Three-D Modelling for Railways

I am a chemist by profession, and so the transport of chemicals by rail is of interest. In fact I wrote an article on the topic, see here . Nitrogen Liquors The appeal for these is in the name, which makes no sense at all if you are a chemist. They actually contained ammonium nitrate, which is a fertiliser used to put nitrogen in soil, which will be where the name comes from, presumably a solution in water, that is likely both hot - given the wagons are lagged - and very concentrated. Images of the prototype can he found here . They are so dirty it is not possible to tell the original colour, but I am guessing green? One end has four flanges; these would have been to allow the contents to be heated using steam. They were printed separately. The wagons have channels down the sides to catch spills. i guess this is to ensure the solution down not end up between the rails, where it could mix with oil to create an explosive mixture. The ladders are brass. The chasses are Peco. Carbon Dioxid

 The FEP/PFA film on he bottom of the tank is a consumable. It gets pulled on every layer of every model, and eventually wears out (and I strongly suspect using metal tools on it will make that happen faster). What happens when it wears out? You get a leak. Early signs of a leak I had noticed a bump in the PFA film previously, and I strongly suspect this was a leak in the making. There were no scratches or whiting of the film besides that. Is it worth replacing the FEP/PFA film at the first sign of a leak about to appear? My current thinking is no. I got quite a few prints out before the leak actually developed, and the effort and money probably comes down on the side of waiting - if you have a screen protector. Printing with a leak This is what I got. There should be two octagonal towers, and some other bits. The tower on the right is fine, the one on the left, not so much. It stuck to the base plate and the supports are fine, in fact by the end of the print is was looking okay again.

Lancastria House was built by the Lancastrian Co-Operative Society in, I think, 1935. It is, in my view, the best example of Art Deco we have in Preston. It is mostly done in Blender, and I am starting to print it out. This was my longest print, at over eight hours. This is the first six components. I have yet to print out the ground floor; the walls you see will eventually be rather higher, almost up to the towers. Obviously no roof or back wall yet either. There is the prototype. It is currently not in use - and narrowly avoided demolition, but was recently Great Times Chinese Restaurant on the ground floor, and offices above. Ultimately I decided to do this as a low relief building.