wedfactory

The cockpit is the weak point, Right now it is just an empty box in the fuselage. I either have to scratch build a cockpit or it will back to the cad and rework the front part ofthe model to create a cockpit. not sure of what the cockpit would even look like but woudl guess I could copy a 262 cockpit, or something close.

In the mean time making progress on the Tri. The blades finished printing but still need some clean up. Right now they are just stuck on the model not glued. (most likely going to keep it that way through painting.

Working on a stndfor this model since it is modeled in flight..

The printer I have is a Lulzbot Mini. All my final prints are at .05 mm layers, so print times do get long. I use HIPS for myfilament because it is basicly then same plastic as most model kits so all my standard model tools and supplies work with it easily, even can use stand modeling glues so no need for CA to glue parts together. Once some thig has printed I used a hand sander with 120 grit sandpaper to do my first round of sanding. This pic shows the difference from right off the printer (left) and first round of sanding (right) In this case a handle for a full size German WW2 Granade I was making. Used the "Wood" filament, did smell like burnt wood when printing. One I have a part to this stage I use sanding stick to get it smoother. It doesn't take to long to do this. In the pics below is a rocket booster I am doing forthe Sanger Antipodal Bonmber I am doing in 72 scale. The first pic is after the hand sander and the second is after sanding sticks and white squadron putty to fill seams and gaps. At this stage is where I scribe in the panel lines. (Here is the bomber with scribed panel lines) At thispoint the model is ready for paint and beacuse I used HIPS as my filament I can paint it with the same techniques I use and kit models. The tribflugel is being printed and has not been sanded with the hand sander yet so still early in the build process.

I picked up a 3D printer a little over a year ago and have been playing with it for a while. I decided to create my own model and for this i chose the Tribflugel (I hope I got the spelling right on that ) I created the original model in Autocad, in the first pic you can see all the steps I made in creating this model. To keep things simple I mode this model an inflight model. Didn't have to worry about the landing gear then. (I know my current limits in 3D modeling) In this picture is the drawing that I based my 3D model on in the cad program. And these are the final pieces I plan to print out. The reason for the pieces is that my printer can only print a max of 6"x6"x6" priont volumn and since I wanted a 1/32 scale model I had to cut it into pieces to fit in the print volumn. This is a rendering of the pieces and how that will go together. I have printed most of the pieces out so far (at least once due to technical difficulties and/or user error onthe printer ) Currently I have the fuselage most together. The front piece has not been glued on yet. I am thinkning about trying to priont out cockpit for it and will need to reprint the front section. Right now the "cockpit is just a square tub in the fuselage. The middle section will be spinnable but I am not going to motorize it. I am reprinting the blades for the model. The first set printed but will require A LOT of post print work to make passable. The solution was to change the position of the file on the printer bed to require less support material. In the pictures below the top blade is from the first set of prints and the bottom is the new set of blades that I am printing right now. The canopy right now is just a hunk of plastic that will be painted over, although I might get a buddy of mine to make several vacuum-form pieces from it. But in the end run this is what I am aiming for mass wise...

Here is a link to a web page I found quite useful... http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/297/1/0#22 this page has 58 different paintr schemes for Russian P-39's Has a lot of other camo schemes for many aircraft and nationalities.

I now have the wheel wells cut out (no going back now ) and have rescribed the underside of the wings. I also got a little more detail into the landing gear area.

for giggles and grins you need to look thru my photobucket album of horrors on this kit ... http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg222/wed192/My%20F-16XL/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24

Was getting agrivated with it so put it aside and worked on a bunch of other kits, AR-234, TSR-2, IL-40, M-48 Patton, Starting a 72 scale U-boat, E-555 (German Luft 46 stuff), 1/300 scale XB-70, a combat robot, 2 more SR-71's, TU-22M, B-2, and a MIG-21. Also updated my modeling website.

Fist let me say that this kit was #^%*(# to build. Every #$%**# piece needed to have flash removed, and injection holes filled. Parts didn't #&( fit, the insrtuctions where from another F-16 kit that had some minor changes to adapt to the XL version. The instructions had you put the wings on $*%*#% upsidedown and on the wrong side!! THe decals looked as though they were draw with #$^$* crayon! After all that, why did I finish it? Because I am #*(%&%# stupid! But the results worked out some how....

Sorry I didn;t keep up with this thread but I have finished the MIG-21... Dane Bramage and I had a "Dogfight" (a one v one model contest) between our two MIG-21's.... It ended in a tie.... You can see more of this model on my website at http://wedmodelfactory.com/wmf-aircraftmodels-mig-21.html

some more of my poor man's photo etch... I am scratch building the wheel wells for the main landing gear on the 1/32 scale ME-262. this is the kit's main landing gear wheel wells.. This is what they should look like SO I still have a good bit of work to do....

I picked up my 32 scale ME-262 again, stopped working on it because I didn't like the color mix in the cockpit. The eduard PE and the paint colors were to far off. here is what I am talking about.... The colors are to far apart in the cockpit between the instruments and the side walls of the cockpit. I mixed some colors together tonight and now have this... the seats in the above pics are the original gray so you can see how much closer the new mixed color is. Next major hurdle is the landing gear wells. the ones on the kit are completely wrong...this is what the kit has... this is what the actual looks like... The pic above is looking aft into the right side gear well. The arced metal to the left with the yellow wiring is the outside skin of the aircraft. The large cylinder on the right side is actually the underside off the cockpit. So in the actual aircraft he wheel wells just open into the fuselage, there is no top to them. More things I have to figure how to scratch build..

Thank you. I will be doing it in the United German paint scheme. (See box top in first post)

Most of the fiddly stuff is now on. Time to mask the canopy and rubber cement gear doors and air breaks to get ready for primer coat of paint. When I put on the canopy I discovered the cockpit seat was to high, had to remove it and do a little surgery on it.