Peat wagon prototypes...

The first of my peat wagons have arrived from Shapeways, this was very much a test print - not only is it my first item of rolling stock but I've also pushed the limits of material thickness in Frosted Ultra Detail.

The result is pretty good - there is some roughness to the inset panels, that I expected, but I hope that is easily smoothed with a fibreglass pencil before priming. The major issue is the bowing of the sides at the top - a result of the thin material. Therefore, I will look to re-draw them with cross members that would need to be removed by the modeller before finishing. These should be fairly easy to add in, but may lead to other issues, as they'd need wax to support them in the printing process which will add a surface issue on the inside of the wagon. It might also be possible to add a small 0.2mm band to the inside of the top of the wagon sides - this would then mean there was some material supported by wax on the inside and outside of the wagon and as such would balance out the forces and curing differences in the printing process.

The good news is they look good, they fit the Minitrains wagon chassis perfectly, and the slot I designed for the Greenwich coupling has come out well on all of them. Next up, a smooth up and prime. Some have said that the warped sides actually portray well used wagons quite well! More soon...