simon br blue

Another long gap between updates but I've been busy. Firstly I've got the printed suspension for the campbells soup wagon. It was printed in WSF and it turned out ok and the axle fitted ok and turned freely but I've decided to fit some WEP etched suspension units and make these just cosmetic. I've also done some more work on the wagon itself with the ends almost finished now. Underframe to do next then time to look for some transfers. Another wagon I've been working on is an OCA. I've drawn it for 7mm and decided to leave the side doors and the ends open to allow me to fit some thin plastic when it's printed to keep the sides thin (also using platic I should be able to make some dents and scratches on the doors), it should also help to keep the cost down. I've not ordered one yet as I'm not sure which material will be most suitable- either WSF from shapeways or Prime grey from I materialise (FUD would be the best but would cost too much). I also think the doors and the brake leavers would need to be seperatly printed in FUD as they're too thin for the other materials. After the sucess of the previous suspension print (and seeing Pugsley's challenge cargo twin idea) I decided to go one step further and try a working suspension. I only went for a 7mm test of one axle in FUD to see what was possible. I had to modify parts of the suspension to allow the minimum clearance between parts (and I printed the leaf springs separately from the rest of the suspension). The parts turned up this week and on first inspection looked good but sadly the axle boxes didn't move up or down. I thought that I'd made a mistake with the gaps but as a last ditch attempt to get them to work I pushed hard on them and they started to work. Two of the three springs printed 'spring' freely so I added these to the chassis but when fitted they were too soft and didn't spring back enough, for some reason the third spring is stiffer and this works perfectly (i think i might need to glue the end of the two soft springs to make them work better). And to show it working I've uploaded a video of it in action. - No video yet as I cant work out how to get it on here. I've got some more class 25 developement to come and I'll try to post them up soon.

Another shapeways delivery turned up yesterday. I ordered a 7mm class 25 bogie, cab interior and a fuel/battery box mount in WSF and a 4mm 25.3 cab in FUD. The class 25.3 body sitting on top of the pair of bogies with the battery box blu tacked in place, the radiator side and roof grills are also blu tacked on for the picture. The bogies have a bit more detail than the previous print and I've changed the sand box to represent the later 25 type, I've also added the brake push rods and modified the brake blocks to sit in line with the wheels. I've also got some Steve Beattie etched SKF axle box covers on order to fit to the bogies. The centre underframe is only basic without any pipe runs but it looks to fit ok. The fuel tank is the original resin tank that came with the bodyshell and the battery boxes were made to fit around it, there are also some other metal parts in a box somewhere for the details that need to be added in this area but I can't find them at the moment. If the weather improves over the weekend I'll clean and prime the new 4mm cab. I have also drawn the suspension for the campbells soup wagon that I'm trying to scratch build in O gauge, The springs are not 100% accurate but should look ok when printed.

They look good. What company printed them?

Just a little update, I've cast a couple of 7mm class 25.1 cabs. I've not clean one up yet but they look ok. As with the previous cabs I've cast there are a couple of air bubbles - I nearly always get a buble in one of the horn grills and some where along the rainstrip.

Can you post a link to a company the can do higher resolution prints as it could be useful to see what the prices come out like. After seeing some of the posts by Red Devil I decided to get a couple of parts printed by I.materialise. I got a 4mm class 25.3 cab printed (the same as i ordered in FUD from shapeways as a test) and a 7mm class 25.1 cab that I hoped could be used to make a resin cab for some of the 7mm resin bodies I've got. The 4mm cab printed ok- the sides were a little bent in but it wouldn't be a problem if it was glued to a body or used as a master for resin casting. The resolution looked about the same as WSF but with the plus of being a smooth finish more like FUD. The details on the cab (headboard clips) printed well and the front and sides were quite smooth the only place that the layering was obvious was on the roof and the headcode box 'wings'. The lower cab seam around the front was also printed clearly. The model also had a lot of pips or nipples on the top surfaces - I assume something to so with the printing process, either start or end points for printing or something to do with support material? I've not done anything with this model as it was only to see what detail was possible in 4mm. The 7mm cab printed much the same as the 4mm version with the details all being present except the lower seam which didn't print on all sides but I think this maybe due to the drawing having a finer seam line that was actually thinner than the 4mm version. The only other difference was that the layering was less obvious as the cab was bigger. I also managed to break one part of the headboard clips ( but I was going to remove them anyway before casting). This cab I gave a coat of primer and then sanded it to make it smoother, I ended up using some filler to smooth the layers the roof and wings. Next it was filled with play doh, put in a lego box and covered in silicone This went ok and I've now poured the second part of the mould.

