Dm 585

Dm 585 4-6-4T

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WestOzModels

 

Here is a few pictures of my latest project. 

This is the prototype model for a WAGR,  Dm class 4-6-4 Suburban Tank locomotive. 

 

 

 

 

ZBA Guard's Van

ZBA Guard's Van

Another delivery from i.Materialise today - the first test print of a ZBA guard's van.

This is the first item of rolling stock designed since i.Materialise changed their print specifications in June, and it should print well on both types of printers used at i.Materialise.

The ZBA is printed in 2 sections.  One section just consists of one side, with "everything else" being part of the other section.  This has the advantage that the roof is one piece so there is no visible join.  The join is only visible on the ends, but coincides with a vertical join in the boards.

The only details required to complete the model are the truss rods and handrails.  Everything else is included in the 3D printed parts.

The test model is fitted with the Walthers HO bogies (933-1077) which I showed at the AMRA S scale night in July, These can easily be fitted with 12 mm wheels (26 mm axle length).  

3D Printed Relay Cabin

3D-Printed Relay Cabin

My latest 3D-printed model is a building, rather than an item of rollingstock.  

My layout needed some relay cabins to control the signalling at the intermediate stations and passing loops, about 5 relay cabins in total, so I decided to design one for 3D printing.  I already had a Westrail plan for the relay cabins installed at stations on the South-West main line between Armadale and Coolup.  Several of these are still in situ so the model covers the period from the 1950's through to around 2005, when the asbestos roof on the remaining cabins was replaced with iron, no doubt due to safety concerns, which changed the appearance slightly.

If you familiar with Google StreetView, several of the relay cabins are visible on StreetView, including those at Mundijong Junction, Keysbrook and Pinjarra.

This is my first test model of the relay cabin.  I think it has worked pretty well, and I have a second one on order at the moment.  I still need to put some "glass" in the windows.  In more recent years, the windows were boarded up.

When scaled to S scale, the relay cabin was larger than I expected - 71 mm long x 45 mm wide x 60 mm high.  Even though it is small compared to many other railway buildings, it was a relatively expensive item for 3D printing, costing around $65 (not helped by recent exchange rate variations).  For this material (Prime Gray), the cost is primarily based on the volume (cubic centimetres) of plastic in the finished model.

I have recently updated my Marbelup Models blog with further information on the relay cabin and some other 3D-printed models I am working on.

Even though the problems with 3D printing from i.Materialise in Belgium have not been resolved, and are still preventing further printing of my earlier R class diesel and CXB sheep wagon, the relay cabin and other new models have been designed with a slightly lower level of detail to suit the revised printing specifications at i.Materialise and recent prints are working well.

RailWells 2013

RailWells (apart from being the Scalefour Society’s South Western show) always has a minority interest theme.  This year it was modelling Australian railways and I was lucky enough to be invited along to demonstrate scratch building in S Scale and talk to people about the railways of WA and modelling them.   

There were layouts representing Victoria in HO and NSW in N (both modern diesel era as it turned out), a display board and computer slide show showing pictures of Australian Railways and me. This is probably the first time that there has been this much Australian modelling at a single show in one place in the UK which is why the Southern Cross features on the show badge.  

With only a six foot long table (that’s 1.83m for those reading in metric) it took a bit of thought about what will appeal to a British audience before deciding what to take with me.  They tend to like stuff which is recognisably of British origin but that little bit different.  I wanted to cover prototype themes from my chosen era (1900-1905) such as the variety of stock, traffic types, the livery changes and the private railways whilst bearing in mind that bogie vehicles take up more space (which reduces what you can display so only 1 coach).  I also needed to be able to make points about different types of scratch-building with different materials as well as kits (represented by a G 2-6-0, G open wagon and horsebox).  It’s easy to take far too much stuff and have it sit in a box for a weekend only to have to haul it back home at the end of the show so it’s rather different from going with a layout (where you want as much stock as possible). What I eventually ended up with is the models on the steps at the left of the table with my working area, photos and drawings to the right. The scratchbuilt models included  V, a pair of  I bolster wagons, N, A(MRWA), G (iron lined), J (wooden tank), AA, E, O, an unpainted 4 door R and 3 MRWA/GSR dropside wagons under construction as a batch.

