3D printing class 25 parts .... Also class 20,37, 2mm and 7mm wagons and 1/32 bogies

[BR_Blue_1986]

I would also like a 7mm class kit 68 please and some delners for a body snatcher conversion I'm doing from a 7mm Heljan.

[simon br blue]

Would autoballasters be possible in 7mm? I'm likening the wagons, shame I can't get my grubby hands on them

 

An autoballaster would be possible if there were any accurate drawings available - using the same method as the Polybulk sides to reduce cost but at a guess they would cost about £120 each to print.  If you want any 7mm wagons let me know and I can make them available on Shapeways.

 

 

I would also like a 7mm class kit 68 please and some delners for a body snatcher conversion I'm doing from a 7mm Heljan.

 

I was thinking about doing a 68 and have the drawings out of Express magazine but I've got enough half finished projects on the go at the moment.  The delner couplers would be easy to do if you have some drawings available.

[BR_Blue_1986]

I have a drawing with dimensions for the eurolight, but it's not the uk variant 68. I managed to bash a basic delner drawing and send to shapeways today. Although I suspect they may say some parts are too fragile to print. What is the exact list of wagons you have out of interest?

[BR_Blue_1986]

It will possibly need some fettling/ adjusting to fit on the Heljan, but that shouldn't be a problem.

[simon br blue]

My order turned up yesterday from the  20% off black Friday sale and the Imaterialise free shipping offer.

 

Firstly the Imaterialise order.  as they had free shipping I went for 3 items (all in prime grey) - A 4mm Campbell's soup chassis and a class 37 nose and cantrail grill.

 

The wagon has turned out well and has crisper detail than WSF but I had to thicken up a couple of parts for it to be printable, one problem that I've got to chase up with them is the part of the chassis looks like its got glue on it.   The 37 nose looks good with some nice detail on hinges.  As with all prime grey it will need some cleaning up to remove the remnants of the support structure from printing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next the shapeways order, a couple of wagons - another Grainflow PAA and a Redland PHA.  The PHA looks good and now needs some Plasticard adding to make the hopper body - then I'll need to find a way of making a flexible belt to connect between wagons (after buying at least one more wagon to connect to).  If I can get an end wagon or motor wagon finished before the 23rd I'll get one ordered.

 

 

 

 

Now for the main part of the order.  The order from Imaterialise had a large class 37 nose and the nose fits onto a 1/32 scale class 37 body.  One of the benefits of shapeways price change is that some of the larger, open but not delicate or thin models are now cheaper such as a large loco body and with 20% off it would have been rude not to get something ordered.  As with the previously printed class 20 the shell is quite basic with openings left to fit finer details in such as the grills.  The cantrail grills are prime grey and the bodyside and nose end grills are FUD as  I think WSF wouldn't give great definition of the finer grills.  I also got a basic centre headcode nose printed at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the list to get draw before the 23rd is also a set of bufferbeams, a pair of bogies and a fuel tank frame.

[Pugsley]

With a spot of gentle sanding, the 37 body is going to look great!  I'm also impressed with the finish of the Materialise Prime Grey - is it much more expensive than Shapeways WSF?

[stadman]

Those parts look good from both suppliers.

 then I'll need to find a way of making a flexible belt to connect between wagons 

How about a cycle inner tube? Would guess typewriter no longer available.

[Wild Boar Fell]

 

The wagon has turned out well and has crisper detail than WSF but I had to thicken up a couple of parts for it to be printable, one problem that I've got to chase up with them is the part of the chassis looks like its got glue on it.   The 37 nose looks good with some nice detail on hinges.  As with all prime grey it will need some cleaning up to remove the remnants of the support structure from printing.

 

That 37 looks superb, not that the wagons don't!

I think I have had a few thing from I.materialise in the past with tiny dabs of glue on, albeit on Polyamide parts where they have tried to patch (successfully) a break.

Regards,

Wild Boar Fell

[backofanenvelope]

The 37 body is very impressive, looks very crisp.

[rs4]

That PHA looks the business Simon.

 

I do hope you are considering a 4mm version, be nice to have 20 or so wagons and recreate the Lafarge self discharge train...minus the clever wagon that discharges to the rail side.

