The Irish Railways 3d printing thread

[Mol_PMB]

Much better now with a floor and some internal braces. This will help support the roof too. 

The first ‘modelling’ I’ve done in ages…

[Killian Keane]

MGWR E/GSR J26 cab interior coming along

[Rob R]

9 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Not much time recently, or modelling mojo. But I have started a tidy-up to make some space (and ensure that I can’t find anything when I next need it!)

Anyway, a few months ago Rob kindly printed some containers for me, and as a freebie did an MGWR van body too. 
The containers were 5-sided boxes with internal bracing, and have remained true to shape. 
I’ve just found the van body, which I had painted with primer when it arrived, then stored it in a box. Perfectly square when it arrived, it now looks like this: 

An interesting example of how prints can distort over time. 
It’s flexible enough that I think I can square it up with some internal bracing - I should probably have done that when it first arrived! 

Hmmmm.

I have 2 more here, in the same resin, that have just been sat around on the shelf (ok, dumped on top of the printer) for a few weeks and they haven't moved at all.

If you still have trouble with it, I'll send you another. 

[Mol_PMB]

7 hours ago, Rob R said:

Hmmmm.

I have 2 more here, in the same resin, that have just been sat around on the shelf (ok, dumped on top of the printer) for a few weeks and they haven't moved at all.

If you still have trouble with it, I'll send you another. 

That’s interesting - I thought that painting it and keeping it out of direct sunlight was the right thing to do. 
if anything it seems to have softened a bit (i.e. become less rigid) during storage. 
it’s squared up nicely now so hopefully will be fine with the extra bracing. Perhaps I’ll get it finished off in the near future. 
 

A while back I was digging out photos of these old MGWR vans and it’s apparent that there were lots of variations in ribs, doors, vents etc. drawings or diagrams exist for several, others can be seen in photos. A common theme is that most have what look like drains in the lower sides, presumably for sluicing out after being used for cattle. Those aren’t on the original drawing.

I’ll try and pull some info together. 

I was wondering about hacking mine about to represent a later type. 
 

[AnUnknownConsciousness]

1 hour ago, Mol_PMB said:

That’s interesting - I thought that painting it and keeping it out of direct sunlight was the right thing to do. 
if anything it seems to have softened a bit (i.e. become less rigid) during storage. 
it’s squared up nicely now so hopefully will be fine with the extra bracing. Perhaps I’ll get it finished off in the near future. 
 

A while back I was digging out photos of these old MGWR vans and it’s apparent that there were lots of variations in ribs, doors, vents etc. drawings or diagrams exist for several, others can be seen in photos. A common theme is that most have what look like drains in the lower sides, presumably for sluicing out after being used for cattle. Those aren’t on the original drawing.

I’ll try and pull some info together. 

I was wondering about hacking mine about to represent a later type. 
 

Has it been stored in a warm place, or somewhere it may have gotten warm or hot? That would be enough to cause that irrespective of any UV impacts.

[Mol_PMB]

5 minutes ago, AnUnknownConsciousness said:

Has it been stored in a warm place, or somewhere it may have gotten warm or hot? That would be enough to cause that irrespective of any UV impacts.

Nowhere especially warm - but we had a few days in the summer where the room temperature was over 25C. 

[Mol_PMB]

A few photo links showing some of the variants of these MGWR vans, in the late 1930s. I'll put together a separate and more comprehensive thread in due course:

Holdings: Before alterations, Liffey Junction, Co. Dublin. :: Library Catalog

Holdings: View of the junction from Broom Bridge, Liffey Junction, Co. Dublin. :: Library Catalog

Holdings: After alterations, Liffey Junction, Co. Dublin. :: Library Catalog

Note: these aren't all MGWR vehicles, but there are a variety of MGWR types amongst them.

[Galteemore]

Cheers Paul. Especially useful for the not-often-seen roof views showing the battens etc  

 

[Mol_PMB]

8 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Cheers Paul. Especially useful for the not-often-seen roof views showing the battens etc  

 

Some more info and photo links/refs here...

 

[GSR 800]

On 11/10/2026 at 6:46 PM, Killian Keane said:

MGWR E/GSR J26 cab interior coming along

Fabulous detail Killian!

23 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Some more info and photo links/refs here...

