Shapeways MGWR coaches 00 scale

[jhb171achill]

Folks, has anyone ever seen one of Shapeways' 3D prints of Irish 00 scale stuff, in particular the three MGWR six-wheelers that they offer?

I am not sure to what extent the illustrations on their website are CAD drawings, or actual casts / prints, but some look very good indeed, while others are clearly coarse to the extent of Lego toys.

Also, if purchasing one of their six-wheel coach designs, any advice about a suitable chassis - presumably scratch-building one is probably the only option?

[Mayner]

2 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Folks, has anyone ever seen one of Shapeways' 3D prints of Irish 00 scale stuff, in particular the three MGWR six-wheelers that they offer?

I am not sure to what extent the illustrations on their website are CAD drawings, or actual casts / prints, but some look very good indeed, while others are clearly coarse to the extent of Lego toys.

Also, if purchasing one of their six-wheel coach designs, any advice about a suitable chassis - presumably scratch-building one is probably the only option?

The photos are 3D renderings rather than the actual models and are likely to require considerable work to achieve a reasonable surface finish in 4mm scale.

The 1:76 scale models only appear to be available in White Natural Versatile Plastic which has a coarse surface finish not unlike cement render. 

There tends to be a trade off between cost, surface finish and the level of detail that can be re-produced between the various 3D printing materials 

Most designers select a versatile plastic for 1:76/OO because the materials recommended for scale replicas are more expensive, fragile and have a layered effect not unlike the face in a limestone quarry.

Brassmasters http://www.brassmasters.co.uk/cleminson_underframe.htm produce a good 6w underframe kit suitable for OO.

Kirley built a rake of passable Midland 6wheelers using Alphagraphix card bodies on his own chassis https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93496-kirleys-workbench/page/29/, another alternative is to use the Alphagraphix card parts as a template for producing a scratchbuilt body in plasticard as practiced by David Holman on his Arigna Town thread.

 

[Angus]

hi jhb171achill,

I have one of that suppliers bodies for the SLNCR railcar B.

It is a fairly accurate rendering my only complaint would be some of the window bars are a bit thick, but then I am working in 2mm scale and there is a minimum practical thickness.

Unfortunately Shapeways appears to be using (relatively) old tech printers. The quality seen from some of the modern hobbyist resin printers far surpasses that provided by Shapeways.

This means a lot of finishing work is required due to surface stepping in the print. As a result you lose a lot of details.

The process (a soak in white spirit to remove the wax) also makes the model quite brittle, so despite my complaint about thick window bars above I have managed to break a few whilst handling and sanding down.

Obvious sanding and finishing heavily panelled stock would be problematic if you want to preserve all the detail.

All that said, they are the only non-card option for MGWR coaches if you wish to avoid scratch building. With work they could be turned into good models and some of the issues I have highlighted here will be less apparent in 4mm scale. They are however a long way off "open the box and plonk on a chassis" modelling that some suggest.

I am tempted by some of the 2mm versions and no doubt will try them out in a couple of months, probably using the Worsley works  GSWR 6 wheeler chassis.

 

[Noel]

Had a look at some of those on their site, they have O gauge and even gauge 1 samples!  Due to the panelled nature of MGWR coaches I'd hazard a guess that it is nigh impossible to improve the surface texture much due to raised panels, etc, and MGWR wagons are difficult to do a crisp paint job on for the same reasons. Hand brushing does not yield good results especially lining the raised panels.If they were available in Shapeways FUD material (ie like Neil's 42ft container flats), I'd be tempted but WSF material not great for raised precision surface detail (toothpaste effect). Brass commissions seem the only viable option for decent models of MGWR 6 wheel coaches.. 

[2996 Victor]

I too have had a (very) few items from this manufacturer's Shapeways page, in my case some narrow gauge War Department Light Railway bogie open wagons.

They were in the same material mentioned above, and I was most disappointed with the finish and poor quality of the surface details. Not only that, but there were fundamental errors in the basic length and width of the vehicles.

Unfortunately, this supplier has a wide range of interesting vehicles, many of which I would be interested in. But they are all the same material, and once bitten, twice shy as they say!

I would prefer to pay more for better quality prints with better materials than pay less for a poor quality print that isn't worth its purchase price, but that's just my opinion, of course.

Best regards,

Mark

3 minutes ago, Noel said:

If they were available in Shapeways FUD material (ie like Neil's 42ft container flats), I'd be tempted but WSF material not great for raised precision surface detail (toothpaste effect).

Agreed!

[jhb171achill]

Interesting, gentlemen, very many thanks.

In the long run, with drawings readily available, probably another option is just to scratchbuild in plastic, perhaps on the chassis mentioned above. The one vehicle I did want would have been the full passenger brake, but without the birdcage on it - these were removed on some that operated into the late 1950s. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of one WITH a birdcage beyond maybe 1953 or thereabouts.

The GSWR full vans last longer with at least three making it into the late 1960s, and becoming the only six-wheelers (albeit non passenger carrying ones) to be seen behind 141s and 181s and in black'n'tan!

Funny thing about six wheeled stock which lasted beyond, say, 1957 - while GSWR types dominated among the older wooden stock by then, among the 6-wheeled stock, Midland carriages dominated by far in passenger-carrying types, but GSWR types as vans - DSER types were extinct by then.

Plasticard it is, then. I made a plastic "0" gauge one for Senior about thirty years ago, but all his stuff was sold off or given away long before he went off to the Great Locomotive Shed in the Sky.....

[mphoey]

cant understand why the sellers on shapeways dont move over to the better newer suppliers to sell their items

 

[jhb171achill]

37 minutes ago, mphoey said:

cant understand why the sellers on shapeways dont move over to the better newer suppliers to sell their items

 

Possibly unshifted stock - or do they print them to order?

[2996 Victor]

It's all printed to order, at least it has been whenever I've ordered anything!

With best regards,

Mark