Model Railroading > 3D Printing and Scratch Building

Here's a photo of a partially completed box car that I've been working on. I don't normally like to post photos of uncompleted work, but I like the atmosphere of this one, so here it is.

Scratch building has become much more "do-able" with 3D printing. It facilitates the production of parts that I would not have even considered before. My latest project, an SP B-50-19 is almost 100% printed! Trucks, ends, doors, underframe, roof, and many other details. I'll probably just add some end grabs, cut levers, retainer valve piping and weathering.

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Looks great!

What really strikes me about this photo is the horizon and the sky. It maybe a bright white wall, etc., but it really looks like the entire image was taken place outdoors.

Matthew

I'd like to build an old Frisco mixed train combine. I wonder if it could be taken from a drawing to a model easily? I've had no dealings with 3D or 3D printing.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> I'd like to build an old Frisco mixed train
> combine. I wonder if it could be taken from a
> drawing to a model easily? I've had no dealings
> with 3D or 3D printing.

Learning the 3D drawing software will take some time, Don, but you're a smart guy and could probably get a good start pretty quickly.

Warren

It was taken outdoors. <G>

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Cumberland Wrote:
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> Looks great!
>
> What really strikes me about this photo is the
> horizon and the sky. It maybe a bright white wall,
> etc., but it really looks like the entire image
> was taken place outdoors.
>
> Matthew

Hard to tell what scale this is . . . O?

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Hard to tell what scale this is . . . O?


1:22.6 scale, 2-1/2" gauge. Forces me to build everything from scratch.

What type of 3D printer & software are you using... just curious and amazing on the level of accuracy!

I thought this was a prototypical photo. That track work is amazing, everything about this is so realistic. Awesome stuff!
-Caleb

SPboy Wrote:
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> What type of 3D printer & software are you
> using... just curious and amazing on the level of
> accuracy!

It's an SLA printer and I use Solidworks for the 3D drawings.

Posted from Android

I'm still trying to figure out how to scan decal artwork and save it as a Vector file instead of Raster. I don't see 3D in my future

Adobe illustrator CS is software that would help you with this. There’s a pretty steep learning curve to it so it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort.

If you start with a simple block (draw a rectangle then use an "extrude" command) and build, step by step, you can learn 3D drawing. There are plenty of tutorials on the internet for beginners all the way to advanced. Free software is also available. Try it!

Warren

Here's a close-up of the same car.

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Nice detail... could you reference the size of the car with something like you hand to get an idea of size ratio?

SPboy Wrote:
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> Nice detail... could you reference the size of the
> car with something like you hand to get an idea of
> size ratio?

The wheels are 33" on the prototype. Scaled down to 1:22.6 they are just under and inch and a half (1.46" to be exact) in diameter. Does that give you an adequate idea of scale?

Warren