Has anyone bought one of the 3D printed locomotive bodies that are on sale at Shapeways?
If so, what was the scale and quality?
I did buy one in HOn30 along with a couple of pairs of truck frames. The quality was terrible with a lot grain. The parts were rough and I was never able to get them like I wanted. I ended up tossing them in the trash. I swore at that time that I would never order any again.
That is my experience...
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
I got an HO scale critter body a year ago. There were a few rough edges and surfaces, but nothing a bit of sandpaper couldn't fix. The plastic is more brittle than the usual styrene, but it's flexible enough to be durable. The detail is sharp and well defined, and the end results were pretty good! If you get anything, it should at least be made from "frosted ultra detail". They also now have the option of "frosted extreme detail" on some, which costs more, but it should be even closer to the quality of an injection molded part.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/227541.aspx
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I bought a Shapeways 3D printed HOn30 boxcab last January; this is my story of how the project progressed:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/244840.aspx
You will probably have to copy and paste the link into your browser address line; something strange about how this forum is configured.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
trwrouteThe quality was terrible with a lot grain.
If it was the Strong White Plastic material, then as the Mythbusters say, "There's your problem!" Get your models done in the Frosted Detail material. It's more expensive, but the quality is good. I've had a couple of my own models printed in FD. It has a finish similar to extremely fine sandpaper. I gave it some light sanding, then sprayed a coat of primer, then sanded the primer until the material started to show through. The primer filled the tiny crevices and gave it a smooth finish. This technique works best on fairly large surface with few if any details. Something like the hood doors on a diesel loco with lots of hinges and latches would be a lot more difficult to sand.
As far as the quality of the actual models, it all depends on who modeled it. If the modeler didn't use a high enough polygon count, then rounded surfaces may appear very faceted.
Steve S
There are two potential pitfalls.
One is material... NEVER order a locomotive or car part in WSF, only FUD or FXD, which give very good surface finish and detail resolution. FXD is the best, but more expensive and limited as to the size of model.
The second... quite a few designers selling parts and shells on Shapeways are rank amateurs, with no professional design experience. You really need to take a close look at the images. Send the designer a PM and ask him about his experience, how he learned to design 3D models, what research he did for the model in question. Ask questions about materials... if he suggests WSF for what should be a detailed part with a good finish, walk... no, run away. Ask him if he would be willing to give references...
Frankly, it's unfortunate that there is no mechanism, peer review, etc. required to "qualify" designers to sell models. It's great that they can have their own models printed, but are they good enough for other modellers to pay money for?
For someone like myself with over 25 years of design experience with high end 3D CAD systems, and frequent use of 3D printing over that same period, as the technology has improved, this is rather a pet peeve.
It is really upsetting to see modellers such as trwroute having a bad experience due to poor judgement/ skill on the part of a designer, when the technology- in the right hands- can be truly wonderful.
For an example of what can be- and should be- achieved, have a look at my CNR Hart gondola at http://public.fotki.com/sbhunterca/cnr-steel-frame-har/ .
Steve Hunter
G Paine I bought a Shapeways 3D printed HOn30 boxcab last January; this is my story of how the project progressed: http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/244840.aspx You will probably have to copy and paste the link into your browser address line; something strange about how this forum is configured.
George,
FYI: Try adding a bracketed "url" and "/url" (minus the quotation marks) on the beginning and end of your link. That should make it clickable:
The other methods just don't seem to work consistently.
Tom
[Edit: Well...The above method doesn't seem to be working either. ]
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Steve Hunter if he suggests WSF for what should be a detailed part with a good finish, walk... no, run away. .
I've seen some that only offer WSF. Either they are ignorant of it's quality, or they are counting on the ignorance of the buyer. By offering only WSF, they can keep the cost low and appear to undercut those who are only offering Frosted Detail.
I have designed and 3d printed a couple engine shells at Shapeways. No need to using anyhing less in quality than FUD. Here is a link to the blog post a HO mining engine shell, HO scale, but the engine runs on Z scale track.
http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/12/ho-mining-engine-on-z-scale-mechanism.html
Kent in KC'nvrr49.blogspot.com
Here is a clickable link for George's thread:
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Tom and George:
This is off topic, but what I do to make the links clickable is first go to the linked thread. You can do that by highlighting the link and then right clicking on the highlighted link, and then selecting "Open Link" or words to that effect from the drop down menu.
Once you are on the thread copy the link, go back to your original post and paste the link into the post. THEN, do the 'url' thing, specifically type"[ url ]" at the beginning of the link and then type "[ /url ]" at the end of the link. Do not include the quotation marks and do not include the spaces between the brackets. I had to put those in the get the letters between the quotation marks to post.
When you submit the post the link should come up as clickable.
Clickable links don't need the url links at both ends (at least not for me). Just copy the page address and paste it into your post in a new line. After you have it pasted, just hit your Enter key to go to a new line and the address should become click-able automatically. If you don't hit Enter after your paste, it just becomes another string of type.
Another simple option is to click on the little "chain" in the toolbar and paste the page address into the url line and it will automatically make it a link as well.
Use the "Reply" button - not the "Quick Reply" button.
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
Hi Mark
You are correct, most links work fine by just copying them into the post. The ones that don't work that way, at least for some of us, are the links to other threads in the forums. When you paste them into your post they show up in blue suggesting that they are clickable but for some reason when you actually submit the post the links no longer work. That's when you have to go back and do the 'url' thing.