The finish of the parts is the biggest problem at the moment. I would be prepared to pay more for better quality prints and more consistant results. Anyway another update- The 7mm class 24 bogie (printed in WSF) turned up after Christmas and it fits together well. It was printed in 3 parts (a 4th part in the same order is the mount to fix it to the bottom of the Steve Beattie body), There is the main sideframe and a pair of inner chassis- one which fixes to the sideframe and a second which joins and pivots off the main inner chassis to provide a basic suspension. All that was needed was to add the bearings and wheels and add a nut, bolt and spring to join the inner chassis together. An updated model has been order which will have a couple of mods and include the holes to mount it to the body. I have also drawn and got a 7mm class 25.3 cab interior and bufferbeam printed. It was quite easy to draw as I used the interior of the cab to form the edge of the desk to make sure it fits the cab shell ok. The pic below also shows a couple of areas on the 25 body that need tiding up before it gets a topcoat of blue. Shapeways had an offer on up to new years eve on WSF so I ordered a couple of items including a fuel tank and battery box mount for the 7mm class 25.3 - with the 20% discount and the open framed nature of the part it only cost $13. The

Hi the first of a couple of updates - I've recieved the reprint of the models I posted pics of earlier in the thread. The results are good and bad. Firstly the n gauge class 25 model that was useless before has come out alot better. As can be seen below the model closest is the reprint with the original behind. I'm impressed with the level of detail on the side- the only slight problem is the marks left by the support material on the side above the grills - I guess from the marks that the body was printed upside down as the marks go up towards the roof. Below is a pic of the body sitting on the Farish 24 chassis. It fits ok the only mod nedded will be to remove the bufferbeam fairing to allow the body to sit lower, I might try a more detailed reprint and make the cab slightly longer as the body is the right length to the steps below the cab doors but the bufferbeam sticks out more than the 25 cab. The second model reprinted was far better the first time. The reprint has some very obvious diagonal lines on the side and has some damage to the side- the area where the door was fell out when the model was put in some warm water to wash it. The original model below has a far better level of detail and is much smoother with only a small area with lines on it. I have also added a pic of my most recent order that arrived after the reprint. The FUD 4mm class 25.3 model shows signs of the ripple effect. Sadly it is also not a good fit on the Bachmann 25 body- time for another try. I've also done a bit more work on the original Farish class 25.3 body. I've added the second cab and the rain strip above the main grills and also put on a replacement etched roof grill (a B H Enterprises class 45 grill I picked up at Warley).

I hope they come out better than last time. I've placed another order for a FUD 4mm class 25.3 cab (I have also placed an order with Imaterialise for the same cab to see what they are like) and I've ordered a WSF 7mm 25 bogie and mount use on the Steve Beattie body.

I always find it easier to see any probelms if the model has a coat of paint on it. Sometime areas look like they are proud of the surface but when painted they disappear. Bit of an update - I've got a reply from shapeways and they're going to do a reprint of the order. I've also been working on the 7mm class 25.3 - I've managed to fit a couple of cabs onto the Steve Beattie body and added some more detail to the body and roof. The odd paint scheme is just because I used the cab to practice my airbrushing skills in the summer. I managed to get the cab to fit be warming it and squashing it. With a bit of filler and some plasticard with rivets pushed in the join isn't really noticable.

Hi latest update with the order delivered yesterday- but it's not very good (copy of what I posted on the shapeways forum) - Hi I recieved some parts yesterday and there they have the rippling problem. I have emailed customer services but i'll post some pics on here to show the problem. Some are more effected than others and some only have the problem on part of the models. I have had 3 or 4 orders in FUD and have not seen this problem before. The first pic shows a N gauge model loco where the finish is ok apart from a couple of areas (circled in red) where there is a rippling effect. The second photo shows another N gauge loco that is unusable where the whole loco has the problem. The final pic shows 2 T gauge models next to each other- the back model with the yellow end was printed with the last order and the front model was delivered yesterday- see the rippling on the roof and the rough area on the side. As you can see the models have not printed very well. The class 20 might be usable if I sand the rough areas down but the class 25.1 is useless. I'm pleased with the finish of the bodyside of the 20 with the detail on the grills and the finish of the doors. - I'll put up any replies from shapeways and if anyone has had the same problem with their order go onto their forum and post add your pics - http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=7048&start=0 Another part I got Printed this time was a set of ploughs for the Euro class 66's. The part will need a 2nd version as I have not left enough room behind the bufferbeam where the 2 big support mounts are and they need trimming a bit so that the bufferbeam fit flush with the front of the Bachmann body. The plough needs a bit of a sand before I paint it - not sure how easy it will be to paint the wasp stipes on the plough and bottom of the body- any tips?

