castlegaiden Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 (edited) Thank you guys for the good ideas and for the contact over at hellomold.com! I am having a blast designing the Marauder - a really nice air frame. Just received William Wolf's B-26: The Ultimate Look. The thing's like 500 pages - insane. Also just received the Erection and Maintenance manual from a friend. Kicking it into high gear! Brian Edited May 19, 2015 by castlegaiden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 I haven't read the entire thread, but I really hope you don't underestimate the tooling cost. I have worked as a project engineer for a scale model company for five years. We did 1/43rd and 1/18th scale car models and I know the cost of these tools. Our tools were made in China and I can already tell you that the tooling for your Marauder will cost a fortune, that's for sure. You should maybe consider Short Run moulds to keep the cost down, but even these will be very expensive. All the best for your project, though! Hong Kong Models understand moulding technology, particularly two-stage slide-moulding, so are ahead in the game.It may be necessary to design a simpler, more parts break-down to the kits unless selling a design to HKM who can turn out the metal tooling to make the kit in bigger monocoque chunks.Tony So do most other manufacturers, Tony. The problem is that slide moulds are very expensive, so they are only used if really necessary - we did so at least. I don't think HK is ahead in terms of moulding technology - Chinese mould makers are on a very high level in general. I can tell you that even some Tamiya moulds have been manufactured in China. What you need is clever engineering and a good mould maker. Wall thickness is very important when designing parts to be injection moulded. You have to consider shrinking and warping, etc. All Chinese mould makers I know have an own CAD shop - they will have to rework your files anyway, so this additional cost should also be considered. Vandy 1 VX 4, Piprm and Derek B 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Nearly done with surface modelling for main canopy ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Main canopy nearing completion :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Rough rendering of forward fuselage so far ... will continue to compare against my references ... Brian Harold and Vandy 1 VX 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Good to see you're ploughing on regardless, Brian. You just never know! Kev castlegaiden 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alburymodeler Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) Nope, the windscreen is curved in plan view. This is where computer work becomes problematic as opposed to carving wood. Better get it right before moving forward. Looking at your model it is possible the top of the fuselage is too flat (reverse of the HK B-17) and maybe in plan view the windscreen is a straight-ish line? Edited May 21, 2015 by Alburymodeler David66 and castlegaiden 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Thank you - great points. I leave all the detail out until later on so I can fix shape issues easily now :-) I'll take another look and tweak Alburymodeler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alburymodeler Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 That black horizontal line which indicates the side windows, where it is facing the front and running parallel with the rear line, it should bow forwards. Hard to describe but if you continue with a critical eye you should eventually get it correct. Doing it right from the start is certainly better than trying to fix later. castlegaiden and Harold 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Brian, I have a copy of Scale Models magazine with a full set of drawings of the B26. No idea how accurate they are, but PM me your address and its yours.... Tim castlegaiden 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastzx Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 http://www.shapeways.com/sell/open-a-shop?li=footer Start your own shop. See link above. You provide the 3D model and shapeways sells it for you, prints and ships to your customer. The profits are then deposited into your paypal account. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) Getting close .... Edited May 22, 2015 by castlegaiden Alburymodeler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) http://www.shapeways.com/sell/open-a-shop?li=footer Start your own shop. See link above. You provide the 3D model and shapeways sells it for you, prints and ships to your customer. The profits are then deposited into your paypal account. Jon Hi hear you Jon The downside is for this kit, I think it would cost between $500 and $1,000 to print and sell copies. I think I will design as if it were getting sent to a tooling company, but will probably buy a couple of huge pressure chambers and cast the sprue trees in resin. This will keep the cost per kit way down <$300 per kit hopefully Brian Edited May 22, 2015 by castlegaiden Alburymodeler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
castlegaiden Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 Wanted to post another progress shot Bye for now, Brian Alburymodeler, Vandy 1 VX 4, Artful69 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alburymodeler Posted May 23, 2015 Share Posted May 23, 2015 I hazard a guess that producing it yourself could be a serious undertaking. particularly if you have not done any casting before. That is a big bit of resin -nay a huge bit of resin. Way bigger than the HPH Hornets, and ME 410, but maybe not as big as the Catalina, which I am sure requires some considerable skill to cast without shrinkage and warpage. Keep moving along and maybe a door will open. castlegaiden 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now