thibaultron

First, what do you want to do with the CNC? Are you making 3D parts, what materials, metal and/or wood? What type of machine CNC Router or a full CNC mill. Do You want high precision parts? What size parts are you planning to cut. Personal or commercial production plans. As far as software, I would recommend the Vcarve program (Pro if your machine will be bigger than 24" X 24") if you can design the parts on Sketchup, Fusion, or another 3D program. The other carving programs are subscription based, and not as powerful. Do you have a machine or are you looking for recommendations?

Here is a colored image, in as correct a set of colors I can get out of my CAD program.

I finished the rest of the depot 3D CAD. I added the roof trim boards, both to the roof edge, and the wall to roof joint. I also drew the bathroom vent, a hole for the coal stove stack (which I bought 18 of), and the station sign and supports. Looking at these graphics, I have to add locating tabs to the underside of the roof.

The boilers were of riveted construction, but were then covered with a layer of blanket insulation (generally Asbestos), and covered with sheet metal. The bands were used to hold the sheet metal in place. The only places without covering were the lower portion of the firebox, and (in the US, I don't know about other countries) the forward section that had the smoke box (the area that the smoke stack is). These were the external areas directly exposed to the fires.

Santa Fe's Boron Station While not a cannon, I have been 3D CADing a small Santa Fe Railroad depot. This one serviced the 20 Mule Team Borax company spur. When I found the article with the plans, I thought to use spare parts from another kit to build it. After looking at the plans and the kit parts, though I found that the windows differed significantly, as well as the door. So, I decided to 3D CAD the windows and doors, based on the plans, and some sectional detail drawings from other Santa Fe books I have. After I finished the CADing, I checked the available Board and Batten siding in both the kit and those presently available commercially. I don’t remember just where I found it (should have recorded it), but the SF used 12 inch spacing between the battens, and the spare and new wood sheets all have ~11 inch as the spacing. With a small building this becomes more critical for it to look right. Board and batten siding is not all that complex to draw, so I did the walls too. I did make a couple of concessions. The wood sheets have square battens, and the Santa Fe use a rectangular batten with a molded face. Several of my other depot kits, use the standard sheets, so I decided to CAD the same. This gives continuity to all the depots. I’m not building this for a competition, just to add to the future display of various depots used on the SF. I do not want to CAD new walls for all of them! The second is that the walls and battens match the thickness of the wood sheets, though not the spacing, again in case the model is being built using just the detail parts. The windows and door are drawn as close to prototype dimensions, as my info allowed. The sashes are drawn with glazing putty installed per my protype info. I drew the windows as shown in the older photos and the drawing of when the building was in use. The museum photos show later repairs. Here are pictures of the station, as it appears today preserved in the 20 Mule Team Museum. The side walls have square battens, while the front seems to have a mix of both types, as well as variable spacing, I assume to seal cracks in the boards. The station has a few unique features from a “Standard” station, other than its small size. Instead of two six pane sashes like the front bay window, and other windows, the side bay windows are basically 6 pane sashes cut down to 2 pane wide sashes. The door is similar to, but not the same as a “Standard” pattern one. The small window on the right side of the building, is, as far as I can find, a one-off design for the interior bathroom. I got this on as close as I can, as the plans I have do not show this wall, other than to say it is 24 inches square. The trim around the windows also narrower than that around the other windows and door. I can only correct so much for the perspective using my available graphics programs and skill. Another difference is that it has wood shake shingles instead of the regular metal diamond pattern, or asphalt single used on other stations. This later makes it difficult to add as a CAD part, as I don’t want to draw several dozen different weathered shingles, and apply them one at a time, to a roof drawing. I looked up 3D printable files, but did not find any useful ones. I’ll just add them using a standard HO scale commercial product. While in service, the depot had a giant Swamp Cooler, that took up a large space between the large window and the bathroom window, on that side. The cooler was supported by a stand made up from what looks like any spare boards they could find. Designing that will take some effort, as the B&W magazine photos do not show the white, or light gray boards very well against the “white” building. At one time a laser cut kit was available for the depot, as well as the separate shed/baggage building, but has long been OOP. Even if I find one, I’ve done all the hard work already, so don’t need it. Here are some pictures of my progress, so far. I have all four walls and the bay drawn, as well as the windows and door. The bay is complete with the interior trim, and desk, as they will be visible from the outside, if you get really close to the model. The pictures show the walls and bay “Assembled”. I will likely print the walls as one piece, set upright in the printer. The bay will be printed in three pieces, the walls, the subroof, and the trapezoidal desk top. This will help to reduce the number of internal supports needed, and thus dimples from their removal. When the subroof is finished it will also be a separate part. I still have to add the corner and under roof trim. I’ve been waiting on those parts until I finalize how I want to print all the pieces. I will also be CADing the baggage shed. I do not have drawings for it, but do have pictures for 2 ½ sides. I have prototype photos of the two sides shown on the kit picture, and the lefthand side of the wall opposite the one with the window. That photo only shows the ½ with the window, but I think I can safely assume that those two windows and large sliding door are all the details present. I can get the dimensions by counting the battens, and using a SF shed sliding door. This graphic shows the four walls and the three pieces that make up the bay. The line under the bay walls is the desk top. The interior of the bay walls have locating tabs for the desk, as does the underside of the subroof. The next ones show the building from the front, showing the two side walls Here is the back wall, and the interior of the bay. I have not added any interior trim on the side or back wall windows. I’m not going to detail the interior. The window drawings have both the one-piece solid ones used here, and a version with the lower sash as a sperate part, this would allow it to be raised in a finished model, as well as one built using the wood sheets instead of the printed walls.