 

Nick

[Marbelup]

I recently had a Prime Gray print from I.Materialise which had some sticky patches which appeared to be partially-cured resin. The worst patch was on the inside of the diesel body, which may have been due to my request to leave the support structure attached which had reduced the effectiveness of the UV curing oven used after printing. Curiously, the layer on the underside of the roof was cured, but there were one or more layers of uncured resin above that. Removing the internal supports created some pinholes in the bottom layer, which allowed the uncured resin to ooze through in places.

The most convenient UV source available to me to complete the curing was the summer Australian sun, and about 10 minutes in the sun resolved the stickiness. I was careful to make sure the print didn't get too warm during the sunbaking session.

About six months ago, I had another Prime Gray print which had obviously been broken in the factory and rather inexpertly repaired. I am not sure what type of adhesive they had used, but it wasn't sticky, just not very neat.  It looked Ok after painting.

Both these occurrences were very unusual and not typical of Prime Gray prints.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Marbelup

[The Ghost of IKB]

Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the thread but are there plans to sell the class 25 cabs retail?

[37114]

Re the above Question on the 4mm cabs, Simon has kindly let me use some of his 4mm resin casts for the class 25, I will post some pictures/explanation of work in progress, I have just bought a second class 25/2 due shortly before starting work. My first impressions pre starting work is the cab looks great and importantly the correct shape. I personally think they would sell well at the costs Simon discussed should he wish to make them available.

[The Ghost of IKB]

Thanks for that Rob - I'd very much like to see how you get on with that project - you'll be posting the work on pea fore's thread? I for one would definately be in the market for buying several of these cabs - and I'm sure there's plenty of others too.  The Bachmann 24/25 cab really isn't up to the job anymore

[37114]

Thanks for that Rob - I'd very much like to see how you get on with that project - you'll be posting the work on pea fore's thread? I for one would definately be in the market for buying several of these cabs - and I'm sure there's plenty of others too.  The Bachmann 24/25 cab really isn't up to the job anymore

Hi, I will post on both threads.

 

Thanks

[Downendian]

Yes the 25/2 cabs would be a great seller, I'd have many pairs of them.

Neil

[Robert Shrives]

HI Simon,

The 37 looks a beast in 1/32 I have the cast bits for one from a friend but the brass body will never fit the castings but would give up grills into a body like yours, do you have a future for the body ? or up for sale?

Cheers

Robert

[simon br blue]

With a spot of gentle sanding, the 37 body is going to look great!  I'm also impressed with the finish of the Materialise Prime Grey - is it much more expensive than Shapeways WSF?

 

The surface finish of Prime Grey is better but it works out about 50-100% more depending on the shape and size of the model.

 

That PHA looks the business Simon.

 

I do hope you are considering a 4mm version, be nice to have 20 or so wagons and recreate the Lafarge self discharge train...minus the clever wagon that discharges to the rail side.

 

Nick

 

I could easily resize the PHA and Conveyor wagon to 4mm but it wouldn't be cheap as it would need printing in FUD.  I'll have a look at the costs and upload a test.

 

 

I did manage to get another couple of items ordered in the Shapeways 20% off Christmas sale, included in the order was a class 37 bogie and cab interior to go with the 37 shell.

 

 

 

 

 

[37114]

I have started work on the class 25 cabs Simon sent me for the 25/2's. The cabs are resin casts which I understand were based on his 3D printed master. On taking the cabs out of the box, it immediately highlighted how wrong the Bachmann cabs are, while Simons cabs capture the look so well. I have posted some pictures below comparing the cabs alongside one of the intended recipients to highlight what I mean.

 

Simon had sent me 5 cabs, which appear from the feeds to have originated from different moulds as 3 were fed from the bottom of the cab, while the other 2 were fed from the rear. The rear fed version has moulded on head board clips, while the other version don't but Simon also sent me some 3D printed versions. Not all of the 25/2's had headboard clips in later life so it useful that they have been left them off the mould.

 

One of the bottom fed cabs is a damaged one and although repairable, it will be useful helping me cut out glazing as the Bachmann glazing wont fit as the windows are the wrong shape. I spent an hour earlier cleaning up a couple of the cabs as there is some flash present; having built a number of resin models the level of flash was about what I would expect.

