Garden Railway Forum

Following on from introducing this model under "The Railway in the Valley of the Mill". A row of cottages based on the row in the Welsh Slate Museum. Because my printer bed is small - 150mm x 150mm x 150mm, and it is difficult to use the full height when printing in ABS (without introducing splits and distortion) it is designed to be printed in multiple parts.

Just for completeness the solid model:
and the first two parts printed and bonded together with acetone:
The first two parts are the front of one cottage. At least they are the outer "skin" of that frontage, printed as a lower and upper section. There is an inner framework which I will show when the next one comes off the printer. The inner skin creates a thickness to the walls which represents the thick walls which real stone buildings have.

Two cottage fronts are being bonded together in the next view:
The thickness of the walls should be visible in this photo. There is also one resin printed window in place in a downstairs window frame. I'm using a length of alloy angle to try to ensure that the different components go together in a straight line.

I am printing 4 front walls, one after the other, before I print 4 rear walls in the same way. The fronts and backs are just mirror images of each other. IE the doors are on the right of each cottage on the front and on the left of each cottage on the back.



Trevor

This is the frame for the side of one cottage:
It came to be like this because my first attempt with it solid and in one piece (well two really if you go back to how its printed as an upper and lower section) came out with lots of distortion. It was too tall (thick) to print in ABS without distorting. So I split each side into an outer skin 3mm thick and an inner frame which is really just a reinforcement to keep things flat when its finished. It also gives the "look" of a thick stone wall.

I now have four fronts printed and assembled into one long wall:
I have created the dividing walls between each cottage in a skeletal form - a frame without a skin - and the first is printed and attached:
from the side to show the actual internal dividing wall and:
from the front to give a better feel for the size and form of it all.

I'm now printing the backs of all the cottages and the rest of the dividing walls.

Trevor

Clever stuff Trevor, looking very good indeed.

That is looking good Trevor. I wasn't too sure about the double thickness walls to begin with, but that last shot shows it really well and it adds to the solid look that real cottages show, so hats off to you!

philipy wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 7:14 am That is looking good Trevor. I wasn't too sure about the double thickness walls to begin with, but that last shot shows it really well and it adds to the solid look that real cottages show, so hats off to you!

Thanks!

Trevor

The row of cottages is developing into a pretty large model. Both back and front created and assembled onto the skeletal end walls:
Trevor

It is a slow process, but here is the complete building framework. All the cross walls added and the roof frames in place:
and the first end wall with its outer "skin" added:
I will have to be careful not to let the size of the stones change as I add the detail to the surface of the building in future. Each stone was individually drawn and "pulled" by the way. I am sure I will find a more efficient way to do that without creating issues with the mesh.

and a pile of doors and windows from the resin printer:
Only the roof and chimneys to go!

Trevor

What I reeeealy want to know is, with all the drawing and printing of cottages and windows etc, drawing and printing of figures plus playing with the software, not to mention huge amounts of 12":1ft civil engineering, how do you find the time to sleep and eat????

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:51 pm What I reeeealy want to know is, with all the drawing and printing of cottages and windows etc, drawing and printing of figures plus playing with the software, not to mention huge amounts of 12":1ft civil engineering, how do you find the time to sleep and eat????

Yes its getting a bit silly! I do try to do other things as well.

Trevor

philipy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 30, 2022 4:51 pm What I reeeealy want to know is, with all the drawing and printing of cottages and windows etc, drawing and printing of figures plus playing with the software, not to mention huge amounts of 12":1ft civil engineering, how do you find the time to sleep and eat????

I reckon he's cloned himself in MakeHuman .......

Rik

No

Its just not having a television!

Trevor

Trevor Thompson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 7:01 pm

Its just not having a television!

Trevor

Excellent lifestyle choice Trevor, television is such a waste of valuable time.
Everything I want is available on-line when I need to know.

