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1/32 Bristol Blenheim


onosendai

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I certainly hope that we will be able to see some parts soon! I am a little intrigued as to why Benoit has chosen to 3-D print the detail parts? I know very little about the process but I had it in mind that 3-D printing took quite some time? So I assume it must take hours if not days to produce a full set of parts? I wonder why he hasn't gone down the traditional resin route which I would have thought much quicker? I'm certainly hoping to see an image or two soon!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well the e-mail from Benoit I got on the 18th August said

 

" know you are waiting first photos from the kit but if everything would work from the first time, it would be too easy... First parts for the kit received were not meeting quality requirements and were discarded. New parts are now produced. Photos will follow as soon I can.
Even is the 75 orders goal is not reached the kit will be produced, with more parts 3d printed (SLA resin)"

 

So as far I am concerned, Benoit now has enough orders to feel confident to proceed. I won't be overly concerned for a couple more weeks but I will start asking questions if nothing concrete has been provided by way of photos of 'production' parts by the end of September as deliveries were originally supposed to start in November.

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Are you sure its not November 2016? I'm really quick on 3D CAD but I dont think I could realistically start a kit in September and be delivering in November! Its important not to forget that even with 3D printing you still have to draw up in 3D and produce a drawing to print it the same as Tamiya had to to produce their metal moulds for their gorgeous spitfires.That took a team of them 2 years.The only difference is the end result,one is a highly polished bit of steel to inject plastic into, the other is a layered piece of plastic which needs the support structure cutting off and sanding and scribing to a finish. Graham

Edited by GrahamF
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Are you sure its not November 2016? I'm really quick on 3D CAD but I dont think I could realistically start a kit in September and be delivering in November! Its important not to forget that even with 3D printing you still have to draw up in 3D and produce a drawing to print it the same as Tamiya had to to produce their metal moulds for their gorgeous spitfires.That took a team of them 2 years.The only difference is the end result,one is a highly polished bit of steel to inject plastic into, the other is a layered piece of plastic which needs the support structure cutting off and sanding and scribing to a finish. Graham

 

Well, using the link

http://www.aviarepli...olingbroke-1-32

 

within that is says

 

"What and When ?

Two first models produced by AviaReplica are the Bristol Blenheim / Fairchild Bolingbroke MkIV, scale 1/32 (resin, metal and plastic)

These kits will be available for serious modelers at the price of USD$130, starting November 2015 if we reach a minimum of 75 preorders (combined, Bolingbroke and Fairchild). 

 

An amount of $60 is asked for each preorder. "

So, in theory we are talking of the kit rolling out of the factory in 2 months time. Being fair to Benoit we all know that timescales can and do slip and there was obviously an issue with the first production parts because they were supposed to be available to view in August. When he made us aware that the kit was going to be produced then Benoit confirmed that all the CAD work was done and also mentioned that he was using 2 local companies to produce the parts for him so the problem may lie with one of those companies?

 

Fingers still crossed!

 

Simon

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Benoit has just posted the following update on the AviaReplicas Facebook page:

 

 

some news from the project.

- I was too much enthusiast about the schedule. Last august, I had first parts (plastic molded) prototyped by a local (Quebec) company. The result was absolutely not meeting the quality expected and it was discarded. I tried to outsource the process and I am waiting now parts from 3 offshore companies. One time I will have received them, photos will be published.

I made an error as the initial schedule was not realistic. Next steps are the following:

- The project is going on and the kit will be produced. My target is still Q4 this year for the prototype, but it can slip to january in the worst case to be fully completed.
- I will not take new subscriptions before the prototype is completed.
- Everybody will be fully refunded on december 15th if there are other production issues (What I hope not ! )

On the top of that, I was overloaded at my regular work which did not help.

My apologies for the delay.

Benoit

 

Just FYI.

 

Kev

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Well I'm glad that Benoit has updated us so that we now know where we are. I think that we can forgive his ambition - at the end of the day, who else is going to do this? I for one intend to hang on in for as long as it takes. Once Benoit has his subcontractors sorted out he may well have the confidence to plan new projects but I think he needs our support now.

Simon

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