Backesto Block Bldg ~ Windows of Opportunity

Modeling Open Windows

Modifying the Models Closed Windows into Opened Windows.

Modeling the building with opened windows adds a lot of charm and character.

And realism since this was the main factor for regulating the buildings temperature back in them days.

Repeating window patterns.    Here is what I am faced with.  Let's break up that monotonous pattern a bit.

Printed Closed.    Because of the 1mm minimum thickness required for 3D prints at the time, I had to model the windows in the closed position.

Flat File.    Taking advantage of files that have the smooth sides, we can file in one direction in the corners.

De-sashed.    The lower sash is filed away. Then the sides of the sashes are filed up to the desired height of the opening.  The flat side of the file helps us to not file into the window frame.

Sashed.    Then the lower sash is replaced by an equivalent length of styrene.  Because the upper sash would be behind the upper window, I'll add it after the window glass is installed later.

That lived-in look.    The random opened windows resemble musical notes to me (oh dang!- I should have arranged them as a bar of some popular music.).  This will help give the building that lived-in look.

Yes sir!

A lived in look!

Dandy

Backesto Block Bldg. ~ Gettin' My Kicks Printing Backesto Bits

 The Backesto Bits Sprue has Returned from the 3D Printers!

It took many tries, many revisions, (and many dollars!) to get it to pass the printers standards. But it's finally done! 

Despite following the printers minimum standard of 1mm thicknesses, they pushed back a lot on how delicate the whole thing was. After a lot of back and forth and many revisions, I eventually figured out that their "Fine Detail Plastic" could handle the delicacy. But of course that is their premium plastic and cost a freakin' fortune to print- $272.39!  I could have bought an actual 3D Printer for that kind of money (I'm looking in to it now.). But this has been going on for too long now so I bit the bullet and ordered it. Live and learn. Yes sir- live and learn.

But man- you can't beat that detail! This printed beautifully. The finished model should be ridiculously realistic!

Yes sir!

Ridiculous!

Dandy

Structures ~ Backesto Block Reduex

Reviving the Backesto Block Building Project.

This Time 3D Printing the Backesto Block Bldg's Detail Parts.

After the failed attempt to scratch build and cast parts for the Backesto Bldg and sulking about it all this time, I've decided to try again by 3D printing the parts this time.

Printing the entire building would be pricey.  So instead I will build this building similar to how the prototype building was built; scratch build the shell and add prebuilt details.

My selectively compressed drawings of the Backesto Block and the Old City Hall buildings. 

South side of the Backesto and the Grand Pacific Hotel.

The details (doors, windows, columns, cornices, chimneys, ornaments) were modeled on top of these drawings that I imported to a 3D program (3DS Max). 

Then all the 3d modeled "Backesto Bits" were laid out flat and attached to each other to create this sprue for ease of 3D printing.

Then off to the printer it goes! 

Shapeways = $272.39! (I should just buy my own printer!).

Now comes the wait. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Yes sir! Fingers crossed!

Dandy

SDERy Class 1's in H.O. Scale!

 West Coast Traction Supply's H.O. Scale San Diego Electric Railway Class 1 Streetcar Shell.

A beautifully designed 3D print kit of this historic car.

I got my wish! Andrew Chier saved me a lot of trouble by designing and 3D printing an H.O. scale model of San Diego Electric Railway's Class 1 streetcar for sale soon on his West Coast Traction Supply shop on Shapeways.

Some assembly required. But it goes together easy enough. Just make sure (unlike I did) that the upper portion of the center divider that is printed with the roof corresponds with the enclosed half of the car (the half with the smaller windows). Though I don't know if the center divider will be able to fit with the drive. We shall see when I get to that part of construction.

Some filing on the prints was required to smooth things out.  Then the parts were cleaned with Dawn dish soap and a sonic toothbrush to remove any oily residue that would prevent paint from sticking to the model.

This is the first time I've built a model with super glue.  I've been weary of using super glue since it can shatter in freezing temperatures. But nobody seems to be having that problem, so I went for it.  After it was all built and looking good I airbrushed on a couple coats of primer. Since the model will be painted a light color (yellow) I used a light primer.

