Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How fast do you process orders?
Answer:
- 3D Printed Kits usually take 1-3 weeks to drop-ship from Shapeways.
- Decals and PE kits that are in stock will normally ship within 24 hours. However, sometimes inventory is low/out for certain items, so these will be done to order. For decals this is usually 1 week turnaround; For PE it can take longer as we get these done in large batches. You will be contacted to see if you want to keep your backorder live, or get a refund and just wait until the stock comes in.
Q. Where do you ship from?
Answer:
- 3D Printed Kits: Currently, we use Shapeways for all of our 3D printing. Your order will be drop-shipped from Shapeways. They are very good at packing and shipping.
- Decals and PE Details: These ship from our home office in Cincinnati, OH.
Q. Why are the prices so high for something so small?
Answer: This is a side-hustle of mine and I just do it because I love T scale (and M scale) model railroading, and trains in general. My goal is to share these designs with other modelers to get them started in this little branchline off mainstream model railroading. I'm sorry if you think prices are high but many hours of work and numerous prototypes are needed for each and every model, and I try to recoup some of that in sales revenue.
Q. I want to power my models and want to know what mechanism will fit into the 3D printed shell.
Answer: Some of the locomotives will allow a TGauge.com chassis to fit into the shell with proper spacing of the trucks (bogies). Refer to this page to check dimensions of the various chassis available. For example, the RDC-4 shell will accept the 44mm chassis with very minor modifications.
There is also a way to adjust the chassis to fit various locomotive or other rolling stock shells that are wide enough to accommodate the mechanism.
Many other models will not accept a stock chassis. The GP40, for example, due to the narrow hood width will not accept a stock mechanism. CCE Models, however, is currently (Summer 2021) working on a narrow chassis to power the GP40 and other models. Stay tuned!
Q. I downloaded a digital content file. How do I print it on Shapeways?
Answer:
- 1. Unzip the file. You will have a file with the extension "STL". This is used to 3D print your model.
- 2. Go to www.Shapeways.com
- 3. Where prompted, upload the file. Units are Millimeters (mm).
- 4. After it processes, select material. CCE Models designs are best if printed in Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic.
- 5. If desired, set print orientation. We recommend setting it for the standard vertical orientation.
- 6. In the Shopping Cart, select "Print Anyway".
- 7. Check out.
Note screenshots below for reference:
