lots of progress on the shay, but it is all very unnoticeable unless you know what to look for. The big news is that it all runs, and it runs well, although top speed is slower then I hoped, it may be close to scale top speed. I have a lot of decoder programming to do (which I find really boring and I am sure I will put it off for a while).

I added a few more details, the air tank on the running board and the cab steps are the most prominent. I printed out the interior parts, which include the backhead, reverse lever and the mechanical lubricator. The backhead is a one piece print and is held in place with magnets. the reverse level is printed with the automatic and independent brake controls as one piece, and the mechanical lubricator is another single print. On a shay the mechanical lubricator sits on the cylinder cover inside the cab and can be seen through the engineer's window (it is gray in color). The backhead is really hard to see, I will try for a better image in the future.

I only have a small amount of piping yet to do, which includes the dynamo exhaust pipe, the conduit from the front headlight, and the small air lines to the front sanders. Other details left undone are the smoke box supports and the running board clutter. after all this little stuff I will do some touch up paint and a little more weathering.

With any luck this is the week this project will wrap up and get a final video shot.

Amazing! What a great project, it really shows what 3D printing is capable of

No one will ever believe it isn't a brass model.

i reached a major milestone this weekend, the cab was glued to the tender, all the piping is glued in place, the domes are glued in place, and the cylinder shield was snapped in place. But the biggest moment came when I officially screwed to the frame, which is the first ever, other than the test parts. I did not run it with the real body in place because I have to remove it one more time to install the backhead, which is being developed this week. I have to install the contacts inside the front headlight and press in the headlight bucket. The last little bit of construction will be the small air lines to the front sanders, the bell and whistle cords, and the cab steps. I have some white metal detail parts to clutter up the running boards but I think I am going to recreate them and print them so I have my own files for future locomotives. The next posting will be of the finished locomotive, and the goal is to have that be by thanksgiving weekend .

Just excellent

That is one fine locomotive, a lot of TLC went into that so far. Very nice smooth operation.

Extremely fine modelling!

-Cody

I got to spend a few hours on the shay over the weekend, this time it was the engineer's side piping and handrails. I bent up the handrails from some brass wire, along with a few of the smaller air lines. I did a quick brush paint on the brass parts, once they are all glued in place I will do the final paint coat and weather everything. I had to make a minor adjustment to the cylinder cover which I just pulled off the printer, I will get it painted and ready to be glued in place.

I am getting close to actually gluing all the parts in place, I just have to make the small air lines to the front sander valves and make the cab steps and it will be ready to go. It won't be long before I will have images without gaps in the parts.

Beautiful drive gear details! That is a smooth running loco.

Scott

Boy, that's one smooth drive. Nice job.

Bernd

here is a test run of the shay without the boiler installed, I was testing the wiring before i put the top end on. the boiler that is on the frame is an old part, it is being used to hold the top of the cylinders.

I am back to making forward progress on this project. One detail that I was dragging my feet on was the air pump (Westinghouse 9 1/2"). I decided this week I was just going to focus on it and finish it up, along with all the piping on the fireman's side. The piping on the air pump was 3D printed on the air pump, it is all one print. The small line that runs along the top of the air pump discharge is just a bent up brass wire. here is an image of all the piping test fit on the model, again nothing is glued or screwed in place so excuse any gaps or crooked parts.

Jeff,

As Bernd and Bob have said, using the resin as "glue", is a good approach. I do this all the time at work.
Sometimes it is due to a break, sometimes if the parts are too large and they are built in sections the resin bonding is especially helpful.
Nice work on the cab.

Scott

Jeff, I broke a few things along the way, including resin castings. As Bernd suggested I have found you raw resin an excellent "adhesive" for repairing castings. Sometimes you need to clamp the pieces in place until the UV light can set the resin but I find it much superior to ACC in strength. Please keep sharing your excellent work.

Bob

Sounds like a great fix on a problem. I was wonder if you couldn't use uncured resin like you suggest to glue resin parts together for a stronger joint. It's got to be stronger than using CA glue.

Bernd