Next comes painting. I'll be painting this car in San Diego's mahogany and golden yellow paint scheme.

Yes sir! Colors!

Dandy

Structures~ Backesto Bits

I've seen folks make 3D prints of small buildings, but not of larger buildings. I'm a little skeptical how they would turn out. But casting parts isn't out of the question.

Windows, doors, columns, cornices, and chimneys.

There are some seriously repeating patterns on this building. So my plan is to build one and cast many.

I first built a window with 3D Studio Max so that I could get a 3D print of it and cast that. But for some reason Max has issues with Shapeways and et al.

So the heck with it! I'm going to build them up with styrene. These things are tiny in HO scale, I had to apply the cement with a syringe!

I think I've got everything. The next step will be to make a rubber mold of these and then I can cast as many bits as I need.

Yes sir! Cast as many bits as I need!

Dandy

Boulevard Streetlamp / Line Poles

Attempting To Build A Working Combination Streetlamp / Linepole!

 Well here it is, a fresh 3D print from i.Materialize. But this is only the beginning. This print can't be used on the layout because one: I believe the "Prime Gray" material would be too brittle for the tensions of the overhead, and two: I want these lamps to light up. So this fella will be the "master". A rubber mold will be made from this print that all the other lamps will be cast from. But I digress...

As detailed in a previous post, each of the 6 streets feature distinct line poles. The 1920s era street pictured above is to have Boulevard streetlamps that double as line poles. Right now I have temporary wooden poles that are planted beyond the sidewalks until the streetlamp locations and hole size to be drilled in the sidewalks are determined. But for now, the temp poles are fouling where the building are going to be placed. So these lamps have become the priority project.

 San Diego didn't have these kind of poles but our neighbor to the North was kind of fond of them. The Pacific Electric sported these kind of poles in a few cities. This one was in Long Beach.

The San Diego Electric Railway attached their overhead directly to the adjacent buildings, thus clearing the streets of unsightly linepoles. But I don't want to attempt to deal with attaching the overhead of my layout to model buildings. So I thought I would try modeling these Boulevard Lamp Post / Line Poles (I really wish I knew what these were called!) instead. Besides, they look cool! 

Years ago I fabricated a couple of these lampposts out of brass. But they were very difficult to build and highly time consuming. There are so many small parts that trying to solder one part melts the joints of the other parts. Frustrating. So the project languished until either my soldering skills improved, or I thought of a better way of building these, or some sort of miracle happened.

Well wouldn't you know? A miracle happened! In the form of 3D Printing! Building this lamp with a 3D program is WAY easier than building it with brass. And a lot faster. I modeled this with 3DS Max.

My lamp design is a hybrid of San Diego style Boulevard steetlamps and the Los Angeles linepole streetlamps.

I'm pleased with how the print turned out. The lamp had to be designed with the 1mm minimum thicknesses required for 3D Printing. But I believe the level of detail is just right for HO scale.

Now comes making a silicone mold from this lamp. This will be a new adventure for me. Yes sir! This will be a new adventure!

Dandy

Leaning Tower of PE

Drilled her from behind and shoved a rod up in her, that straightened her out real nicely.

This warping seems to be inherent with 3D printing. Two different 3D printing companies, exact same warp. So I've got to see what I can do about it.

I laid a pair of pliers on the post and left it overnight to gently persuade it back into alignment. This actually straightened out the tower long enough to drill out the post:

The tower was modeled with a hollow post for a conduit for the wires for the lighting. But I had to widen it out a bit so that I could fit a brass rod up through there. I could actually feel the tip of the drill bit making its way up the fragile post, so I kept pressure on it so I could feel if the bit threatened to dig through the side.

 The brass tube fits nice and snug. It will help provide the strength and straightness as well as a conduit for one of the wires and act as the return (ground) for the other polarity.

Ready for some paint now that it is standing straight and tall. Yes sir! Standing straight and tall!

Dandy

Junction Tower 3D Print from i.materialize

Made adjustments to the dimentions and now the tower is correct for H.O. scale!

Here is how the tower looks straight from the printers. Some cleaning up is required.