I would like to have a go at some ethed parts but I don't think it can be done in blender. - Are there any simple 2d drawing programs that can export in a format that etching companies use?

I did make some resin class 25.3 cab but they were not very good - detail wasn't very crisp and the fit wasn't perfect so I never offered them for sale. I've uploaded a (hopefully) better cab with more detail with a slight redesign around the cab door area and I will get it printed in FUD with the next order from shapeways. If it fits the Bachmann body better then I'll make some castings - by which time Bachmann will probably have announced a updated version. If the N gauge class 25.1 turns out ok I'll modify it to fit the farish class 24 chassis and then maybe try to sell them direct from shapeways. The 7mm class 25.3 cab is also on the back burner at the moment as the Steve Beattie bodyshell is a different shape and width at each end.

Hi, I don't plan to motorise the class 20, it was only done as a test to see if the overall appearance was correct. I've got a couple of bits on order at shapeways at the moment (they still have 2-3 weeks delay on the FUD material). I have a N gauge class 20 body. I've also got a N gauge class 25.1 bodyshell on order. If that prints ok I'll try a more detailed version and maybe a class 25.3. One part I've left off the 25's at the moment is the main bodyside grill and the cantrail grills on the 25.3, this is because I don't think the fine mesh would print. I'm looking for somewhere to get very fine mesh from, If anyone knows a supplier with a good selection please let me know.

The models look good, just remember to chain them down. I've got a cromwell fv432 (not painted yet) and the only detail I added was the missing front mud guards and the front towing eyes. I've also got a real one. Which I weathered using mud.

I had some spare time today in the warm weather and managed to get a coat of primer on some of the recent prints. The first couple of pics are of the Z gauge class 20 body. Most areas look good and the only rough patch (from the printing process/ support material) is a line on the roof. This model did have a problem - the buffers on the cab end didn't print properly - you might just be able to see in the photo that they look to have been compressed flat on the front of the bufferbeam - this was picked up in their QC inpection and I was contacted and given the option of a reprint or some money off- as it was only a test piece I went for the money. Some areas that have come out better than expected after the primer are the lights and horn grills and the bodyside grills. The cab window surrounds have also come out well. Looking at the model I think it was printed vertically with the cab back at the top Next pics show the 2 N gauge class 25 cabs. Firstly the extra detail on the 25/1 shows up well. Both models have some rough patches- below the tail lights and on the roof below the horns. They also have a bit of layering visible on the cab sides below the windows, all of this could easily be sorted with a sand and repaint. The slight curved effect on the front of the 25/1 is odd as it's not really visible to the naked eye. The N gauge class 25 fuel tanks also are easier to see now they've got a coat of paint on them. There is a rough area on the side of these from the support material but I'm unsure why as there isn't any thing in that area that would need support what ever the printing orientation. This part would benifit from some extra detailing and I will modify the part and try a reprint. The last part I've got a pic of is the resized T gauge class 25.3 body. As mentioned before when I got a T gauge coach and track I noticed that the 25 body was smaller, after checking some measurements I resized it and got it printed again (the problem was that the original body was only a quick test to see what it would turn out like and I don't think I worked out the dimentions correctly as now the body is the correct width and height but is too long were as the original test was the correct length but not high or wide enough) - I will now have to shorten the body to the correct length. Anyway the small size increase has made a big difference to the detail levels. The tail lights are better defined as are the windows and horn grills.

