NOT a rant-locomotive detail parts

[arbomambo]

Hello all....
When I 'started back' into N scale as an adult, back in the early to mid-90's, I feel I was MORE than blessed to be in the right place, at the right time, to really stoke and grow my interest in model railroading, or, more accurately for me, railroad modelling, specifically N scale railroad modelling...
I was living in Austin, TX at the time, and had the great pleasure to meet great people within the confines of the local Ntrak group, AustNtrak.
And...N scale was seeing an incredible burst of growth and popularity that, I feel, it is still riding today...in fact, today's N scale offers more than I could have ever imagined back in 1995, despite what you may read on some of the forums...
EXCEPT in the locomotive detail parts area! (IMO)
Yes, we DO have folks like BLMA with their detail parts in PE (I RELY on their ultimate E/F unit sets for my growing ATSF fleet of covered wagons!), and GMM still is producing their wonderful sets of PE items...
Walter and Debbie, at Showcase Miniatures, are REALLY upping the ante where lineside equipment and vehicles are concerned, and structures have never been more prevalent and varied than they are today...
but, to this day, no one has stepped up to fill a gap left by the demise of Sunrise Enterprises...
So many items...across different eras, have gone the way of the Dodo....I recall, when I was modelling modern (1990's) units...I relied on their wealth of plows, railroad-specific light packages, antennae platforms, etc...to detail and transform factory units into railroad-specific locomotive power...
I'm finding a dearth of items to replace their loss...specifically, for me, now that I'm modelling transition era diesels, speed recorders and than ATSF-specific center-mounted numberboards for the ALCO PA units...(finials for the tops of signal masts have always been a desire in N scale, but I don't recall their ever being available)
 I've searched all 120-something of model railroad pages on Shapeways site to see if anything like I've described is available, all to no avail...

So my question is...
Does ANYONE know of a source, in N scale, for those specific items?...and does anyone else here share my desire for a manufacturer to take up the N scale detail 'gauntlet' and fill the gap left by Sunrise?...perhaps it's just not a winning, profit-wise, enterprise, especially considering that those who have gone before, are...well...gone...

good quality castings of:

plows
exhaust stacks
light packages (SP comes to mind)
fan housings
numberboards
bells
air hoses
speed recorders
rerail frogs

and so much more.....

Respectfully,
Bruce

[C855B]

Shapeways was the right place to look. 3D printing is on the cusp of stepping in to fill this gap, but there's roughly a 2X improvement in resolution at consumer pricing before we're good enough.

The problem with cast methods now is the investment [ha! a pun!] is rarely paid back. Like you said, I think the situations with N Scale of Nevada, JnJ and Sunrise are hints that the market can no longer support onesey-twosey sales of $2 parts.

[lock4244]

Miniatures by Eric. May not have everything you're looking for, but he carries a lot of items that come in really handy.

http://www.miniaturesbyeric.com/catalog.htm

[arbomambo]

Mike,
like you stated...it would seem completely logical that 3D printing is THE way to produce these detail items...the few items that I have, that are 3D printed are incredible in scale fidelity...despite the inherent 'layering' effect that the process produces...
My talents don't translate over to CAD or 3D design and/or drawing, so I'm SOL unless, or until, I can connect with someone who has the ability to draw these designs and produce them for 3D
Respectfully,
~Bruce

[arbomambo]

Miniatures by Eric. May not have everything you're looking for, but he carries a lot of items that come in really handy.

http://www.miniaturesbyeric.com/catalog.htm

Yes...a good inventory, but, still, nowhere approaching the range of Sunrise in their 'heyday'...and, of course, slanted more toward Canadian-specific, although many of his parts are non-specific.
Respectfully,
~Bruce

[Dave Schneider]

Mike,
like you stated...it would seem completely logical that 3D printing is THE way to produce these detail items...the few items that I have, that are 3D printed are incredible in scale fidelity...despite the inherent 'layering' effect that the process produces...
My talents don't translate over to CAD or 3D design and/or drawing, so I'm SOL unless, or until, I can connect with someone who has the ability to draw these designs and produce them for 3D
Respectfully,
~Bruce

Bruce,

I completely understand where you are coming from with regards to 3D design.  I played around with various tools over the past couple of years, but felt like it wasn't a good use of my time (and I didn't enjoy it). I recently commissioned a talented Shapeways designer to produce a rather complicated project for me (details in the coming weeks). The margin for a designer is quite small, especially if the desire is to keep the print cost down, so offering someone a bit of money up front for needed items might be an option. Just something to consider.

