hornby or Bachmann models. I'm keeping a lookout on Ebay for a new class 24 shell or non runner to have a go at butchering into a 25.1 but I've not seen any yet.

If developements continue at the current rate it won't be long before you can print things at home (even if the printers cost a lot of money). The biggest thing that I would look for in a 3D printer at home would be the quality and detail of the finished print. Anyway another update on the class 25 cabs. I've partly redrawn the 25.1 cab but not printed it yet. I have also made a casting of the 0 gauge cab. Below is a pic of a couple of 4mm and 7mm castings next to each other. The only thing with the 7mm cab is that one will need modifying as aech end of the Steve Beattie body is a different width.

Thats a great shot. How did you get the smoke/haze around the lights?

The finish on the tram body looks good and also good to see that the bodyside bands are still clear after the painting. I've given the class 20 bogie a coat of black primer to see what the finish looks like. I've also taken a pic of the back of the bogie to show the hollow frames that help to heep the price down. The class 25/3 7mm cab has also had a couple of coats of primer (with sanding in between coats) to smooth the surface. The pics below hopefully show how it has got smoother - If I make a resin casting and then prime and paint it when attached to the body I think it will be plenty smooth enough. I have also been playing with the Z gauge Wisbech and Upwell stock I had printed. The 04 had a coat of grey primer then matt black paint(which hasn't turned out matt). I painted the windows dark grey and drew the bonnet doors, vents and cowcatchers on in pencil. I also had a go at painting on the number and lion and wheel emblem - harder than it looks in Z gauge. I also added a vaccum hose made from an old bit of wire. I have painted the wagons that I had printed last time. Again they were primed and then hand painted. The 3 vans were all painted differnetly to try and look like a cross section of hte vans used on the line, The 1st 16t mineral was painted to be a good condition wagon but on the second I tried to make it look rusty and heavily weathered. The guards van was simply painted grey and some lines drawn on to represent the doors and handrails. The final pic show several items placed next to each other. I was surprised by how big the 04 looks in the pic when next to the T gauge 25 (the 04 is only 30mm long).

Hi Mark,that looks good. How fine are the window supports? Hope you post a pic whe it's got some paint on it. Tricky-CRS the walls on the t gauge 25 were 2mm as it was only a test and wouldn't ever have anything inside it. You could probably go down to about 1mm but then you run the risk of it not printing correctly. I think you would struggle to get a motor mechinism inside but you could always run it as a dummy and have a powered mk1 or mk2 coach pushing it along. The other option would be to print a model with cabs joined by the roof without any bodyside and add these later using thin plasticard as the sides don't have much detail on them anyway. John, the shunter looks good. I have seen the Irish stuff on shapeways but never seen a printed model. I think the way forward using shapeways would be to sand and finish the basic model then add etched parts. Or if making more than a couple cast some in resin and then add the etched parts as John and Perti have done. I've added a couple of coats of primer to the O gauge 25 cab and will try to take a pic over the weekend.

I've had a go at painting some of the parts. Firstly with primer and then a couple of the smaller parts by hand with some acrylic paint. The J70 looks ok but is still a bit rough (I didn't bother to sand any of these parts) The colours are probably not correct either - they are just what I could lay my hands on tonight. I drew a couple of lines on with a black pen and used a pencil to draw the cowcatcher bars on. All I did with the class 04 tram was to paint the bufferbeam red. The white specks on the body are/is dust. It must be a nightmare trying to keep a t gauge layout clean. The last pic for tonight is a pair of T gauge class 25 bodies. Only a quick paint and not a great finish when viewed close up. 2 things apparent after painting is that the roof in particular on the back model (printed in WSF) is rough/fuzzy but this could easily be sorted with a sand and repaint. The other thing to show up is the layered finish to the windows on the front model (printed in white detail). Overall I think they look better than before painting as you can see some of the detail, the lights were put on with a pencil and the domino lights were done with a cocktail stick dipped in paint.

I did try a t gauge clas 25 but it didn't look very good. I think the simple shape of the 04 worked well. The 25 was just a scaled down version of a 7mm cab which I don't think helped. The white detail looks about the same as black detail but the white, strong and flexible looks very fluffy. It might look better with some paint on, i will also have a go at painting the z gauge bits if the weather ever gets better. The reason for doing the 04 in black was that all the would really need painting would be the red bufferbeam. I did have a go at drawing a loco in sketchup but it was only a quick attempt. I also managed to draw part of March depot which was easier as there are not many curved edges.

