Shapeways parts arrived (analysis)

[Dave V]

I definitely would make castings of an FUD bodyshell master if I were doing it.

Good point.

Yes, it would be a new engine, and perhaps tender, shell.

[gelboy45]

Hi

Would it be possible to produce ditch lights? These would be useful for modernising existing models, possibly with the option to illuminate them too?

Just an idea!

Gerry

[delamaize]

Good point.

Yes, it would be a new engine, and perhaps tender, shell.

I kinda was thinking the same thing. My idea isn't so much an entire new locomotive using existing parts, but more along the lines of a Generic shell that the basics fit multiple railroads, and could be detailed and superdetailed to represent specific railroads. I have a feeling that FUD isn't going to be real friendly to drilling holes for hand rails and such, not to mention gluing details to it. What glue takes to FUD anyways?

In my case, I am thinking of diffrent shells that could be made to fit the Kato GS4 mech. specificly. Their is a guy on the A boards that has been doing FEF and Santa Fe northerns using the GS4 chassis, but it takes some heavy modifications to the upper portion of the frame. A kit could contain new shell componantes, but also new metal upper portions of the mech to elimnate the need to do heavy mods. Myself, I am thinking Timken "four aces", or something that closly resembles the SP&S E class and NP A classes. Four Aces would be a smart choice really, because it ran on 13 diffrent railroads as a demo loco, then spent the last of it's career on the NP, for multiple years, Not to mention that multiple railroads basicly copied the design.

potentially, this could be done with any mech really, with enough skill time and paitents. My 3D rendering skills are way too far out of pratice for me to try anything right now.

[bbussey]

Yes, it would be a new engine, and perhaps tender, shell.

The old Model Power metal boiler shells that were on sale a few months ago are not close to the prototype?

[Denver Road Doug]

Well, although I've not done anything along these lines yet, I find this kind of stuff very interesting and hope to someday "get in the game".

And although not directly related to rapid-prototyping, I have been motivated to e-mail a contact I have regarding plans for a freight car I've been thinking about scratchbuilding with the eventual goal to either cast and produce resin kits or maybe even take it to another level.   So if I'm reading this correctly, the idea would be to do a prototype with Shapeways using a 3-D CAD drawing and then make a mold from that (cleaned up?) master for replication using resin.   That kinda the process?

[bbussey]

Yes, that's the process.  The logic being that you put all the effort into the master and use whatever shortcuts / technology / options available to make the basic master, then make as many resin copies as you wish and add the final details (such as stirrups and grab irons) to the resin models.  My turtleback baggage car master consisted of two layers of etched brass laminated to a PolyJet rapid-prototype core.  The roof vents were Wheels of Time and not easy to come by in quantity, so they were incorporated into the master.  The other parts were American Limited components and readily available, along with the Gold Medal etched parts, stainless steel wire for the grabs, .015" thick Corning glass for the windows, MTL tankcar brakewheel, WOT toilet vent, WOT trucks, and MTL 1015 couplers.  The floor/underframe also was a casting from a PolyJet master and included the truck bolster and coupler box mounting pads along with the fishbelly underframe.





The PolyJet resolution is equivalent to the Shapeways FD resin.  If I were doing this model today, I would incorporate the roof vents into the solid model and render it in FUD, and eliminate the doors from the casting and use the etched doors in the castings rather than in the master - which I ended up doing with one of the doors on this finished resin model because it cracked during handling due to being too thin, and the model was too far along to start over with another casting.  You learn as you go, and apply what you learn to the next model.

[Hyperion]

I got my Auto Frames in today.

Holy crap they're nice.  The detail on them is absolutely staggering, far exceeding anything available from any mass manufacturer today.  On the flip side, since they are truly "scale" they're also fragile as hell.  Just handling them enough to paint them without damaging would be difficult, to mount them onto a car as a secured load without damage would be as much luck as anything.

[bbussey]

I finished the GMC TDM4507 this evening, and modified it based on the FUD parts I received.  The model would cost $28 to render, which I think puts it out of most people's price range and strongly pushes me toward the resin casting route.

[Guilford Guy]

That bus looks very nice! You mentioned earlier that rivetted models would likely not be possible due to triangle limits on shapeways. How reasonable an idea would it be to apply archer rivet decals to a "flat" model from shapeways, and using the final product as a master? I would think after enough coats of micro-sol that the decal film would no longer be an issue.

[bbussey]

That's an option.  You also can design the FUD model to allow for etched brass insets and include the detail in the etchings.  If the diameter of the rivets is half the thickness of the brass to be etched, they will etch to a hemispherical appearance.  Anything goes in constructing a master, and as long as the mold is successful it doesn't matter if the master self-destructs at the end.