MikeMaben Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Wow ! , tagged correctly titan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Wow excellent work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrov27 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 That turret looks to be coming together really well! Is there material that prints crystal clear that will be used here or will the print be used for a vac form clear piece(es)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titan Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, petrov27 said: That turret looks to be coming together really well! Is there material that prints crystal clear that will be used here or will the print be used for a vac form clear piece(es)? Thats a great question and I don't know yet. Option 1 is to print a master in standard resin then use it to create molds for clear casting. Problem is clear casting is hard to get right and I've never done it before. I don't know that I have the time to invest in learning that skill in addition to everything else. Option 2 is to use the model to create a master for vacuum forming . Again though, this can be hard to get right and I've never done it before. Option 3 is to print in clear resin. That is doable and people even print lenses in clear resin. The downside is that it may require extra polishing and clear coating or else it will be foggy. Right now I'm leaning towards option 3 largely because it seems the easiest way forward. Given that most modelers polish and clear coat anyway I think it's probably the best way to approach the problem. I'd need to advertise beforehand though that clear parts will require polishing (modeling skill required) and that modelers shouldn't be alarmed if the parts look foggy out of the box. I'll print some prototypes out in the coming weeks to see how workable that is. Edited October 22, 2018 by titan MikeMaben, Out2gtcha and rafju 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I think if the clear print was fine enough that polishing and clearing wouldn't be that big of deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 1 hour ago, titan said: Option 3 is to print in clear resin. That is doable and people even print lenses in clear resin. The downside is that it may require extra polishing and clear coating or else it will be foggy. 1 hour ago, Out2gtcha said: I think if the clear print was fine enough that polishing and clearing wouldn't be that big of deal. Break out the power tools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Excellent, I'd love a Privateer in 32nd scale... keep up the good work! Printing the turrets in clear resin could be an option, but it requires a lot - I mean a LOT! - of polishing to get these parts perfectly transparent. Ask me how I know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonH Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titan Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 Structure modeling for the nose turret faring complete. Really happy with this so far. Now a question. How do we want the surface details? The actual turret features raised rivets. From what we've seen the Hobbyboss B-24 will feature recessed rivets. I think recessed details will be easier to model as well. But the question is, do we go for 1:1 accuracy or do we go for consistent surface detailing between the model and the conversion parts? Thoughts? LSP_Kevin, AlexM and sandokan 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titan Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 Started in on the glass framing. There's actually a decent amount of progress here. Needs some clean-up though. AlexM, LSP_Kevin, sandokan and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShotMagnet Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 I have a friend who would want a 32nd scale Privateer. I'm therefore all kinds of curious to see how this turns out. I was thinking of casting the turrets from resin, despite the fact that I have zero experience in this regard. Shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 If you ask me, I'm for accurate aka raised rivet detail. If I'd tackle this conversion, I would replace the recessed rivets on the kit with raised ones, too. Keep up the good work! NukerDan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShotMagnet Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 What program are you using to make images for your parts? Shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titan Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 (edited) So I have (sometimes) actually been working on this thing. I've also been trying to find a good image hosting service, which is a pain. Anyway hope this works. All of this is done in Sketchup. I've got the ERCO ball turret exterior about 80%. Still need to add the gun ports and the flat sighting window in the middle. Then surface detailing. Figuring out the framework was fun. The ERCO turret really only has a couple exterior frames. There are also two longitudinal interior frames that actually appear to be made of clear plexiglass. In order to represent all of this I actually used four separate layers to make the turret shell. The two innermost shells were used for the interior frames. The outermost pair for the external frames. The two middle shells are the bounds for the actual glass. I tried to illustrate this with this in-progress shot. So I've ended up with a nice sphere (or half-sphere at the moment) where the external frames sit just proud of the "glass" faces and the internal frames protrude slightly into the turret. Here's another interior and exterior shot. Next steps are to finish the gun ports (which are driving me nuts), add the siting window, then the external rivets and panel lines. The final, worst and hardest part will then be modeling the turret interior. That's going to be significant. I'm assuming that if people buy this thing they'll want armament to come with it as well. Well, I get to add modeling the Browning M2 to my to do list with everything else. I am hoping that this will actually be the longest and hardest part of the project and that the remaining items will go a bit quicker, although I've still got the ERCO waist turret interiors ahead as well. And finally, one of the distractions. For the Trumpeter kit. Still got a ways to go on this. Hope to have more to show soon. Edited November 12, 2018 by titan images GMK, Out2gtcha, sandokan and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Awesome work, and indeed the way the future of the hobby is heading. Looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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