The Model Ship Builder Site has plans for a two deck battle station at: https://modelshipbuilder.com/projects.html Several years ago one of that forums members offered a limited edition kit (with their permission) and wrote up a practicum for building it. While the kit is long out of production, the praticum is also on that Web page.

In any era ship, if you do not know the specific ingredients of the paint used at shipyard X in year Y, you will never get the "right" color. The best you can do is get a good representation, of the colors used. Also during the age of sail, the captain was allowed latitude to change paint colors, rigging, etc. to his taste (within bounds). I once worked with a contract engineer, who was proud to own a "Historic" farm in PA. That was until it came time to repaint it! As it was listed as historic, he was required to use only paint made the same as when the farm was new down to the exact formula recorded in the local Historic Society's records! He sold the farm, and bought a newer not "Historic" farm. He made money on the sale, and the new farm cost less than the cost of repainting the old one! I model the Santa Fe Railroad, and have many books listing the Santa Fe Standard Colors. The only problem, is that the records of the formula used for say "Santa Fe Yellow" have been lost. The best we can do is compare color photos, or possibly faded paint chips removed from existing buildings as references. Just use a nice flat red.

If I am building a long post, rather than a quick reply, I make a Word file of the post, and save it. Then I can finish it later. Once it is done, while still in Word, I select and copy the text, then paste it into the forum block. This has several advantages, especially if you are adding to your build thread. First, you are saving what you made, for your future use, without having to go back searching through the thread. Second, I generally create the post, save it, and wait an hour or so, and reread it, with a fresh mind. It is amazing how many mistakes I find, or decide that I need to change a section, to make it clearer. Lastly you can spell and grammar check it. It also helps you in a couple years if you can go back through the files on your computer to remember just how the heck you did X task. Also don't forget the great MSW crash! If this happens again you have all the files to restore the start of any builds you were in the middle of.

While you can't reach the petals, you can manually move the rudder and see the petals move.

For long thin parts such as the stick, 3D resin parts would likely be too fragile. The resin is brittle. For things like the pulleys, and the larger assemblies 3D printed parts should be fine. I don't think 3D filament printers could give you the smooth surfaced parts you want, and have much courser print abilities. For the stick mechanism, #d parts for the clevises and hinged parts should be OK, though you may have to fabricate the actual clevis tabs. The thinner shafts should be metal.

Have one on order!

The tip on painting the fret work is great! Wonderful little model!

Do you have a higher resolution or larger, picture of the above drawing? If, so I will draw you a 3D print file for that specific cannon.

To reduce the surface tension in the thinned white glue, add a couple of drops of dish detergent to the mix. Model railroaders use this for gluing scenery products, and securing ballast to the tracks.

I almost forgot, AHM offered two 1/48th scale kits, one of the locomotive driven by Casey Johns on that fateful night, I think it was a 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler, and one of the Indiana Harbor Belt 0-8-0 three cylinder switcher. They offered unpowered display kits, and power chassis kits to convert them into operating models, for 2 rail O Gauge track. I have two of the 0-8-0 kits, and a partial built kit that has the power chassis.