These are the ticket …
David, Sean, thanks for the input. my question was intended for the color of the filament that they are printed with but after re-reading my post I see I didn’t make that very clear. David, I think you are correct about the iron oxide, that will look very good and be a nice starting point. But, what color would you suggest for the filament? I’m not sure it really matters since it will be painted over anyway, but I would think one color would provide a better base than another. My mind says white is always a good starting point, but I see the benefits of starting with black so if I miss a spot it will probably look natural.
Ok, I’m making a Mountain out of a mole hill. I just answered my own question … black. Now back to your regular programming (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
Dan,
Black is my choice. What material are you going to print with? PETG with a .2mm nozzle should do nicely. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Dan,
There are some brands of Black PLA that are less shiny. The aforementioned 3D fuels Pro PLA is one. Also I understand annealed parts become more “matte”.
I knew you meant the colour of the filament. If its available, I would go with iron oxide, or brown. If black and white are your only choices, then black would probably be the best, like you already said.
Thanks for the suggestions. Joe, yes, it will be PETG. but a .4mm nozzle. I’ve not experimented with different nozzle sizes. But you‘ve started that itch. 
Dan,
If you go with PETG and want good details go with a .2mm nozzle. I’ve been that route. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Joe Zullo said:
Dan,
If you go with PETG and want good details go with a .2mm nozzle. I’ve been that route. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Headed in that direction.
Dan Gilchrist said:
There are some brands of Black PLA that are less shiny. The aforementioned 3D fuels Pro PLA is one. Also I understand annealed parts become more “matte”.
It’s a little hard to capture the sheen in a photo, but the part on the left is Pro PLA and the one on the right is generic PLA. The generic one is quite a bit shinier.
Eric, the PETG that I am using is quite shiny. Is there any specific prep work that needs to be done before painting PLA or PETG?
Latest incarnation: Andrews Truck
And the printed product:
These are printed in PETG so the detail does not show up well. The pictures do not do the print justice neither. I’m going to following Joe’s suggestion and I’ve ordered a .2mm nozzle for the printer to see if I can enhance the details. We’ll see if that will produce a better print. Overall, I really like this design. Next up will be the Fox pressed steel trucks. More to come. thanks for sharing any comments or suggestions.
Just to show the difference in the print quality between types of filament, here are the same trucks shown above printed in PLA and white. The detail is much better on the printed trucks and they show up much better in the photos.
Fox Pressed Steel truck Version 1:
I’ve still got a little work to do on the side frame and then I have to figure out how to attach the bolster. In the real world, the rivets there in the middle is that attachment. I need to print the side frame out to get a better feel of the proportions. Currently, its only 3mm thick. If I can add a couple mm’s, I can create a small pocket and add a screw or two. More later.
How would something like this do against the considerations of force and shear loads + ease of assembly and maintenance + parts count?
And it intends to add a sort of equalization via allowing sideframes to rock relative to bolster.
And it is somewhat appropriately drawn on back of envelope from Classic Toy Trains magazine soliciting me to subscribe.
Forrest, I’m kinda leaning that way except I want the bolster to fit in a pocket on the side frame. I need to keep the back side of the side frame flat for ease of printing. 3mm doesn’t give me a whole lot to work with, so I need to add some thickness to the frame. I may add a gusset plate to the front where the rivets for the bolster are located to give me some meat in that area. That’s not completely prototypical, but I think believable. If push comes to shove, I will do something similar to what you proposed and just have to print the frames using supports. Not the end of the world, just not optimal. I guess I could always use real rivets but thread the back side so you could take them apart. I’ll have to think on that a while.
Or you could lag screw through the face
Beauteous work, Dan!
Now if you had some 3 axle ones I could use for my mason bogie!!!, great work, Bill
Dan,
you are becoming the truck guru.