Three-D Modelling for Railways

This is my first try at a loco. My prefered era is ca. 1980, and I am put off doing locos of that time because of the windows - how do you get flush windows? However, I am making a small layout set in Dorset/Hampshire between the wars, so thought a steam engine might be fun. The model is designed to fit a Graham Farish chassis - which I already had - and the prototype was selected on that basis. Details of the prototype can be found here . This image is by Ben Brooks, and on wikipedia, so I assume I am okay to reproduce. This is the model in Blender with details added, but before consideration of the chassis. It is basically a whole bunch of cylinders and cubes, plus one sphere and a few Bezier curves. The trickiest part was where the chimney, steam dome and safety value meet the boiler/smoke box. I accomplished this by extending the chimney outwards a significant way, and then down, and then beveling the corner. I then selected all the vertices at the bottom of the chimney and assigne...

This is a set of STL files that users can print out, and put together as a mill, warehouse, etc. in any number of configurations. It has been designed to make assembly as easy as possible. It will appear on Cults3d... All the parts are sized for N gauge, but can be readily scaled up to TT, HO or OO.  For this example I will be making a small, low relief warehouse in OO.  Ground floor pieces are taller; the STL files all start "bottom". All other storeys are the same size, and you can have as many as you want, or none at all. I am just having one. The STL files all start "middle". The top is just a wall, and you need one for each column. The STL files start "top". I printed the parts upright, except for joins, which I did on their side. Here then are the bits I printed out, laid out where they will end up (as first planned anyway). To put them together, assemble in columns, face up, from top to bottom. Use a straight piece of wood to ensure they align strai...