Time for a new hobby...

[toprob]

Although today was mostly gardening, I did manage to get a couple of test prints done. Here's the test file which comes with the printer, it is 5cm high, so the equivalent of 8 metres N scale:) The rook has a stairway up the inside, although you can't really see it in the photo. I'm pleased with the detail, but I do need to adjust some settings to fix the squashed base, and I need to be a bit more careful cleaning them up.



I also tried one of my FS scenery objects -- the Taieri tractor -- to see if it would print as-is. This isn't cured yet, as I ran out of sunlight, but I'm amazed how much tiny detail is in the print. I didn't realize that the wheels didn't have the axles connected (don't need to be for the simulator, just near enough) so although the wheels printed properly, they are separate at the moment. The model is equivalent of 1:48, around O scale, but it does give me a good idea of how fine the detail can get.

I am now working on a model of the Silverstream ticket office, which will be my first real test of N and TT scales.

[NZ255]

That detail is amazing. 3D printers are so cool!

[toprob]

Here's my first N scale model, although it is the second attempt, the first was a learning experience:) This print isn't great, because when I made some improvements after the first print, I forgot to increase the exposure, so there's a bit of drooping on the base. I also increased the size by 10%, so it's more like 144:1 rather than 160:1, but it should work that size. The print still needs some cleaning up, after I've cured it.



Here's a photo of the building I've modelled. The model is just 50mm wide. (The roof is separate, and just perched there at the moment, so it is a bit off-centre. A bit of glue will fix that.)

[chopper_nut]

Wow, that's pretty impressive

[cowpatz]

What is the reason for making the roof separately?

[toprob]

What is the reason for making the roof separately?

I figured that since the model is built hanging upside down from the build plate, leaving the roof on would mean a lot more supports. Although the separate roof is fully supported, it sits closer to the build plate, so a lot less wasted resin. Plus I hope to use spray paint initially, red for the roof and yellowish for the building, then paint the detail with a brush. Having the roof separate means a lot less masking.

Here's the model as it prints, note the large number of supports.

[cowpatz]

Fascinating. I didn't realise that resin printers printed inverted. Is the resin expensive?

[toprob]

Is the resin expensive?

Well, depends on how you look at it. I paid about $50 for a litre. In the software shown above, when you 'slice' the model for printing it gives a cost of the resin used, based on what I've told it I paid. This model cost me $1.46.
I've just been looking at the trademe model railway listings (yeah, I've gone full-metal-geek) and the N-scale building kits range from around $30 up to $120, which I saw just now, for a little sub-station:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace ... 3542978057

So a printer can easily pay for itself.

I have a huge list of things I need to print, including little N people, which are cheap enough to buy but not very realistic -- for example, the 'waiting passengers' sets don't have anyone looking at their phone, whereas in real life 9 out of 10 would be engrossed!

[deaneb]

Very cool Rob.

[Splitpin]

Rob, that is amazing Very dumb question ...but does it come out like that, or in components?

[toprob]

Marty, it comes out in one piece, well two counting the roof. I am still having trouble getting a perfect print, and I have been thinking of slicing the model into separate walls, simply because most print issues are on the underside of the model, which faces the build plate, so cutting it up would let me place all the walls face-up. But at the moment I'm still working on getting the complete model out.
Since I posted the photo of the finished model, I have tried rotating both the building and roof like this:



(The supports haven't been added yet.)

This gives a much cleaner print, although the side of the building on the bottom tends to droop a bit because it is facing the build plate. This isn't a total loss, as on the off-side it just looks like the weatherboard has warped a bit over time...

Note the tiny little picnic tables:) These are about 15mm wide.

Although I am pleased with the printer, I still need to figure out the best way to print these small buildings reliably. I've got another print ready to go tomorrow morning, with more solid supports and a tweaked exposure time, this will be the sixth version! Printing takes almost three hours for this particular model.

I was going to test both N and NZ120 (TT) scale, to see how the detail shows up, but I think it handles the smaller N very well, and this is the better choice for me. Here's a screenshot of Google Earth showing the choices:



The white area show the coverage I'd get on 2 standard sheets of plywood 1200x600mm. Yellow shows the larger NZ120 scale. Basically, I fit more in with N scale.

