Sunday 22 December 2013

3D fashions...

Over on a forum I shan't bother with any more is this:-
Now clearly the person who did this on CAD knows his stuff, but he seems to think that people should be prepared to shell out £50 or more for it!!
Of course if you have a view of a Teak coach as something very close to a rough cast platelayer's hut, then I'm sure you'll snap one up if you have more money than sense, but how about stopping for a time to assess what you are being offered.  If you wanted a GNR saloon, with all its fine square cornered mouldings and beadings, you will be, MUST be, surely, woefully disappointed.  OR, will you be a fashion victim and accept this lousy finish in the name of being down with da kids and  up with modern techniques?
I don't care what they say about painting it with hi-build filler and sanding back, blah, blah...why the Hell SHOULD you?  I'll tell you why.  Because if you ever want a 3D printed item with anything like a surface finish that is acceptable, you'd better re-mortgage the house, for the only way 3D will ever give you the kind of surface finish that you would rightly expect on, say, a resin kit or even a white metal one, is if you shell out a massive wad of cash for the high resolution option.
To prove that I know exactly what CAN be done at a huge price, here is a picture of the Ryan PT-22 from Fisher Models and Patterns. I know Paul Fisher. He is a superb modelmaker, but he tried out a 3D print to get the incredibly fine detail on the cylinders of the Kinner 5 cylinder radial. He reckoned that he couldn't do that level of detail by hand, neither could I!
BUT...he described the cost of having JUST ONE of those cylinders 3D printed as "almost ruinously expensive".  For a £150 kit it was worth the financial punt.  He had just one 3D printed and then copied them as a stick of 5 which were cast in resin.  Yes, you can have all the bolt heads that hold the cylinder head on, every tiny fin and even the word "KINNER" on one of those tiny rocker covers, but don't forget..."almost ruinously expensive".

Let's get real and stop believing all the crap shoved at us by the techie press.  If you like your Gresley teaks looking like they were painted and then dipped in caster sugar from 15 paces, you go ahead and swallow all the garbage trotted out about 3D printing.  If you want quality surface finishes, be prepared to put yer money where yer mouth is for at least the next 5 years and stop flogging rough cast crap until then...


8 comments:

  1. It seems to be the flavour of the moment...a lot of folk are telling me that I will be out of a job because of 3D printing...and from what I have seen, not only is it hellish expensive to get done properly, but it is also difficult to get the process to print files properly and indeed, find a trustworthy and competent printer with the right equipment. Maybe when the dust settles in ten years things will be different, but I'm not holding my breath!

    All the best for christmas and new year, Martin!

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    1. And they're all talking out of their bums, Iain. The beauty of what you do especially, is that your models can't be done by 3D printing in a month of Sundays, because that's at least how long it would take to draw on the pootah and it would always look like it was off a machine. Not at all what your clients want. So you're safe, I'm sure. What I do is at risk, so I'd better start finding some rich old biddies with high end dolls' houses, because the one thing 3D CAN'T do is wood!

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  2. As some one who designs (and occasionally sells) 3D printed railway items I have to.... agree with you. The finish is far from perfect and I've limited myself to mostly modelling open plank wagons where the majority of the model is rough wood planking. In this situation the surface finish isn't really a problem. I'd never try modelling something made of metal or well polished wood though as the current affordable printing processes would never give a good enough finish.

    For examples of what mostly works, how about these two models I had printed and then did nothing more than spray with primer, pick out the metal work and add some transfers.

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  3. That looks like as good a use as the process will allow so far, but it is still a bit orange-peely, I'm sure you will agree. Maybe because my main stock in trade has always been varnished mahogany speedboats, shiny racing cars with the odd nickel silver loco thrown in with highly polished brass masters of cars in 43rd scale that anything short of S-M-O-O-T-H surfaces would have the client throw the model back at me. I do a lot of racing slot car body patterns and 3D is absolutely fine for chassis, which nobody sees and for which awkward shapes can't always be injection moulded. Those would be where I would use the process....if only I had a clue how to draw the stuff on the PC in the first place! Thanks for your contribution.

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    1. Yeah "orange-peely" is a very apt description. Those models were printed in the cheapest material and still cost around £12 so no cheaper than RTR or something like a Parkside Dundas kit. I could have gone for a more expensive material with a better finish, but then as you said in the post it would have been "ruinously expensive". Unfortunately I'm not very good (yet) at the whole sticking bits of tiny plastic/cardboard together to make models like Iain, but I am pretty handy with a computer which is why I tried the 3D printing. For now though I think I'm going to invest the time in getting better at the scratch building as I think we can all agree that for the foreseeable future that is always going to give a better model.

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    2. Mark, anything you want to know to help you get started with scratch building, please ask. I completely understand your position. If I could do the CAD work I'd be bloody dangerous, but I can't make head nor tail of even Corel Draw! I was reading today in W.H.Smith's library about Cambrian Models,doing a wagon for £6-25. That does rather bring 3D into focus. Styrene has only one problem. It loves to warp, but you can always make well braced vans or sheet over a braced wagon body. Apart from that it's so easy to do. All you need is a good 3 or 4" engineer's square, a steel rule and a decent knife. A scalpel is not always the best tool for cutting styrene. Bit wobbly when pressed. I use a fold up Stanley knife from Poundland! Scribe twice with the knife and snap. Clean edges by scraping with the knife, check the squareness and glue with Solvent Weld in a small brush. Scribe planks and doors with a metal working scriber that is not quite sharp. To stop your steel rule slipping, stick some masking tape on the back. Strapping is just 10 thou styrene sheet cut from the sheet into strips and the rivets can be impressed from behind with the same blunt-ish scriber. You'll be knocking 'em out in batches before New Year!
      Good luck and fer Chrissakes...ask! That's what we're here for.

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    3. It's definitely something I want to try next year and I'm sure I'll blog about my success or lack of, but if I get stuck I'll ask. Thanks!

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    4. Always welcome. I'm doing an M&GN brake van in 7mm scale currently...in pearwood! Now that's a lot more difficult to stick together than styrene. I use super-Aliphatic glue. Like the glue PVA always wished it could be! I'll be putting some pics on the blog when I can get some clear ones!

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