Thanks for all your help Pilou, from what I read it would be easier If I redraw everything with Bezier Splines?

Since I'm starting this project from scratch I could try to master the Bezier splines if that would make it easier to work with the skinning and extrude tools.

Thanks again for all your help with this, I will try some of your suggestions and will look a bit more in depth to the TiG Extrude tools, this part works with another part but maybe I can make them work together using this extension from the start. One of the handicaps I had before was quality of surfaces, I 3D print my projects and the less curves I use the less quality I get on surfaces.

Thanks once again,

I've attached the V6 version.

0350_A_V6.skp

Hi there pilou, thanks a lot for your help.

I tried your suggestions but I still have a problem, the curves I have will fit in with other curves so if I redraw them I will loose the edges.

I'm trying to do this last panel and them "glue" them in a unique face:

Is it possible to redraw keeping the edges to fit together? I'm attaching the file with all the panels. I'm still learning the Fredo Splines so this might be easy but I'm not mastering it yet.

0350_A.skp

Hi there guys, been trying some lofting with curviloft but I still can't figure out why this happens:

I have two forms that I'm trying to skin, FORM2 skins without problem and with the shape I want. FORM1 just changes the colour of the lines when I hit the skin button.

Not sure why this happens, anyone knows why?

I'm attaching a Sketchup file with both forms.

Thanks in advance

FORMS_ALLAN.skp

Thanks everyone once again, specially Elisei and Paxinia.

Paxinia: Thanks for the input and for sharing your view on the subject. The youtube videos were very enlightening. Actually I don't need to render anything so probably Artisan isn't effectively the best choice. One thing I might have wrong was that using a cleaner mesh would make it more efficient when using the solid tools. I use the solid tools a lot and I was under the impression that a cleaner mesh would give better results but I've been exploring Curviloft a bit deeper and does have a lot of options I didn't notice.

I already used Curviloft to make the bottom part of the front and after some trial and error I got it right. Now it's on to detailing.

The render:

And the first draft printed with my FDM printer. The finals will be printed in my resin printer.

Thanks once again.

Thanks Elisei, next step for me will be the quads as they seem essential to master the curves

Thanks a lot guys.

Elisei, your work is impressive, for some reason I still prefer the Artisan geometry than the curviloft one. I did replicate what you did with curviloft (Curvizard is annother adition to my toolbar, thanks) but cannot so far replicate the Artisan one, could you please share the .skp so taht I can analyze it deeper?

Ok, so I tried it the hard way. Like building blocks:

And this gave me the mesh I consider most faithfull to the original:

Unfortunately, and since I'm on Artisan baby steps the mesh becomes all messes up:

Which gives an awfull result with bumps!

Any tips on how to optimize the mesh? I'm attaching the .skp file in case anyone can help.

allan_teste.skp

Thanks once again Elisei, I tried your sugestion but the shape still doesn't match the original. I don't know how to describe it but looks to plain. If you look closely theres some sort of triangular (see the orange lines) curved area that doesn't appear with this method.
Thanks for your effort.

Thanks Elisei, unfortunately the curve of the bottom is different from the top. Theres a small diference that matters a lot in the overall shape:

The orange lines on the front give an idea of the "slighter" planer area.

Thanks guys, I have the plans:

And plenty photos:

I'm just not sure on how to approach it!

Hi there guys.

I have been using sketchup for a long time. I design model railroad trains and structures and until now I have managed to acomplish my goals. Most of the trains and structures I designed were angular or with simple curves and curviloft or RoundCorner had helped me to solve my problems.

But now the challenge is bigger, the train I intend to design (and later 3D print) has more complex curves, I searched the web and found artisan which I've been using but unfortunately I'm not getting anywere. I watched a lot of videos on Youtube but I'm still lost on how to make this happen.

Do you guys think Artisan is the right tool for this job? Should I be using other plugin?
Which strategy should I adopt to design this?
The front is the problem, the rest is easier.

Here are the pictures of the subject (I have plenty of pictures and the plans for this):

My desperate attempt!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Allan_350.skp

Thanks for the tips guys, I'm progressing in this model and I'll show a pic or two as soon as I have something to show.

Hi there guys, my name is Nelson Almeida and I'm from Portugal. I've been using Sketchup from some time but mostly to model buildings and such. One of my hobbies is model railroading and recently I've been planing to model some Portuguese trains, I also have a CNC and would like to use it to help me model some trains.

My problem is that the trains I want to model are to "round", one of the features I'm not familiar in Sketchup is to work with curves so I would appreciate some help from the experts. First a photo and the plan of the prototype:

As you can see it's fairly round.

So my questions are:
What to would be the best strategy to approach this model?
Where to start?
Are there any plug ins I could use?
Since I plan to model it in HO scale (1/87) should I model it in real scale dimensions and downsize it later to 1/87?
Is Sketchup the right tool for this project?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Nelson