Hello, PM Railfan asked me to post these pictures for him since he is having trouble with this.
Note: All text below is from PM Railfan. All views, and opinions are from him, and not the OP SeeYou190.
Enjoy...
Top of the day to all. I am sharing some of my "top quality" photos of a few things I've been doing.
Since I print things in white, its going to be very hard to see the details. In some cases the details show up as a haze, blur, and even blobs. And if your eyes are as bad as mine.... my apologies.
I appreciate Kevin's offer to post these. Since I only have mobile internet here, it makes it hard even to do simple emailing.
Heck, I cant even venture into the photo threads like Weekend Photo Fun etc because it takes forever to download all those nice pics just to view them.... and burns data! Of which I am limited.
I hope you and the guys enjoy these. Feel free to pick them apart. I persue perfection and would love to hear any pointers you folks would like to voice out. It will only make my models better.
This is a quick photo I took concerning yesterdays post in the Diner about replacing an MDC tender frame. You can see here the 3 pieces of the original, upper left is the body shell mounted on the new printed frame, center top is a more detailed frame with a few additions, below that are a couple of sprung trucks (not printed for this project -just tossed them in there), below those are the replacement steps and footboards.
The frame is pretty much an exact duplicate with the exceptions of adding holes for wiring and to mount a Kadee. The steps were made to be separate (unlike the original) so that different designs may be used. If you note the front two steps are not duplicates of the MDC model.
Next is one of the first 'project' models I started doing with 3D printing. Totally freelanced. I think the only measurements I followed was length, width, and coupler mounting height. The biggest thing I wanted to accomplish here was to see if the post pockets could be printed in detail.
Also, I was getting pretty good at printing trucks. It was time to work on more accurate designs here too!
Now begins our venture into a 40' wooden express car. No one makes these models. I wanted to see if I could simulate wood sheathing and also print small enough to get the pointy ends of the dreadnaughts on the car ends. That's still a work in progress.
This shows the model sitting on the printer bed. You are pretty much looking at the business end of the whole deal.
Here we are at the stage of adding roof support to a couple of the cars I had made so far.
The car body is mostly finished as a roughed in car. Details like rivets, hinges, appliance hangers and brackets still need to be designed and added. take a look at those pitiful looking trucks.
I had no dimensional data to go by and only one b&w picture to look at. At the time of the photo I didn't have the wheel sets nor the truck springs to add to the model yet.
Here is the model as the project sits now (gaining dust). Most of the 'large' parts are printed but need final measurements done for that 'perfect fit'. Detail work will commence after that.
Like most of the rest of us..... sometimes you set down a project and pick up another before either is finished.
Here is a model no one makes that the PM had a lot of. So I need it badly. Again, no dimensional data just b&w photos. So when I get that stuff one day it means this project will have to be totally redrawn and re printed. It is OK though, atleast now I know it can be done, and I have a few spare cabooses to boot!
I don't have many pics of this project. And I have it tucked away already for future rainy days. However, hopefully the pic is good enough to see some of the detail work coming out. Wood grain, rivets, tiny details like that.
The model in the photo is only 'pieced' together. I wanted the model to be able to be put together right out of the box without gluing. While in the photo it doesn't look it, when finally assembled and glued the fitment is dead on.
Notice also a new designed set of trucks. This is about the 3rd set of trucks I had done so far. They are getting better. This model, more than the others so far, is the closest I have come to producing a "decent" looking model.
Now it's time to give ole Doc Wayne a run for his money. By now there have been enough posts in the Diner thread y'all know I'm working on this project. I have also printed enough models to have techniques down to produce excellent looking models that IMO will compare to some of the finest (even if the pics don't show it - that's my bad photography skills).
What we see in this photo is "laying the deck". A close up shot of the printer printing the 'see thru' decking of a 42' flat car. That's .1mm spacing betwixt the planks. The prototype calls for ship lapped decking, I wanted to see if a see thru deck could be printed. By the time this is painted, it should look fantastic!
The following are my attempts at trying to produce a nice picture. FAIL!
I just don't know how you guys take such close up shots, and still get the details! So if your eyes are better than mine... hopefully you can make out all the fine stuff on this model.
One thing I know you wont see for sure is the tiny .2mm holes for all the handrails and steps (bottom mounted on this model). I assure you, you can count every rivet on this model and find the exact amount on the prototype!
Every pocket spacing, every board, right down to the truck type! I had what I needed to make this model except a shot of the bottom to see how the brake componants are layed out (specific to the PM). I knew I had to get that much to make a model that good.
Take that Wayne! LOLOLOLOL
Lastly "Ive been framed!". Here we see a 5 set of flats for the Four Rivers, my fictional railroad (pre runners to my PM models).