 

Might have to get some of these sometime, but I need to get around to a layout first!

[Brack]

On 9/10/2026 at 2:05 PM, Colonel said:

Presumably, a loco chassis could also be printed - semi solid, maybe, with a cut out for the motor gearbox and holes to take brass bearings? Keeping the body and chassis separate (to be bolted together later), might be better than trying to source a doner chassis which, like as not is almost always going to be a compromise.

 Would the axle holes be accurate enough to take preprepared coupling rods though and thinking of Tullygrainy's work could a printed chassis be done to accommodate compensation or springing?

Did that in 2012.

 

Etched rods intended for a LBSCR terrier (which is 6'+6', whereas the Y7 is just 6').

Body and chassis were sprued together for shapeways. Designed for brass bearing inserts and gibson wheels. Motor bracket is printed in to mesh accurately with a bevel gear on the axle.

Sandpipes and brake rigging etc. Were added from brass rod.

Obviously i chose an inside framed 040t as it's simpler, but it worked as proof of concept.

No reason why something bigger wouldn't work, obviously you're adding complexity and potential shrinkage troubles, but once you get settings dialled in it should be ok.

 

[leslie10646]

if my memory serves me right, Richard Ellis-Hobbs, producer of a load of 3D printed vans for me, printed the chassis for his GNR Class JT.

@Richard EH - speak up!

[AnUnknownConsciousness]

8 hours ago, Brack said:

Did that in 2012.

 

Etched rods intended for a LBSCR terrier (which is 6'+6', whereas the Y7 is just 6').

Body and chassis were sprued together for shapeways. Designed for brass bearing inserts and gibson wheels. Motor bracket is printed in to mesh accurately with a bevel gear on the axle.

Sandpipes and brake rigging etc. Were added from brass rod.

Obviously i chose an inside framed 040t as it's simpler, but it worked as proof of concept.

No reason why something bigger wouldn't work, obviously you're adding complexity and potential shrinkage troubles, but once you get settings dialled in it should be ok.

 

I'd be curious to know if the different processes and materials of commercial vs hobbyist printers would make a difference to the dimensional stability etc. That said an equivalent commercial print supplier would be an option provided the same type of printer and materials as the Shapeways one you used.

Either way, very interesting and good to know it's lasted so long.

[Mayner]

4 hours ago, AnUnknownConsciousness said:

I'd be curious to know if the different processes and materials of commercial vs hobbyist printers would make a difference to the dimensional stability etc. That said an equivalent commercial print supplier would be an option provided the same type of printer and materials as the Shapeways one you used.

Either way, very interesting and good to know it's lasted so long.

I experienced considerable variation in processes and print quality between individual 3D Print/Rapid Manufacturing companies trialled (in New Zealand and Asia) for the low volume manufacture of 3D printed wagons.

Initial test prints were produced by a locally (Auckland) based business that consistently produced high quality prints in a SLA resin with ABS properties using a full sized "Top Down" printer https://www.zongheng3d.com/top-down-3d-printing-the-future-of-rapid-prototyping/#elementor-toc__heading-anchor-1 rather than a 'bottom up" printer similar to the desktop hobbyist printers. 

Unfortunately the business that produced the test prints was reluctant to carry out the production printing and it became necessary out outsource printing to 3D Print companies in Asia after attempts to print the wagons in house or commercially in New Zealand proved unsuccessful.

The majority of 3D print companies trialled ((2)New Zealand & (3) Asia) did not appear to have the capability to print models in a resin with sufficient resilience for printing running/brake gear and fine detail. (too-brittle). The majority of my production printing was carried out by Facfox in China (SLA -ABS like resin)  with some early (2021-220) production carried out in Auckland following the easing of Covid restrictions.

Samples of both Auckland and Facfox production appear to have remained dimensionally stable with little sign of distortion. One piece wagon chassis (with brake gear), one piece body with separate roof-interlocking plug-together assembly.

The initial 2020 test print of the CIE Brake Van body and chassis appears ok with no apparrent signs of distortion.

I have trialled Monocure Tensile and Impact resins with my Anycubic Photon home printer with a degree of success, initially for detail parts for etched kits more recently for my own use.

Interestingly Zelta 3D Singaore https://zelta3d.co/multi-jet-fusion-nylon/ have the capability to print in MJF Nylon similar to the Shapeways 'white strong and fexible" material used in RE Hobbs JT and Bracks Y7. 