Another little update but first regarding painting some of the models are easier to paint than others and I'm sure it's to do with the support material left on the surface. On a couple of model I tried coating them with thinners, giving them a scrub with an old tooth brush and then washing them in fairy liquid but I'm not sure it made much difference except turning the surface white. I've painted a couple of Z gauge lorries that I had printed and the paint didn't stick to them as well as other models- They were primed in white and then painted and some paint has chipped off one of them- I've not had any that the paint didn't dry on. On the lorries I actually chipped and scraped the paint off the windows when the models were finished. Also paint doesn't seem to stick as well to models that have more of a yellowish tint to them. The most recent print from shapeways seems to be of better quality than the previous orders. There isn't any of the yellowing and most of the parts are free from any leftover support material. The picture below shows some more Wisbech and Upwell parts in Z gauge and they look crisper, clearer and smoother than before. I'm also pleased with the bufferstop as it's quite delicate and it survived the printing and cleaning process. This order also has some more N gauge class 25 parts. First were a set of fuel tanks and batteryboxes. only basic detail to test the size but they are about correct. I also pritned a couple of cabs - 25/1 and 25/3 and these also match upto the original class 25 body. The 25/1 cab has a bit more detail on it as it's been scaled down from 4mm and all this is visible. I'll have to give them a coat of grey primer at some point so that they show up better in the photos. Another model that had printed was a Z gauge class 20 body and bogies, this was mainly to see if the shape looked correct before trying a larger model. The picture below doesn't show the detail very well (another in need of a coat of primer) but the grills and doors are visible in the flesh and the bogies look good- these were a scaled down and thickened version of the 4mm version. The lights and window surrounds are also visible which is suprising considering the size. I think I'll try a N gauge class 20 next to see what the detail looks like and I'll also open out the windows and make the sidewalls thinner to see whats possible.

Most of the parts printed are above the minimum thickness as even if they are printable they might break easily The only part I've broken was a class 25.3 cab in 4mm that broke when I was trying to see how flexible it was I also had the first 4mm class 25 bogie delivered with a partly broken step but this part was very thin anyway. Several of the parts were originally designed for O gauge and to be printed in WSF but when FUD came out I just resized the parts to 00 gauge. The only part that has shown any warping due to thinness is part of the 25 bogie at the top cross member- this was a mistake in the original drawing and was probably just under the 0.3mm limit after being resized. I have given the N gauge 25.3 a coat of yellow and will try to get some blue on when it stops raining. I've also got a pic of a 4mm class 58 bogie spring printed in FUD and it looks as good as the smoothed casting I made in resin previously. I also uploaded a complete set after shapeways had put the FUD start up cost onto parts. The only problem was that the files are large when several copies are in the same file. The springs were about 18 meg in size. Finally I have painted the first building that I've had printed by shapeways. It's a z gauge depot office from the Wisbech and Upwell tramway to go with the class 04 I have. The building only has basic details on it but one area that came out well was the window frames with must be close to the minimum level of detail possible. Trying to give the impression of bricks wasn't easy but it looks OK from a distance. As always comments and advice welcome.

I've not updateds anything recently but I've still been working on some things. Firstly I've resized a N gauge class 25.3 cab and had it printed in FUD. The pic below shows the cab after a coat of primer and fixed to the cab with blu tack. When it's had a sand, another coat of primer and then the top coat it should look OK. I've also ordered a 25.1 cab and a set of fuel tanks in the next order from shapeways. The next pic shows a more detialed version of the class 25 bogies in 4mm - done as a test to see what detail would come out in FUD. I've added the small pipe run along the side of the bogie and also the pushrods for the brakes. I also tried a pair of N gauge class 24 bogie sideframes. For these I changed part of the drawings to make the parts thicker to ensure they printed in FUD. I wanted to make a set of t gauge bogie sideframes but they would be too thin to print. In the end I printed them with a 1mm thick backing and sanded the back part off before I attached to the original sideframe. As the above pic shows I've now got some T gauge track and an unpowered chassis to experiment on the only problem this has shown up is that the clear body is larger than the class 25 bodies I have printed previously and if I were to put mk1 overlays on it the 25 would look too small when next to them- so I have also ordered a class 25.3 body scaled to the same width as the clear body above. Below is a class 04 and fruit van sitting on the track. Below is a pic of some 7mm and 4mm class 20 sideframes. The 7mm version is in WSF and the 4mm version is in FUD. The 20 bogie leads me onto the most recent drawing I've been working on- a complete class 20 with only basic details at the moment. I've ordered a Z gauge test of this to see what it looks like in FUD. I've also uploaded a 1/32 scale version to the shapeways site. The link below should take you to the page and allow you to view the model in 3D and navigate around it if you hover over the pic and then click 'view in 3D'. http://www.shapeways..._20.html?gid=mg The gauge 1 version works out a bit expensive but could be used as a basis for a resin casting with a little modification.

