December 25, 20223 yr Author I got some outside help to finally make more of the details for this engine (EMD) G scale engine CR (NS) SD80MAC build | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (ogaugerr.com) I have many projects that I started but never finished. The reasons vary. Usually I don't have the time, or.... it's too difficult to make something by hand and get it perfect. Request to Build: 1/32 emd SD80mac fans: Thanks everyone ! | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (ogaugerr.com) I really need to get into printing parts myself.
December 26, 20223 yr Dive in there Joe, the 3d printer's price is down. Just learn to draw in 3d and you've got it. Bob.
January 27, 20233 yr Author Thanks! I missed your reply until now. All of a sudden I am very busy with life and work. When it cycles around, or slows down, I will dive in. I think I have to. There are many things that keep me from doing more scratch builds. These fans are a great example.
January 27, 20233 yr On 10/1/2020 at 6:26 PM, rbrown7713 said: That's a good looking train, makes me want to build some freight cars. Bob. Careful that is a different animal than passenger cars... so many variations.... Hey I got to edit this ... Edited January 27, 20233 yr by Sean Missed a word
January 27, 20233 yr I am glad that I finally found the edit button, as I make quite a few mistakes. I think that I will stick to passenger cars. Bob.
February 18, 20233 yr Oh, I thought it might be some small super batteries that I didn't know about, but that makes sense now, good idea. Bob.
January 25, 20251 yr Author I've been dabbling with a few projects but I've lost interest. I decided to bring some stuff upstairs and put it right in front of me. I'm hoping that will force some work out of me. Maybe not having to go down into a dungeon will be better? Let's see..., what needs doing next. Steps! Yuck. I hate small detail work. I should have invested in 3d printing.
January 25, 20251 yr Operating a 3d printer is easy compared to learning how to draw in a 3d program. To make your own parts, one has to learn that skill and that is what takes time. For me, I have found it very difficult to learn. But, on the positive side, as time goes on, many more objects are made available online to download, many of them for free. Lots of train stuff is available. Bob.
January 26, 20251 yr Author Yes, thank you. I had figured that using cad (or other software) was part of the time investment on running the printer. I dabble, reading what's up with printing and software. I just never committed to anything. I'm just old school, making stuff by hand. Some things are ridiculously difficult to perfect. Your eyes will pick up imperfections very quickly. I believe digital printing would help get those things right. I already relied on that to make the fans. I got help to make them. Scratch building them would be ridiculous in time and effort to perfect them. These steps might be too. I ordered 3d printed pilots for my MTH O scale SD80MAC to convert to 2 rail fixed pilots. Again, complicated to make by hand and perfect. I like to focus on what I can do and not waste time on things I can't do well.
January 28, 20251 yr Joe, No way you could graft some of the MTH SD70 fixed pilots onto you're fine built models maybe?
January 29, 20251 yr Author I did buy a pair of them. Unfortunately, every engine has different shapes to the pilots and stair areas. Each build I made got a little more exact to the real thing. My scratch SD70ACe has a frame area that really just a GE Dash 8 modified. The pilots should be fixed on that first. I'll probably use the spare MTH ones if I can mod the frame to fit them. It's a lot of work there. I chose to work on this one, as it has no pilots at all. I could order more MTH Ace ones, but they won't fit as is and require frame mods. So I'd have to cut and work them in. Kind of a wash on what's harder to do. I chose to start from scratch. I must like to shoot myself in the foot?
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