Three-D Modelling for Railways

Available on cults3d ! Helping out on a layout at a show last week, the owner of the layout said he wanted a storage tank with a  set of spiral steps to get to the top. I realised that would be pretty easy to do with geometry nodes , just create one step, and then have it repeat in a circle, but as well as rotating, also increase the z-location. The tank itself is just a cylinder with a flattened hemisphere on top. I did one without steps, and also a bridge to link them. Here they are primed, but not printed, from about the same angle. I am - one day - going to build a "vignette" of a chemical site, and will use these, and will paint them accordingly when I do.

This is a model of small water tower that supplies to a row of railway cottages next to Garsdale station, and I asked to do this for a friend who is making a model of the station (and these are all his photos, used with permission). Here is what is looks like, and what I thought I was modelling - a metal box on a concrete box. That is two hollowed out cubes in Blender. Then I saw the other side. So that made it more interesting! Firstly, the concrete base has been sculpted to make it look chipped and worn. The metal lid has a slight sag. There is a ladder. The corrugated iron roof of the lean-to looks battered after applying a lattice modifier. The tarpaulin was made using a cloth modifier. I have put a couple of drums behind it - no idea what is there really. I printed this for a friend, and two months later he still has not painted it, so here it is in the raw. He is building a layout; once he is done, I will add better images.

I work in the chemical industry, and I find all the pipework going round factories fascinating. Often all there is in the pipes is steam and water - where I work that is the case, which is a relatively small site. NOTE: The models discussed are available to download from my Cults3d pages. See the Chemicals by Rail collection! This example is from Liverpool Docks, and I would guess the large pipe contain steam, the smaller would include a condensate line, returning condensed steam back to the boiler, and maybe hot and cold water. The system at Liverpool docks is unusual in that the pipes run at high level, coming down to ground level only where they are accessed by a building. It is more usual for the pipes to run along the ground, and then jump over roads and railways. Large sites often have chemicals in the pipes, and that can result in a lot of pipework, as this view of Stanlow oil refinery shows. The decline in the UK chemical industry means that smaller sites are pretty rare now, ...

This is a rather obscure wagon that was converted from a mark 1 coach. It seems to have run in pairs, and there may have only been two of them; image here . It was an experiment by GWR (the modern company), between 1999 and 2005, and seems to have failed as a business. They were later used Network Rail Brake Force Runners, and there are photos of them in that role here . It is not my era, but people were expressing an interest on a thread on the N Gauge forum, and suggested they would be happy to pay, so I had a go. It is a pretty straightforward model, but took me several goes to get it right - in particular to get the height right on the chassis, a Lima BG, but eventually I got there. Two coaches each were dispatched to three gentlemen. The first time I have posted models, and the first time I have posted a parcel at all for a good five years. Here is an early photo back - still waiting for transfers.

I discussed the prototype in a previous post . This was my first successful attempt at printing a loco. The big issue are firstly finding a suitable chassis, and the second, getting your model to fit said chassis... It took me three prints before I got that right. As usual, it was designed in Blender, and is not that complicated a model. It is basically a box, with slightly thinner boxes at each end, and a curved roof. The chassis is a Dapol Hymek, and is no a great match, the class 76 had very long bogies, but it is the best I am going to get, and is acceptable to me. Dapol sell them without the body. For new , it is not great; it is a little temperamental until it gets going, and quite noisy.  The pantographs are from Kato and only a couple of quid for the pair. The windows are "Glue n Glaze", which is great, but there is quite an art to using it. The black version has blobs where I added a little too much, but mostly on the other side! The blue and yellow are Ammo paints, ...

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...

 Egglestone Abbey is a mile or so southeast of Barnard Castle. It was founded between 1168 and 1198, but largely rebuilt a century later. It was a Premonstratensian abbey, and was technically run by canons, rather than monks. It was dissolved in 1540 by King Henry VIII, and much of it pulled down. The main church was laid out like a cross on an east-west alignment - as usual - with further buildings on the north side, including cloisters to the northest. I have modelled the east end of the nave in one section, and the presbytery and alter in the second, and not bothered with the rest, as it is quite large! I had to scale it down to 80% to fit it in the printer. A couple of photos of the real thing (I did not quite get the colour right, but this is about the 3d design, not the painting!):

I created some petrol pumps several months ago. A couple of weeks ago I decided to do the whole petrol station. This is available to download from Cults3d for €2.50 . It is loosely base on Middleforth garage, as it was a couple of years ago with a Spar attached (it is now an Asda). I designed it so it could be lit up. There is space in the shop for two LEDs, and and another two in the canopy. The pillars are hollow to allow wires - though I had to use a pin drill to open the hole up.

I remember milk being delivered in an Express Dairies milk float as a kid. There used to be a line of three of them parked outside the nearby pub (itself a work-in-progress) after they had finished their rounds. D6 Electricar This is a D6, which is I think what I used to see, though I have not found much evidence Express Dairies used that model. It is kind of the classic model of milk float, and has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies, including Father Ted . Nevertheless, I have not found out much about it at all. It was built by Morrison Electricar in 1966, and possibly as early as Septemer 1964, at their factory in Leicester, which later moved to Tredegar, Monmouthshire. The company went through a number of name changes, including Crompton Leyland Electricars Ltd. but was still making them in 1974.  The earlier D5, which seems to have been the model in 1964, had a flat windscreen , but was otherwise quite similar. The D4 looked quite different and may date from 1954? As far ...

Corfe Castle is a castle in a village of the same name in Dorset. Originally Norman, and much extended later, it was destroyed during the English Civil war.  What remains of the keep is a prominent landmark on the top of the hill, overlooking the village. It is this that I modelled. This is available to download from Cults3d , for € 2.50!

Corfe Castle is a small village in Dorset. The station is on the line from Wareham to Swanage, which closed in 1972, but was preserved along the Swanage end. Corfe Castle was the only intermediate station when part of the national network. It is an attractive station, with interesting rooves. I recalled that there was a plan and elevations in Railway Modeller in 1976, and managed to find it. I took a photo, used GIMP to remove distortions, then imported that into Blender. After sizing, I could them use that to get the proportions right. I visited the village in 2019, but did not make it to the station as I had the family in tow. I could just about see it from the castle though.

 A small project I did in Blender on Christmas Eve, and printed on Boxing Day, painted today. The prototype is where Old Manchester Road meets Manchester Road, and was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee - like so many municipal drinking fountains. I created one corner, which was then replicated using Geometry Nodes, though mirroring would have worked just as well! There is a gargoyle on each corner, which I did using the "Sculpt" mode, and is fine in small scale, but will look a bit rubbish if you look too closely! This is the print, unpainted. This is the first time using a light box for photos (thanks to middle child for the present!). And printed. The STL file is available to download on Cults3d for free. The above is a slightly different version as the prototype is missing a ball in one corner and has a sizeable chunk out of it.