Dean’s been back in touch with his 3D printed N scale passenger station:
“Al, here are some photos showing recent progress on my Conejos Valley Railroad.
I built two stations–a passenger station, and a freight station– using 3D printed parts.
I used PLA filament printing for the larger parts and resin printing for the higher resolution parts (windows, doors, and body). I spray painted the models with a single-action air brush and acrylic paints.
In addition, I put in LED lights for both. Below are some photos of the results, but for more information and some train videos see the video.
Here is the passenger station installed on my layout.
And a view of the freight station. You can see the wooden platform I added between the rails (1/16-in balsa wood scored with a sharp pencil, then stained with dilute paint).
An action photo of a train passing through.
Here are the 3D-printed parts for the freight station. Clockwise from the upper left, the base, the LED holder, the roof, and the body.
A closer view of the resin-printed body.
The high resin printed windows, doors, and chimneys.
Finally, here is the light assembly with two 3-mm LEDs and a 1K ohm dropping resistor (used to control current). The soldered connections to the supply wires are melted into the PLA to securely hold them.
Hope these photos show the utility of modern 3D printers.
Cheers,
Dean from New Mexico.”
A big thanks to Dean for sharing his 3D printed N scale passenger station.
Dean’s has shared a few posts on 3D printing – here’s his previous one:
That’s all for today folks.
One last thing – see if you can make someone’s day by answering a question on the forum. I promise you it’ll make you feel good.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you poke boredom in the eye, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
nice tips. i like the buildings, nice.
I’m fascinated by the opportunities 3D printing offers us modelers. Nice example here.
While the buildings come out very realistic, the reality is not many of us (my own opinion) are solvent enough to own a 3D printer.
Nice product though.
There should be a resistor for each LED…if you use just one, unless the characteristics of both are exactly the same, they will be of unequal brightness.
Dean,
I really like your buildings; however, I I would like to suggest the option of replacing the two windows in the Passenger station push out cove area with exterior walkup ticket purchasing windows. Beautiful demonstration. Thanks.
Dean, who is a clever guy, brought up the subject of 3D printing. TJK just said many of us are not solvent enough to own one and I want to throw in my 2 cents.
The masters- Brian Messenger, Bill from Va, Rob of FH, Faustev and many more I cant list, all have layouts with tons of detail. These details make the Bang & awesomeness.
You can either purchase these details or make them. So if you were to compare the prices of purchase vs making with 3D printing they come out pretty close and you can make more by 3D. Now what if they dont sell stuff you need- what price do you place on that ? I now have (4) 3D boats for my future seaport that are worth 2x the cost of my printer and so all of the other details that I cant buy because they are S scale cost me nothing to make.
Now if your layout has a few kits, 6 people, & a bunch of match box cars TJK is right but if you want to load up & spice up yours to make a Bang then 3D is the way. I am having so much fun with this. My imagination can run wild and playing with 3D cad, designing and making stuff is So much fun! Getting stuff on the net and modifying it is a gas and very satisfying when applying it to trains.
Card stock buildings are a must for S scale for as you get larger in scale making 3D buildings gets too complicated, BUT- making the electric meter box. mail box, gas meter, and tons of details for commercial buildings is a breeze and fun too. Besides I cant buy it.
I have made a bunch of people in S scale which I have to paint. McGoo eyes & gorilla fingers dont help. The people really should be printed with a resin printer but that’s a discussion for another day. Us old guys must not be afraid of this. Its intimidating at first but once you get the hang its worth every penny. Besides for me it adds a FUN aspect that augments my trains. Aint nuthin bettern that.
Big Al
Keep truckin brother! You exemplify-” When you want something done- Give it to a busy person.”
Be well.
Nice looking station but don’t own a 3d printer
The buildings are okay, not much detail, but I’m more interested in what he has done on the pic of the scenery with the mountain, the tunnel, and the waterfall coming off the mountain leading to a river flowing along side of the tracks. I look at these lay-outs more for the scenery to give me ideas as to what I want to do on my own lay-out. Great job on the scenery, wish he had shown us more of that.
Some public libraries offer the use of 3D printers, either for free, or charge for the plastic used. I have even seen them offering courses in using & programming them. There are also for profit entities that will 3D print for you.