JMeyer

Whiners? Really?

Unless you are using a sandable filler/primer, priming by itself doesn't hide the print lines, unless it's also hiding detail. On my X-3 I've used an automotive filler/primer on the fuselage followed by sanding. It will take two or three rounds of this to create an acceptable surface. I used a scriber and small drills to enhance the surface detail prior to this to make sure none was lost. Considerably more than "primer and gentle polishing."

I posted about the print lines on the X-3 back in January in the WIP forum. On some of the smaller parts, such as the landing gear doors, they are a problem to deal with without marring other detail. I used a thin UV curing resin to do this. On the fuselage, they require the use of a filler/primer and extensive sanding to get an acceptable surface. It's all doable of course. It takes some extra effort. The larger point is: Jetmads print quality needs improvement. And yeah, besides mine, I have yet to see anyone else's X-3 in progress, much less completed.

@nmayhew I'm curious about why you find this funny.

Whether it's bare metal or painted, you're gonna have to fix those lines. Or better yet, Jetmads could get their act together and print their kits properly.

Interesting how Jetmads has disabled commenting on their Fb page. I guess they don't want any comments about their print quality. Their business model works well for them: sell out the entire production run before the kit is even produced, so there are no pesky "test build" photos to turn people away. It's a shame, becuase otherwise they are very nice kits. As an aside: I've seen nobody except for myself start work on the recent X-3 Stiletto, and I think I know why!

Jetmads X-3 Stilleto is plagued with serious 3d print layer lines in areas that are readily visible, disclaimer on the instruction sheet notwithstanding. So I've spent a bunch of time, and money for a solution. This post focuses on parts such as the landing gear doors, the pilot's seat hatch, and the ejection seat itself. I've only begun to remove parts from the print supports so we'll see what the future brings. My theory was that if I could find a UV curing resin that flows easily (not too thick) and self-levels, I could lay that in to fill the lines without ruining the surrounding details and with minimal sanding especially in areas to tight to sand effectively. So here's what I learned: it works. It's fussy and can be hard to get it to work consistently. But you can always wash it off and do over if you don't cure it. I found two resins that work well for this, both made by Solarez. The Fly-Tie Thin Hard formula is clear and fairly thick but it levels nicely. The Ultra Thin Bone Dry Black is thinner and sort of black. I learned that these can be mixed, and can be thinned with lacquer thinner. You need to use plenty of extra cure time if you do. So here we have some results on the landing gear doors and pictures of the pilots hatch and seat Thing is, all of these rivets are just too big. Given that the whole idea was to preserve them, now I'm thinking it'd be easier just to sand them off, deal with the layer lines, and then use resin rivet decals or maybe Anyz 0.35mm resin rivets (these are about 0.4mm). Maybe I'll just take this result and move on because right now my enthusiasm for this kit isn't urging me to go all out on it. It might just need to be a "do a neat job" shelf display item. There is no good excuse for this poor print quality. Jetmad's disclaimer that they are "genuinely unlikely to be notice by the naked eye" is nonsense. What is worse, anyone who mentions this on the Jetmads Facebook page has their comments deleted, and they are banned. I am disappointed with this, to say the least. Although Jetmads clearly puts a lot of care and effort into these kits, the end product quality is not what it ought to be. Banning people who've purchased this kit for expressing reasonable complaints is very bad form, particularly when the Jetmads business model is based on pre-selling unproduced kits sight unseen. How many sales would be lost if people like me saw good photos of the actual product? I've been unable to find a single build or in-progress build of this kit and I wonder why. Disappointment and buyer's remorse come to mind as a possible reasons. Fixing this stuff is a pain in the butt and a waste of time and effort. I wish they had cast more parts and printed fewer because their casting is very good. There are some very nice aspects to this kit to be sure, and I've always wanted an X-3 so here we go. Main landing gear door. Main landing gear door with resin laid on. This is the Hard Black formula. It's actually purple, like Sharpie ink. Nose gear door with resin laid in. This is the Hard Clear formula. After priming with MS1500 from spray can, including the pilot's hatch. Untouched main gear door included for reference. So this worked pretty well. A problem with this method is the meniscus effect, as the liquid resin tends to climb up around the base of whatever raised surfaces it finds, particularly the rivets giving them a soft look and making them look larger than they really are, and they are already much too big. Here is the ejection seat. Those rivets belong to an old steam boiler. References:

Again, the point escapes you. I have already bought it, and so have the others who are disappointed with the substandard print quality.

You are missing the point. For one thing, the Viggen main parts were cast, not printed. While not perfect, they are cleaner than the X-3. And I am thankful I don't have to prep that for a metal finish.

The lines are quite easily visible to the naked eye, and will be even more visible when painted, especially if any washes are applied. The problem isn't the shape or angles of the surfaces of the parts. It's primarily their print angles and/or their print settings. If you look at the latest 3D printed aftermarket parts for aircraft, tanks, ships, etc. you don't see this problem. Look at what's being done in the world of 3D printed figures and busts. Again: you don't see this. It is true that some of the parts have excellent print quality, particularly the turbine rotors.

It's relatively easy to achieve a smooth surface on the fuselage parts (I assume the Lear wings are cast). I've already done it, although it will need more finishing after assembly. Again, I've seen other copies of this kit that are less good than mine. Cleanup to this extent should not be necessary! The problem is parts like these: Ejection seat. Main landing gear door. Layer lines all over the instrument panel, and within the instrument faces. Good thing this kit has no canopy to open.

I was curious as to what you consider acceptable. I don't expect your kits look any better than mine. For the record, I also have the Skystreak, and overall I have to say it's a better product because more parts are cast and fewer are printed.

Inside of the main landing gear door. Filling those lines and preserving that detail is going to be difficult. Left alone, they'll be quite visible under paint, and forget about applying any kind of wash.

Sorry folks! Google doesn't want to allow hotlinking so I'll redo my photos shortly.