The solarium window cutting is almost done: Once the top row is done, I'll smoothe out the top and trim the interior frames down flush. After that, it's the interior of the solarium, then the underbody, then I'll send it to print and see what we have and what the cost is going to look like.
DANG! I am sad that shapeways will likely lose a lot of that detail. Is there a better-detailed material than FUD? Or, maybe we could send the file over to one of the metal-printing companies? OOHHHHHhhhhh..... there's an idea.... I'm dang EXCITED to get one of these, man. I have like 10 MILW coach resin shells to trail in front and a C-liner AB set for motive power. Not to mention the DCC/sound F6 Hudson I built yesterday...
I exaggerated some of the details so they would show. The minimum detail is .2mm which is very small, but when you clean the wax off of the model and spray it, they should show just enough shadow to be noticeable. Right now I'm working on the interior of the solarium an trying to figure out what kind of LED should fit for the red light in the back, also, what kind of light controller for it.
Interior is finished, including holes for running wires under furniture and along ceiling. Unfortunately, the hole for the truck to screw in is right sack in the middle of the solarium floor. I had to move the stepladder forward 1mm to allow the trucks to swing free for 348mm radii. Roofline ridges were added and the lower panel was set in some (used to be just a ridge) Also, the red light area was adapted to take a 2mm LED. I still need to add the side marker lights and the underbody, then cut a hole for the rear coupler and work something out to mount couplers there. After that, it's the tricky task of making the body a single object so it will print properly. The floor/interior will be a separate piece. I actually don't like how the car now looks more like a toy, but I think that's just what the rendering does. We shall see.
GOOD LORDY THAT'S AMAZING!!! I cannot WAIT to get my cars!!!!! My run-in a few months back with the real deal-
EMD: check your inbox. Okay, so... the first pass on just the interior piece, without any of the underbody equipment came out to be around $40 hboy: I'm working on trimming out extra material that isn't needed but there's only so much I'm going to be able to do without sacrificing the structural integrity. The walls have to maintain a certain minimum thickness or it just won't stand up at all. They are at the minimum: .6mm thick. That's a half of a millimeter... so this is going to be pretty darned fragile. I'll be spending the rest of the evening working on trimming out what I can. If you all aren't interested in a detailed interior, I'm sure the price on it will drop way down. Also, I'm thinking that I can put together a file that will have like 5 in it, and I will just stock them and sell the kit with the trucks, LED, body and interior of choice. To do that though, I'll need to get some kind of order list set up since I'm pretty sure we're probably looking at close to $140 per car and I just don't have that kind of money to pre-buy items and hope that I can recover funds. We're not there yet though. Believe me, you'll know when I'm ready.
"Creek" Series model COMPLETED! It's a 2-piece model with the interior slipping into the shell. There are lots of cuts to run wiring and the large box under the body is big enough to house a DigiTrax TF4 function decoder to get the lighting functions you would want. I will be modifying one set of trucks to use Kato's track power system. The slots have been cut in the underbody to allow this. Time for a test-build! In the meantime, the "Rapids" car is next and shouldn't take very long at all. Following that, I'll do the adjustments to this one for the CN version. Some notes about the model: - This model is VERY detailed and the final product will be somewhat fragile. The plastic used in the printing process is relatively strong, but not flexible at all. Pieces would rather snap than flex. - The fine details will make the interior difficult to paint if you want to go all out into detailing the furniture. - The coupler mount at the tail of the car is only sufficient to mount a coupler for looks. It will have no support other than a single hole in the underbody. This is because when I put the coupler box in that location, it detracted from the look of the car. - Getting glass in place is going to be tricky, but I can make a print of the panels for those wanting to hand-cut pieces. - The tail has been engineered to hold a 2mm LED. - The red side lights have a recess on the inside to place a 1mm special LED for lighting them. It will be tricky to get that looking right since you will have to find a way to keep the red light from flooding the solarium. - This model should be considered a "craftsman's" model, more geared towards those that like to put grab rails and whatnot on it. Also, the cost isn't where I wanted it to be. I will look into making a bulk print of the cars if I get enough interest so I can shave some of the cost off. Bulk or not, expect a kit to be over $100 for any of the cars in this series, to include the superdomes. For those that would prefer chairs to be added to the bedroom interiors, per original specs, let me know. I didn't add them because the space would be so cramped, it would be impossible to paint unless you had a right-angle fine brush that could fit into 2mm spaces.
Rapids car progress: Cutting the "Hiawatha" into the strip is going to take about another day. After that, it's the roof details, then the head end of the car. Then it's on to the interior and undercarriage. ... and to think: this whole Skytop craziness started because I saw a video of a private varnish train with this car on the end of it coming out of Union Station north.
One more night and it's done. These are the last model photos I will post of the Rapids car: I just need to finish the roof vents and hatch, then add some details to the head end of the car. Some details (roof lines) have been exaggerated so that they will show up better. It looks a bit weird in the rendering though. Actually, that bottom body piece in the front looks like it isn't the right shape. I'll have to revisit that. The 24 swivel seats will be a different piece of the model on a sprue so that you can swivel them whichever direction you want. Expect to use tweezers though.
Wow... absolutely beautiful work. I'm not a 'true' Milwaukee Road modeler... I bought the Fox Valley Hiawatha set and Atlantic... but these two cars really are tempting me. I happen to have some of the Milwaukee Road FM C-Liners to go with these too... just don't have any other cars to 'really' match... yet.
Here's an old picture of a Skytop. As a kid I had ridden on the Hiawatha numerous times and remember this car very well.
Creek and Rapids cars are off to test print, hopefully without issue. Montanan: that pic helped me with the nose of the rapids car a lot. Quick notes on the rapids and the cars in general: The seat will accommodate a hair over 3mm seating area, which should be fine to place an n scale sitting person if their legs are closed. The rapids car will have 2 interior walls as part of the shell to provide support for the shelves that run the length of the seating area. On both cars, some of the underbody details are sized a bit different to allow for a function controller to be installed. I'm going to take a break on these cars and work on a boxcab or two.
Hopefully third time's a charm in submitting the models for test printing. They have each come back a few times over some random errors that the conversion process does, so I think it should be good to go this time. Also, I have made a version of the Nystrom trucks to allow for the insertion of Kato's copper electrical wheel pickups. That one will only be available for .526" axles since I had to lengthen and widen the truck 1mm to fit the pickups in. Doing the same for longer axle widths is just going to make the truck too wide in my opinion. Additionally, I am reworking the non-electrical trucks for .526, .540 and .553 axles. That process should be done this evening.
