Continuing Saga …

Thought I'd post some more non-railroad status pics. The L-188 restoration is done and I'm delivering it on Wednesday. I ended up 3D printing the missing propeller and finding a way to really replicate metal. I first sprayed Tamiya rattle-can Silver, then rubbed on a coating of A-K interactive "real metal" wax-based metallic silver (like Rub-n-Buff), but it wasn't reflective enough. At my LHS they suggested buying one of the broader tip Molotow Chrome Pens and decanting its contents to air brush it. That worked perfectly. What happened next was almost a catastrophe. There was some cream-colored blemishes on the left wing mid-section and inner nacelle. I attempted to polish it off, but it didn't budge. I then tried IPA, no response. Then I used the nuclear option… I wiped it with MEK. I then found out the truth. The blemish was on not ON TOP of the paint. IT WAS PRIMER SHOWING THROUGH. The blemish now became bigger… much bigger. I needed to refinish at least that part of the wing.

The plane's metallic paint had a definite yellow cast. Don't know if it's the actual paint color or the yellowing of the top clear coat. I used a mix of Alclad gloss aluminum and Alclad light burnt iron. I could have even made it more yellow. Looking straight at the paint its color is very close, but when viewed obliquely, the paint I used looks darker. Again, it's a huge improvement over the mess that I made. I used Alclad aqua-based clear gloss, and then after letting it cure for 24 hours, rubbed it out with my abrasive polishing set (from 3200 grit to 12,000 wet-sanding pads) and then with polishing compound. The gloss is the same. From this angle the color is really close.

If you can't tell, the 3D prop is on the far right. The chrome props have a different cast (more blue) than the made prop, but it's close enough and the client is pleased. From this angle, my wing panel is a bit darker. You can see how reflective the panel is.

Now onto the M2 Service Tractor. I'm almost done this major project. I've got two more parts to print. I've reprinted several items to get better results. For example: I found that making the frame 3 pieces (frame, winch and bumper) created a warped and weak structure. I was able to successfully print it in one piece.

I also implemented a new process. I ordered and installed the Fulament flexible build plate on the my Elegoo Mars. This was a FaceBook ad, believe it or not. It's a two-part affair with a 3M adhesive magnetic layer that adhered to your existing build plate and a thin, stainless steel build surface that made of spring steel. The build surface is held magnetically to the 3M magnet sheet. If you've had a successful print, you no longer need to unclamp the entire build plate to remove the printed parts. You simply remove the magnetic surface.

The surface is spring steel so you can massively bend it to break the part's bond on the surface. Big parts just pop off…. no more scraping. But in my case, since I'm printing so many small parts, bending the build surface doesn't pop them off. If I work it a bit the edges my release making it much easier to scrape the parts off. Either way, not having to remove the entire build plate assembly says a lot of time and clear up. And best of all. The plate has great part adhesion and my failure rate has dropped to almost zero.

Something else has improved production rate. I now put on supports in the following steps.

1. Use auto-supports set to "Heavy" and do "Platform" only. This applies supports all over the part as long as they can be reached directly from the base.

2. Remove all heavy supports above those that are holding just the bottom edges of the main part.

3. I redesigned my "Medium" supports to give them fat base posts (almost the same as heavy), but with much thinner attachment points. I found with the medium and light support original settings, the supports themselves were failing causing the upper parts of the job to fail.

4. Use the upside down view in the ChiTuBox slicer and apply by hand, medium and light supports to areas that are showing red and bright red color indicating unstable areas or areas that will create islands. ChiTuBox is very good at showing where island-prone areas are.

Between the new build plate and the changes I've made in support stratagem, my failures are almost gone. There's still the occasional failure due to a lousy design, for which I take full responsibility.

I'm only building the 1:48 version. The fellow who wanted the 1:72 bowed out when I raised the price due to even more drawing time would be consumed to modify the 1:48 detail level to work at 1:72. For example: that air handling modules would not print that way in 1:72. I'm going to paint the models before delivering them as a result of the engine being in a place that would defy painting after assembly. The tractor is not glued in this image. Just posing.

I made a lot of those lights to get ones that I didn't break.