Best wishes, Dave

[arbomambo]

Dave,
very much appreciated...
I will likely follow the route you've taken...to commission someone with the abilities to produce drawings for the various parts needed...now...how does one go about that?
I have NO problem paying for services; it's quite fair to assume recompense for work done.
and a logical follow-up question would be "is there anyone lurking here who has the ability AND the time to produce drawings for shapeways for these items?...and are shapeways drawings created from 'scratch'?....can they be rendered from photographs?...or the actual 1:1 part?
Respectfully,
~Bruce

[Dave Schneider]

Bruce,

On a whim I just contacted a person who was producing very nice and complicated designs on Shapeways. We emailed a bit and came to an agreement. I produced the 2D drawings in Adobe Illustrator and exported them in a format that he could use. Not sure how he used them, but I provided all the important dimensions and many photos for reference. That cut down on his time trying to scale things from photos.

Best wishes, Dave

[ryan_wilkerson]

Has anyone contacted Sunrise about getting the molds so the parts could be reproduced again? If so, what was their response? Seems like that would be the fastest way to bring parts back to market.

[C855B]

Has anyone contacted Sunrise about getting the molds so the parts could be reproduced again?

Yes.

If so, what was their response?

No.



My understanding is about a decade ago [the owner whose name I have forgotten] was badly injured in a car wreck. After a lengthy recuperation, he has been approached several times by both production-experienced and non-production-experienced parties. He responded indicating desire to keep everything should time, abilities and circumstances allow him to resume production. There was a feeble attempt about three (?) years ago to come back starting with a couple of photoetch products, but as you can see here as of nearly two years ago he is essentially out of business, but is still reserving his tooling.

IOW, a longstanding dead-end.

[arbomambo]

Yes.

No.



My understanding is about a decade ago [the owner whose name I have forgotten] was badly injured in a car wreck. After a lengthy recuperation, he has been approached several times by both production-experienced and non-production-experienced parties. He responded indicating desire to keep everything should time, abilities and circumstances allow him to resume production. There was a feeble attempt about three (?) years ago to come back starting with a couple of photoetch products, but as you can see here as of nearly two years ago he is essentially out of business, but is still reserving his tooling.

IOW, a longstanding dead-end.

I had heard the same...
understanding that these (Sunrise) parts will, more than likely, never see the light of day again (I have the same fears about the American Limited products)...
it does seem logical that the 3D world can really run with this particular ball...and the fidelity of detail is/can be superior to what was cast by Sunrise...how difficult is it for 3D draftsman to use the existing parts, or better yet, an actual draftsman rendering? Details West has drawings of many of their parts in HO...many that I'd like to see produced in N scale...can they not just be 'shrunk' to N scale for 3D rendering purposes?
~Bruce

[PiperguyUMD]

I'm not sure that 3D printing is the way to go for smaller items, at least with it's current generation of hardware.  The window sashes on many of my N scale cabs are about a scale 3" and print fine, but there are many times that they are rejected by shapeways claiming that they are to small.  I think this probably has something to do with the way they orient the print which is still out of the designer's control.  Regardless, I have not had very good results with small items like handrail stanchions, horns, or sunshades. 

I think a brilliant idea would be for someone to use the shapeways model with a photo etching process.  Allow people to upload and sell their own designs of photo etched items.  This would foster an explosion of new products for practically every piece of equipment out there!