airscalePro 1/32 Typhoon - kit design WIP

[Gazzas]

16 minutes ago, airscale said:

 

That's a great question Gazzas - i will tell you what I think goes on as I have not actually seen it..

 

First the design is done in 3D CAD, in my case Rhino where all the parts are designed to be 1.5mm thick and no edge can be less than 0.3mm thick. Some areas can be thinner for features, but on the whole it is 1.5mm. There also cannot be any vertical faces, so even when something looks vertical, it isn't it will have at least 1 degree of draft. Once all the major surfaces are designed, the raised features are added like panels or raised rivets, these then become one with the surfaces so it is one whole 'watertight' part.

 

Rivets and panel lines are added as datapoints and lines  by me, but once the mouldmaker gets the design these are turned to 0.2mm cylinders, perpendicular to the surface and 0.2mm embedded into it. Similarly with panel lines a 0.15mm extruded square 'snake' sits 0.15mm into the surface. Once all this is done a command is run to deduct all the cylinders and 'snakes' from the whole, that leaves the rivet depressions and the line depressions in the surface.

 

Once they have the final design, they add the sprue (or technically 'runner') that allows the molten plastic around the mould and the attatchment points to the parts allow it into the part itself. With all that done the design is fed into a CAD milling machine and the magic happens. As far as I know some electro milling/anode electrospark jiggery pokery happens and a solid billet is milled to give the negative shape in two moulds, so one is recessed and the other sticks up but when put together there is the 1.5mm gap for the plastic to make the part between them.The incredible thing is those cylinders that left a depression are now milled to be little nubs/spikes that stick out to become depressions in reverse in the part - mind blowing really..

 

this is why it is left to experts with some high end machinery and costs money to do...

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to explain it.  I see that my thinking was way behind the technical curve, and that you would have to invest heavily before you can see any return.

[airscale]

Antonis has finished the box art and it is the finest, most atmospheric aviation art I have seen - I am stunned this will grace my kit

 

 

the man is an absolute master and I will be forever grateful to him for elevating my products 

Edited November 13, 2025 by airscale

[geedubelyer]

Phwoar!!

 

Flippin' 'eck Peter. That's amazing. 😍

 

Much is often made about how persuasive box art can be. 

I think you might be forced to re-estimate how large your production run should be based on that image 😃

 

( Don't forget to add "figure not included" somewhere on the box though unless, you intend to include the figure....? )

 

Edited November 12, 2025 by geedubelyer

[LSP_Kevin]

That is indeed stunning, Peter!

 

Kev

[Martinnfb]

Now, that's an art ! 

[Iain]

Stunning Peter!

 

Iain

[Zola25]

Box ART for damn sure!! Stunning

 

/Niels

[Out2gtcha]

50 minutes ago, airscale said:

 

 

 

Utterly astounding looking my friend....

 

The fog......with other Typhoons in the background......with the pilot feeling along the leading edge gives such a dramatic feel to the airframe. 

I'd want one even if I'd never heard of the aircraft based in the box art alone.

 

Brilliant, just Brilliant. 

[RCPlym]

On 11/10/2025 at 6:15 PM, airscale said:

 

That's a great question Gazzas - i will tell you what I think goes on as I have not actually seen it..

 

First the design is done in 3D CAD, in my case Rhino where all the parts are designed to be 1.5mm thick and no edge can be less than 0.3mm thick. Some areas can be thinner for features, but on the whole it is 1.5mm. There also cannot be any vertical faces, so even when something looks vertical, it isn't it will have at least 1 degree of draft. Once all the major surfaces are designed, the raised features are added like panels or raised rivets, these then become one with the surfaces so it is one whole 'watertight' part.

 

Rivets and panel lines are added as datapoints and lines  by me, but once the mouldmaker gets the design these are turned to 0.2mm cylinders, perpendicular to the surface and 0.2mm embedded into it. Similarly with panel lines a 0.15mm extruded square 'snake' sits 0.15mm into the surface. Once all this is done a command is run to deduct all the cylinders and 'snakes' from the whole, that leaves the rivet depressions and the line depressions in the surface.

 

Once they have the final design, they add the sprue (or technically 'runner') that allows the molten plastic around the mould and the attatchment points to the parts allow it into the part itself. With all that done the design is fed into a CAD milling machine and the magic happens. As far as I know some electro milling/anode electrospark jiggery pokery happens and a solid billet is milled to give the negative shape in two moulds, so one is recessed and the other sticks up but when put together there is the 1.5mm gap for the plastic to make the part between them.The incredible thing is those cylinders that left a depression are now milled to be little nubs/spikes that stick out to become depressions in reverse in the part - mind blowing really..

 

this is why it is left to experts with some high end machinery and costs money to do...

 

Peter

 

 

 

And that is pretty much spot on in principle. There 'can' be truly vertical surfaces though with clever tool design.

The clever (magic bit if you will) is the mechanical design and build that deals with tool cooling, molten material flow pattern control, material shrinkage on cooling, parts ejection and many other considerations. Get any one of them wrong and it gets even more costly to put right.

And injection moulds are REALLY heavy, even little ones!

[RCPlym]

1 hour ago, airscale said:

Antonis has finished the box art and it is the finest, most atmospheric aviation art I have seen - I am stunned this will grace my kit

 

 

the man is an absolute master and I will be forever grateful to him for elevating my products 

 

You are going to bankrupt me!

Absolutely gorgeous!

[williamj]

It's not what you're looking at that really matters; it's what stimulates your mind's eye that does.

 

 And I can see myself building this Typhoon easily.  

[mozart]

I can see that as a large print on my study wall, it absolutely encapsulates the feel of a frosty early morning op. across the Channel to attack Abbeville airfield or maybe a radar installation. Well done Antonis and Peter. 

[geedubelyer]

34 minutes ago, mozart said:

I can see that as a large print on my study wall, it absolutely encapsulates the feel of a frosty early morning op. across the Channel to attack Abbeville airfield or maybe a radar installation. Well done Antonis and Peter. 

Likewise Max. 

@airscale, is that something you might consider Peter? 

Either actual prints or a downloadable file that your customers could print themselves or get printed? 

[Ginja Ninja]

1 hour ago, geedubelyer said:

Likewise Max. 

@airscale, is that something you might consider Peter? 

Either actual prints or a downloadable file that your customers could print themselves or get printed? 

and @mozart I was thinking the same! We've seen box art that is good, bad and ugly (drunk Trumpeter P-40F) but this is something else, truly sublime.

 

@airscale please, please please with cherries on top, make prints available 

[Bonkin]

My my. That is absolutely stunning.

 

Like @mozart, I would frame that and put it on the wall. Superb vision and work.