Hooper & Co Diorama

[Anglia105E]

I have purchased and assembled an Anet A8 3D printer that I picked up on Ebay as a DIY kit of parts. Having gone through the process of learning how to use this printer, I have successfully 3D printed a 1:43 scale Ford Anglia / Popular 103E body and wheels. My question is regarding the company, Hum3D...... they are ready to sell me a .STL file for a 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, which would cost me 95.00 Euros, or £85.22 or US$. 112.39....... Hum3D say that this .STL file is not print ready, which I understand, but for them to sell me a print ready file they would charge me 300.00 Euros, or £269.13 or US$. 354.86

However, if I was to purchase the .STL file from Hum3D and then import the file into the Cura software, as I did with the Ford, surely I could slice the file to produce the Gcode ready to print the Rolls-Royce model? What worries me is that if Hum3D have somehow rendered the file non-editable, then I would not be able to slice it and also wasted my money. I really would like to try 3D printing this Silver Cloud, and I don't mind paying that sort of money to obtain the .STL file, as long as I am not buying a less than perfect file. Don't worry if this is something you have no knowledge of, but I cannot afford to pay 300.00 Euros for the Hum3D version of the Gcode print ready file.

I have dealt with Shapeways of course, but not had any dealings with Hum3D previously.

The following photos show the size of both the Ford and the Rolls-Royce on the 3Dprinter build platform, which has the dimensions 220 x 220 x 240 cm.

David Watson (England) - Anglia105E

[Anglia105E]

Sorry, I forgot to include this link to the Hum3D product page in my previous post......

https://hum3d.com/shopping-cart/?add=ec7cedf9faa5b9e75a5ce2fb8b4a4017

David

[Anglia105E]

All of this tinkering with 3D printing has distracted me from the more important aspects of the Hooper & Co diorama project. It does seem a quite a while now since I was working on the interior of the Hooper factory, and somehow the Rolls-Royce Phantom III bodyshell has ended up on the roof of the factory! From the following photos you can see that the traffic has become very congested on the streets of the dioramas, and somehow a 1:24 scale London bus has found its way onto the 1:43 scale roads!

Pretty soon I must turn my attention to the wider aspect, and concentrate on the buildings, the cars and the figures. More advanced photography is planned. Some of the 3D printed models will be used as part of the Hooper & Co project, in one form or another.

Thanks for your patience, and I hope that members continue to view this diorama project.

David

[Anglia105E]

Friday night I succeeded in 3D printing a 1:43 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III body, which I had been struggling with for the last 4 days...... this model car may find its way into the 1:43 scale dioramas at some point, and I might be able to print a Silver Cloud I later, which has the single headlamps rather than the twin headlamps setup, from 1962 onwards.

David

[Anglia105E]

Recent work from the 3D printing factory has produced this Porsche 911 Turbo, in 1:43 scale. Harold is casting a critical eye over the new technology...... You can see from Harold's stance that he is not impressed with this modern engineering. "What on earth is this heap of blue plastic?" His Ford Cortina MK1 is a subtle shade of blue, and Harold has nothing against blue in moderation, but this is BLUE gone mad! "Those blue tyres are never going to catch on, and how are you going to see out of those windows?" No, he decided right there..... Harold was never going to buy such a thing. What is the motor manufacturing world coming to?

David

[landman]

?

[Anglia105E]

26 minutes ago, landman said:

?

Pleased to see that someone is amused...... !

[Anglia105E]

Having downloaded an STL file for a Lathe, the idea came to me that I could have a row of lathes as factory machinery for the Hooper factory interior. The 3D printed model is 1:10 scale, and it has 5 pieces, which when assembled create a partially working model.

Among the following photos, you will see one of the Acton factory interior, also one photo of a belt driven piece of factory machinery (not Hooper's), and one of a railway engineering works interior, which does show a row of lathes at the back, and this was what gave me the idea really.

Well, I did 3D print the 5 pieces of the lathe model successfully, and it only took 33 minutes to print. Once I had removed the pieces easily from the raft, and assembled them using Revell Contacta Professional (not super glue), I went ahead and printed a second set of lathe parts.

It was later when I took the model downstairs, in order to photograph the lathe with a 1:43 scale figure (Harold) and a British Railways 400E Ford van, that something became apparent. Harold cast his expert eye over the lathe that was unloaded from the van, and observed... "What good is that? This lathe is too small."