Some are waiting for frames and trucks. This is a decent picture in that you can see some of the details clearly.
Well, there you have it. That's pretty much what I have available at the moment. If these pass muster, I can put together some more, maybe toss in a few of the drawings which will make abundantly clear what the 'white' model looks like.
Other stuff like a 55' Pullman Diner w/interior, JJC auto frames (gondola load) that are rare to find, other gondola loads, etc.
Living the dream.
PM RailfanI just don't know how you guys take such close up shots, and still get the details!
I take about ten pictures of the item, and choose the best one to share.
-Kevin
Nice stuff! I especially like the wooden express car.
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
Thank you, PM Railfan, you've inspired me to make more use of the 3D printer I have access to. The cars look great!
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
SeeYou190...hopefully the pic is good enough to see some of the detail work coming out. Wood grain, rivets, tiny details like that.
I've found that you can get pretty good detail in your photos if you use the close-up option (if your camera is so-equipped)...like this view of what was formerly an Athearn steel Pullman car...
Another option I use is to place one lense of my Optivisor in contact with the camera's lense, to achieve a picture with better detail (and even a bit of dust, too)....
For really up-close stuff, I use a loupe, again, in direct contact with the camera's lense - just as it would be close to your eye when looking through a loupe...
I'm impressed with what can be accomplished with 3-D printing, but your baggage car could have been easily done with styrene, too - Evergreen offers sheet material in a variety of thicknesses and board widths, and all sorts of thicknesses of plain stock for things like floors and roofs, along with strip styrene, again with a wide variety of sizes and shapes, too. Car ends, in various styles are available from Tichy, but you could also do similar ends with flat styrene and Evergreen's half-round strip stock, in various sizes.
These gondolas were scratchbuilt on Tichy flatcar kits, but as you can see, I didn't bother adding ribs on the inside of the ends...
...while the rivets were added using Archer 3-D surface decals...
While rivet detail can be well done with a printer, you certainly don't want woodgrain detail on your baggage cars, unless they're at the end of their service life, with peeling paint and rotting board-ends. Wooden passenger and baggage cars were usually very well-finished, with high gloss paint that not only hid the wood grain well, but was often smooth and shiny enough to see your own reflection.
Of course, wood grain on a flatcar deck would be appropriate.
SeeYou190 Other stuff like a 55' Pullman Diner w/interior, JJC auto frames (gondola load) that are rare to find, other gondola loads, etc.
Yeah, I haven't seen the frame loads in some time, but there's only one hobbyshop in this area within an hour's drive. All the others, including one that was only 5 minutes away, are all gone. I found mine at a previously undiscovered hobbyshop roughly 2 hours away, and surprisingly, in the basement of a house. I built the loads to fit in these Accurail 41' gondolas...
SeeYou190Now it's time to give ole Doc Wayne a run for his money.
No problem...I can't be bothered to run, and my money's all gone anyway.
Wayne
Right off the bat Id like to thank "Kevin (SeeYou190)" for posting this thread.
Kevin)
"I take about ten pictures of the item, and choose the best one to share."
One picture out of ten crappy pics, is still a crappy pic. I just cant take any.
Chuck, Harrison) Thank you both for the kind words!
Wayne) Yeah, but do you like my caboose? You didnt say one thing about my caboose? Does it look too big in white?
Shweet gondolas btw!
Douglas
PM Railfan ....Wayne) Yeah, but do you like my caboose? You didnt say one thing about my caboose? Does it look too big in white? Douglas
....Wayne) Yeah, but do you like my caboose? You didnt say one thing about my caboose? Does it look too big in white?
For me, the part of this thread about making the new underframe for the tender is the most interesting.
I made one underframe from plastic for one of my standard caboose models. It is fine, but I need 11 more.
I wonder is printing them would be a reasonable option?
How much design work would be involved vs. the amount of time saved? Also, the idea that they all would be exactly the same is quite appealing.
SeeYou190 For me, the part of this thread about making the new underframe for the tender is the most interesting. I made one underframe from plastic for one of my standard caboose models. It is fine, but I need 11 more. I wonder is printing them would be a reasonable option? How much design work would be involved vs. the amount of time saved? Also, the idea that they all would be exactly the same is quite appealing. -Kevin
doctorwayneUnderframes from Athearn cabooses - I bought a bunch of them, not realising that there were two in each package. I gave a few of them to a friend, but still have four extra ones, if they're of use to you, Kevin.
Thanks for thinking of me, but I have PLENTY of Athearn caboose underframes. I bought tons of Athearn parts and undecorated models when I first switched to HO back in the mid 1990s.