I was even able to print the "Cletrac" logo on the exhaust manifold a la prototype. You won't see much of the engine since it's quite buried in the cowling.

Model should be done sometime next week. Meanwhile, I'll get back to finishing the rick house.

Been a while.

First of all, Mark Boyce is now the proud owner of the Idaho Hotel. We met at a Sheetz station on route 22 in Monroeville, PA and made the transfer. We were on our way back to L'ville from State College, PA.

Second, the M2 Cletrac project ended with delivery to the owner of Scale Reproductions, Inc., and he's going to put it on display to see if additional sales are in the offing.

Lastly, I've started working on the SB-60B Seahawk Helicopter and will finish up the Rick house site in the coming weeks. I now have a 16 X 8.5" bare spot in town that's wont for a new structure. I haven't yet decided what that's going to be. I will take suggestions from my readers.

The M2 project was very gratifying since the entire thing was created just from photos resulting from a Google search and one crude line drawing that gave the overall size of the unit.

The windshield on the right side unit is NOT cockeyed. That was an optical result of the angle to the camera.

The helicopter has a critical rotor part that was molded backwards! The part and its pair should have both been the same hand. Instead they produced a right and left hand version. The left hand is wrong. I found instructions on the web to cobble together a correctly-facing version cutting and gluing. Instead I redrew the part and 3D printing it. I only need one, but I'm printing a bunch to make them available to others building this kit. My first run only had 30% successful parts. The rest stuck to the teflon. Don't know why that happened. The printer's been pretty good lately.

The part has a pretty thin part and I'm redoing it to fatten it up a bit. I measured the part to the nearest thousandths, and then drew it 100 times larger in SketchUp. SketchUp likes to work in larger dimensions. I then reduced it by .01 to make it back the tiny model size.

Myles, The M2 certainly is a strange beast, but your models look great! 

For everyone else reading, it was great meeting Myles and his wife Michelle to pickup the Idaho Hotel.  We talked for about 20 minutes and then headed on our ways.  Myles and Michelle are both very friendly and easy to talk with.  I am glad to have met them in person.

I haven't decided where to put the Idaho Hotel on my layout, but this space was open.  Myles commented that he thought it was great that I can get a full view of the most interesting side, the front.  It is just the ticket for a West Virginia mountain inn on my layout.

Myles,

You never cease to amaze me. Great work.

The feeling is mutual!

Now for something completely diffierent...

I had a couple more commission projects involving the 3D printer. One is recreating the pilots on a K-Line NH "Jet" electric loco. The Zamac cast pilots had gone to the dark side and were completely crystalized and were crumbling. I attempted to drill and wire the front cross-member so I could repair them, but as the drill entered the metal it just crumbled more. It had to be a complete remake starting with drawing the pilot. It was hard to determine the sizes since I was looking at pieces. I snug them together as best as I could to get some overall measurements and took pictures. I scaled it all in SketchUp and then enlarged the drawing 100x so SU was happier. SketchUp is funny when you're working at small sizes.

You can see the fracture lines permeating this entire part. Our models will not last for ever even if don't ever play with them.

There's actually a critical part missing. There is a flat plate that was attached to the tangs on the right side that had the two countersunk screw holes which holds this thing to the trucks.

Here was the drawing. I radiused some of the corners to prevent fractures there. The holes need countersinking as a post-process.

I drew it with the integral ladders. On the original the ladders are added plastic pieces (as are the air lines). Here was the test print. The "X" brace is there to stabilize the part and keep it from warping. It does get in the way of the remote coupler leads, but that's not a show-stopper. Wire I could have printed this with the air hoses attached, they would be fragile and probably break off prematurely.

Yesterday I took it to the hobby shop and we tried it on. It fit perfectly! I'm now going to print one for the other end. One of the ladders broke away and I changed the design to add an upper brace. The broken ladder was fixed with CA at the hobby shop.

Another quickie project for another fellow who works at the hobby shop. There's a website as part of the PRR Historical Society where you can design your own PRR station signs. He requested one for the "Sharon" station. I drew the size in the app, then imported the drawing into SU. I re-drew the sign with 3D raised Copperplate text.

http://prr.railfan.net/cgi/mak...=SHARON&type=key

Here's the sign as it appeared on the website.

