Milwaukee Road Passenger Car Project

[Sokramiketes]

If your roof vents plugged into holes, it would be about 5 minutes with an assortment of fine sand paper to smooth the roof after printing and then add in the vents and hatch details. 

The sides are clean, and that's the most important!  Nice work so far. 

[peteski]

I'm thinking that in the name of surface quality maybe just forget about the tucked lower sides and just print them vertical.  Likely nobody will notice the small shape discrepancy.

I also agree with Mike that printing the vents separately would be very beneficial.  I often scratch my head seeing many 3D designers who seem to be on a quest to print everything as a singe object. That often makes the models difficult to paint or to install clear windows.  It is not a shame to 3D-print a multi-piece "kit" instead off a single object.

[sd45elect2000]

I'm thinking that in the name of surface quality maybe just forget about the tucked lower sides and just print them vertical.  Likely nobody will notice the small shape discrepancy.

I also agree with Mike that printing the vents separately would be very beneficial.  I often scratch my head seeing many 3D designers who seem to be on a quest to print everything as a singe object. That often makes the models difficult to paint or to install clear windows.  It is not a shame to 3D-print a multi-piece "kit" instead off a single object.

I agree. Plus CA cement works very well on this material. I had a trolley car glued to my right nipple for the longest time.

[chessie system fan]

Good ideas, everyone.  I still haven't tried printing at the printer's highest resolution yet.  I can go as low as 0.0285mm.  The lowest I've tried so far is 0.040mm.  If the roof at 0.0285mm is still unsatisfactory, then I'll make the roof vents separate pieces.  But that test will have to wait until later next week.

And Pete, you're probably right about the lower skirting.  I'm going to continue designing cars with the lower correct curve for a couple reasons.  First, it only takes two seconds to delete the curved part and make it straight, but irritatingly involved to add it back when better printing technology comes in the future.  Second, in the 1940s, Milwaukee added straight skirting so that the earlier cars would match their later cars, but it wasn't perfect. There was still a crease where the steel plates met.  The curved part might still be relevant for modeling those cars. I won't know for sure until I design and print them.

[peteski]

And Pete, you're probably right about the lower skirting.  I'm going to continue designing cars with the lower correct curve for a couple reasons.  First, it only takes two seconds to delete the curved part and make it straight, but irritatingly involved to add it back when better printing technology comes in the future. 

Would there be something preventing you from just saving 2 versions of the drawing: one with the curved bottom and one with straight?  They are just computer files.

[chessie system fan]

Oh, once everything is set in stone, no reason at all.  Right now, everything is subject to change.  Like if I did that now but later made the roof vents separate pieces, I just doubled my workload.  For now, it's simpler to just highlight the curved part, hit "delete," export as an stl file, then reverse the timeline to where I was. That'd only take 90 seconds or less to do.

[chessie system fan]

The express car test print finished earlier today.  It turned out great except for a slight waviness in the left-side windows.



I printed it at 0.040mm, the same as the Tip Top Tap car, but this time instead of printing vertically, printed at 67 degrees.   You can see a massive improvement in the roof compared to the Tip Top Tap car.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I agree. Plus CA cement works very well on this material. I had a trolley car glued to my right nipple for the longest time.

HAhahahahahhahahahahahhahaha

[MK]

I agree. Plus CA cement works very well on this material. I had a trolley car glued to my right nipple for the longest time.

HAhahahahahhahahahahahhahaha

Get the Acetone, STAT!   

[Sokramiketes]

The express car test print finished earlier today.  It turned out great except for a slight waviness in the left-side windows.



I printed it at 0.040mm, the same as the Tip Top Tap car, but this time instead of printing vertically, printed at 67 degrees.   You can see a massive improvement in the roof compared to the Tip Top Tap car.

Beauty -eh! 

And keep the lower curve, despite what Peteski says.  It's a key design feature of these cars.  It bothers me when folks build with etched sides and don't curve the bottom of the skirts.  Slab side cars look weird. 

[chessie system fan]

Moving right along, here's the 1937 diner, numbers 100-101.  The roof hatches and vents will be separate parts.

[u18b]

By the way, if you've ever wondered how Milwaukee came up with its unique roof profile, this photograph sort of explains it all.  It's actually pretty logical for 1934, if you think about it.

Some Milwaukee MofW Rolling Stock in St. Paul in June 1964 -- 3 Photos by Marty Bernard, on Flickr

I never understood what it was that I was supposed to be seeing and understanding in this shot that explains it all.

[chessie system fan]

Milwaukee Road passenger cars in the 1930s have a flatter roof than typical lightweight passenger cars from other railroads.  Notice that the heavyweight car had the high part of its roof chopped off--revealing a lightweight Milwaukee roof profile on that end!  The roof profile is now suspiciously similar to the lightweight car behind it.

[peteski]

Milwaukee Road passenger cars in the 1930s have a flatter roof than typical lightweight passenger cars from other railroads.  Notice that the heavyweight car had the high part of its roof chopped off--revealing a lightweight Milwaukee roof profile on that end!  The roof profile is now suspiciously similar to the lightweight car behind it.

I'm with Ron.  Even this explanation still doesn't make sense to me.  The the photo caption states
"if you've ever wondered how Milwaukee came up with its unique roof profile, this photograph sort of explains it all.  It's actually pretty logical for 1934, if you think about it."

You point out the chopped down roof of the heavyweight car, but how does that explain the flatter profile of both cars?
Are you are saying that Milwaukee Rd. first started chopping the roofs of the heavyweight cars, then when it came time to manufacture new cars, they just chose similar flatter roof profile for them?
But to me it is still mystery as to why those roofs were chopped down in the first place. 

[u18b]

Interesting.   I like learning.