GMK

Loving your work on that cockpit. You’re definitely matching your investment in the cockpit with your efforts on the fuselage.

Absolutely beautiful work there, Tony. A joy to watch.

Thanks Ray. Found a good square on image of the call sign 31 (three one, not thirty one). Had the opportunity to recheck a 1:1 example on Friday, which lead to this. That ought to be handy. Some more paint progress. T’other side. Thanks for looking in.

Some more painting done. I figured I’d use the CAD model to generate profile drawings so I can sketch out the camouflage pattern specific to my vehicle. The road wheel model isn’t rendering properly, but the drawing will do the job. Thanks for looking in.

Really liking your work on this one, Tolga. Looking forward to more progress.

Have been progressing the paintwork, referring to pics taken in 1999. Thanks for looking in.

Thanks mate. It’s been a journey. That’s a biiiig track! I’d like to see a tuna boat in 1/16, though. Please post it.

Starting to paint up some test parts to see how they look on the hull. Paints are SMS. Was not uncommon for some parts to be delivered in NATO/CARC green. Even the inner road wheels were left in their delivered colours. Shocky fits well. Will pull these off & finalise for installation. Thanks for looking in.

Jay, I don’t know how you keep improving on the previous step, but you somehow manage to. Please keep it up. cheers, Greg

Thanks, Ryan. Definitely workable. Thanks, Jose. Did a size check of the 31 stencil on the ramp. It’s about 10% too large, but that’s an easy fix. Thanks for looking in.

Thanks. It’s been a journey! Finished the paint proof of concept for the turret. I’m happy enough with the results of the clear resin print. Gives the impression of the somewhat dodgy episcopes without requiring a full turret interior. Thanks for looking in.

The UK’s new AH-64Es are now operational. Should be able to do one OOB, less the decals.

100%. There’s some other issues with the model which didn’t help.

Ran a test print on the rear of the hull. Let’s just say I need to tweak the model. Thought that there could be some issues, but not to that extent. In parallel, the major markings were sketched up. Onto the laser cutter. Looking good. I may redo them with reference cuts to facilitate alignment on the physical model. I need to sort out the tiger’s head, deployment Christmas tree, buoyancy marks, & roadworthy reflective marks, each of which have differing degrees of difficulty. Thanks for looking in.

Thanks, Rockie! Now that the new resin printer is dialled in, thought I’d have another bash at the front hull in another material. 450 grams of resin! The gun depression rail looks a bit wonky, but that’s fixable. Hasn't yet been washed & cured yet, but couldn’t resist placing the turret on it. Test fit of the left track shroud. Thanks for looking in.

Mucked about with some paint in an endeavour to get a motivational endorphin high/illusion of progress. I used SMS RAF Sky for the interior sea foam green. Then SMS camouflage brown, camouflage green, camouflage black, & insignia white. Masks for the Charlie Company chevron were laser cut. Thanks for looking in.

Such a pretty, purposeful, bird. Lovely work.

After playing with orientation & layer height, I reckon I’ve got an acceptable turret. This is it being cured. While it was printing, drying, & curing, I drew up the interior & exterior masks for the visiblocks. These were then cut via laser cutter. Test fit on the turret. With luck I’ll be able to prime today. Thanks for looking in.

Well, highest resolution print is done The print wasn’t as good as initial impressions, though the turret being translucent made detecting faults trickier. For some reason there’s a fold or wrinkle on the ten o’clock facet of the turret. The parallel lines highlight the fold in the top line of the visiblock, circled in red. Thanks for looking in.

Thanks, Jeroen. Learning CAD is like learning how to fish. Definitely worth the investment of time. I’m experimenting with clear resin for the turret as the translucent green is just too green. One cool thing is that you can see the photo-sensitive resin being cured, layer by layer. Pretty cool! Using 0.01mm layers takes a while, though. Thanks for looking in.

G’day Kev, I’m using an Anycubic Photon Mono X printer, Anycubic grey resin, & Anycubic Workspace slicer. Cheers, Greg

One thing with slicing models is that the orientation plays an important part in the success or otherwise of the prints. This was one version, with most objects canted 30 degrees or so to the printer bed. Here’s where it started. Version two has them placed vertically. Thanks for looking in.

Thanks, @Cap'n Wannabe - appreciate the offer. I’m modelling my vehicle closed up, otherwise I’ll never finish it. Cheers.

Had a lot of difficulty with the old printer successfully printing the roadwheels. New printer, new slicer. Cleaned, but not cured. Thanks for looking in.

You’re talking about the design & printing?