Time for another update. In the most recent order from shapeways I got a 7mm class 20 bogie. I don't have a plan to build an 0 gauge class 20 but after drawing it I secided to get it printed to see how fine some of parts could be. The brake rigging is 0.8mm thick and the cylinder arms/pushrods are 0.9mm dia. The overall look is ok and the only area that doesn't look to great is the brake blocks as these have a layered effect- I think the bogie was printed vertically. Another area that would need modifying is the 4 small brackets on the bogie frame that should have holes in them but the gap has closed up as the dia was too small. I also ordered another resized 7mm class 25.3 cab to see if it would match upto the Steve Beattie body I have. I also modified the drawing to try to reduce the angled affect of the original model (caused by the low poly count of my original drawing). I think it is an improvement over the previous model particually around the cab roof area. It's a reasonable match for the 25 body and I'll try and paint and sand the model when I get a chance. If it still looks ok I'll have a go at casting a couple in resin. Another new model that I had printed was a class 31 cab that I drew last year. As with the 20 cab printed previously I printed it in 4mm to see how it compared with the Airfix, lima and Hornby models I have. It does look like a 31 but i'm not sure it is completely accurate. I think there is something wrong with the cab window area but I can't quite put my finger on it (the quality of the photo isn't great and the area above the nose doesn't show up very well). The front steps and tail lights haven't printed very well but if it was printed in a larger scale I think they would be ok. THe final item I had printed was a z gauge J70 tram engine to go with the class 04 and van printed last time. The detail and finish doesn't look great but it is less than 3cm long.

I've seen the dutch train and tank tracks on shapeways and would like to get something printed to this standard as this is at the moment shapeways biggest failing. I'm sure several modellers on this forum would also be happy to pay more money for finer detail. Hi Stuart, your etch looks like a big improvement on the original farish cabfront. I didn't know that it was possible to use sketchup as drawings of etching. Can you post some details of how it's done using sketchup as I'd like to have ago at drawing parts to be etched.

I had another delivery from shapeways last week and a couple of the items were done as a test to see what small sized items would come out like. One was a class 04 tram engine printed in black detail and was T scale - 1:450 The second was a z gauge tram and a fruit van printed in the basic white strong and flexible material. .

I've not done much modelling recently but in the last order from shapeways I got a 1/32 cab test printed to see if the size looked ok. At the moment I'm still playing around trying to get the 7mm cab to line up exactly with the Steve Beattie body. I'm hoping the next print will be spot on then I can cast some in resin. I also printed a class 20 cab and nose that I've drawn -only basic details and printed in oo gauge to see if it looks the same as a Bachmann 20.

A bit of an update. I have cast a couple of cabs. I'm happy with the smoothness but no so happy about the detail/edge of the front widscreens. I've not done anymore on the 7mm class 25/3 cab but hopefully I'll get time soon to resize and order another version (I'll also try to smooth the roof out as well).

Looks good. What are you planning to do with the bogies?

The items on the website look good. Has anyone got a quote from either company?

Just to update the thread (I'm more than happy for this thread to be used for a discussion on 3D printing and posting examples). To see if the detail and overall finish improves with larger items I decided to get a 7mm class 25 cab printed. I also got a 2mm class 25 cab printed to see what detail would come out. I'm happy with the finish of the 7mm version as with a coat of paint and then a quick sand the results would be ok. The only downside is that the surface ridges have shown up more on the roof- down to the way I drew the roof originally. The 2mm version has printed ok with all the features visible except the raised surround to the headcode box. I don't think it would make a great model if you were to try and smooth the surface and try to replace farish cabs on a N gauge model. I have got another 2mm cab coming however as shapeways were at the time producing models made out of a different more expensive material (white detail as used on a couple of previous models)to a higher resolution than normal and as the 2mm cab didn't cost much I decided to order one to see what the resolution is like. I'll post a pick when it arrives. The only disappointment is that the 7mm model is slightly oversize (or at least is larger/wider than the Steve Beattie bodyshells I have)I will have to rescale the drawing and have another go. The 2mm version may also be the incorrect size but I don't have a N gauge 25 to compare it to.

More rapid progress, this must be one of the quickest scratchbuilds ever. Looks like it was easier than you thought to sort the cab roof. Are you going to use the same mesh for the large side grill? And are you going for bufferbeam detail? Can you still access the cab interior or is it now closed in? second vote for br blue

That part looks great. Would the cost come down if the part was thinner? Do you think it could be used to make class 25 bodyside grill in o gauge or 1/32 as a master for resin casting?

The grills look good. Looks like the mesh is about spot on size wise.

Good progress. What is the actual scale/ratio on the model?

The snow ploughs look good. THe only other detail the bogies could do with is a representation of the axle box area.

Would it be possible to remove the battery holders from the bogie and mount the battery in the fuel tank area? What thickness plastic is used for the body? Simon.

Good start. Is there any way you can shorten the motor bogie so it's the same length as the sideframes?

The shape looks good but the tail light castings look poor.

What about purchasing a pair of resin class 40 cabs from MMP and using them. Not sure if the shape spot on but as they are resin you could easily modify them. Simon.

Got the most recent print from shapeways. The first part is a complete class 24 bogie in 7mm printed in 'black strong and flexible'. I'm happy with the detail and that the steps and pipe run have printed OK There is only a couple of bits of brake rigging that I would need to add before using it (possibly also a couple of coats of paint to smooth the surface). Below I have put it under a class 24 shell (without wheels). I also has a 4mm class 24 and 25 printed in different materials to see how the tail light detail would show up. The camera doesn't show the detail very well so I've given the 24 cab a coat of primer to see if it helps. I also quickly blu tacked the cabs on to see how they lined upto a Bachmann and Hornby 25 bodies.