Scalefour Forum

Two additions today to the range in my Shapeways shop.

9' baseplates for Bill-Bedford axleguards is now the mark-2 version with pegs to locate printed brakes (the brakes themselves should be available by next Wednesday). This product now provides three baseplates per print (previously two per print) to reduce the cost per part.

Door-vent covers for GER coaches are a new product to enhance the recently-released Eveleigh kits as discussed in depth on RMweb.

Brake assemblies are now in the shop. These are for modellers who want to see daylight between the hangers and pushrods for each brake block, but don't feel like soldering up the assemblies from etches.

The photo shows my test-print which was washed and primed but not otherwise fettled. There's some printing cruft along the top of the push rods and this can be sanded or scraped flat before painting and fitting.

There's a choice of 9' or 9'6" wheelbase so far (other sizes to follow, if requested). Non-reversible shoes are shown and I will do the 9' w/b ones with reversible shoes later.

Impressive Guy.
Maybe some 10ft ones also? Mind, a case could be made for all sorts.

For the 10' w/b brakes, would you prefer reversible or non-reversible shoes?

Reversible would be most agreeable sir

Brakes and baseplates for 10ft wheelbase are now available. I've done both reversible and non-reversible brake shoes, as separate products.

The 10ft baseplates have come out rather expensive under Shapeways' new pricing-model. I may try to find a different spruing-arrangement that makes them cheaper.

Reversible shoes for the brakes at other wheelbases will follow when I have some spare time.

Excellent!

I tried respruing the baseplates and the price actually went up as I made it more compact. I'm afraid we're stuck with those prices.

Guy Rixon wrote:I tried respruing the baseplates and the price actually went up as I made it more compact. I'm afraid we're stuck with those prices.

Being wound up by it for far too long, Shapeways' latest antics have driven me to take action.

I've grabbed the ox by its horns and brought the Anycubic Photon DLP.

First test print is bloody amazing.

Just taken delivery of some 10' reversible shoe brake gear - seriously good!
You are definitely onto a winner here Guy. I feel sure other wheelbases and types of brakeshoe would attract interest.
Better get cracking with these mind...

Hallo Guy
Are you open to further suggestions with regards to brake gear?
Might I suggest some RCH reversible shoe items in 11ft and 12ft wheelbase.
The 10 ft ones I bought area eliciting some great interest from others I have shown them to.

Slàinte
Iain

I can certainly do the brake-gear for those wheelbases. Also the baseplates if they are wanted.

FWIW, the brakes and the baseplates are parameterized by wheelbase (and also by wheel size, although I would need to bodge the height to suit different wheels), so coding a new length is quick. Compiling, checking the model, uploading and making the product in the shop takes a couple of hours per length.

Excellent news sir.
So 3'1" wagon wheels seem appropriate.
I have some stock of those wheelbases in need of brakes.
Frankly, me and soldering irons do not get on; at least on things that small...
I must get some baseplates as well of all of the wheelbases, apart frae any newer ones like 11' & 12'

Sláinte
Iain

11ft and 12ft brakes, plus their baseplates, are now in the shop. Enjoy!

Order coming this evening
Thanks Guy, greatly appreciated

Hallo again Guy.
Did you ever get around to drawing up 9' wheelbase brake gear with reversible shoes?
I would certainly purchase a significant number for PO wagons and such.

Slàinte
Iain

I hadn't done those particular brakes, but I've done them now. They are a sprue of 10 assemblies, rather than 8 in the previous products, to get best value from the printer and avoid SW's price-floor of $7.50 per print.

Ordered this afternoon with thanks.
A fun winter awaits...

I now have Stone's ventilators for MR and LMS coaches available. These use the clear resin in Shapeways FUD/FXD prints to simulate the glass parts. One print will fit quite a few coaches.

New wagon-baseplates are now in the shop. 9'3" suits most LCDR wagons; their buffer guides are there already and axleboxes will be along when SW sends my test-print. 9'4" suits some SER wagons, like the round-ended opens; buffer guides and axleboxes for those have been available for a while.

New products today: axleboxes with springs and shoes for LCDR wagons and axleboxes (no springs) + buffers for GNSR wagons. Also, the GWR self-contained buffers are back after re-engineering to make the ram collars fit the guides properly.

With regret, I have to announce the withdrawal of the Rixon Finescale Models range from Shapeways.

Recently, Shapeways have started to reject items from orders as unprintable, even when the same models have been printed successfully before. They apply rigorously some rules on minimum part-thickness that are not enforced in the automatic tests, so that alleged problems can only be found by ordering a test-print. They apply thse rules retrospectively, so models that have already be test-printed are also likely to fail, and they don't respect the fact that a model has 100% success in printing. Finally, I'm told that any model can be rejected if a Shapeways engineer thinks it might break during processing, so nothing is safe, even if brought into line with the rules.

Many of the products in this range are likely to be deemed unprintable under these rules. All the axlebox-spring combinations have to go, and all the brake assemblies. None of those are worth printing if they are made thick enough to meet the rules. Other products may be at risk too, but without doing test-prints of everything I can't be sure which will pass and which will fail. I can't afford to test-print everything again at once!

Therefore, I will be taking the whole range off-sale for the foreseeable future. The shop will remain as a record, and I might put some products back on sale if I validate them with test prints; but that would only happen where I need the prints for my own work.

I apologise to anybody who's been inconvenienced by this, but Shapeways have put me in an untenable position.

Guy Rixon wrote:With regret, I have to announce the withdrawal of the Rixon Finescale Models range from Shapeways.

I have not had a need to use any of the range but this seems a great pity. Presumably there is no alternative manufacturer?

Terry Bendall

So far, I haven't found an alternative manufacturer. iMaterialize offer the same printing-process as Shapeways but have even harsher restrictions on thicknesses.

The annoying thing is that the printers exclude models that are well within the capabilities of their machines.

This seems a real step backwards, Guy. Etchers regularly issue dire warnings about infringing their guidelines but that just means I have to take responsibility. It's odd that Shapeways are taking such a hard line - can only assume they're being asked to do some pretty wild stuff which are leading to disputes.

DaveB