brahman104

Congratulations Dennis! that is one veeeeeerrry nice looking Fort. I’m super impressed at how neatly you joined that turtle deck on. You should be very happy with this! Craig

You are a filleting master!!!!! Just let me know when you're available to do my B-17's ones. Craig

Thanks for the feedback guys. It does seem there is some genuine interest out there. Unfortunately with an international move rapidly approaching, it'll probably be the best part of about 12 months or so before I can progress this any further. The resin one out of the Photon looks much better (check out the WIP section), and I think may end up making more out of normal cast resin, as it will be a lot more predictable and reliable than the printed versions. I'm also looking forward in the future to doing a bomb bay gas tank for my E model, so keep a look out Cheers, Craig

Hey guys, So here's the resin version of the same .stl file done in the photon..... it just fits!!! BTW it took 13 hours to print this!!!!!!! There's some slight dimensional creepage/warpage going on with it, but the overall finish blitzes the FDM version, although it's still very useable.... And side by side.... And lastly....... For those who think 3D printing is easy and hassle free...... Human and machine error is always a possibility and the process is definitely NOT straightforward. For every successful print you see, there are likely to be an equal or greater number of failures. This one was on me; I didn't tighten the build plate securing screw properly as I was in a hurry to get the left side on to print. 13 hours mostly down the drain, although there's some salvage potential here. Nothing for it except to try again!!! It's actually a credit to the Photon that despite my best efforts to sabotage myself, it still managed to give me a mostly workable print! p.s. the stuff at the back is the supports. This has come straight out of the printer so I haven't cut anything off yet...... Cheers, Craig

On the home run now! Craig

Initially my thoughts were no, however it would depend on the interest level and timeframe. As you can see the parts are very much in a "raw" state; plenty good enough for me to work with, but not really what I would want to offer to the masses, especially as I'd say a fair few would be expecting a seamless drop fit. If on the other hand there was interest for just a start point like the above with plenty of scratchbuilding and elbow grease, then possibly. The next 12 months for me is going to be exceptionally busy, so I'm not sure if I'm going to get much further than this. Alex (Fencer) was working on a similar initiative with the intent to sell, but I'm not sure how he's currently going with it. Thanks Troy, I'd love to say that I have a ready made conversion set to suit the kit, but time will tell how far I go. As you know from my builds, I am partial to quite a few attempts to get things right.

Cheers mate! Here's both sides and compared to an original kit and my C just for good measure...... I think I've achieved my aim of making it look more like a B-17 The resin version it STILL in print (13 hours!). I really hope it works! Cheers, Craig

G'day guys, Since this topic seems to come up about every 3 months, I thought I'd show you what can be done if you want it badly enough These parts are just a rough trial, but my initial impressions are that it improves the look of the kit immensely. It also *should* be compatible with most of the existing kit parts once I've got it properly cleaned up, apart from a new instrument panel/#3 bulkhead of course and the cockpit glazings.... Anyway, I thought I'd share it here in case you miss my build. Cheers, Craig

Thanks Juraj! It's still getting refined, but it looks like a B-17! Thanks Brian! The other half is in print now along with a resin version just to see the difference. Thanks mate! Hi D.B. Thank you. At this stage I am not planning on selling these, for many reasons. In the future I may, but what I've created here doesn't solve everything, there's still quite a bit of modelling that one would have to do to complete the conversion. I'm not sure where Alex (Fencer) is at with his design; he has hinted at the possibility of selling his....... Thanks mate, Hahaha, I wish! Even now I can't really afford the time to do what I'm doing here, but I love the B-17 so I'm finding the time from somewhere. Quick update, I've added the windows so you can better see how it will look. The other side is in print now and I also have a resin copy getting built on the Photon, so those comparison photos will follow soon...... This is literally straight off the printer, so there's no clean up except to remove the raft......... Cheers, Craig

Houston, we have a new nose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After much confoundment with creating wall thickness to be able to print, I finally have something physical to show you! Despite my best efforts, the printing software blatantly refused to print the "eyebrow" section above the windscreen. I checked it out on Rhino before and it seemed all good. Sometimes these things just do what they want! Amusingly, as soon as I detached this piece, it was more than happy to print it separately!!! Anyway two big questions.... 1) how did it turn out? and 2) did it make a difference to "the look?" Well here's the pictures. Note this is a trial run to see it I had the dimensions and shapes right. I'll go back now and add the windows, then the final print will be in the Photon I don't know about you guys, but I reckon it looks a lot more B-17 like to me! Already you can see the inclusion of the correct #3 shape is making all the heartache of the CAD work worthwhile Over the next few days I'll cut the other side out and then mock it up complete and next to my other unbuilt kit. But for now, I'm happy that I have a workable solution to fix the nose issue with minimal disturbance to the rest of the kit. There you go, it CAN be done! Cheers, Craig

G'day Jay. Always a pleasure I don't know...... I think it'd be more of a close run thing between your gear doors and your R2800! I think you're more of a glutton for punishment than I Hi Sophie, thanks for looking in. I see you do have quite the eye for details from your builds. I hope you'll enjoy the journey! Thanks Terry! Always appreciate your comments. I had a lot of fun with the right side of the nose, something I'd put off for a long time. I really want to get into the right side now, but time is a precious commodity right now so we'll see. Thanks for looking in and commenting mate. I'm still very much a novice at the 3D stuff, but I'm learning with everything I do. It's great fun and really bends the brain at times!

Brilliant work around the bottom of the windscreen Peter. I might need you to show me how it's done when I get to the B-17 Craig

A couple more pics from yesterday. I made up an ammo can holder out of litho plate. It probably should have lightning holes in it to be perfectly accurate, but all my punches are rusted up at the moment from months of not being used, one of the joys of living in a high humidity environment! A really quick paint up of my 3D printed ammo cans.... they came up really nicely! And installed in the nose. Looking pretty busy now! Time to hit the other side Cheers, Craig

Thanks Mark! I'd like to take credit for making them, but they are brought. Pretty sure it was RB motion...... In any case they look the part a hell of a lot better than that horrible thread stuff I used last time. Cheers, Craig

Thanks Thor. I've been able to get a good run on it lately. It's been good to actually get things moving after all this time! Cheers mate. Yes the lighting was a must, especially for the forward entry area under the cockpit. I'd really like to look at motorising at least one engine with sound, but that's some pretty advanced stuff that I have no idea about yet..... The detailing of the right side has been coming along nicely. Very happy how the driftmeter looks installed. All of these details are scratch built, including the microphones and jack boxes. I hate painting white.... I can never get it to look good. I also wanted to make the navigator's equipment box which sits above the oxy bottles. I've had a set of wood grain decals for ages so I thought I'd finally give them a go. I don't think the real box was wood, but for a splash of colour in the nose I thought it'd look good :). The box itself is made from styrene and I used the decals to make it look like it has a lid... And installed... The right side is just about done. Just need to do the oxy lines from the bottles, then I'll hit the left side Cheers, Craig