Realistic 3D printed tracks for Plarail Advance

Customisable model railway tracks and trackbeds are available on the Maker World with a template specifically for Plarail Advance.  

Link 3D printable customisable realistic Plarail tracks

The customiser and parts are all free to use, download and 3D print.  The rails are intended to be printed separately from the trackbed and both can be multicoloured using a typical slicer layer pause filament swap.

   

Options for standard dovetail connections or parts sans dovetail/socket but with hidden magnet cavities are available.  

Hope you can make use of and enjoy it!  [url=https://makerworld.com/en/models/1141291][/url]

   

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Those do look awesome Not2, I am sure those who still have the Plarail Advance would love these to add to the realism. I assume that the regular sized Plarail trains would work on these if one was so inclined...right or would they be too bumpy??

BTW, welcome to BPT's Not2scale 👏

Thanks!  There’s a template for regular size Plarail too - the ballast is level with the sleeper top surface in that one to ensure they run smoothly.  It will be interesting to see how folks make use of the “third rail” profile for regular size - in my template I kept both sides present but I expect in most scenarios just the outside or even no additional outer rail support would still work without derailing incidents.  I like the big trains too but am new to the hobby so still getting my head around the relative scales - the Advance was much simpler

To me the regular size look good next to Tomica 1:64 cars but depending on whether you take the width, carriage height, door dimensions, center track gauge etc you could happily argue for anything from 1:56-1:87 - I think that range is fun in terms of flexibility and I’ll start putting together some setups soon (I just got a large haul of old engines off a marketplace).

I’ve had Advance sets for a few years and was a typical disappointed fan when they were discontinued - it’s been a long time goal to develop realistic tracks for them as the details are otherwise fantastic and there’s plenty of pseudo-N scale accessories to suit them (I say pseudo N because again the scale is all over the shop but you can make N scale trees etc work well with them although I find if you take the passenger doors as the scale, Tomica vehicles at ~ 1:110-1:120 suit it well).

I intend to add turnout options next but haven’t finished exploring all options with single track Advance scale which I think could look quite nice.

Thanks!  There’s a template for regular size Plarail too -

For those of us who don't understand how this customisable template thingy works, can you post some pictures of the regular size rails please?

Yep, I've just updated the model page on the Maker World site so theres a bit more info and pics there but for regular size Plarail the two options for printing a smooth flat surface while retaining multi-colour and detail are:

• A horizontal dovetail slicer (which functions much like the one in Bambu Studio BUT will follow the curve radius for curved segments).
  
• Parameters for fine control over sleeper height and Z-offset, allowing for ‘through trackbed’ parts which can be printed separately and slotted on top of one another.
  

With regard to scale, in the template I default to ~1:76 for Plarail regular size because I think ~21-22mm height scale humans look good next to the trains at this scale.

I'm still debugging and adding features so really haven't had enough time to try out a lot of different things yet but I'll try to keep everyone posted on here.

   
   

Nice track pieces there my friend, I'm a big fan of Advance and was gutted when Tomy cancelled the range. Very short-sighted move in my opinion, but well they seem to be paying the price now, but what a chance lost by letting it go...

I'll be investigating your models and will look to make some up at some point

Customisable model railway tracks and trackbeds are available on the Maker World with a template specifically for Plarail Advance.  

Link 3D printable customisable realistic Plarail tracks

The customiser and parts are all free to use, download and 3D print.  The rails are intended to be printed separately from the trackbed and both can be multicoloured using a typical slicer layer pause filament swap.



Options for standard dovetail connections or parts sans dovetail/socket but with hidden magnet cavities are available.  

Hope you can make use of and enjoy it!  [url=https://makerworld.com/en/models/1141291][/url]

very cool

Nice track pieces there my friend, I'm a big fan of Advance and was gutted when Tomy cancelled the range.  Very short-sighted move in my opinion, but well they seem to be paying the price now, but what a chance lost by letting it go...

I'll be investigating your models and will look to make some up at some point

Thanks! ☺️ Advance is what drew me in to the hobby and I think there are still good avenues to expand the system with 3D printing and off the shelf stuff. My initial focus was the realistic tracks (although I’ve been momentarily sidetracked making a practical ‘regular size’ Plarail version of them available). 

I also run an electronics business with an online store so if there is demand for Advance accessories I’d be happy to add stock there for global distribution.