Back then, Athearn parts and kits were dirt-cheap. I bought so many thinking they would be the backbone of my operation. Then I decided to use more detailed models, and I still have quite a good supply.
"I wonder is printing them would be a reasonable option?"
In the case of my tender frame.... I found the problem, and had a replacement frame under the shell in the same day. I doubt EBay, or even my LHS could match that. The part was free, was the one i needed, fit perfect, looks better than original. I find that reasonable.
In the case of needing 11 of them, more so.
"How much design work would be involved vs. the amount of time saved?"
From what i see in your pics, designing that would take about 10 minutes. Printing it about 20 mins - singularly.
Since thats a part you can fit more than one on the printer at once, you can save time by printing more than one... at a time. Printing 4 at once for example might take an hour, saving you 20 minutes than if you printed them singularly.
"Also, the idea that they all would be exactly the same is quite appealing."
Yes, its not like scratchbuilding in that you hope you make the same 'exact' cuts or drill holes from model to model. Mistakes happen. This is one of the benefits of 3D printing, they are all the same.
(ofcourse, if your design has a flaw or mistake, now your cloning mistakes!)
Thank you for posting about this project! I'm looking forward to seeing a completed model. I've done similar 3D printed rolling stock projects myself, and it's a tool I enjoy using. When I had the urge to start modeling a very specific prototype, I decided to pretty much jump head first into the deep end with custom rolling stock without any prior scratchbuilding experience.
Being able to design in CAD first let me more easily line up my model with blueprints, undo any mistakes, visualize the final product, and have consistent results. While the design process took a long time, less material was wasted because mistakes were all digital, and I felt more confident taking on a project when I had an undo button. As I move more towards the kitbashing side of things, I find myself more concerned with making mistakes.
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but here's a picture of a boxcar I did a while back just to show what a finished printed piece of FDM printed rolling stock can look like.
-Peter. Mantua collector, 3D printing enthusiast, Korail modeler.
"I'm looking forward to seeing a completed model."
So am i!
Welcome to the thread DA, just jump right in. Were pretty informal here. Post as many as you want as long as they pertain to the thread topic (house rules ya know).
Mighty fine looking boxcar car you have there. You probably wont see a finished product here from me though. Im pretty much focussing on the 'making' of the model.
Procrastination will take care of the painting and decalling. Im almost sure of it.
I made a 3d design of my great grnadfathers fireless steam locomotive for an HO scale chassis
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/dACuXdmqGmh-wipsomers-lumber-s-1-ho-scale-shell-for-bachmann-billben
Douglas-
For gross dimensions on the wooden box express cars, you just need to find a set of dimensions for a USRA double-sheathed boxcar- the PM built them from its 80000-series cars immediately upon receiving them in 1920. They lasted in service to about the end of WWII.
For all of the box express cars (X-513 through X-531), the side doors are six feet wide.
The "three-window" caboose looks great! If you're interested in specific dimensions, there is a diagram for one of the batches of those cabooses in the big "The Pere Marquette's Wooden Cabooses" issue (#120) of the Pere Marquette Historical Society's PM Tracks newsletter, available from the PMHS ($10 postpaid), if you don't already have a copy.
One of the guys on our PM modelers' Zoom meeting a couple of months ago showed us a nicely-rendered 3D-printed PM 90000-series steel auto boxcar.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
Hey Fritz!
Glad you saw this. I sent you an email.
-Douglas
Funny to run across this as I was on a YouTube rabit hole and got looking for PM Railfan's videos formerly on YouTube and found this. I am the one who printed a PM 90350 series boxcar with a resin printer. Here is one that, although not yet the final version, I painted to see how it was coming. (I put the clear coat on too soon and smudged the decals a little, but again, this was only a trial.)
I have a PM A800 series caboose partially drawn, but haven't had time to finish it. I just need to draw the ladders, brakes, and interior.
Eric) Your PM boxcar looks outstanding! You need to share more of your PM stuff.
Id be curious to see how your 800 class hack turns out. I was giving some thought to an 800 myself after i finish the 400-600 series. No one has done one (or any PM caboose for that matter [accurately] except Atlas's Trainman version of the 900s.). So i guess its up to ourselves.
Heres a test photo of my latest PM projects. Like yours.. in the test phase.
As for the U-Tube videos, I took them down when U-Tube got blacklisted. If you (or any other PM Railfan) want them - contact me privately and I will try to send them to you.
Keep up the excellent work!
The advances in 3D printing always amaze me. While I doubt it can replace injection molding for mass produced items, 3D printing seems increasingly like the ace-in-the-hole for scratchbuilders and people who need custom pieces for their railroad.