Here is more playing with plastics, I changed some recipies and the results are comparable between plastic and delrin I tried many different plastics and here is the three good ones, the black acrylic, red acrylic and delrin I could not see any of these most of these details till I took some closeups. here is a extreme closeup. Red Plastic Black Plastic and Delrin All these were painted with a cheap enamel spray can. I have some Ideas for a 3D underframe, I'll see how it comes out. Kim
FanFreakin'tastic!! Wow! And the look of the flat areas, although rough under extreme magnification, gives the look of corroded metal. ...All too prevalent on these type of cars, with the abusive service they are in!
Kim, since the laser burns based on 'color' in the print file, can you creat a distressed area using a "spray paint" spotty feature or, larger bulges/dents using a sphere-like mode, placing random sized gradient shaded spheres? Would make a really nice beat up junk load gondola.
It's cool that you share with us "laser" guys what is possible to make in the future. Thanks you so much Kim and keep up the good work.
Finally completed the gondola. After counting the rivets I had use the modelers shot gun (licenced) to blow things out of propotion when it came to couplers. I used truck mounted couplers and was able to get the gondola low enough to look good. Here are some pics... Bigger pictures at my website http://www.kimsartshop.com/Corrugated_Gondola.html If I am able to cast them in brass I will have something for trade. Kim
Great work Kim. I rely didn't think that it would be possible to get a believable Z-Scale peas like this with a laser. With embossed rivets and ladders and so on.
I wouldn't worry about the coupler swing gap on the end. Coupled together going down the track you won't see this. I know I'm a nit picker, but the correct ride height is more important to me and you have some nice low riders there.
Very Nice! Just Saturday I went over to one of the LHS to get a bottle of paint and some 1/2" styrene tubing. Almost to the LHS I spotted two gondolas on a side track all beat-up and grafitti'd. One of these gondola's was that which you have so skillfully crafted! Very Impressive! Looking forward to what your future projects produce. Keep on keeping on! Hobo Tim
That is really excellent work Kim, and now we no longer need to buy MTL cars, unless we like the paintscheme. We can focus on locomotives with our money, and build all the cars we need. So, here is a new task Kim, we need 6 wheel heavyweight trucks, out of Delrin. Etching them is a brainer, but bending the sideframes over is the hard part. Imagine an H shape, where the left and right verticle lines represent the truck sideframes, and the horizontal line in the middle represents the bolster pin hole and cross bar. So you engrave a sideframe flat, then flip it over and etch conical holes for the wheel axle points to sit. Next we place the still flat H shaped trucks on a steel block that is as wide as the space in between MTL trucks, and it has a pin in the center to fit in the bolster pin hole, keeping the alignment. And now for the bending over of the truck sideframes: Whip out your hot air surface mount soldering iron, and hit the Delrin with a shot of love that folds the sideframes into trucks. Sounds easy don't it?
Thanks folks, Rob, I am trying to cast these to Brass the only reason is if it can be done at a reasonable cost it opens up huge opportunities to make add on for the Z world including steam shells. The truck could be conceived easier with three pieces of brass the two sides and the center, spot welded or even soldered it's worth the trouble in small quantities. The depressed center flat cars would look nice but most of them use eight wheel trucks, some of them six. Another project added on, as we learn more skills, and have the time the projects get done. Kim
Nice work Kim! Where did you get your parts casted? A friend of mine have had some parts casted in Korea, but they require masters that can withstand atleast 150 degrees celsius. Can delrin withstand that much heat? Are the trucks engraved on the laser also? -TrulsS Norway
Welcome to Trainboard Truls. You better learn how to do this with your laser, so that I can get a new local supplier for my own projects. The guy that used to help me with my laser stuff is quitting the company so I will have a much more hard time to get help there I guess.