This time I had the tower printed at i.materialize. Their "Primer Gray" isn't quite as rough as Shapeways "White Detail". There is still a texture, but ya got to be pretty close to see it. We'll see how noticeable it is after its been painted.

And there is that warping again! Exactly the same as the Shapeways model. I don't know if there is anyway around it. A few readers of this blog suggested printing only the cabin and base and use either a brass or plastic rod for the post. The post scales out to almost an 1/8th inch, so that is a very doable idea.

Okay, I'm off to the workbench to fiddle around with this model some more and we'll see what can be done with it. Yes sir! We'll see what can be done with it!

Dandy

Junction Tower 3d Print from Shapeways

It's here! All the way from the Netherlands, My first 3D Print!

I don't remember the last time I felt this excited about finding a package left by UPS. Lets tear it open!

Whoops! I goofed on the dimensions. This is actually the right size for O Scale, not HO. No wonder is cost so much! Despite that flub though, this is very exciting. I've built hundreds of objects in the computer over my 20 year career, but this is the first time I've actually held one in my hand. The detail is all there, and it smells exactly like dirt! But unfortunately, as you can see, the post is warped. And I'm not sure why this happens or how to prevent it with future prints. Maybe the smaller (HO scale) size will eliminate that.

Here you can see the texture inherent in the layering process of 3D printing. This model was printed with Shapeways "White Detail" material.  Costs twice as much but it has a better finish than "White, Strong, and Flexible".

Okay, I've scaled the 3D drawings to the correct scale, and made some adjustments. There is a 1mm minimum thickness requirement, so I had to thicken up some of the details. This time I sent it off to Volkmars weapon of choice: i.materialize in Belgium. So we'll see what materializes. Yes sir! We'll see what materializes!

Dandy

Jumping on the 3D Printing Bandwagon!

Encouraged by the fantastic results Volkmar Meier has been achieving with Rapid Prototyping, Additive Manufacturing, Stereolithographic 3D Printing, I have decided to give it a go myself.

I was approached by Shapeways years ago inviting me to try out this emerging technology of 3D printing. Looking into it, I wasn't impressed with how rough the 3D prints were. So I dismissed it for the time being. But the technology has marched on and 3D prints are looking really nice these days!

Volkmar's blog, Interurban Railways, chronicles very nicely his construction of a Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern wooden combine, from a 2D drawing, to a 3D render and then finally an actual 3D Print model. There is still a slight texture to the finished model, but once painted, its hardly noticeable. His work has embolden me to finally give it a try.

But before building something as elaborate as an interurban though, I thought I would cut my teeth on a bite-sized project first. I've been wanting to build a model of these inner city junction towers for quite some time now. I even started building one out of brass seven years ago, but the model wasn't progressing as well as I would have liked. So that project stalled. But now I think this tower would be perfect for a 3D print noob like me.

Another deciding factor is that I still have the drawings I made for the brass model. All I have to do is import these drawings into a 3D program and build the 3D model over it. There are many 3D programs out there that are well suited (and cheaper) for modeling structures for a 3D print, but I will be utilizing 3D Studio Max for this project. By profession I am an animator with years of experience animating with 3D Studio Max. So its a logical choice for me. And its already installed on my computer.

Some of the details won't print well and so have been omitted, such as the awnings and the stirrup steps. These will be added afterwards. I did include pilot holes for the stirrup steps up the post, we'll see how well they print out. The post is hollow so that wiring for lighting could be run up from the base to the tower. The roof is removable so that the interior can be painted and detailed and an occupant added (the most important part!). 

There has been a flurry of discussion about 3D printing on a Yahoo Traction Modeling group lately. And after carefully weighing what folks had to say about the quality of different 3D printing companies, I have decided that since this is my first model and I want to see how much of the detail shows up on these prints, etc, I'm going to go with a company that is the least expensive but yet still has decent quality. So I put in an order with Shapeways (White Detail). When the model comes back, I'll see whats working and what isn't, make adjustments to the 3D drawing, and then place an order with an expensive, excellent quality company. Yes sir! An expensive, excellent quality company!

Dandy