There are a lot of people in the UK with family in Aus and I even chatted to one chap who had worked for the WAGR for a while in the 70’s.  It turned out to be a fun weekend flying the flag for WA in Wells Town Hall (apart from the hour long traffic jams at Stonehenge out and back) with quite a bit of interest and lots of questions.

JV31 Midland Railway Company

Western Australian, Midland Railway Company, JV class, 1st class Sleeping Car No. 31

The Midland Railway was a privately owned railway company in WA operating between Midland and Walkaway (near Geraldton) commencing operations in 1894 until being absorbed by the WAGR in 1964.

 

The JV class sleeping cars were the last carriages built for the Midland Railway Co. being built in 1927 by the WAGR workshops at Midland. Only 3 JV carriages were built numbering 31 -33. The WAGR later went on to use the design for their own AZ class cars.

 

The picture here below from the State Library of WA shows JV 31 freshly painted in 1955.

 

 

In a 1927 report in the West Australian Newspaper, General Manager of the Midland Railway Mr J. J. Poynton proclaimed “They are the best sleeping cars on a narrow-gauge railway in Australia and as far as knowledge goes, not excelled anywhere in the world”.

 Each carriage provided sleeping accommodation for 60 persons in two berth compartments. The interior lining of the carriages was of beautifully finished Teak. Light but warm rugs made by the Albany Woolen Mills were provided for the sleeping berths finished with MR initials perforated in the centre. The corridors, considered “Remarkable”, were staggered, running half the length of the car on one side then crossing over to the other side via a vestibule with entry and exit doors, the advantages of the staggered corridors providing a better balance of weight distribution to the cars,  better access for passengers, and control of the wind draft “which is apt to whistle through a long corridor”.  

 

Other innovations included Enclosed Concertinas between cars and Water tanks under the floor with electric pumps to raise the water when required.  Automatic floodlights on the side of the cars came on when the train stopped, to light up stations at night, and then would turn off once a speed of 8 miles an hour was attained. Steps were provided at each end of the cars to allow for us at unattended sidings, a trap door in the floor of the corridor giving access to the steps when lifted and handrails swing into place “ready for use”. There could be no doubt that these cars costing approx. £7500 to build, fully equipped, would enhance the comfort of passengers and the prestige of the Midland Railway!

The Model

 

 

This model of JV 31 has been created from a WestOzModels urethane "AZ"  ½ door kit with some “creative” painting to achieve the MR livery .

 

 

The Decals have been painstakingly and beautifully reproduced by local member Rob Clarke of "Westland Models".

 

I would not normally model the MR, but I have built this carriage to assist local member Stuart Mackay who has been working on a MR layout of Watheroo for our annual exhibition for which rollingstock is a little hard to come by.

I personally prefer the WAGR greens and Creams and have got to say that after many attempts to photograph this model, Brown has to be the worst colour to photograph and get a good result. Thanks go to Bill Gray for his photo above - I believe he agrees with me.

Midland Railway rollingstock did venture onto parts of the WAGR, and so a bit of modelers license will allow my model of JV31 to fit into my future modeling intentions.

 

 

WAGR GC and/or MR AC wagon 3D printed

****NEWS FLASH****

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT SHAPEWAYS

See below

For those that have not seen the 3D printed GC wagon I bought to the last AMRA Meeting, I thought I should post this up, this is my first post on the Blog and its just a quick one to see how it goes.

The photos are a bit blurry at the moment Im not technically skilled as a photographer and I cant find the macro button on my point and shoot.

This was printed in Prime Gray from iMaterialise like Richards R Class, but I have seen there are issues with the latest prints from them, and I wont be offering them for sale just yet until this issues are resolved as I think results may vary otherwise.

I have ordered a couple from Shapeways after a couple of alterations to improve the original, will have to see if they come out as good. And I have confirmed the shape of the chassis from AMRM issue 154 (thanks to Andy May).