And here's the SU drawing.

And the finished print. Thin objects like this only take a few (15) minutes to print. The do warp a bit so it needs to be glue to a rigid substrate. Took about 8 cents worth of resin to do this.

The First Build manufactory at University of Louisville is now open again to the public so I'm starting to noodle the next projects that will need laser cutting. They have a couple of 48" monsters there that do just about anything.

I'm glad to know the First Build manufactory is open again for your use!!

Is that sign for the station in Sharon, Pa?

Now I have to decide what I want to make there. I need to fill up that space that you caused on my layout.

I'm glad I was able to give you a challenge! 

I think I have the next project.

In my previous Bucks County, PA town, Newtown, there is a landmark hardware store. Newtown Hardware and it's building has been a working hardware store since its construction in 1869. The building burned in 1899 and was rebuilt to its original design. The only change I can see is the pediment at the front roof peak. It's got some really nice decorative brickwork and cornices on the front that will make some interesting laser cutting like the distillery, and there's sufficient details for some 3D printing as well. I was able to get some good images from Google Earth and the building was given a 3D skin. On Newtown Hardware's website there's some history and where I got this great straight-on frontal shot with the original roof details. Combining the two, I am able to create a reasonable replica in SketchUp. Being a traditional store front, I can use Tichy store front plastic if I don't want to fuss with that.

Originally the building was two stores: the hardware on the left and a dry goods store on the right. The hardware owners bought the other store and opened the wall. That double store exists to this day. They still have the wooden drawers with the screws and nails. The floors squeak when you walk and it has a neat old hardware store smell. It is a treasure.

According to Google earth, the building looks like it's 45 feet wide and about 54 feet deep. I may have to selectively compress the depth, but I have the width where Idaho was. Here's some screen shots as I draw it on SketchUp.

This is a street view shot from Google in SU's Match Photo where I'm drawing the 3D version directly over this image. There is some differences in building shape due to distortion from the Google mobile camera.

Here's the frontal shot superimposed over the drawing. Comparing this to the above you can see the pediment change at the roof peak. This image also gives good detail of the fancy brickwork. After the distillery, I know that I can create that. The center door leads to upstairs apartments. I don't know what holiday was being celebrated… probably July 4th. There's bunting blocking the view of the below-window area.

And here's the above superimposed over the match photo contemporary image.

And because Google Earth lets you see the backs of existing building especially when they've been 3D skinned, Here's the back with the image next to it to show the window placement. There're more windows to go into the back. The actual lot actually drops off front to back due to the downhill slope to Newtown Creek that runs behind the building's parking lot. Therefore; there's a basement access in the back at the lowest level. My lot is level so I'm going to have a metal door lift up basement entrance in the back. There's a back door to the store up to that pressure-treated lumber deck you see in the rear image. I will make that door ground level. Being a hardware store gives a lot of opportunity for stuff in the back lot to add interest.

The building is three stories plus. It will work since the Woodbourne Gallery is already that big. Only drawback is the front will be facing away from the viewer from the front aisle. That's why I have to make the back as interesting as possible. As Rachel Maddow says, "Watch this space."

Myles, that is an excellent choice!  The photographs and interior description reminds me so much of Pfeifer's Hardware (originally Zeigler's Hardware and 5 and 10 in Mars, Pa three miles from where I grew up. 

Myles,

Where did you obtain the copperplate font?

It comes standard with SketchUp Make 2017 in the 3D Lettering function.

Thought you'd all like a progress report on the Newtown Hardware House project. I contacted the manager of the store and he took some more detailed pictures of the building. He was very interested in it. Our Philly friends also know the owner of the store and she wants to share the project with her. They may want a model of their own. The brickwork on the facade and particularly the pediment is pretty complex, but after my distillery project experience, I know exactly how I'm going to lay it out for laser cutting. I will 3D print all the cornice details including 3 different corbel styles. The sides and rear aren't very remarkable, but the first floor windows have shutters. I can buy the self-stick laser board from Stephen Miley at Rail Scale models. The walls will be 1/4" MDF. I think the stone lintels over the windows will be laser board and I may try and engrave some texture in them. I could also 3D print them with the texture. We'll see… Each project that preceded this one gave me the experience needed to master all this nuance.

