Sunday 18 May 2014

Hi guys, I thought I'd give you a bit of an update today. I started uni this year and I've been incredibly busy! So I haven't really had time to work on any ambitious projects lately. However I have done a few little things which I think are worth a post. 

The 3D printer works and has done for a while now. It's running quite well and I think I've nutted out all its little idiosyncrasies. It was a total pain to set up but now that it's running, it's so nice to have. For me it's the perfect system because I prefer designing things to actually making them so being able to design lots of things and have them made for me by a machine is fantastic. 


This is a model Tardis I made (yes with the printer) for my friend who is well into Dr Who. It is actually printed in white plastic and painted blue, although I've since bought some blue plastic to make more Tardises with. This was somewhat rare amongst my projects because I actually finished this one. It's even got a flashing light in it! 

Light off, light on.
Probably my longest term project and one which doesn't get much of a mention is my model train layout. It's a replica of a German layout called Zofeld which was originally in HO scale but I'm making it in N scale which is about half the size. But even though it's half the size, it's still damned expensive and it's impossible to find the right buildings. Whilst they exist in HO scale, the manufacturers don't seem to make the same models in the scale I'm using. So I have to make do with similar ones. However with the printer I can simply make my own buildings. So that's exactly what I've done.


This is the first building made on the printer, I've just finished painting it and I think it's come out quite well. I'm not going to print all my own buildings because the computer models for them are very fiddly and time consuming. I'll only make the ones which I can't find good replacements for. This model isn't quite finished, it still needs windows, lights and weathering but so far it's looking good. Let me know what you think.