COOL... I'm anticipating the prints. Hope they work well in FUD and Shapeways gets the orientation correct. Cheerio! Bob Gilmore
They should work well in FUD, they have been designed so the smallest parts all meet the printing requirements. I think I will detail the ladders as separate parts as they might end up a bit chunky, that way it will be up to the modeller if they want to stick them on or add their own. I have also fixed the brake issue in the trucks, they now line up with the wheel sets. It was me, when I started I had a drawing for the wrong type of truck, the wheel centres where 250mm ish smaller than on the commonwealth trucks, a quick rescale and hay presto. Hopefully I will get the details on this week. Cheers, James
I have been a bit busy this week with work and wot not, but I did make some progress on the water bottles....... Still more to do but getting close to the first test print now. I have been thinking about couplers, how about using body mounted Micro-trains. I can add a pilot hole for the screw? Cheers, James
Does anybody have a photo of 'Jim Adams' taken squarely side on. I want to get the shape of the flag plates as close as possible. It will be a separate part, easier to paint etc. Cheers, James
Mark, I have a question for you. All of the cars in the UP excursion train are lettered UPP. I assume that stands for Union Pacific Passenger? ? ? ? Did they identify all of their passenger equipment that way, back in the day ? ? ? Obviously, I am not a UP nut. SP, yes. Carl
I think that UPP designation is relatively recent. I'm not sure when things changed, but older pictures just have the number and no UPP. -Mark
the thing to do is get this decal sheet, which is what will be needed to decal that panel, and make the panel to fit the decal http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2...de=60-1150&Category_Code=UP&Product_Count=128
Cracking idea River_eagle, I don't suppose anybody has a sheet that they can get me a scan from? Not to print, just to get the shape and size? If not I will contact Microscale, they might send me an electronic file of the out line. Cheers, James
Cheers mark, I will look out for that, I sent an email to Microscale but no reply as of yet. I am getting close now to the first print order stage, sorry it's taken so long. I have a question. The underside of the tank car, do you want it detailed, or would you rather have it open to save material and reduce the cost of the car? With a detailed under side it would be separate to allow weight to be added etc. Cheers, James
The system works on solid shapes. The cost of an item is based on cubic volume of material used. The car could be made form a solid piece with the detail on the out side, simple, strong and about $130 dollars to print! To combat this the parts are 'hollowed out', but you can't just have 1 face. Everything must be a solid shape. The minimum wall thickness is 0.6mm but that is not strong enough for every ware. If you look at the cut through below there is an outer wall and an inner wall. The thickness changes depending various factors. For example, the roof is thicker at the main stress points, areas that are just roof are thinner saving on material. The white is the outer face of a solid so where you see gray it will be filled in. The large plate in the middle is a baffle, just like the real thing, this will stop the sides bending in at the mid span of the car. Structurally this reduces the effective length of the car by half making it a lot more rigid. The hole in the middle of the plate is the area least effected by the stress and therefor can be omitted to save material. Now, the two rectangular beams at the bottom form the main frame of the car. The square bar in the center is/may be the spine of the frame that carries the trucks. This will be a separate part that fits into the main car body. It pobably wont look like this but you get the idea. My question was, I can leave the areas between the cross members open, this will reduce the cost of the car but it will have no floor, or I can add the floor and details, this will also make it stronger. Do you have a preference? Cheers for now, -James