I have started to build the roof. The first 8 sections which make up one side of the roof have been bonded into place:
I have been discussing the shape of the cottages with Dinah and Simon. The consensus is that the cottages may be a bit narrow - and the doors certainly LOOK tall and narrow. When you measure the width that is within the normal range of door widths (if on the narrower end of the range) so I can live with that. However it has become obvious that the pitch off the roof is too shallow. So reluctantly I have decided to modify it.

I have drawn extensions to the roof frame, an extension to the end wall "skin", and stretched the roof sections to fit the new shape:
At least it is only one side of the roof which has been printed. I will add a stonework surface to the wall extension which I hope will disguise the changes. So back to printing the modifications.

Trevor

The roof profile now looks a lot better:
I will always be able to see the join in the end walls - but the outline is no longer glaringly wrong!

Just as an aside I have painted the walls with white paint intended for house walls. It took 3 coats, and the intention is that it looks like "white wash".The cottages in the museum are set out as they were in different eras - and the left hand two represent earlier period. Whitewashed walls and dark brown paint on windows and doors. Typically Victorian I suppose. ( I remember my grandfathers outbuildings being whitewashed - and having to be careful not to have it rub off onto your clothes. ) So with the walls painted I can prepare the windows and doors and fit them.

So back to printing the roof itself.

Trevor

Yes those roofs look much better. The lower roofs made the buildings look like warehouses. Now they look very visually appealing, and proper.

I like the look of those blue clamps - 3D printed?

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:07 am I like the look of those blue clamps - 3D printed?

Rik

No - they were a present. I think they came via an online auction site.

Trevor

Having said that I see no reason why they couldn't be printed.

Trevor Thompson wrote: ↑Sat Aug 13, 2022 7:29 pm The roof profile now looks a lot better:

To my eye, it's not just the roof looking better - somehow, at least from the photos, it makes the doors look better proportioned too. Perhaps because, relative to the roof height, they are no longer as tall...?

Just as an aside I have painted the walls with white paint intended for house walls. It took 3 coats, and the intention is that it looks like "white wash".The cottages in the museum are set out as they were in different eras - and the left hand two represent earlier period. Whitewashed walls and dark brown paint on windows and doors. Typically Victorian I suppose. ( I remember my grandfathers outbuildings being whitewashed - and having to be careful not to have it rub off onto your clothes. ) So with the walls painted I can prepare the windows and doors and fit them.

Did you paint on the ABS directly? How did it take it? Or did you prime before painting with masonry paint?

I use clay paint - my old thick walls were probably mortared with a mix using sand from the beach - so the more breathable they can be the better. But it also rubs off easily, though not as easily as lime wash (which the interior walls in my Dad's cottage are painted with - again for breathability!) But for a model regular masonry paint is certainly better, the clay paint or lime wash would wash off in the rain, and there's no advantage in letting the ABS breath!

SimonWood wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 2:41 pm

Did you paint on the ABS directly? How did it take it? Or did you prime before painting with masonry paint?

Straight onto the ABS without primer. I have done it before with good results. The roof of the building at Tan-y-bwlch for example.

Trevor

It has taken a while to print and fit the roof. There were 16 separate sections which each took 5 hours to print - and of course a life to lead at the same time.

So finally the roof in place:
The underside of the roof is bonded to the framework by using Acetone as a "plastic weld", and around the edges a fillet of ABS/Acetone slurry has been applied. I have found a syringe (intended for measuring animal medicine) which seems to be made from some polyethylene like material which isn't effected by acetone. It has been really useful for applying that fillet of slurry as if I was using a mastic gun.

So the chimneys are now printing - 17 hours for two of them.

I have also stopped fitting windows and doors while I think over what Im doing. I left some figures and post boxes made last year on the resin printer outside for a week and they have burst apart. I was resin printing the doors and windows - and this has made me think again. Of course I didn't write down what I was doing on the resin printer - so I don't know what resin I used in each case and I have tried a few different resins over the last 12 months. So I will try leaving a model made from the current resin outside for a week to see what happens. Otherwise I will filament print the windows etc.

I should really add that I will fit ridge tiles when the chimneys are in place - which explains why the roof ridge looks unfinished.

Trevor