I sure would like to know who made those grilles. Anyone have a clue?
Someone on here was looking to make those kind of grills for the USA locomotives. Several of us expressed interest, and then the idea just sort of faded away.
That was Michael Glavin. The samples he got were not satisfactory so the project got dropped. At least for now. I just e-mailed with Michael, he has a lead on who made the ones for the F7’s on Ebay. I would by four sets for my ABBA in a heart beat.
I contacted the eBay seller and here’s his reply:
New message from: fox_valley_trains
Hi, Friend of mine in the UK had the grills made several years ago…and no more available. But USA Trains is supposed to be revamping the F3 molds into F7’s for sale either later this year or early next year.
Chuck
I first heard directly from a USA representative around 2010 at The Big Train Show in Ontario California that they were thinking of redoing the F3’s. New grilles, removable dynamic brake casting to allow for different configurations, etc. Roughly eight years of thinking. We will see.
Well, Aristo’s consolidation which was during the “heyday” of large scale:
2004 - first mention they would be building one
2008 - first promised date for delivery
2011 - first delivery
That’s 7 years in the “good old days”…
Greg
What about the SW1500? Still waiting…
Hah!
Since Lewis passed away on the 23rd probably not going to happen.
Honestly, IMHO, it’s not going to matter. As the prices of SLA printers decline, Quality scale models of ANY locomotive in ANY scale will become extremely cheap. Over a year ago, I printed a 1:29 scale SW1500 (sans powered trucks) for about $27 with my FDM printer. For those who don’t know, FDM printing requires a good amount of post processing to achive a smooth finished model. SLA printers produce a much better finished (resin) model. Mark my words, within the next few years…
I’d love to have a Large Scale SW1500 switcher. Southern Pacific, please. Just like the SW1500 Athearn HO version.
Very nice model Dan.
So if I don’t want to spend a lot of time with self-levelling primers and car bodies that look like miniature versions of diamond plate, I should buy an SLA now?
Greg
Dan Gilchrist said:
Honestly, IMHO, it’s not going to matter. As the prices of SLA printers decline, Quality scale models of ANY locomotive in ANY scale will become extremely cheap. Over a year ago, I printed a 1:29 scale SW1500 (sans powered trucks) for about $27 with my FDM printer. For those who don’t know, FDM printing requires a good amount of post processing to achive a smooth finished model. SLA printers produce a much better finished (resin) model. Mark my words, within the next few years…
As nice as that looks Dan, you almost have me researching the available equipment. Can you break that down into pieces for assembly from the file you created? (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Greg Elmassian said:
So if I don’t want to spend a lot of time with self-levelling primers and car bodies that look like miniature versions of diamond plate, I should buy an SLA now?
Greg
Short Answer: Yes. I’ve have an eye on this one https://shop.ogadget.com/products/sparkmaker
As nice as that looks Dan, you almost have me researching the available equipment. Can you break that down into pieces for assembly from the file you created? (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
I did not create the files. I should have mentioned the credit goes to Daniel Noree of the Open Railway Project. https://plus.google.com/communities/104319325439898567675/stream/10c1e740-19d5-463d-af00-a677ce0880d2
All the files are available free for anyone to use here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:916416
The material I use from Shapeways prints down to 16 micron steps or 0.0016" steps. This still has minor stepping depending on how it is set up. This style printer runs in the $80,000 range. Until home printing get to that fine of resolution, I keep outsourcing my prints.
todd whittier said:
Very nice model Dan.
Thanks Todd. I’m not sure what to do with it now as even though I printed at 60 micron resolution, it would require hours of tedious filling and sanding to smooth the surfaces. Also, it’s printed in PLA (corn starch based plastic) so I’m not sure how well it would stand up to outside elements. For now it’s just a showpiece for folks to see a bigger 3d printed object.
Dan Gilchrist said:
As nice as that looks Dan, you almost have me researching the available equipment. Can you break that down into pieces for assembly from the file you created? (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
I did not create the files. I should have mentioned the credit goes to Daniel Noree of the Open Railway Project. https://plus.google.com/communities/104319325439898567675/stream/10c1e740-19d5-463d-af00-a677ce0880d2
All the files are available free for anyone to use here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:916416
Thanks for a new door to open … looks like a fun place.
I wonder what quality level you can get for 2,000 to 4,000? Something that does not need a lot of finishing is what I want.
Greg Elmassian said:
I wonder what quality level you can get for 2,000 to 4,000? Something that does not need a lot of finishing is what I want.
In the 3d printer world, spending more $$$ doesn’t Nessesarily get you better finished quality. It gets you larger print area and speed. I belive it took me almost 2 weeks printing 24/7 to print all the parts for that SW1500 on my $500 Printerbot. A $3000 ultimaker would be faster but you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.