3D Printed steam

[PiperguyUMD]

Hello All,

I just wanted to start a thread to solicit some help and input on a new project of mine.  I don't have the talent or the tools to do some of the amazing kit bashing and scratch building that some of you other asshats have  but I can sit down and draw stuff in Sketchup!  I know haters are gonna hate, but this is the only way that I can get some of the models that I've always wanted.  All that said, I have been working on a Western Maryland J-1 4-8-4 and received my test print of the boiler earlier this week.  Overall, I'm very pleased with the print and with a few revisions, I think I will have an excellent shell.  The idea was to print as little detail as possible, improving the print quality.  This shell will eventually go on the Spectrum N&W 4-8-4





The biggest challenge at this point will be tracking down some parts.  If anyone can help me with these it would be most welcome!  I will need a different set of cylinders that the N&W Js.  I would love to have a set from a Kato GS-4 but these are impossible to find without buying a whole unit.  I will also need a boiler front mounted bell which surprisingly no one makes!  There are also a plethora of boiler top details that will be needed, hopefully some of these parts can be purchased from GHQ.  I'm sure I will discover many others as this project progresses!

Thanks for looking, and thanks for your help!  Hopefully more to post soon!
 

[victor miranda]

..... any chance you can get a cyl set made at shapeways?

you need siderods....
I am assuming you will use the spectrum ones?

how are you going to attach it to the chassis?

[PiperguyUMD]

I have considered printing a set, I'm just not sure how I would attach the valve gear.  As for the siderods, I think I will just reshape the spectrum pair.  I'm considering a couple different methods, possibly a screw through the smoke stack or one of the other domes.

[victor miranda]

you may want to look at how most steam models attach the crossheads.

they are often stuck into holes drilled into the cylinders.

is you have an old b-mann 4-8-4 ... and if it is dead,
snatch the cyl set off it.

epoxy will hold it to any frame, more or less.

victor

[Dave V]

I remember you were working on a PRR H-class shell for the Spectrum 2-8-0...how did that turn out?  I have a casting made from a brass H class that's an awkward fit for the Spectrum chassis and might be interested in a 3-D print made specifically to fit.

[superturbine]

 I have all of the items you have mentioned including the GS4 cylinders.  What other detail parts do you  need?

Before installation of details, why don't you primer and wet sand the boiler to hide the stepping?  It's a very nice design job btw!!

Jason Smith

[superturbine]

I remember you were working on a PRR H-class shell for the Spectrum 2-8-0...how did that turn out?  I have a casting made from a brass H class that's an awkward fit for the Spectrum chassis and might be interested in a 3-D print made specifically to fit.

Dave...  where does your boiler not fit?

[PiperguyUMD]

I remember you were working on a PRR H-class shell for the Spectrum 2-8-0...how did that turn out?  I have a casting made from a brass H class that's an awkward fit for the Spectrum chassis and might be interested in a 3-D print made specifically to fit.

I still have the drawings and might revisit them someday.  When I received the test print I realized that it was going to be quite a challenge getting it on the Bachmann chassis and frankly gave up!

[Dave V]

Dave...  where does your boiler not fit?

The motor hangs out the back of the cab, similar to the photo above.  I can try to remove more material from the smokebox to slide the whole thing back some, but I think fundamentally the H10sb is slightly shorter than the Bachmann prototype.  Also, the tender...  Neither the same width nor length as the Spectrum tender.  My plan, if I ever do get around to my next H bash, is to chop the "coal boards" off the stock Bachmann and make it a short tender, similar to the F70Fa that went with Lines East H9s.

No ding against your awesome casting...just haven't really made a go of it yet.  The other question (probably for an off-line discussion so as not to derail this thread) is that I haven't figured out how to handle the varying thickness of the cab walls as viewed through the windows.  I've not figured out how to get in there and do a proper sanding such that the cab walls appear to be one uniform thickness.  I doubt I'm explaining myself well.  This probably rates a picture.

[superturbine]

Oh, I got ya!  It does do that.  Why not install curtains to hide the motor some?

And on the cab walls.. Once the engine is painted and fireman and engineer installed you can't see any variations.   Give it a try.

[victor miranda]

yall lack determination.

I'll bet a bigger hammer will get it in there.

how much is that shell?
is there a tender shell?

Eta...  I see that is not a shapeways shell.

so I guess that is from superturbine?

[sizemore]

I just want to know when the WM H Consol will be back up there?!?


The S.

[superturbine]

yall lack determination.

I'll bet a bigger hammer will get it in there.

how much is that shell?
is there a tender shell?

Eta...  I see that is not a shapeways shell.

so I guess that is from superturbine?

No that's a shapeways shell

[victor miranda]

a shapeways shell you say....

the handrails are printed too?

that looks pretty good...
why don't it fit?   for length I understand,
the height is from the b-mann frame?

 
 

[mmagliaro]

You really cannot slide that shell further back on the Bachmann chassis or the stack won't line
up with the cylinders.
The Bachmann drivers are spaced too far apart and they have big brake
shoes in between them, so that stretches the frame out.
But since there isn't much to be done about that without agonizing chassis surgery, what about
moving that motor forward?

The Spectrum 2-8-0 motor has a LONG motor shaft on it.
Could you cut some away from the top half of the frame at the back, inside, and slide the motor forward
(after pulling the worm and cutting some off the motor shaft)?
Is that motor already all the way forward up against the front cab wall?    If so, then a motor swap
looks like the only way out.