daveculp

I've thought about doing an OV-10BZ for some time, but have been busy with other projects. Today I thought I'd dive in and 3D print a prototype jet engine pod for the ICM 1/48 OV-10A kit, with an eye towards making all the conversion parts needed for the OV-10BZ. First print looks promising. I'll make some adjustments when I get some free time.

Seems like an odd place to install the battery. Maybe he needed to move the CG forward?

This was my first time judging, and our team judged the 1/32 modern jets category, so I saw the Rhino up close. It's a beautiful build. I noticed the stabilators were slatted, but that doesn't get graded. Personally I'd like to it a bit shinier. The paint was dead flat.

Yes, the vendors seemed to do well, but I'm not sure if my perception of it is valid. Only they would know for sure. In my case I wasn't in the market for a kit, but I won four of them in the raffle anyway. More for the stash.

Yes, it's huge. 1/32 scale. I think it's made from two bomber kits and one resin center section. I think this one won "Best Aircraft".

Some models were at the National Convention last year as well. There were not many large aircraft models - more 1/48 or smaller. Plenty of cars, sci-fi, Gundam, armor. Neither of my kits placed (the Vegas Strong F-15 and the Honey Badger), but that's not surprising as both have paint problems. They look good from a distance

I'll be there, Orleans Hotel and Casino, Bienville room, today, all day. The vendors were selling loads of kits as soon as they set up last night . Photos to follow after the show. -- Dave

By my calculations the 59.25 ft wingspan becomes 22.2 inches at 1/32 scale. That's a lot of shelf space! (56.44 cm)

Will this one do? No pylon. https://www.shapeways.com/product/U2DDTFCEE/1-18-scale-an-aaq-28-litening-targeting-pod-x-1?optionId=59568276&li=marketplace

I've tried Rustoleum primer on resin (3D printing resin) and it never dries. I had to scrape/sand it off which took a week. I switched to Tamiya and have had no problems other than a dwindling bank account.

Thanks, Thierry. It only took one year, and that includes making the wings twice. There is no way I could have done this without 3D printing. Here's an after action report: Kit: Tigger 1/32 L-39 Scratch: dorsal hump, exhaust area, extended tail cap, cockpit rough-out, lights on front of tip tanks, inlet splitters, rear cockpit sun shield 3D print: landing gear, cockpit, tip tanks, antennas, pylons, drop tanks, trailing edges and control surfaces, extend L-159 nose, tail pipe and turbine, canopy mirrors Vacuform: windscreen Aftermarket: Missile - Brassin, AIM-9M/L ACMI pod - Bandit Resin Factory, ACMI Pod Type D Pitot tubes - Master Model, L-39 Seat belts - Eduard, MiG-29UB Paint: Mission Models MMP-010 Gelbbraun, Vallejo 71.038 Cam. Medium Brown (? not sure - I don't remember ) , Vallejo 71.056 Panzer Dk. Grey -- Dave

It's 99% done now. Just some touch-ups, a couple canopy hold-open rods, and a good dusting to go. I learned a lot during this project, but man, that was a lot of work.

I read the book, which was great. I'm guessing Hollywood will find a way to mess it up. There's an F4U-4 in my stash that I bought just for this purpose. I was thinking a diorama of the artwork on the book's cover. https://adammakos.com/devotion-book.html EDIT: Actually the trailer looks pretty good. There might be hope for Hollywood after all.

Thanks, John. I may try that with the thin windscreen. In the meantime I'm trying a much thicker material, maybe too thick. I just received an order of 3mm sheets of PETG, and have tried vac-forming it. It actually worked even though the machine wasn't built for material that thick. A modification to the hinge might work to allow the thick material to be locked in properly, but I just let the sheet heat up without being locked in to the carrier. It worked out fine. The final thickness is 1.5mm, a bit thicker than I need, but I'll still continue to sand it down to fit. Maybe 2mm is the sweet spot for this use case. Here's a photo of the new thicker windscreen getting sanded down to fit.

After polishing the new windscreen and painting the bow it looks nice, but doesn't quite fit. I'd use it if I had too, but I have enough time to try again. The new reshaped buck is printed, and now I'm waiting for delivery of some thicker PETG material.