N scale has two different standards, depending on where you live. It can be 1:160 or 1:148. Both use the same track size. I've decided to make my layout 1:160 but print the buildings and details at 1:148. This just means that the buildings will be roughly 10% bigger. I don't think anyone would notice.

Having said all that, it is still very early days, I still need to buy the plywood and build the base!!!

[Splitpin]

Great reply thanks Rob ...... just amazing.
At work we have 6 3D printers, a CNC machine and a laser cutter which are hardly used ...would be a great workshop for you.

[toprob]

Cheers, Marty, I'll just book a corner of your work!

I'm slowly making progress with the printer, although a lot of my ideas just aren't working out. The printer is great with things that aren't buildings -- I downloaded a file from thingiverse of an OCD half-orc battling covid, and it printed great, but my buildings still sag and do weird things sometimes.

Today I took the train into Wellington and visited the hobby store. My budget for this project is about $80 per month, as that's the amount the pension has just increased by. I spent $20 today on 1, 3 and 6mm masking tape. A quarter of my budget on almost nothing. The price of everything really blows my mind, I found some pine trees on Trademe which would be ideal. $46.95. Each. I need about 50, so that's, let's see, $2347.50. Hence the printer, it'll pay for itself in no time.


(His sword is called Great Soap, to remind nerds to wash their hands.)

[cowpatz]

Those buildings look pretty damn good to me. A bit of warping here and there looks more realistic anyway. Painting something that small might test your patience...it would mine.

[chopper_nut]

What's causing the warping?

[toprob]

What's causing the warping?

That's a great question, I'd say 'gravity'. Or maybe the walls need to be thicker... or thinner. I notice the Orc has no problems at all, as there are no large flat surfaces. I printed a little downloaded carriage, with no problems, as it was smaller and thinner walls, so that's a bit of a clue. It also came with the roof attached, I thought that would cause problems as the resin would pool in the 'bucket' caused by the roof, but the resin just drained out when I turned the build plate on its side to drain.

[toprob]

I've solved a lot of the problems I've been having, to the extent that I can get a good success rate now. Just blew my budget on a UV lamp for curing the models, now that I can't rely on the sun:)
Here's my first try an little N scale people. These are so small that I have trouble finding them when I put them down on the bench, and may have blown away when I opened the doors to get rid of the resin fumes. I may need to make them just a little oversized. I made the people in the online 'character generator' which I get access to with my 3DS Max subscription. 5 minutes work each, then bring them into 3DS to pose and export. I've tried 3 people so far, the first is the chubby nerd shown here, I figured the bigger the easier to print, then a tall thin guy looking up at a loco while talking on his phone, plus a woman reaching out to push the chubby nerd under the train. Sorry, that's not at all politically correct... She'll be included in the next print job. I'd just about need a microscope to paint them.

[toprob]

Things are moving slowly, as there's so much research to do -- I'm not really into trains, although they are handy to get into town for us pensioners.
Painting my models was as tricky as I imagined, so I bought an airbrush, which can lay down a smoother base coat, and is the tool of choice for painting 3D-printed railway stuff. I have been practicing frantically, but not yet confident enough to actually try and complete one of my buildings.

One thing I came across on Youtube was 3D-printing an airbrush stencil, so I was keen to give it a go. This kind of works, here's a stencil I tried for a shipping container. (This is my own model, repurposed from Real NZ Taieri:)





Today I picked up some 1200x600x12mm plywood and some same-sized 25mm thick polystyrene sheets for the actual layout. That's enough of my budget for a couple of weeks! One thing I've been playing with is figuring out how to build the hills, and it turns out that the software I've used for years for FS scenery is ideal to visualise the land profiles. Here's a shot showing the elevation profile of the line I've drawn on the map.



Each 25mm foam sheet equals 4 metres in N scale, so I can figure where each sheet would need to be cut and layered to build the hillside. I don't remember these sort of tools when I first looked at modelling 30 years ago...


Sometime over the next few days I move into the flat downstairs here, with the workshop attached, so I'll be able to get stuck into the actual layout. Well, still some tools etc to get, just awaiting my next pension payment:)

I have chosen my first locomotive purchase, but at NZ$300 it'll be a while before I can click on 'buy'. As I've said before, I plan to 3D-print much of the rolling stock, but I'm not keen to build my own steam loco!

[NZ255]

You might be the only person to build a miniature railway that’s “not into trains” haha

[chopper_nut]

I thought the same