Gmeinder & Co loco

[ge_rik]

Neat!

Rik

[Old Man Aaron]

Terrific little loco, and good spotting on that wartime headlamp.

[philipy]

Wow, that is good! Especially the cab detail.

Rik

Thanks Rik. It remains to be seen how well the fine bits will print!

Well, the answer to my own question is, "They printed pretty well, I think" Still a bit of cleaning up needed but basically straight out of the UV curer. The first picture is the radiator grille and the Bull Bars. The 2nd is, obviously, the cab interior. I'll drill the top of the gear lever mount and put a piece of wire in it for the lever itself. I'm particularly chuffed by the diamond treadplate, I wasn't at all sure how that would come out.

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So, I'm now sorting out all the component part drawings for the body and doing the stl's for printing.

[-steves-]

Really tidy prints, well done with the support, I can't even see it.

[ge_rik]

Very neat!


Rik

[SimonWood]

Those prints are superb. How did you orientate to cab interior to print it?

[philipy]

Thanks guys.

Simon, The cab interior was printed just sitting on the bed the right way up.
The two grilles were angled at about 33 degrees from the the vertical for printing.

This is a screenshot of it in Chitubox prior to slicing.

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[philipy]

Just a quick update to report that nothing much has happened, in construction terms, in the last couple of weeks. I'm fairly happy with the overall proportions, but I've been a bit bothered about the actual dimensions and I've juggled them around several times. I even tried to make contact with the museum to ask, but there has been no response at all, which was a bit disappointing. Anyway I think I've settled on the final version ( till next time!).

Actually I'm reluctant to go too far until Mr Ali puts a kick in his Express and the motor arrives - ordered 3rd March, cleared Chinese customs on 6th March, currently estimated delivery by 6th MAY. Think it's on a slow boat FROM China!

Anyway, the time hasn't been entirely wasted. I went looking for a suitable driver and found an stl of a WW2 Luftwaffe transport driver in uniform, complete with a steering wheel. I managed to use Meshmixer to chip away most of the wheel and then had a 2nd stroke of luck. I found a Youtube video on how to import an stl into Blender and insert 'bones' so that the limbs can be posed. It's a complicated set of actions but it does work and I can move one of his arms wherever I want. It says that the same thing can be done with the rest of the limbs, but I can't quite get them to work independantly atm, but I'll get there ( I hope).
The screenshot from Blender shows the 'bones' in his right arm, which all work as intended.

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The one thing I have achieved is the blackout headlight, which does actually work, although after about 5 coats of paint, light still bleeds through the top of the fitting.
Chitubox screen shot:

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From the front... 'blinding'!

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From the top, light bleeds through, although a resistor to cut down the brilliance may help.

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[Phil.P]

You may have better results if you change the orientation of the LED?
You get a (usually) fairly narrow beam of light from a LED.. If this is shining vertically into the 'housing' then it will be difficult to stop light bleeding through the top of the housing..

Another trick:
You can file the end of the LED flat.. Paint the flatted area (I use 'silver' topped with black). This can give you a more diffuse light, without the narrow, bright beam.

Phil.P

[drewzero1]

You might also be able to fit a piece of foil inside the housing as a reflector.

[philipy]

Thanks both, but no go for either suggestion I'm afraid. I've often filed LED's to fit and I've thought about a reflector, but it really isn't practical.

I'm actually using a 1.0 x 1.0 x 1.5mm micro LED, because thats all that will go inside. The light output slot is only 1mm high and the complete fitting is 13 x 7 x 4.5 high and the LED & wires have to go up a piece of 2mm OD brass tube.

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[Old Man Aaron]

Basecoating with black before topcoating usually saves me.

[philipy]

Basecoating with black before topcoating usually saves me.

Well, so far it's had an initial grey primer spray, 2 coats of acrylic black spray, a coat of black acrylic brushed on, and another coat of grey primer on top!

[Phil.P]

Have you painted the inside faces of the lamp?

I find it better to paint the inside of the model, and around where the LED is, rather than the outer face of the moulding..
Once the light has entered the plastics, it spreads uncontrollably, and it is much harder to stop it bleeding through.

Phil.P

[philipy]

I found a Youtube video on how to import an stl into Blender and insert 'bones' so that the limbs can be posed. It's a complicated set of actions but it does work and I can move one of his arms wherever I want. It says that the same thing can be done with the rest of the limbs, but I can't quite get them to work independantly atm, but I'll get there ( I hope).

To say that I am chuffed is a gross understatement!!!

I have managed to 'bonify' ( I think "Rig" is the correct Geek term) both arms, legs, neck & head so within limits I can pose him however I want.
Just as a trial, I quickly made the sitting driver stand up straight (-ish!). So, from the sitting figure on the right, to the standing one on the left. His left arm is a bit odd but that's fixable.

Once I got the hang of it, it was quite easy and potentially opens all sorts of possibilities for posing figures. If anyone wants to know how to do it, just shout.

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[philipy]

Have you painted the inside faces of the lamp?

Yes, black, as best I am able to. It's difficult to be sure when trying to paint the insde of a slot that is only 1mm high by about 4mm deep!

[SimonWood]

Once I got the hang of it, it was quite easy and potentially opens all sorts of possibilities for posing figures. If anyone wants to know how to do it, just shout.

AHOY THERE!

Yes please, thinking back to when I bought my first printer, figures was one of my key purposes, but none of my half-hearted attempts to learn how to rig bonify succeeded. What's the secret sauce?

[-steves-]

Once I got the hang of it, it was quite easy and potentially opens all sorts of possibilities for posing figures. If anyone wants to know how to do it, just shout.

Also yes please, I have a figure that I would love to be able to move the arm on it into a different position but have absolutely no clue where to start

[philipy]

OK, I'll write it up in words of one syllable, but gimme an hour or three. The video I mentioned is very good, but more complex than we need. It was a good starting point and I couldn't have done it without him, but by trial and error I found I could stop half way through and then do my own thing!

[Trevor Thompson]

Brilliant.

And the instructions on how to add the bones are VERRY useful. Being able to do that has the potential to overcome the limitations of "Makehuman". I'm off to look for figures I can alter!

Trevor