I've taken a photo of the FUD 4mm class 25.1 cab with a coat of primer on it. This has shown up the couple of problems with the print (as seen on the shapeways forum with some of the other prints). The first area is the extra unwanted bump on the wings of the roof horns. The second problem shown in the pic is the layering of the front of the cab where the surface is nearly flat and the orientation when printing has ment there is some stepping on the area where the sealed up communication doors are. The angle of sunlight has cast some shaddows which make it look worse but thay are stil noticable and would need sanding if the cab was to be used. I have placed another order and included is a 4mm class 25.3 cab in FUD with some more detail added, I'll post some pics when the parts arrive- still taking longer than the expectd 10 days but never mind. I have also taken a couple of shots of the T gauge class 25 bodies next to each other to show the level of detail. Left is white, strong and flexible (WSF), middle is white detail and right is frosted ultra detail (FUD). The improvement with the crispness of FUD should be clear to see (even after being hand painted). I've also uploaded a pic of the other end still in sprayed in just primer to show the details. Detail wise I think I could probably add the roof mounted horns and they would print OK but the tail lights will need modifying to get them to show up better. The FUD body has the centre section removed to allow a mechanism to be fitted but I'm not sure if there's one short enough at present. The body side could be thin plasticard with the details painted on.

Try serching on youtube for tutorials. If you can't get on with sketchworks try Blender - it's free and there's lots of tutorials on youtube.

A couple of pics of the FUd that I've Primed. The 4mm class 24 bogie looks ok and the layers of the print are not really visiable. A coat of black should finish it off without any sanding needed. The N 'ish' gauge class 25.3 cab doesn't look as good as there are some lines visiable on the cab side and on the roof- both would vanish with a sand and spray of the topcoat. The detail doesn;t look as good either (around the windows and tail lights) but that might be because I just painted the cab and didn't give it a good clean to remove any of the support material. I'll try to get the 4mm 25.1 acb primed this week and a couple of the other tests I had printed.

I noticed these on shapeways. What went wrong with the print - also what scale are they? I've given the bogie and N gauge cab a quick prime and will try to post some pics soon.

I finally got the latest shapeways prints today in the Frosted Ultra Detail material (FUD). According to the shapeways website there has been a delay with processing orders because of the high demand for the new material. I've not managed to get photos of all the different prints as the light was starting to fade and the detail wouldn't show up very well. I'll try some more pics after they've been primed. The first impression of material is that it's like the other detail materials they do but much finer. Also some of the parts have come out nearly clear where as others look almost white- I think that a good wash and clean will possibly remove some of the remaining white areas. The layers are still visable but are much finer and almost smooth to the touch. The first item is the 4mm class 25.1 cab pictured in my previous post. The headboard clips have come out well and the taillight surrounds look as good if not even better than the 7mm version. The next photo is of the N gauge 25.3 cab. The finish is good enough to prime, sand a little and then apply the livery - something I would soon do if I hadn't made a mistake with the scaling of the model. I might still paint it to see what the finish is like but it wont be fixing it to the Graham Farish body I have- I'll resize it ready for the next order. The final pictures are of a class 24 bogie printed in 00 gauge. this was simply to test to see if the new material would allow 7mm parts to be reduced down to 4mm without the wall thinkness being modified. The only part that has not come out very well is the thin section at the top which joins the two sides of the bogie together. I think this might be because the 7mm model it was scaled from was the first version I tried to print and this model was rejected in 7mm as the area was too thin for the WSF material. I guess that it's right on the limit of what can be printed in 4mm with FUD. The step in the picture is broken (only noticed after the pic was uploaded) This must have happen when the part was being cleaned when it was seperated from the support material. The material does have some flex in it and the steps can be bent and pushed back into place but would eventually get broken off if it was a model being used on a layout. I will try to get some pics when I've cleaned the other parts and primed them. Over all I'm happy with the print and will soon be ordering some more parts to test whats possible in the new material.

Looks good, what is supplied for the vents/mesh on the bodyside? Also from the pic the front radiator elements look very recessed.

Nice buffer. Is it me or are there no coupling rods?