Nirvana Valley Model Railroad: February 2015

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Statues, HO scale, 3d printed reflecting pool

So, I am at my favorite Comic and Gaming show, Hurley's Heroes,

https://www.facebook.com/hurleysheroes,

and I ran across some inexpensive plastic gaming figures, lots of selection at gaming shops.

I believe these are called 25mm figures, someone will correct me if I am wrong, but they are somewhere near O scale (1:48). Too big for my HO scale layout, and besides they are fantasy figures.

But I thought I could use them in the town square as a statue with a reflecting pool. I chose a couple, and designed and 3d printed a base and reflecting pool.

The first attempt came out way too small.

So, I about doubled its size, and

hollowed out the bottom to save material and print time. Material is cheap, print time, or as Miles Hale says, "those ticks on the clock", are more important.

The large stand looks a lot better to me, so I went with that.

I primed the figures, and painted them with Sophisticated Finishes Bronze, http://www.tricoatstore.com/home.php?cat=253. Using their coatings, you end up with real weathered bronze, or copper, or rusted metal, depending on the product you choose.

In this case, I chose bronze. It is hard to beat the color when it is the real thing. Sophisticated Finishes uses "A liquid of ground bronze that creates a dark brown metallic finish. Treat with Patina Blue Antiquing Solution to oxidize into a dark blue verdigris finish."

The statue was presented to the city by their sister city in France. That is my story, and I am sticking to it.

An old west gun sheriff.

Other items on which I have used Sophisticated Finishes.
Click on the link under the picture to see the original blog post.

Both copper and rust.
fire-station-ho-scale-model-with-3d printed details

Rust.
ho-mining-engine-on-z-scale-mechanism 3d printed shell

Both copper and rust.
From-o-scale-to-ho-scale-plasticville

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Grain bins, HO scale, 3d printed

Not really part of my Down on the Farm series, as they are too new for my era, nonetheless, they certainly are farm scenery. I designed and 3d printed these as a commission for a gentleman that needed many of these for his Iowa railroad. I had been looking for something with corrugated metal, just to see what I could come up with, and this project fit the bill.

I made several different diameters, and three different heights, along with two different types of roofs, and two types of roof vents.

This is the drawing I ended up using for one of the designs. Parts from different bins could be mixed and matched, as all the roofs have the same slop, so any number or combination of roof vents would work.

Once printed, I primed them, and sanded the roof panels flat, as the layering from the printing process is quite noticeable. I then used .020 x .020 styrene on the ridges for roof panel seams. The roof ladder is also styrene strips.

Since I print in ABS, the styrene will solvent weld to printed items, as will the ABS printed parts.

Probably a little over weathering on the smaller one.

Other farm and 3d printing related posts:

4A. http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/01/shop-building-machinery-shed-redux-down.html

Monday, February 9, 2015

Wichita Train Show 2015

This story starts on the way to the Wichita Train show, at Hobby Depot in Topeka. Whenever I am in the area, I always stop by to see what they have. Believe it or not, I found just what I was looking for. I have built, well, it is mostly built, a crane tender car for an HOn30 crane. The problem is, I don't have a crane to go with it. I have been looking for a crane I could cut up, and make work in HOn30. N scale cranes look to small and flimsy to be HO scale. The HO standard gauge ones are just too big, but if I could pick one up cheap, then I could cut it down.

So guess what I found in a junk box at Hobby Depot...just what I was looking for! This will make for a fun project and a future blog entry.

http://www.hobbydepottopeka.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheHobbyDepot/

This is a picture from the Wichita Train show. On one of the FreeMo modules, there was the same crane that had been adapted for use in a scrap yard scene.

Good information for me when it comes to building the cab for my HOn30 crane.

I DID NOT get builder names on most of the models pictured below, but if you know who they belong to, and let me know, I will edit this post accordingly.

Part of the FreeMo modules.

Lots of lighting, well done.

They were not running the wing train, but I understand it was there, wish I could have seen it run.

I was not the only one taking pictures.

I really liked the track plan on this layout. Simple...and yet two commuter trains were running. They also had a Z scale layout.

I am new to video's, so we will see how these upload. A scene of Japan, as I recall. Just neat stuff....N scale.

Apology in order here, I had the modelers name, but cropped it out and lost it. Help if you can. There were two On30 modules, this being one, that were connected together. This one featured a mine on the upper level, and this station along with a plethora of other details on the lower level.

Just one of the scenes.

And the mine.

The other module was by Mark Fisher, see I did get one name, and it featured a logging and sawmill operation.

Video of the trains.

Video of the Sawmill.

I also what to thank the Chisholm Trail Division of the NMRA for allowing me to present a clinic on 3d Printing at their fine event.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Amherst 2015

A little snow on opening day. It did hurt attendance, but any other show would have been overwhelmed with the 5,000 plus hardy soles that did show up. The weather was beautiful on Sunday, and I heard there were 12,000 people there. It was crazy!

Both Saturday and Sunday, there were free make and take clinic sponsored by Woodland Scenics. www.woodlandscenics.com The first one was a two hour clinic on building a DPM building using the modular learning kit. http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/36000/page/1

It is a family affair. Actually, father, son and son's girl friend. The young man is the model railroader in the group. This was a two hour clinic, and most walk out with a completed building, including painted walls and roof.