Time sure flies when you’re having fun … it’s already been two and half months , since my last post on the HOn30 Shay. I know that I have a couple of followers out there who are waiting for an update, so here we go …
Another set of parts arrived from Printapart last Friday and after a quick test-fit, I refitted the entire body to Shay version 0.2.

To start with, the diamond shaped smoke stack is now 1 mm taller and I remodelled some details on the headlights which did not print that well. I also remodelled the right-hand side by changing the height of the piston cover and by adding HO scale pistons. Furthermore, part of the N-scale piston cover has been hidden beneath a toolbox, making it less wide and giving it the look & feel of the original. And last, but not least … the little bugger finally received it’s cabin!

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All has cooled down now and I have been able do some work on the HOn30 Shay. First of all, I have changed the diamond stack to ensure a nice and sturdy fit. Secondly, I have modeled the headlight … it’s a bit larger than the ones on the Mapleton Shays, because it has been based on the headlight of the Joe Works Shay.

 
And last but not least, I have modeled the sides of the frame to fit the HOn30 profile. The parts have been ordered from Printapart again and they just arrived a couple of days ago. As you can see from the pictures in this post, I just couldn’t resist fitting them to the actual Atlas Shay body. I am quite pleased with the result already and both the diamond stack and the headlight will remain as they are.

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I have probably been struck by a bad case of Shay Fever … at least that’s what it feels like. As mentioned previously, I fell in love with the tiny 13 tons “Class A” Shay locomotives and am determined to build one in HOn30.

I finally scored an N-scale Shay made by Atlas on eBay and replaced the body with the one that I bought a couple of months ago. The N-scale pilot steps and headlight have already been removed with the Dremel …
After cleaning the 3D-printed diamond stack with acetone, I applied a couple of layers of grey primer and placed it on top of the boiler. Applying the primer, almost makes the 3D-printed part as smooth as the body itself.
There is also another method to make 3D-printed parts  smoother … apply small amounts of Superglue to the surface, but do not soak it! The Superglue will be absorbed by the 3D-printing material and will smoothen the surface. Just be careful with the fumes and do not get stuck to your printed part …

I learned something interesting this week … wax is being used during the 3D-printing process. You might wonder how I found out … well that’s al quite simple. I decided to complete the first two printed wholestick trucks and added the corner posts to the trucks. After doing this, I applied the first layers of grey Tamiya primer and that’s when the trouble started …

 
Unfortunately the primer started peeling of directly after it had been sprayed on. This was caused by the fact that 3d-printed parts are being supported by a wax structure during the printing itself. Most of it is cleaned of afterwards, except for a thin layer …
The 3D-printing service informed me that it would be best to clean the parts with acetone, before applying the paint. Hope the printed parts will stand a nice bath of Airbrush Cleaner first …