This is a view of the real pediment. Notice the different levels of relief on the various brick details. I still have to put in that round window. Don't know what the mullions on that one are since a tree blocks a direct shot from across the street. We're going to be back the area over the New Years holiday and the tree will be free of leaves so I'll be able to get a better shot of it. You can also get a good view of the lintels in this image. There's three kinds of dentil molding in that front as well. Like I said, it was more complex than you originally think.

The Seahawk project is coming along. I've purchased aftermarket resin kits for the right T700 engine, main rotor, tail rotor and the hinge assembly for the folding tail boom.

The engine took a week to build with all the added piping. It was worth it. The top one is the kit engine that will not be exposed. The bottom is a ResKit model of the GE T700 turboshaft engine. Painting this will be fun.

I'm also building the main rotor kit and it's just as complex and challenging as the engine. It too will add a tremendous amount of interest in the build. What you see hear is already 16 pieces all glued together with Gel CA. There's a large amount of hydraulic lines that get added to this. The naval version is more complicated than the Black Hawk version due to the requirement to fold the blade while onboard ship. Those twin pins you see are hydraulically actuated to insert steel pins into fingers on the blades to lock them in the operating position. When the blades are locked, the pins are in and can be detected easily by those brass straps being in the "in" position.

The hardware building does have some neat intricate brickwork!  Those old buildings are really cool

I'm almost finished the Hardware House drawings. All that's left is changing the trim under the front store windows. It was a bear to draw, but it's pretty close to the real thing. I'm also making progress on the SH-60B Seahawk. Piping the main rotor was also a bear and tested my mettle to the max. Still have two tiny pipes to add that I missed. No one would know.

Three different corbel and dentil molding designs in one building front….

For reference, here's the back. I'm not sure how to handle that scary fire escape. Notice the 6 X 6s holding the whole deal up. Tichy makes a fire escape set in styrene which I think I already bought. It could be printed, but it wouldn't be easy. Might be easier to solder it together out of brass.

The real site sloped back exposing more of the basement in the back. Mine is flat so I'll be using a different basement entrance.

Here's the rotor head. All the wires are magnet wire (less than .3mm) and are in 0.012" holes.

The transmission is just as complex without all the hydraulics.

The real one… All the complexity under the mech's feet in the hydraulics bay IS NOT reproduced in the model nor will I attempt to do it. Those floppy weights on the ends of the four arms in the picture and my model is the Biflar vibration damping system. Those weights are tungsten and they move freely about an axis acting as a pendulum that cancels at the source rotor induced vibration. It reduces in-cabin vibration by 55%. The fact that this is a Navy bird drastically increases the complexity of the rotor head to enable the rotor blades to be folded (as they are in the image). Both the swinging of the rotor to the stowage position AND the locking of the blades in the fly position are hydraulic and remote controlled. One more pipe to add when the blades are installed is the nitrogen crack sensing system connection. Blades are hollow and nitrogen filled. It there is a crack, nitrogen leaks out and is sensed. It sends and alarm to the cockpit to immediately get the blade changed.

That is a scary fire escape.  It may be better to jump!  😉  The drawings look great!

Those rotor assemblies are quite remarkable! What a lot of tedious modeling.  What scale is it in?

Thanks Mark and others…

The store would like a model if I wanted to build them one. What I don't know is are they willing to pay something for it. I suggested that I'd eat the labor if they would pay for the materials. That's the deal I gave the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience Center which has a distillery model.

Now I have to import all the flat parts into CorelDraw and scale so I can produce the laser cutting drawings. I can buy the Self-Adhesive RC Board from Stephen Miley at Rail Scale Models which I'll use for the fine detail flat parts, i.e., windows, doors and some trim. All the rest of the flat parts will be cut at U of L's Maker's Lab out of stock they have on hand. All the 3D parts are already designed since I had to draw them all in the master drawing. That said, the long cornices have to be broken apart into smaller chunks to fit on my modest little printer. And I'll have to draw all those bricks! I am better at that than I used to be.

We are looking forward to seeing this project come together!!