MY 3D PRINTING VENTURES FOR Z-SCALE - BRACE YOURSELF NELLIE

Well, the forum has been quite slow as of late, and probably for good reason – everybody is busy working on their
Z-projects. At least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking by it.

So I’ve been busy with my 3-D printer, designing and producing things that are much needed in the Z-SCALE community in order to add realism(my Z-passion) to our layouts, modules, dioramas, etc.

And I think I came up with some items that everyone will appreciate. And while Carlos Pinto and Steve Woodward seem to be tackling the big rigs, and Walt has the bigger complex items available, I thought, I would go after things that we never imagined we could have in Z.

Here’s some pics and descriptions of what I have created as far.

Rooftop A/C evap coolers, US mailboxes, 1950s era street trash receptacles, fire, hydrants, gas meters, manhole covers and street grates…and more…! Small stuff, I know, but these are needed to “complete the scene”.

I did quite a bit of picture research and tried to create items that were common in the mid-1940s through later 1960s. Items for these eras are pretty much nonexistent, but we just changed that.

Now, I’ve literally been working on these this evening, trying to refine their design and also mount them on trees. Here are the results of my efforts. Single and double parking meters!!! And YES, the top portion where the meter actually spins you can see through it just like a real meter. Notice the front face detail - insane I know.

The design element and test runs on these were pretty challenging, but I learn more and more with each print.

And there’s more……

 

So the one element that would complete any Z-scale intersection scene in a city or a small town has to be traffic signals.

These have been pretty challenging in regards to the actual print process, and I think I have them ready for final production. I just want them perfect. And at this micro small level that’s near impossible….LOL.

Now I painted these yellow to see what the effect would be and you’ll note I painted the lenses black. I tried red green and yellow lenses (granted I didn’t need yellow mind you), but the colors just did not look right. So I went with black to give these that off look and a little depth.

These are still going through a bit of refinement, but one thing you’ll notice is the loop at the top, which allows for hanging the lights across an intersection.

Also, in work are pole mounted versions in both a two way, and three way configuration. It was not common for a four-way traffic signal to be mounted on a pole, but rather hung. So these that you see in the photos obviously can be hung across an intersection from pole to pole for ultimate realism.

Again, the pole mounted signals are still in the design phase.

 

Also out of necessity, I designed MTL F7 chassis spacers, although I call these “enhanced” as I made them a few millimeters longer than the factory units. This makes them a tad bit easier to handle. Being that these are made out of resin, they have more of a plastic feel, whereas the originals have more of an ABS plastic element to them.

for those Z-scale newbies that are not familiar with what these are, they are item number two in the picture below.

If you have any MTL F7’s, there’s always the risk of having one of these pop off your workstation and into the carpet.
I’m not sure if MTL still offers these at all. I know in the past they did not. Hence the reason why I had to make my own.

And before anybody asks, I am also working on the same spacer for the MTL GP9’s and GP35’s. These are a bit more tricky, as I had to switch my resin over to an ABS type, seeing as these have to be flexible enough to have a small screw inserted into them without cracking.

Again, these are still in the design and production process.

So there you have it. The wonders of 3-D printing.

 

Lance,
Excellent work! I appreciate the time it takes to research this stuff and translate them to drawings.
Unfortunately for me life is keeping me from trains right now.

Scott

 

Well noted on the "life" part Scott -- fully understood and dealing with that as well. I grab a bit of time whenever I can and work on something. As of late, it's been 3D design and printing. Takes my mind off everything else that is going on in the world.....

 

Lance, Wow!! How perfectly timely!! I need a bunch of parking meters and traffic lights. I’ll IM you later today. John

 

What’s cool about the parking meters is that the natural gray color of the resin may lend to them NOT even having to be painted! Although I have seen some real units in frost green, but a silverish gray is most common.

I’ll look for your IM.

 

Just IMd you.

 

I don't think the DIME is going to fit in the parking meter, just saying

 

perhaps it needs some 1/220 Dimes printing

 

……that would be at the molecular level. And that’s a whole-nother’ 3D printer….

 

Well, when he makes a Z-scale meter maid-you'll be in trouble!

 

Sharing a little progress in regards to the traffic signals. Spent literally my entire Saturday morning fine-tuning the print for the hanging four-way signal.

Determined it was easier to simply leave these units on the build plate and airbrush them. I used VALLEJO AIR, which is a water-based pre-thinned and ready to shoot paint. Pretty good stuff if I must say. In the photos the paint looks a little heavy on the build plate, but was not necessarily on the parts.

One thing that concerns me about 3-D printed details is whether or not the scale is accurate. Now granted there’s always a little give-and-take when it comes to Z-scale. Unfortunately, I am OCD about getting them as close as realistically as possible.

In the photos below, for comparison I inserted Officer Prieser, a Carlos Pinto 1957 police cruiser, and one of my own fire hydrants painted red. I am rather pleased with the dimensions of the traffic signals at this point.

Lastly, I designed the signals to be hung across an intersection. The eyelet on top of the signals is literally the same as the eye of a needle. The only problem - it is rather delicate because it is resin printed. But I managed to string a .24 guage bead wire through it without a little problem and it seems to be rather robust.

on a sidenote, in regards to the traffic signal lenses, I am of the opinion I would just leave well enough alone. On a previous test batch, I took an indelible ink, microfine marker and touched each of the lenses with black. (See previous pics). I’m not so sure it did anything extra. I personally will not use that technique going forward and will simply hang these signals without any further touch up.

Now for those of you refusing to feed my Z-scale parking meters with your Z-scale dimes, just know this that Officer Prieser will not tolerate any of you red light runners in Z-ville….’

 

Lance,
Your recent post stopped me in my tracks, but I had to go ahead and read it.
How easy is it to get the paint off the build plate?
Have you checked out Ngineerings .004 wire? It is suggested for telephone poll wire in Z. https://ngineering.com/other_detail_stuff.htm
Your rapid prototyping is coming along great!

Scott

 

Thanks Scott —ahhh, Ngineering - I forgot about them. I have them bookmarked actually. Good suggestion!

As for painting on the build plate, I would certainly do it again. It was a very convenient part holder, although one must do a little masking to make sure nothing else gets covered with paint except the area needed.

However several things in regards to my paint experiment on these traffic signals:

What I discovered after the paint dried is that this VALLEJO AIR(pre-thinned) paint lays down very thin, which is good for some things. But the problem is it didn’t lay thick enough to add the color I needed for the signals. I noticed this, as I began to pull the signals off of the build plate that they still had a little bit of the natural gray color showing through the paint. add to that this particular yellow does not have the rich, deep yellow I need. And priming these parts was definitely out of the question because the detail is so minute.

As for the paint coming off of the build plate, it was nothing more than taking a razor blade and sliding it underneath the paint and it lifted off in sheets. Now this was a water-based acrylic mind you. I am printing another batch of these same signals and will be shooting them with testers yellow enamel. We’ll see how well that paint comes off the build plate.

 

Looking good Lance!

 

Thanks John, Rob. Although some these details are already in production by a few others, I’m trying to nail down those items we’ve long needed, which will push Z-scale to the next level of realism.