After spending a couple weeks doing the filling and sanding required around the boom/wing/fuselage joints I decided the wings aren't straight enough. Ooops! I thought I had set that right when I glued it all together, and I thought the styrene spar would be enough to keep it straight. Well, now I'll take several steps back. I may have to remove the spar entirely and replace it with a brass one.

I read your post again, and I think this image is what you need. I don't have any special support settings. Let me know if this doesn't work for you. -- Dave

I think they're just dirty.

I dug through a box of photos and found one from my time at Patrick AFB. This is from the base airshow in March of 1983. Ignore the 1LT with his goofy mustache. Some things to notice: 1) No RHAW antennas installed 2) The ILS antenna on the side of the boom is painted body color. (I've seen them painted black elsewhere.) 3) Black paint aft of exhaust. Sembach-based airplanes didn't have this. 4) Prop tips red/black (I've not seen this scheme used elsewhere). 5) I think that's a blue Hamilton Standard logo on the prop (usually these are red, or worn off completely). 6) Black spinner (sometimes these are painted body color in the Euro1 paint scheme) 7) Oil cooler door open whenever gear is down 8) Inlet cover without the vertical bar in the middle. 9) Seat belts are grey-green 10) Seat cushions vary from silvery-green to olive 11) Survival kit olive green with a silver edge where the upper and lower halves join 12) RBF flag is long and has two pins. One goes into the D-ring, and one goes into the ballistic charge. 13) Props in flat pitch

I've done it once now, so I'm an expert It turned out to be easier than I thought. Some things I learned: 1) Will the resin buck survive the heat when the hot sheet is lowered onto it? Yes. 2) Every imperfection on the buck's surface will be copied, even if only a few microns tall. 3) There might be a way to estimate the thickness of the material after being stretched over the buck. Maybe someday I'll work on that. In general the taller the buck, the more the material will be stretched. 4) The working material, ZUVAS ZS02 PETG clear 0.04in sheet, worked well. It's sandable, which is important for getting the edges trimmed. 5) I'll look for some thicker material for next time. 6) This material holds it's shape well. 7) I should have packed the cavity in the buck with some material such as Milliput. Dave

I saved the scariest part for last - trying to get the vacuform clear parts done. My first plan for the windscreen was to cut out the right shape from the original part and fit it to the frame that I'd 3D printed. That wasn't working well, so I went to plan B which is to remove the forward canopy bow and vacuform a new part that will serve as the windscreen and canopy bow (much as with any kit). This gave me a chance to use the vac machine I bought a couple years ago and hadn't yet found a use for. I 3D printed a form (buck?) in resin. The form has a cavity on one side, only because it seemed wasteful to print it solid. I thought the cavity would not need to be covered since it's on the side, but I was wrong. The vacuum finds a way to get to the cavity somehow. This mistake was easily recoverable though. One problem I had was guessing what the thickness of the final part would be. I started with 1mm stock and ended up with a 0.2mm part, which is thinner than I wanted, but I'll use it anyway. I'm hoping to get this project done for the local IPMS show on August 27.

Thanks marcelof. For the cylinders I placed them upside-down. I used a heavy support in the middle and some medium supports around it. I also added some light supports for the overhangs and for the oil line on top. This just shows the bottom supports. It doesn't show the light supports for overhangs.

Well, it turns out that scaling down the rocket launchers doesn't quite work. I was hoping to paint the 3 parts separately and then assemble them, but the tolerances just aren't close enough to make it work. I checked around the aftermarket and see that Flying Leathernecks makes the "long" LAU-68 launchers in 1/32 scale, and I'd prefer short ones. My plan now is to redesign my launchers as a single part. One thing I like about the Flying Leathernecks launchers is they're empty, something that I hadn't thought of doing. Empty launchers will print better, and I can always add rockets scratch built from styrene rods later. For my build the new back-story is that the airplane just returned from a visit to the Bardenas Reales range and the pilot has already dashed to the O-Club for massive quantities of sangria.

I've been following the latest imaging from the JWST, and my wife was kind enough to buy me a kit of the JWST. Looks like fun. Construction looks to be a cross between photo-etch and a laser cut paint rack. Houha Designs kit