Jonateer uses advanced augmented reality technology to apply textures to his latest Trainz model - or 'painting a 3D print', if you want to get technical.
Size comparison of Mike against actual Ertl products that Ertl Mike would likely have been seen alongside on bedroom carpets around the world, had we not been cruelly robbed.
I’d have liked to smooth it more but Plasto is too stubborn for this scale – people recommend paint thinners – but some snips of waste filament mixed in made a decent coal load. “Good from afar…” and all that, but for a first attempt I’m happy.
Keep on creating, y’all.
24.01.2025 11:18 — 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Blender render of a revised design for the hypothetical Ertl Mike that by 2024 was far less hypothetical than it had seemed in 2005.
The real Ertl Mike surfacing in 2022 was what experts call ‘the Sir Handel Effect’ – when you take so long to #Season4IsBack that #Season4ComesBack on its own against all odds. Redesigned Mike (in Blender) last year then held a paintbrush for the first time since high school.
24.01.2025 11:18 — 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
An actual human being still using 3D modelling software 'gmax' in the year 2025, but only to take a screenshot of a file made using 3D modelling software 'gmax' in the year 2021.
A poor quality 3D print of a model designed in software intended for simulator video game content.
After scouring Small Railway Engines for the sort of details a designer might pick up on (we now know Jock the New Engine was used instead) I made version 1 in gmax. Note the lamp iron and clearly-digitally-built valve gear – because you won’t be seeing them again.
24.01.2025 11:18 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
This is not the Ertl Mike prototype, no - this is just a tribute.
A 'faux-totype', perhaps? Designed before we saw the real deal; very slowly brought to life by digital modeller and notable not-practical person Mr Jonateer.
I finally made a thing.
Designed this in late 2021 as a ‘what if’ since it always seemed inevitable back in the day that Ertl would have produced Mike, before we even knew of a prototype. My conversion from digital models to physical is owed entirely to the 3D printer.
24.01.2025 11:18 — 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 0
I've always felt that what we know about the Meccano Percy is a bit muddy, and these drawings provide a little more context in the form of dates - *and* what I believe to be new information. I'll try to do a write-up at some point.
And yes, I've made 3D models of them. (3/3)
27.11.2024 14:20 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Meccano factory facsimile drawings for the two wagons which accompanied Percy in the original set.
Diagrams for Percy's ubiquitous trucks survive, too - if there were ever any other elevations drawn (I expect there will have been) these are not present. Also absent is anything relating to the track sections, but they're listed on a job list which also surfaced recently. (2/3)
27.11.2024 14:20 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Factory facsimile drawings for the Meccano Percy clockwork locomotive, accompanied by both the Percy and the Playtrain engine for added interest.
Assuming the toolings are long gone (or languishing in Greece) these factory facsimile drawings may be the earliest surviving items relating to Meccano Percy's production. There are also revised copies showing Percy's transition into the generic Playtrain. (1/3)
27.11.2024 14:20 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A sneaky photograph of the original factory diagrams for the later Meccano Playtrain, answering the question in the accompanying post: "Yes, it would be fun."
When Meccano's Binns Road factory closed its doors in 1979, a number of the company's artefacts were rescued from disposal by former employees and inspired individuals.
Wouldn't it be fun if among those surviving artefacts were items relating to the Meccano Percy?
27.11.2024 13:51 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
