My Detailing and 3D-printing projects!

[JeremiahBunyan]

CAD work for our forthcoming Indian Railways WAP7 and WAG9 series is also complete. Test models are currently being assembled, I'll post some images once I think it's at a suitable stage to show...

 

Indian Railways WAP7 (top) and WAG9 (bottom)

 

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Cab interior for the WAP7 and WAG9 (driver's seat is not added yet)

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

CAD work for our first Sri Lankan Railways locomotive i.e. the M6 was also completed recently.... and what a beauty it is. German built brut!!!

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

Thanks to our good friend Kaustav Chatterjee, we've been bitten by the weathering bug... We're not professionals, so be nice. But we do enjoy weathering our models now.

 

Here's our very own Indian Railways ZDM3A (NG diesel loco) and Indian Railways BRN (BG flat wagons) that we weathered...

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

In early October I finally managed to receive my models (WDG4, BVZI and NDM6) back from Kaustav who had professionally weathered them for us.

 

Here's a few images of our WDG4 and BVZI under natural light...

 

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In saying all that whilst we were 100% happy with Kaustav's weathering, the underlying issue (which is what led to the weathering of it) was that whilst painting the varnish has reacted to the paint causing it to crack and give you a sort of drought effect. We feflt that it ruined an amazing weathering job. As a result the body shell is now being repainted as WDP4 #20037 (earlier it was WDG4 #12021).

 

This is WDP4 #20037, what's special about this locomotive is the way the road number is painted on the side of the hood. The locomotive is based at Diesel Loco Shed, Krishnarajapuram (KJM, SWR) and as some of you'll may remember, I designed the livery for the EMD fleet based here. Their ALCo fleet has the road number painted on the side of the long hood in such a manner. As a result this was the only EMD (WDP4) to have such a number.

 

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And here's the body shell in the process of being re-painted...

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

Back to something British.... I've recently been 3D printing a Class 86 detailing kit.

 

The kit isn't perfect and I've identified issues like over-sized buffers and roof mounted air tanks etc. But here's what it looks like (note it's not 100% completed).

 

This Hornby Class 86 detailing kit I'm working on includes:-

- Roof mounted air tanks

- Static pantograph

- Underframe detail and compressor unit    (not fitted to the model)

- Buffers    (not fitted to the model)

- High intensity headlights

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

Back to Indian Railway stuff.....

 

Again many of you'll are aware of Tim's work. For those aren't, Tim was one of our very first clients. And it is all thanks to Tim and a couple of others who hung around from the very begining that helped me reach where I am today as a designer.

 

Tim's work has been really popular amongst you chaps, so here's an update from him.

 

Here's Tim's Indian Railway WDM2 (there's also a WDM1 in the background)

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

Here's an update on Tim's WDM1

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

This morning Tim sent us an updated image of the kit built WDP1 standing proudly beside his hand made 2-8-2 WG...

 

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[JeremiahBunyan]

Like they say in showbiz... WELL, THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

 

Once again, apologies for the spamming...but do remember there's almost a page and a half of new content. Check out pages 23 and 24 for a ton of new content.

 

I shall be back soon with more updates as I progress with detailing my Hornby Class 86, detailing my Hornby Class 90 and more Indian Railway content!

 

Hope you guys like it? Would love to hear some feedback and so on...

[LCDR]

Great stuff JB, you HAVE been busy!

[96RAF]

Superb detail. 3-D printing has come a long way in a fairly short time.

The only examples I have are a few years old and resemble cheese for strength and durability.

[JeremiahBunyan]

Great stuff JB, you HAVE been busy!

 

Thanks LC!

[JeremiahBunyan]

Superb detail. 3-D printing has come a long way in a fairly short time.

The only examples I have are a few years old and resemble cheese for strength and durability.

 

Thank you RAF...and yes 3D printing has come a long way. And the variety of materials is greater than ever before.

[81F]

 Very nice JB. I wish I had the courage to tackle a chassis or do something a little larger than tank loco bodies.

 

In the meantime I have been orking on much smaller things, a 009 Ruston Hornsby diesel loco body for a tiny Japanese chassis I had ( pictured below with a £1 coin for scale). To give enough weight most of the components have been printed in Brass or Bronze.

 

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[81F]

My latest 3D project is a Stanton Sl@G Ladle, these wagons were used at the Stanton and Stavely iron and steel works to transport waste from the blast furnace to the dump for later reprocessing.

I am currently awaiting a plastic test print to ensure everything fits together and that I've got the dimensions right for the coupling heights and 00 gauge back-to-back.

If it works I might get it printed Stainless steel (as shown above) for the extra weight.

[Rana Temporia]

81F, looks like it’ll be a great model.

Do you do your own prints or do you contract them out? There is a free L&Y 3D print file I want to get produced but when I asked someone at work if they could do it they couldn’t sort the scaling out. I think the files are for OO but he said that while the tender was the right size the loco parts were huge.

I have bought some excellent 3D prints along with some ‘shapeless blobs’, generally I have found that you get what you pay for, although I do think quality is improving. I have a 3D printed G&KER Blackpool 2-6-0T that would never have been produced RTR and it’s a very nice model although still unpainted at the moment.

If you contract them out who do you use?

3D printing is something Hornby could do, other people are making loco and roiling stock bodies to fit chassis produced by Hornby and making money from it! Hornby could offer free files, at cost prints and/or packs of detailing parts with the knowledge that they would sell locos so that the chassis could be used, or even go back to selling complete loco chassis as they used to!

