3D printed HO vehicles (resin vs FDM)

Discussion in '3D Modeling Projects' started by Chris M, Mar 21, 2021.

  1. Chris M

    Chris M If 2 wrongs don't make it right ... try 3 Full Member

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    The main reason I bought my resin 3D printer is because my attempts at printing vehicles have been marginal to poor. You can get a reasonable FDM printer result if the vehicle is large (bulldozers come out reasonably well).

    But cars ... forget it. So I thought you might find my initial efforts of interest.

    As I have mentioned before my brother Peter purchased a resin printer (Elegoo Mars 2 Pro Mono) and one of his first prints was the following old Ford car (which he also designed).

    Ford Car 5.jpg

    Peter's results were so good that they lured me in to buying my own resin printer (AnyCubic Photon Mono). I started by printing my buffer stop model. See the comparison between the resin and FDM versions. I sprayed the resin print silver to better show the detail (it was white but washed out in the photos). Sorry about the poor depth of field in these photos (using my phone to photograph).

    Buffers (resin & FDM).jpg

    So ... onto vehicles. I have been printing some trucks on my FDM printers with the following result. The red model has not been touched up. It is exactly as it came off the printer. It will improve with some sanding and paint but it is definitely a model to be viewed from a distance (I have not printed this truck in resin as yet).

    Red Truck.jpg

    I then printed this Fleetmaster semi trailer truck (again painted silver to show detail).

    Good result :thumbup:.

    I was amazed the side mirrors printed. The model has not been cleaned up so there are some small artifacts to be removed. I had previously printed this truck on my FDM printer. As you can see the FDM print is poor. The side mirrors did not print and the top of the smoke stacks break off with very little effort (thin vertical structures are not very strong on FDM printers unless you use stronger filaments).

    Semi (resin & FDM).jpg

    My attempts at printing the trailer for this truck on my FDM failed completely.:headbanger:

    My brother redesigned it for me and it prints well on the FDM printer now. Which is just as well as it is too long to print on the resin printer (shown upside down to show the detail).

    Trailer.jpg

    Semi & Trailer.jpg

    The trailer load is also an FDM print. So, by combining the strengths of each printer I can get a good result ... and ... as you can see, the truck can be setup in many different ways (even a road train).

    Standard semi with load ...

    Semi & Load.jpg

    Just add another trailer and you get a B-Double semi. So, I think I am getting somewhere now. If you want buy a semi-trailer HO model these days expect to pay $50 to $100 (or more) here in Australia. Great to be able to make these for just a few dollars in resin and filament (I estimate about $3-4 for the B-Double).

    Semi as B double.jpg

    On to cars next ... which may be a bit more challenging. Many of the models available on the Web are not great (or not appropriate, too many race cars) and may need remodeling.

    Other resin projects I will be having a crack at in the future are:

    > Figures
    > Platform bench seats
    > Trackside structures (cabinets, switch machines, cable trunking etc)
    > Signals
    > Fences and gates
    > Power poles (towers maybe)


    Any other suggestions ???

    Chris
     
    Andrew Laing, jvb and jakesdad13 like this.
  2. Z_Downunder

    Z_Downunder Full Member

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  3. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    G`day Chris,
    That is a vast improvement on those models..........there`s no stopping you now..........:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:
    :tophat:Gormo
     

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