Does the lathe appear to be too small, in anyone's opinion, in relation to the 1:43 scale figure?

Maybe I have miscalculated the scale dimensions. Might have to go to 1:35 or even 1:24 to get it right. Although I would like to print the 1:10 scale version, there is nowhere for it to fit in as regards my existing dioramas....... I could always build a small 1:10 scale diorama around the lathe, I suppose.... possibly a workshop?

 

David

[Flat32]

General rule of thumb for lathe spindle height is elbow high.  Harold is looking at a lathe that is about half scale.

[Anglia105E]

11 hours ago, Flat32 said:

General rule of thumb for lathe spindle height is elbow high.  Harold is looking at a lathe that is about half scale.

Thank you, Raymond....... and that is precisely what I needed to know. You have confirmed my view of the lathe's dimensions, and Harold is absolutely right!

David

[landman]

Could it be a bench mounted lathe?

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, landman said:

Could it be a bench mounted lathe?

Someone suggested that I could use the two printed lathes that are too small as bench mounted lathes, which I probably shall do, but the model that I am trying to print is actually a full size engineering shop machine that would stand on the floor. Today, I have doubled up all of the dimensions for the five parts of this lathe, and I shall try printing the model this evening. This will bring the model to 1:24 scale, so not sure where my calculations are at fault, working from the 1:10 scale model. What I did Pat, was to multiply the figures by 10 to give me the 1:1 size of this machine, then I divided each measurement by 43 to give me the 1:43 scale measurements. That seemed like sound maths to me, but somehow the lathe has come out half size !

David

[Anglia105E]

Having given this some thought, I decided to double the measurements on the basis that the lathe I had already printed was around half size. The print run for this set of five parts came out at exactly 2 hours and 33 minutes, but early on during the printing part number 4 became detached from the raft and then was swept onto the top of part number 3..... pausing the print run, I removed the small part 4 and let the printing continue. I kept a close watch on the process, because the nozzle was still trying to print in mid-air, where the number 4 part should be. This caused a string of filament to get dragged along to the next part as the nozzle moved across between parts. Fortunately, the printing settled down once the top of the missing part was done.

Using the same photos of the 1:43 Ford 400E van and the 1:43 scale figure, I am confident that this lathe does appear to be somewhere near to the correct size. Harold checked over the new lathe as it was delivered, and had this to say, "Well, this one should do the job... but does it have to be blue?".

I have some pale green enamel paint that will be suitable for the lathe, which will be applied over a coat of grey primer. Even with a layer height of 0.08 mm there are still layer lines showing, so this must be down to Z-axis vibration, possibly.

The two smaller lathes could be placed on benches, as was suggested, as it seems a shame not to use them. The part number 4 goes on the outer end of the right hand part, and appears to be a winding knob. If I need to, I could print this very small part on it's own, or maybe print two of them in case it happens again with the second lathe to be printed at some point.

 

David

[Anglia105E]

Several months ago, when I started thinking about the factory roof, I fully intended to use styrene rod for the construction. It was only more recently that I began to consider 3D printed parts as an alternative method. My concern is that the styrene rod approach might not look as realistic as a 3D printed model, which is what I have downloaded. The more advanced photography and lighting that I will be using later, will show up any elements of the composition that do not have a high degree of realism.

The two workbenches now have a coat of grey primer, followed by some matt brown enamel, and I photographed the workbenches with a couple of figures, some planks of wood, the big lathe and also a Rolls-Royce 25/30...... these are simple compositions, using overhead tube lighting and a plain white background, but later the objects will be in the factory interior setting, with simulated daylight coming through the factory roof skylights. There will be more use of black & white photography than colour, most likely.

The alterations that are necessary to allow the 3D roof structure to fit inside the factory extension model are likely to be difficult, so I might decide to go down the styrene rod route anyway at some point.

 

David

[Anglia105E]

During Saturday, I downloaded an STL file for an industrial lamp that I found on Thingiverse, which was free, and resized the lamp accordingly. Using the reference photos of Hooper's factory interior, I could see that one of these lamps was about half the width of a car roof, which I calculated was 17 mm (the Rolls-Royce roof is 34 mm in 1:43 scale). Printed a set of 6 lamps in 2 hours and 3 minutes, and they turned out well. To suspend each lamp from the roof trusses I can use either a short length of cocktail stick or a length of wire.

