Playing around with Sketchup for the first time

[engineshop]

On my layout, the town of Zermatt is the end point. This place does only allow electric cars, including taxis.
Since the place has hundreds of electric cars in all shape and sizes I designed them with my laser cutter.



I am not totally satisfied and so I gave it a shot with Sketchup. I am still learning all the tricks but so far I am happy with the progress. Next step would be to check with Shapeways if everything prints the way I want, before I go into the details.

[Scottl]

Fantastic!  I don't quite understand how you did the tires, but your ability to create with the laser is remarkable. 

Kind of a nice thought- a community with no combustion engines. 

[engineshop]

The tires are actually 3 pieces. The rim and the tread are engraved separately. The tread piece is a 0.3mm cardboard which can be easily formed around the rim when it is soaked with white glue.
I came up with the idea when I saw an episode of "Modern Marvel" about how tires are retreaded.

[Scottl]

Wow, really great.

[jimmo]

Very interesting. How smooth is the finish on the bus when it's painted?

[peteski]

The models from NZT made by DKS (like the school bus or the postal van) were based on masters made in a similar fashion, except I think using laser engraved plastic.  The castings are are pretty smooth.

[Kisatchie]

Hmm... I was playing
around with ketchup for
the first time... it's
delicious on bananas...

[jimmo]

The models from NZT made by DKS (like the school bus or the postal van) were based on masters made in a similar fashion, except I think using laser engraved plastic.  The castings are are pretty smooth.

That's completely different, Pete. David built up his masters from laser cut plastic parts so they were smooth to begin with, then finished all joints and corners before using it as a master. The parts shown here are obviously laser cut from fiber products, so I was curious about how smooth that assembled bus would be once painted, or if he was planning on sanding and sealing, etc. before painting.

It looks as though it might make an interesting kit if it finished up well enough.

[engineshop]

Sorry I did not participate in this discussion since I was on vacation.
I don't expect the walls very smooth, since I have other Shapeways products. I am building up my model portfolio for near future when the stereolithography 3D printers will get the results we hoped for when the first 3D printers were announced.
I still have to do some work, before I can send it to Shapeways but I will post a picture as soon as I have it.

[jimmo]

I was mostly taking about the laser-cut bus you showed pics of when I asked about the smoothness.

Actually your post inspired me to seek out a simple CAD system so I could finally get started using this technology. Through Shapeways, I found TinkerCAD. After watching an instructional video I started playing around with basic shapes. Since I already had several drawings in Illustrator that I had done through the years, I found it was simple enough to bring parts into TinkerCAD and start building.

So thanks for posting this! Please keep us updated on your progress.

[engineshop]

I used LaserBoard (Polybak) for the taxi. The surface is completely smooth but because of the angled laser cuts, you never get a perfect surface at the glue joined. The model helped with the designing of the Sketchup model.

[jimmo]

I wonder how styrene would work in that situation. Blending corners and seams might be easier. But it sounds as though you are moving beyond the flat kit...

[engineshop]

Styrene would be nice but it does not work with the laser. Even ABS which could be used with a laser cutter melts too much with small pieces.

I finished the drawings and sent it to Shapeways. I will post a picture of the model when it arrives.

[jimmo]

Did you make the chassis and interior separate from the body? The reason I ask is because I recently purchased a Chevy Blazer from one of the military modelers on Shapeways who was good enough to shrink some of his models to N-scale. The model is pretty good (needed a lot of sanding and paint) but the biggest challenge is that the interior and chassis are all part of the body so getting into the interior for detailing is accomplished through the open windows. Then there's the challenge of putting window glazing in...

[engineshop]

Yes.



Additionally I made the upper part of the interior piece 0.8mm thinner (ledge above the wheel boxes). That will press the window glazing against the inside wall and keep it in place. I don't know if it works. I also have holes in the front and back for LEDs I just found on the internet that are perfect rectangular.

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/VLMW11R2S2-5K8L-08/VLMW11R2S2-5K8L-08TR-ND/4074213?WT.srch=1&WT.medium=cpc&WT.mc_id=IQ62727235-VQ2-g-VQ6-33700763115-VQ15-1t1-VQ16-c

They should slide into the openings and close it off.