So after a disgustingly busy month during which I made little progress on anything train related whatsoever, I finally ended up with an item in hand that I thought was worth posting about! As such I give you the next chapter in my D&SL/3D-printing adventures: I’ll let the photos speak for themselves First off the obvious stuff – yes this is a shell/tender shell/tender frame for a Denver & Salt Lake/Rio Grande Class-76 2-6-6-0 mallet in N-scale (#201 circa 1926 to be specific). Yes it is a 3D-print/rapid prototype from Shapeways (in their FUD material) and is designed to fit (with some filing and other modifications) onto the mechanism from a Bachmann 2-6-6-2! The headlight is from a Spectrum consolidation and the tender trucks and drawbar from a spectrum 2-6-6-2. I do want to clarify that this is my first attempt to 3D-print anything even remotely this complicated – and as of such it is, how shall we say, “rough around the edges” (my late night, bumpy hand painting job probably didn’t help matters much either). There are certainly some parts that could use reinforcement (the tender frame is trying desperately to curl into a ball) and others which could take redesigning (notice the “zebra pattern” on part of the tender sides). That said, as a general proof-of-concept model, I am myself pretty darn impressed with what this technology is capable of! The other cool thing? Once I am done making the necessary tweaks, I’ll be able to rattle off as many of these as my railroading budget can withstand (and since I am planning to tackle the 4% grades of Rollins Pass I am going to need a fair number )! Just as exciting in my opinion, I will be able to modify my digital design (move the headlight mount, add or remove the automatic reverser(s)) to account for details specific to each individual locomotive in the specific year that I want to model it! The price point also blows me away a bit – each of these costs me WELL below (as in less than half) the price of any N-scale “steam locomotive kit” that I have ever stumbled across. Also, in case you were wondering, these will also eventually be for sale through my Shapeways shop (although that’s still a ways away at this point). As always I’m curious to see what you guys think - I hope the pictures are clear enough to give a good idea of the level of detail that can be produced this way - mastering the photography is still a ways away for me unfortunately…
wow....you should look at doing locos based off of the 2-8-0....I would like a SP model and the PRR guys want a H9
Hello, I just joined this forum to find information on this very thing!! I have several questions, please be patient I'm very excited to see that this is possible! I'm working on drawing a Western Maryland I-2 Decapod (the big ones!) in google sketch up. What program did you use for your drawings? How did you go about converting your plans to n scale? I'm working from 1:1 blueprints and my drawing is currently 1:1, please tell me its possible to scale it down! Thanks for any help!
Unreal. Are the walkway handrails 3d printed, too? The detail is amazing, even given the need for certain fine tuning. Since you are planning to print each loco with engine-specific details, you can have the cast iron cab numerals printed on, too. This engine, as a proof test, could be used as the 1924 wreck of the D&SL 210 near Loop.
http://www.drgw.net/gallery/DSL207/dsl_207_utahjunction_co_9_feb_1947_001 Very nice!!! I might be looking for a few myself... preferably without the smoke deflector...
Thanks for the kind words everyone! I am very close to fitting the frame on the mechanism, I'll post photos when I pull that off I was actually hoping that people might start piping up with requests I've got a few more projects on deck alongside this one (a massive modern hydraulic mining shovel is the big one at the moment, but that's a story for another thread). Anyway, I would be especially keen to work from a 2-8-0 since I have a number of mechanisms already lying around (and I'll be making D&SL 2-8-0 conversions here eventually anyway). The real constraints are time and the quantity that people might want. If people are satisfied with this level of detail however, are willing to give me a few months lead time and find $45-$65 a reasonable price for a locomotive/tender shell/tender frame combo pack, I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot. I would want to be fairly confident that I could sell 8 to 10 of them in a reasonably short time though.... Sounds like my timing worked out then! I use Sketchup as well, and also model everything in 1:1. The scaling is relatively easy and can be done at almost any step in the process - I generally do it after I convert to STL though. Is this your first project? If so than you are more brave than I was! lol I had three gondolas and a boxcar under my belt before I challenged an engine... keep us posted and do ask questions, I for one would be happy to help Yep, everything on there (less the headlight, bell - the mounting hole is there but the part is still in the mail- and air compressors -also still in the mail-) are printed on. All the handrails also "rise" from the shell and have a full circular profile (a few don't look that way because I painted them a bit too thickly). And yes I can print the cab numerals on - I only stopped short because I wasn't sure how I was going to finish them... Just hand paint them white I guess? Thanks! I'm trying to think though, were they ever run without the smoke deflector? I don't know if I've ever seen a picture of that...