More to come as they say.

Update: Painted, undecaled photos

****** Update ******

Those of you whom saw the GC wagon's last Monday would have a good idea of what I have been up to I have made this available for purchase through Shapeways, as of this evening.

I will be putting up both a molded bearing version (slip in wheels) and an untested brass bearing insert compatible version (due to some peoples desire for this option). I will order one of these to check it comes back for a good fit.

Why Shapeways and White Strong and Flexible (WSF aka Polyamide) rather than Prime Gray (PG) (by i.Materialise).

Firstly i.Materialise recently unilaterally changed the minimal detail size they will print in PG according to their Website (due to wishing to use a lower resolution printer (probably due to cost of processing). This is their prerogative but they did so while some customers had ordered believing that items would be printed correctly (the website hadn't been changed at that time), but they did not reprint using the technology they have in the past used and they have not remedied that situation. - Under Australian consumer law they should be liable for refund to customers but it remains to be seen what the remedy they will implement.

Frankly to rant on; as a 3D print bureau this is laughable behavior not only because of the customer service end, but these guys are being surpassed by home based 3D printers at almost a tenth of the cost (see formlabs.com). Good luck to them by the time they figure this out they would have lost a bunch of customers. Technology marches on the best thing about 3D printing is the resolution gets better and cheaper over time.

Secondly is cost vs detail balance.

The WSF material is stronger than Prime Gray (PG) and from three feet away, you can't hardly notice the detail difference between the two. WSF as a material is certainly capable of similar resolution in my opinion to our cast resin kits in many ways. Although due to the fine detail in my drawing of the GC rivet detail is noticeably missing from the print (see below) but if an item was designed for this material I think rivet detail is possible and equivalent to resin (you can see the tie down rings did come out on the print the same size as a rivet on a typical wagon as inspected under a magnifying glass.)

WSF does have the major disadvantage to PG, it requires a bit of work to get to look good. It has a pretty rough surface similar to 320 grit sandpaper, but I have found REPCO "Spray Putty" or similar Automotive primer/filler smooths out the rough texture well, this wagon above needed 1 dust coat of primer and 2 wet coats of the Spray Putty to look like this with out any polishing or rubbing down.
Most detail is still visible despite this process as you can see.

WSF comes in on this wagon at around about equal (maybe slightly higher) in cost to making the resin equivalent by Greg at GA Models, but a lot less work. This price though may not be that scale-able to larger items as the more volume of plastic the model has the higher the cost to produce, though this is partly true with the cost of production on cast resin, the 3D print will increase linearly by volume but the parts for "a single kit" of a wagon may continue to cost similar value with larger wagons compared to smaller etc.

Frosted Detail (FD) at Shapeways

FD is another option for those wanting a GC, this material is quite capable of similar (now even better, due to print technology changes by iM) resolution to PG, but with a slightly rougher surface, it is also difficult to clean the waxy residue that is left on the model due to the printing process, it appears on my printing a common issue occurred and that is the wax support structure got partially integrated with the plastic of the print and created a rougher surface which requires work to clean up unlike PG.

Shapeways recommends a process on their website, but a good scrub with dish soap and then a bath with white spirits does a reasonable job to start with.

NB: The main issue with the FD is that some items were broken off I am sure during post processing and the model will need repair and replacement of broken parts if you get one so be warned (this did not happen with PG by i.Materialise)

Purchasing

So for those interested in 3D printing you can now order a copy in WSF or FD, but I am willing to take orders to make it a bit cheaper (I have six drop-in wheels molded baring WSF on the way) I can offer for sale $25.

You will need to compleate: Kadees (medium underset shank), paint, 12x26mm spoked wheels (Railwest), and 0.5mm brass wire for brake rodding.

I am getting a PG GC from iMaterialise (soon I hope) to see if my model will print in their new process but it seems to be taking a very long time. If that is successful I will put that up as an option as well.

More Watheroo 2013 Exhibition

Here is a few more pictures of Stuart Mackay's Watheroo layout at the 2013 Exhibition.