Large Scale Central

Brian Briggs' PS Mini-Hy Cube boxcar

Modeling Technical Modeling
#1

When Brian passed away, his wife, Margaret, sent me several of the patterns he had made for various projects. Among them were the patterns for his PS Mini-Hy Cube boxcar. He made it as a flat kit, with no patterns for the underframe. It was my intention when I acquired it (with Margaret’s blessing) to produce a kit from it. This afternoon, I spent a little time working out the design of the underframe. I think I can make an operating cushioned underframe, with sliding center sill.

Brian’s original model:

#2

Did a little work on the ends today. Since Brian cut up USAT boxcar ends & used them as his pattern, I felt it best to re-make this part. I am learning Autodesk Fusion 360 to draw these, since it has a filet function that I like better than Sketchup.

(http://burlrice.com/_LS_MiniHyCube/end1.jpg)

#3

How’s the learning curve on Fusion 360? I’ve been tempted to dump sketchup.

#4

Its a different way of thinking - definitely a learning curve. I am still slow with it.

#5

Burl Rice said:

Its a different way of thinking - definitely a learning curve.

Perfect!

#6

You and Sketchup don’t get along?

#7

Burl Rice said:

You and Sketchup don’t get along?

For the basic drawings and picture matching it works great. But when I get to compound curves and other odd shapes it becomes difficult.

#8

Learned how to do a render in Fusion 360 today:

#9

Looks really nice! I, too, am getting a little frustrated with SketchUp and have just started learning Fusion 360. One of my concerns with Fusion will be how well, if at all, it can handle architectural, as opposed to product, design. I suspect I will end up using both depending on the project. Any thoughts?

#10
My gut tells me Sketchup will probably stay my favorite for architectural applications, possibly even some modeling applications.  As advanced as Fusion 360 appears to be, there are some things Sketchup does well that I can’t see an easy way to do in Fusion 360.
 
One thing I do all the time in Sketchup is to work back & forth on two instances of a component.  One instance is 1:1, and the other is 1:29.  This lets me reference measurements on prototype drawings without having to do math.  When I come to a place where I’m concerned about a scale part being too small for 3d printing, I flip to the 1:29 component.  Fusion allows multiple instances of a component, but every change in one instance (including scale) gets propagated to all the other instances – even those referenced in other files, which may, or may not, be open.
#11

Drifting further off topic…

I’ve started playing with DesignSpark Mechanical. It’s powerful, but, again, a big learning curve…

#12

Burl, to take this even further off-topic, let me see if I am understanding what you’re saying about components. In SketchUp there is a Make Unique feature that allows one to edit just the current component out of a series of multiple instances of that component. Are you saying that Fusion does not have an equivalent tool? I am really a newbie when it comes to Fusion but there are some features I also really like …

#13
Greg, what I was trying to say was that Sketchup will allow me to have two instances of the same component, and I can have them at different scales.  This means I can edit the 1:1 instance, and it will change the 1:29 instance automatically.  Fusion forces all instances of a component to be the same scale.  So, for this boxcar end, for example, when I’m ready to print it, I will have to make a new (unique) component out of it, and scale it to 1:29.  Hope that makes more sense.
#14

I drew the end ladders in Sketchup. Old habits die hard. Here’s my first attempt at marrying them in Fusion 360. I needed to do this to get the mounting holes aligned.

#15

Them ladders look like they lean to the left.

#16

What does politics have to do with it?

#17

Burl Rice said:

What does politics have to do with it?

I knew someone would go there. There is no room in this forum for politics.

I was saying that the ladders don’t look like they are mounted correctly, they look like they have been bent to the left. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)

No. I mean, they seam to be a bit off kilter. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

No, its that they don’t look straight. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)

Ok. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)I dunno how to say it without a political, physiological or sexual orientational connotation to it. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif)

#18

I didn’t notice it at first, but it does, a bit, depending upon my viewing angle.

#19

Burl Rice said:

Old habits die hard.

Ya know, that probably explains why all the Nuns at school were 80.

Burl Rice said:
When Brian passed away, his wife, Margaret, sent me several of the patterns he had made for various projects. Among them were the patterns for his PS Mini-Hy Cube boxcar. He made it as a flat kit, with no patterns for the underframe. It was my intention when I acquired it (with Margaret’s blessing) to produce a kit from it.

That is sad and sweet both.

Hmm, wonder if such renders are exportable to things like Trainz railroad simulator.

#20

Looks good Burl.