Death Valley Monorail

[michael mott]

Chuck, thanks for the info, I am in agreement that I would rather build in 3D than draw in 3D.

Michael

[JohnP]

Chuck, the drawings are great and explain a lot about those contraptions that old photos leave unclear. The CAD of the model is a neat idea. Are you drawing it in the model scale and not with prototype real world dimensions?

When drawing models such as my bridges I reference field dimensions and/or actual plans, but I start drafting directly in the scale of choice rather than 1:1. In CAD you can scale things but scaling down real parts generally results in unbuildable model parts. Same thing even if one tries to scale down model parts, say from 1:48 to 1:87.1. Material thicknesses, strengths and detail resolution come into play. Many folks do not understood that.

John

[Chuck Doan]

Thanks John.

I do as you do; I am modeling this in 1/16th scale. I do it for the same reason you mention-I plan to get several parts printed, so I need to be mindful of the actual sizes in this scale. Some things are a little oversize to allow for the minimum wall thickness requirements. Just adds a little more calculator time is all.

Someone asked me about getting my 1/2" scale gas pump printed in 1/48th and I had to explain that a lot of the thicknesses wouldn't print properly.

On another note, I recently came across a service offering 3D printing in titanium for medical parts, etc.  I'm not a doctor, but I used to play one as a child, and maybe now I can realize my dreams!

[finescalerr]

Chuck, go stand in the corner. -- Russ