More 1:87 Shells.

Showing off another 1:87 project

NZR Body shells for my brothers HO railway. Going to experiment with 3d printing a "Frateshi chassis" with a modified length & 3d printed universal axle extension. The larger locomotives should take a frateshi chassis while maintaining a full scale body, the exception being the track width much wider like the Frateshi nz painted HO Brazilian diesels. My aim is to remove the frateshi shell & chassis block only using the motors, bogie wheels & gear frame. I can easily 3d print a Chassis with a modified length and plug the bogies into my 3d frame, manufacture some universal shafts to accommodate any length I wish. The sideframes & can 3d print to look however I like and clip into place. Since we're not worried about wheel width the axle spacing might be a few mm +/- wrong so who cares.

Finally upgraded the phone camera thanks to a hand me down from mum so picture quality has improved over the potato camera I was using yesterday, anyway, the DL I prepared a week ago I hand brushed using the last lemon yellow & red paints. I also attempted to paint the black panda eyes free hand and without masking tape & steady hand once again a mediocre finish to a less than satisfactory finish. Thus I sanded everything back as best I could and used Tamiya Fine Primer in a light coat then polish away with 1000grit sandpaper and in a similar fashion to conditioner, repeat as necessary while avoiding sanding all the detailing away. I really need to get my AITG and organize grill etches rather than trying to 3d print them.

I'm hoping a dash 9 will fit the DL so when it arrives I'll see if my gamble pays off and it fits, if not another frateshi chassis can be modified without much issue as the motor block & flywheel comfortably fit. 

Continuing on the shells & more painting later, this current batch of 1KG ABS(Sandbrooks - Auckland) seems to have little pits are appearing on the prints, which I suspect is my very worn out print nozzle! The next filament order I will try some UP premium PLA(3D Printing Systems - auckland) with a new improved print nozzle. Instead of lemon yellow I'm trying tamiya "chrome yellow".

 

Handrails

Handrails can really bring a model to life, with the first DL I 3d printed them, fixed into place asking to be knocked off. This time I 3d printed a Jig, which nicely holds everything in place, allowing enough room for the solder to form into what I hoped would resemble nice triangle brackets. In the end I was happy with whatever held the strongest while reducing burns to the hands. The handrails can easily be removed from the cab to permit it's removal.  

Crude but effective

Back to michaels

 Showing off some pictures taken at michaels place, he has recently been busy with scenery and bridgework. I could only bring what models I had in auckland and no wagons. During the visit Mike produced a bag of bachman wheels and pointed out the lack of wagons, I have been toying with the Idea of making a rake of Lpa Highside 4 wheel wagons..

3D Printed bridge girders

Cameraman had a great vantage point hanging from a branch.

Showing off the third attempt at the DL, so far only the long hood has materialized. This time the side panels on the long hood open. Unlike the Dx the doors clip into place without having to drill tiny holes etc. 

Installing LEDS

Showing off some Pic's of DL 9008's wonderful encounter with tiny 3v Leds from Jaycar. Wired up to a 2xAA battery holder and switch under the fuel tank, as is with the current DL. Can't wait to photograph at dusk on an outdoor railway!

1:24 DL.. again

 

Greetings to all, hopefully everyone made it so far safely through the pandemic we all find ourselves in.. The time off to reflect and not have any filament was painful given the free time available. Recently a small space opened up whereby I can run the printer & smell / noise isn't an issue and I don't have to try and sleep next to it in operation. 

The first subject was a DL, with thinner walls, a redone cab with more appropriately scaled walls. Like the last diesel printed (Dx) it has removable cab, hood & chassis. The cab doors will open etc.

 The first section took 37 hours at the Fastest speed at a resolution of 0.1 0.15 being using up till this point due to the extra time of the print, at 0.15 the hours would be reduced to 23 hours. The section/print height is 200mm, far greater than the earlier DL print a few years back which had sections of roughly 100 - 110mm.

The second 200mm section currently printing will take 41 hours due to having slightly more material. 

Printers new home

Sections printed & glued together

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Sections sprayed with Tamiya Fine Primer and given a good sanding too

The progress on the DL has been a bit slow, the main roadblock at the moment would be a lack of a spray paint booth leaving me with no choice but to wait for a dry sunny weekend day with no wind, last weekend I managed to give the body a couple coats of fine primer and a good sanding over. 

The see through grills are definately an improvement, also the bigger sections and smooth crisp details help.

Not especially related to the DL, 

Showing some progress on printing a 1:33.86 scale train for the old mans xmas present. Can't believe it took me this long to print anything 1:33 since receiving the UP Box Printer as the models are printing better than I hoped.

Some actual DL News,

Installing LED's 

The Xmas Ww & Carriages is coming along nicely, the new printer making short work of it. I've used 160 and 240 grit sand paper and a quick coat of primer.

1:24 DL & DSG Decals

Today see's the 1:24 DSG & DL recieve decals.

I've put the decal images up in case anyone needs them.

I'm using testors white & clear decal paper & the decal bonder spray from the local model shop, hymbrol decal fix when applying.
I printed the decals on an inket printer $50 on special at harvey normans. Print settings where "glossy photo paper a5".

1:24 Kiwirail DL Class

1:24 DL, A model of national significance :P

Latest "NZR" locomotive, Kiwirail DL Class. Image sourced from wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_DL_class_locomotive

Thus far 4 sections printed. The white section was printed about 7 months ago now, and since I've experienced warping failures since due to the sheer size of the sections. Still not perfect (see slight gaps in the laminating that need some bog) but finally back on track after repairing the UP Plus 2. Sections are joined together with printed adapter parts..

Another section completed & sitting in place. Bogies finally removed from donor loco.

Showing the result of printers behaving badly. The 2nd section from the left suffered a rather large moth landing on the surface & got stuck in the print, thrashing about causing the fragile supports to fail. Lucky I saw it. If it happened overnight then the printer would continue to print regardless. The primer grey section (center) is going to be a paint & decal test, might even put glazing, lights in & mount it on a picture frame. Possibly coming out of a tunnel portal, dunno yet.

1:24 Dl progress so far, all sections finally printed! The cab ends were the most difficult but simply changing the object orientation on the printer was the breakthrough. The joining of the sections on the Right-hand side cab is out by 0.5mm, so work required to fix it best i can.

And after a lick of paint

In good fashion, Its better to go back to old posts such as this & keep em updated, as there's no sense rushing these things.

Some pics are adding quite a bit of detail, for the first time decent airhoses, handgrabs etc.

Showing the placement of detail parts, which are pre-aligned & grouped into seperate files accordingly ready for printing.