[Downendian]

Indeed you can see the difference Rob, the Bachmann version has a squat central windscreen and the whole windscreen is raked back too steeply. Jim Smith-Wright was always banging on about this, the moulds clearly show what he means when compared directly.

Neil

[37114]

Indeed you can see the difference Rob, the Bachmann version has a squat central windscreen and the whole windscreen is raked back too steeply. Jim Smith-Wright was always banging on about this, the moulds clearly show what he means when compared directly.

Neil

 

Indeed he was, Jim used Silver fox cabs for the 25/2's hopefully the finished model will be up to his standards as I have done his suggested chassis mods already.

[The Ghost of IKB]

They look good don't they?  Get cleaning them up and get cracking Rob!  I want to see them fitted and get some ordered some ASAP!

 

Looking at the pics, does the cab casting finish in line with the edge of the door, i.e. - before the row of rivets that on the prototype joined the cab to the body?  So the Bachmann rivet line will be kept and the join will be right in front of it?

[37114]

They look good don't they?  Get cleaning them up and get cracking Rob!  I want to see them fitted and get some ordered some ASAP!

 

Looking at the pics, does the cab casting finish in line with the edge of the door, i.e. - before the row of rivets that on the prototype joined the cab to the body?  So the Bachmann rivet line will be kept and the join will be right in front of it?

Hi, yes the cab casting finishes at the end of the door so the Bachmann rivet line will be kept. I will get the Razor saw out tomorrow night......

[simon br blue]

I have done a bit more on the PHA wagons.

 

Nearly finished both the motor wagon and the rake end wagons to go with the middle wagon.

 

Pictures below of the 2 new wagons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did have a look at prices for 4mm versions.  These would need to be printed in FUD (and would probably need some small modifications to make them less fragile).  The prices are cheaper than I thought they'd be, they  would be roughly £35 per hopper wagon and the parts for the conveyor wagon would be about £70 (+ a Hornby KFA wagon).

 

As for the 7mm version I would like to get the already printed hopper sorted before printing more wagons to make up a set (probably a 5 wagon set as would cost be a bit much to print a 10 rake in one go).

 

 

Rob good to see you've made a start on the 25 cabs, I was hoping to get some work done on mine over Christmas but didn't in the end.

[37114]

The razor saw has seen some use.....

 

The pictures below highlight a difference another difference between Simon's cab and the Bachmann original which relates to the profile of the front of the cab, Basically the Bachmann cab is a flatter profile than Simons replacement. I don't have  a set of plans to hand and have struggled to find conclusive photos but think it is the Bachmann cab which is wrong. I say that on the basis that the roof's are the same length on both cabs, but the bottom corners stick out further on the Bachmann cab and it is known the rake of the cab is too steep, this would tie in with the lower corners being wrong. 

 

 

While the above fault maybe irrelevant as the whole point of this project is to replace the cab, it does mean some chassis work is required. In the case of my models this is somewhat easy than a fresh out of the box model as I did a rebuild of the chassis of all my Bachmann type 2's following the method described by Jim Smith-Wright some years ago in the DEMU Update issue 48 magazine, available for download from Jim's site:

 

http://www.p4newstreet.com/articles

 

I had previously separated the cab floor from the remnants of the rest of the Bachmann chassis but as the photo below shows it is too long for the steps to fit in the recesses under the cab:

 

 

This is easily solved by chopping the steps away from the cab floor and securing directly to the resin cab. The floor will need to be secured in once painting is complete, I tend to use UHU type clear glue which is strong enough to hold the buffer beam but easy enough to "break" in the event of access being required to the cab.

 

The point of no return; chopping the cab off. I cut just in front of the rivet line on the cab roof, vertically downwards. The new cabs are then glued on with super glue applied behind the doors. The cab roof casting is thin near the edge and doesn't quite meet all the way across so I have had to put a bit of filler to fill the 0.5mm gap. Here is the state of the body at end of play today:

 

 

So far so good, in my eyes a very definite improvement. I am going to order up some new Shawplan grilles for the roof and fit those prior to it going into the paint shop.