The idea came to me, to mask off the skylights from the inside of the factory extension building, and then use aerosol grey primer for all of the interior surfaces, including the walls, the roof sections, the trusses, the girders, and the lamps. Later, I might find that everything being grey in the black & white photographs could actually look just right. If I do see the need for detail, this can be added afterwards, over the grey primer. The interior roof structure will be sprayed in separate parts, before being glued in place. I shall most likely use the Bostik general purpose glue that I used for the whole of the extension building, so not super glue or epoxy.

 

David

[Anglia105E]

While I am waiting for the two Ebay deliveries of the Plastruct trusses and girders, no construction work is going on at the moment, but I have used aerosol grey primer on the internal surfaces of the factory extension. Also, I have tested a few different camera angles, along with some different lighting configurations to see what might be possible once I get everything set up as I want it.

The B&W photos cannot distinguish between red and grey, so the red factory floor blends in with the grey primer ceilings and walls anyway. The 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I is the Truescale model, which is easily the most accurate 1:43 scale diecast version of the car that I have.

Here are a few photos showing various scenarios within this part of the Hooper & Co. diorama....

 

David

[landman]

I like those light/shadow effects. They really crank up the "mood".

[Anglia105E]

3 hours ago, landman said:

I like those light/shadow effects. They really crank up the "mood".

Thanks, Pat...... and I think once the roof structure is in place, along with the workbenches and other factory materials, the light and shadow effects should create a suitable atmosphere. The roof structure will be made up of open web trusses, H-section beams and vertical round posts. I have 3D-printed those industrial lamps, and also put together some lengths of timber. There will be a few car bodies and factory workers scattered around. The reference photos of the actual factory in the late 1950's are proving to be really useful. I particularly like the daylight streaming in through the roof skylights, and I might try putting some lighting bulbs inside the industrial lamps later.

David

[Anglia105E]

Having 3D-printed the Georgian sash window to scale, I gave the three parts a coat of Humbrol gloss white enamel and then set about cutting out one of the window openings on the second floor of the 1:24 scale Hooper showroom building. Fitted the new window, second one from the left, three floors up.

The window looks quite good with the lower half raised part way, and I had the idea to send a workman up there on a ladder, to get on with the job. He was joined later by a second workman, and the window fitting dragged on into the evening. As darkness fell, these two chaps carried on working, while precariously balanced on the top edge of the bay window below. "It's a long way down, Harry...... Don't look down, Bill..... let's get this job done!"

 

David

[landman]

That window does look good. Those workmen are brave. You wouldn't catch me up there.

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, landman said:

That window does look good. Those workmen are brave. You wouldn't catch me up there.

I am quite pleased with the window, Pat..........and as you can see, there are 12 windows on the front of the building, as well as 12 more windows along the side of the building. Somehow, I have a feeling that not all 24 window frames will be replaced, and it's not fair on the workmen who need to be paid danger money! Like you, I try to avoid going up any ladders.

David

[Anglia105E]

Here are some interesting black & white photos, taken near to the side entrance of the Hooper & Co factory, and showing a few vehicles, also in 1:43 scale. Shortly, there will be some further photos taken inside the factory, which will explore the possibilities provided by the daylight streaming in through the factory roof skylights.

David

[PHPaul]

Very realistic photography, David!

[Anglia105E]

10 hours ago, PHPaul said:

Very realistic photography, David!

Thanks, Paul..... always seeking more realism !

David

[Anglia105E]

The second sash window is ready, and now fitted to the upper floor on the Bennet Street side of the Hooper showroom building. Setting up the lighting gantry provides natural daylight through the newly fitted window. The camera is positioned at the first of the new windows, which is on the St James's Street side of the building, and from this location these are some of the photos taken of the interior. Osmond Rivers, the chief designer and managing director, is standing at the desk in his office, up on the second floor. There is a blue tinge to the light from the window panes, which contrasts nicely with the orange glow from the desk lamp. This is where Mr Rivers spends his time talking to wealth clients on the telephone, and also where he would meet them in person when they visited Hooper's to view a Rolls-Royce motor car.

David