Picture of the F40PHM-2 Shell

Here's a picture of the shell on the Kato chassis.

It's hard to see the details, hopefully they'll stand out better once it's primed.

Both the front and rear pilots are from the Kato model.  I did a lot of filing on the corners of the front pilot to get it to fit underneath the new shell.  It will eventually be replaced by a new pilot.  The railing was cut off of the rear pilot.  Except for the MP36 units, Metra locomotives don't have a railing on the rear platform; and the rear steps are usually plated over (I plan to make little plates to cover the rear steps on the model).

Thanks,

Damin.

Shell results

Damin-

This looks really great!  Is this frosted ultra detail?  What's minimum thickness on those objects?  I really look forward to seeing the shell after primer, to help the detail pop out.  There is much more there than I would have thought.

I have been experimenting with a number of objects in HO scale on Shapeways, and have a few things that have worked well enough that I've made them publicly viewable.  So far, my successes have been with scenery items like dumpsters, rooftop air conditioners and the like.  I've had trouble though getting finer details to print b/c of thickness issues.  Also, the detail hasn't been that great with the white strong flexible plastic.

Tim

It's FUD

Thanks Tim.

Yes, it's Frosted, Ultra-Detail.  The minimum wall thickness that Shapeways states is acceptable for this material is 0.3mm.  That's the wall thickness I used on my preliminary test shell (see my previous blog entry at https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/my-test-model-from-shapeways-has-been-received-12191222).  At that thickness the walls bend like wet spaghetti.  The walls on this updated version are thicker.  I don't know the exact thickness; I narrowed the interior cavity to match the width of the mechanism.  There is still a inward bow, but the walls stay put once the mechanism is in place.

My listing on Shapeways is public.  However it's currently not for sale until I am finished tweaking it.  The URL is  http://www.shapeways.com/model/682473/f40phm-2-work-in-progress.html.

- Damin.

FUD

I didn't realize that they would allow something that narrow- that's good to know.  I've been going with strong-flexible, as it's easy to bond to sheet styrene with solvent.  What would you use to bond styrene to FUD?  CA only, right, b/c FUD is a cured resin?

thanks,

Tim

Superglue, I Guess...

Hi Tim,

I've used some cheap superglue from the grocery store once to glue a handrail back on that had snapped off of a FUD shell.  It seemed to work alright.  But, it convinced me to leave the handrails off of my own designs and add them later using wire.

- Damin.

Great!

That's really starting to come along and look great! 

Please keep us posted with the progress,
Jeff Carlson