[What About The Bee]

Hi RT

FreeCAD does direct scaling of parts. You could likely import the file directly and scale it to OO.

My Planet project is drawn full scale. I've already tried to scale for OO, it works spectacularly. BTW, FreeCAD is free!

Hello 81F

That model does look good. I suspect the hopper will tip?

Bee

[What About The Bee]

Hello RT

Here is a straightforward scaling example.

Planet's footplate, full size and scaled. All in one image!

Bee

[81F]

Hi RT,

I do my own 3D models and save them as an stl 3D object then send them to Shapeways to print. You would need to open an account with them to upload your own prints and order them. However, they do allow people to put their successful prints up for sale to which you can add your own markup for any that you successfully sell. Sadly since Brexit they have become quite expensive as far as shipping is concerned (I think their courier adds a handling fee).

Hi WATB

I've uploaded four prints associated with this wagon. One for the buffers, one for the chassis and one for the hopper, so the hopper would be tip-able. but I do not know if it would stay in the tipped position (I wont be getting the test prints until May). However, The fourth print (the one shown) is for a combined print where the hopper is fused to the chassis (it works out cheaper to print than the two parts separately).

My hope is to build up a rake of three with fixed hoppers while the fourth is likely to be to be a wagon load (probably the test prints)

Anyway thanks both for the comments and encouragement.

[Rana Temporia]

WATB and 81F, thanks for the information. I use CAD at work but mostly in 2D mode, the 3D picture you have looks like a REVIT type model but done for free rather than the thousands a license costs to run the software for a year! I will have a look at the freeCAD package.

I think my G&KER loco originally came from Shapeways as it's on their lists and is a very nice print. The plastic is a pain to cut though! It's like chainsaw trousers that are designed to jam up the blade when it comes into contact with them.

This is the loco I asked someone at work to print for me (after they offered) but they said the loco was huge while the tender was the right size. They estimated it would use around £20 to £25 worth of plastic to print at high res if they could get the scaling right. I have asked the designer for some info but not had a response.

Free STL file Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Class 28・3D print design to download・Cults (cults3d.com)

There are a number of files for other loco bodies on this and other sites for free, including some very nice ones for the Hornby Smoky Joe chassis. Hornby note, you could sell more chassis if you produced some options or directed people to where they could get the files!

These would also be of interest;

Free STL file Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Rebuilt Class 27・3D print model to download・Cults (cults3d.com)

Free STL file Furness Railway K2 OO Gauge・3D printer model to download・Cults (cults3d.com)

The info with this one says it's designed to use a Hornby Thomas chassis ;

Free STL file Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Class 29・3D printer model to download・Cults (cults3d.com)

So many potential locos to make!

[What About The Bee]

Hello RT

FreeCAD documentation says that an STL file can be imported and subsequently converted to a 3D body. From a 3D body, a scale can be done, zero issues.

I did not attempt to convert the STL file you wanted, as the site demands you "sign up" before downloading. No, thank you, I will not sign up!

If we want models that are not produced RTR, then 3D printing is the best option. As any engineer will tell you, it is the control of the model which is important, maybe more so than the means to produce it. FreeCAD offers you absolute control over the software, it resides on your computer. The models also reside on your computer. Nothing can ever be placed beyond a paywall. The other packages can easily hold all your intellectual property ransom. No thank you!

Whilst FreeCAD is quite powerful, it also has a few drawbacks. Firstly, its a bit clunky. The interface isn't obvious. Example: Scaling. In order to scale an object to OO, you need to divide by 76.2, yet FreeCAD won't let you do that until you set a preference in the Draft toolbox. Why? Because. I finally had to Google it and experiment. I will happily walk you through this non obvious step. FreeCAD has a steep learning curve. Its only now, a few months in, that I am starting to understand.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. The next major step in OO Planet is the chassis and drive train, to include those oscillating handles. Those will be drawn 1:1 at OO. Now, I have no idea if it will actually work, but I will make a valiant attempt!

Cheers

Bee

[Rana Temporia]

WATB, I have downloaded the programme and had a look at some of the online tutorials so now just need some time to get started. It looks to be a very powerful programme for a freebie.

[What About The Bee]

Hello Rana

FreeCAD is very powerful. A real engineering tool, which is what attracted me to it.

At first, I duplicated some starter tutorials. I fiddled around with them for a bit but then, I decided to try a (very) simple project on my own. It was the front buffer adaptor for Tiger, to try the banking test. Of course, I complicated that by drawing in all the threads on the rods and nuts, but I do like an intellectual challenge. The buffer adaptor worked a treat and I felt confident moving on.

I now keep two active projects going. One is Planet, the real object of my efforts. The other is Sandbox, wherein I try out new tools and methods in safety.

When I need some new technique, I play in safety in Sandbox, until I am confident in attempting it in the design of Planet.

I continue to just scratch the surface of the power. Next for me is the OO mechanism to drive Planet. Imagine my astonishment in finding that not only will FreeCAD structure involute gear trains properly, there is the capability to animate those gears! Wow!!

Bee

[81F]

Got the first test print of the sl@G ladle wagon, but need yo correct a few errors.

The wheel bearings were a tight push fit onto the axles so have had to open those out slightly.

Also when converting dimensions to 00, I made the entire wagon too narrow making the buffers too close together (HO gauge spacing!) so have had to amend the hopper, buffer beams and buffer spacing.

Now awaiting a second set of test prints. On a good note the buffers came out in brass perfectly.