A small number of my wagons were printed by Zelta with SLA resin body and roof, on a MJF Nylon chassis, nice runners but finely detailed body let down by the coarse surface texture of the chassis which is less of an issue in the larger scales.

Future developments.

With rapidly developing technology and intense competition between Chinese manufacturers will be interesting to see if "top down" machines become accessible/affordable fto the hobbyist during the next few years as 3D printing becomes more mainstream.

 

 

 

[AnUnknownConsciousness]

49 minutes ago, Mayner said:

I experienced considerable variation in processes and print quality between individual 3D Print/Rapid Manufacturing companies trialled (in New Zealand and Asia) for the low volume manufacture of 3D printed wagons.

Initial test prints were produced by a locally (Auckland) based business that consistently produced high quality prints in a SLA resin with ABS properties using a full sized "Top Down" printer https://www.zongheng3d.com/top-down-3d-printing-the-future-of-rapid-prototyping/#elementor-toc__heading-anchor-1 rather than a 'bottom up" printer similar to the desktop hobbyist printers. 

Unfortunately the business that produced the test prints was reluctant to carry out the production printing and it became necessary out outsource printing to 3D Print companies in Asia after attempts to print the wagons in house or commercially in New Zealand proved unsuccessful.

The majority of 3D print companies trialled ((2)New Zealand & (3) Asia) did not appear to have the capability to print models in a resin with sufficient resilience for printing running/brake gear and fine detail. (too-brittle). The majority of my production printing was carried out by Facfox in China (SLA -ABS like resin)  with some early (2021-220) production carried out in Auckland following the easing of Covid restrictions.

Samples of both Auckland and Facfox production appear to have remained dimensionally stable with little sign of distortion. One piece wagon chassis (with brake gear), one piece body with separate roof-interlocking plug-together assembly.

The initial 2020 test print of the CIE Brake Van body and chassis appears ok with no apparrent signs of distortion.

I have trialled Monocure Tensile and Impact resins with my Anycubic Photon home printer with a degree of success, initially for detail parts for etched kits more recently for my own use.

Interestingly Zelta 3D Singaore https://zelta3d.co/multi-jet-fusion-nylon/ have the capability to print in MJF Nylon similar to the Shapeways 'white strong and fexible" material used in RE Hobbs JT and Bracks Y7. 

A small number of my wagons were printed by Zelta with SLA resin body and roof, on a MJF Nylon chassis, nice runners but finely detailed body let down by the coarse surface texture of the chassis which is less of an issue in the larger scales.

Future developments.

With rapidly developing technology and intense competition between Chinese manufacturers will be interesting to see if "top down" machines become accessible/affordable fto the hobbyist during the next few years as 3D printing becomes more mainstream.

 

 

 

Very interesting. Not surprising to hear about some places being unable to print finer details; I had a couple of small batches of coach bodies done by a company in China about 6 years ago, who insisted on 2mm wall thicknesses. First lot of prints turned out fine, but on the second batch they thickened some components that weren't primary walls (without consulting me) that couldn't be thickened without severely changing the appearance of certain elements, which put me off using them again. 

Testing some of the 'fancier' resins is on my to-do list once I use up the rest of my current stock of the AnyCubic standard resin. I've heard of others having success with the AnyCubic ABS types, and have a friend who swears by Monocure's more engineering-based resins too.

As for top-down machines becoming accessible I would certainly expect so - when I got my first large resin printer back in 2019, it cost me 4x as much for a 2k colour-screen printer than my current 16k monochrome printer cost in early 2024, for much the same build area. Presumably sooner or later the hobbyist manufacturers will start looking at different technologies rather than simply increasing screen resolution and adding features. 

[Maitland]

So, let's get some figures: what kind of shrinkage - from design to print, and from production to X years later - can we expect, with different resins? Is it environmentally (temperature, humidity, time etc) sensitive? Does it depend on part size? 

For example, if it's the same for all parts with the same resin, printing chassis and coupling rods would be fine - the centres will just track each other. If there's a small but significant difference, "loose" crankpin holes, with actual coupling by gears, would compensate.

 

Thinking here is, for the home printer, printing a new chassis every "x" years might be tolerable.