That looks great, I wouldn't have noticed any flaws if you hadn't pointed them out (still can't see anything wrong with the tender apart from the warped frame). My brother and I looked at buying a 3D printer a while back but the detail possible wasn't even close to this. Looks like the most promising option so far for getting any steam other than USRA types and Big Boys.
Matthew, I can find pics of D&SL 200 from 1919-1942, all had smoke lifters. With all the tunnels and snowsheds, they were mandatory equipment.
Sounds like my timing worked out then! I use Sketchup as well, and also model everything in 1:1. The scaling is relatively easy and can be done at almost any step in the process - I generally do it after I convert to STL though. Is this your first project? If so than you are more brave than I was! lol I had three gondolas and a boxcar under my belt before I challenged an engine... keep us posted and do ask questions, I for one would be happy to help I figured I would start with the tender first, which would basically be a freight car. Since it's such a huge tender, I'm planning space for DCC and sound, possibly with two speakers. I also am going with the shell and frame design in the tender, I would have thought with the under body detail that warping wouldn't have been a problem. How thick is the floor on your tender? I still haven't figured out the scaling. I've been messing around with the scale tool and have come to the conclusion that to shrink this to n scale, I need to determine my major dimensions (n scale feet converted to millimeter) then push and pull my tender until it fits in that box. I've set up a box with the measuring tape as a reference point. I guess thats how you go about rescaling drawings? It seems a bit "guess and check" to me. I would think that there should be a scale button somewhere that you just plug in your ratios and the program does it for you-like the transpose button in all of the music composition software I use! Anyways here's what I have so far, Thanks again for the help!
OK, so this is what I've been waiting for. I've seen some of the designs on Shapeways, but nobody has been posting pictures of FINISHED AND PAINTED results. I'm pretty blown away here. I'm still puzzled by the FUD material characteristics, but the way to solve that is to just buy something and look at it. Joined shapeways, done. There's a Barnhart loader out there that kinda blows my mind. I've scratchbuilt one, and considered doing a resin kit, but the photoetching scared me off.... The only thing I'd seen so far (and I wasn't particularly impressed) was the 'makemymodel' stuff, looked like printed wax. Also heard it wouldn't paint well. I think there's just a ton of potential here, and this is a complete game-changer. Thank you so much for putting up the photos of the printed boiler even if you don't think it is perfect. I'm looking at the finish and the visible rivet detail, OK, I'm sold. No apologies necessary. Chalk me up with Bill Denton on the reaction. There's stuff on that boiler you could never, ever, ever do in resin. About the only thing I'm thinking about is WEIGHT. I've wondered if the steam future is on making basic boiler shapes in this, making molds, casting them in metal, and then adding all the other 'stuff' (cabs and detail, etc) with this technology. I can certainly do the casting part. The other thing.... doesn't Shapeways basically charge by the amount of material used to print it? So this means that the HO guys are going to have it a lot tougher than us.... and that the big 'volume eaters' with thick cross-sections are where the money is? One thing I learned is that casting resin is amazingly tolerant of heat. I've poured Type160 metal right into fuel tank castings to weight them up, no problem. Isn't this stuff thermoplastic in nature? Any idea of the melting point? My son uses Sketchup for his videogaming, maybe he can teach me a thing or two. He certainly did with Photoshop.
Matthew, WOW, this is unbelievable, my head is spinning with the possibilities. I didn't understand you could do freestanding offset details with this technology. It seems uniquely suited to solve steam engine superstructure fabrication challenges, particularly in N scale. This really is a game changer, as Randy noted. I will be following this thread closely; thank you for sharing this! If you do start thinking of producing shells for sale, I can think of a number of ATSF and UP locos for which there are suitable mechanisms available and for which there would be demand to make the initial investment worth your time and talent. Thanks again, Otto K.
