Sepecat Jaguar GR3.A / GR1.A in 1/12th Scale

[Timmy!]

Well kids....

 

I started all over again...

 

New thread because the old one was just devolving into a endless stream of do overs.  

 

THIS THREAD SHALL NOT BE WHAT CAME BEFORE...THIS ONE WILL BE A FINISHED PROTOTYPE MODEL!!

 

So a few months back my good friend Paul Fisher lost his home and wonderful workshop to fire in Paradise, CA.  I am so happy he and his family escaped and in that light the mention of what comes next seems so trivial.

 

Paul was in possession of the masters I had completed at the time of the fire so an opportunity to build a better model arose.

 

Considering the magnitude of the work I previously completed, I started thinking about how to speed up the build.  As many of you know I have turned to CNC and SLA type 3d printing to augment the hand building of the model.  Until recently I had eschewed the use of FDM type printers due to the inaccuracy of the prints, and significant post processing required after printing model parts.  Cost also was a factor, nothing was worth the investment versus the risk of poor parts.

 

Enter the Tiertime Cetus MKIII.  This little printer was cheap, precise and worth a gamble.  The main feature that attracted me to the printer was the linear guide rails and bearing blocks.  These almost guarantee accurate movement of the axises of the printer.  With a price in the $300 US range it was worth a try.  With the printer in hand and after some tweaking with the assembly of the printer I managed to print dimensionally accurate parts.  One inch cubes were printed and were measured by digital caliper only a few ten thousands of an inch from true, and square adjacent surfaces measured with a machinist's square.

 

So I ordered up 7,000g of PLA filament and started a-printing.

 

 

On a similar journey I ordered up an Anycubic Photon MSLA printer, though this journey was much longer because the Photon required much more significant modification to get true parts.  Out of the box it made fantastic parts in terms of detail.  However, they parts didn't fit with others, they were skewed in the Z or vertical axis.  The modification was much too complex to detail in this post, suffice to say the machine was disassembled, parts were machined true, linear rails and bearing blocks added and a new parts were machined to make it all work.  Parts that came out of the machine post modification were exceptional!

 

 

Now that I have three machines working simultaneously part production has definitely accelerated the pace of this build.

 

I have also made some design changes.  Outside of getting another chance to improve the model's accuracy, simplifying and streamlining the build has been a chief consideration.  So the model will still be "skinned" in aluminum sheet but only where there are removable panels, the remainder of panel detail will be scribed in to a layer of primer paint.  PLA is a difficult material to sand and also hygroscopic and needed to be well sealed.  I'm using 2 part automotive epoxy paint (paint and hardener) to fill and "glue" the PLA layers together.  The result is a surface that is much easier to sand and finish.  You can see a few of the PLA parts were the black primer has been applied and finishing has started.

 

Lastly my machining skills have improved to the point where the acrylic parts now have machined in details, rivets and reinforcing layers etc.

 

Here's a shot of the parts so far.  These parts represent the main components of the fuselage from the nose to the engine faces.  

 

 

More detailed photos coming as assembly commences.  This will be a prototype model, so I will be finishing this one as I go, so you can look forward to finished assemblies going forward.

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

Timmy!

 

 

[crobinsonh]

One word - WOW

[SCRATCH BUILDER]

Watching this with much interest....

[Starfighter]

You have my interest, Timmy - as usual! I am very interested in the modifications you have made on your Photon - I have one as well and would love to get more accurate prints. Looking forward to seeing your Jaguar come together! By the way - are there any news about the Goshawk conversion? 

[Out2gtcha]

Coooooooooool!

[Timmy!]

Hello again!

 

I’ve been busy printing and prepping parts.  The skeleton and first layers of detail are ready for final fitting and assembly.  Everything received a coat of black epoxy primer, for two reasons to seal the FDM printed parts and fill machine marks and layer lines on the CNC cut, and resin printed parts.  I mixed up some chromate color with Tamiya yellow and green and sprayed a base color layer.  A few days later I received some MRP paints...I've been looking a paint solution since the demise of Floquil.  Great paint, and I super happy with the results.  Anyway, I sprayed a thin layer of MRP chromate over the Tamiya color and I was pleased with the mottled effect and overall fidelity of the base color.  Details were painted in their appropriate colors, then the parts were sealed with Future.  A layer of lamp black and burnt umber oils, thinned with Japan dyer was applied, then  promptly wiped away.  This dirtied up the surfaces and created a good back ground for the details to come.  Assembly is underway, with some printing successes I'm looking forward to share in the next installment

 

White parts CNC cut acrylic and styrene, green/blue parts are resin printed, and the dark gray part in the middle was CNC cut, top and bottom halves the make up the cockpit floor and nose gear well overhead.  The nose gear well half had a printed detail appliqué added.

 

 

Primed parts

 

 

Base Tamiya color

 

 

Weathered parts

 

 

Detail composites

 

 

 

This stuff is coming up.  These are the console panels that were cut from 0.040” styrene on the CNC mill.

 

 

 

Thanks for tuning in!

 

Timmy!

[Pete Fleischmann]

You are my Yoda.

 

Nice to see some paint flying too!!

 

Now stop reading and get back to work!!!

 

Cheers

 

Me

[DonH]

I'm gonna need more popcorn

[HerculesPA_2]

Scratchbuild is the must!!!!! Is a great job Timmy!!

 

Scratchbuild forever!!!!

 

Hercules de Araujo

from Brasil

[Timmy!]

Hi guys,

 

I‘ve started with some assembly and initial layers of detail.  The following photos are the left side of the nose landing gear well.   This detail is primarily the hydraulic tubing, and insulated environmental system tubing.   As a proof of concept idea I chose to try to print sections of tubing.  The aft most lines are laterally offset and have connectors that needed to be rendered.  Doubting my ability to bend and fashion identical parallel line by hand as well as keeping future production in mind a printing attempt was justified.  So the tube sections were modeled in CAD with portions tubing clamps at each end and sent off to my Photon.  I did print three copies of each section, as it turned out, all printed successfully but one of the three was perfect.

 

The remainder of the tubing was fashioned from lead wire.  Printed fittings and CNC milled tubing clamps were placed on the side wall using a paper template made from a 2d drawing exported from my CAD software.  Hours of studying photographs and tracing one line at a time, I managed to get all the pipes in what I think is the right place.  That is to say, every tube end landed on a connection point, no loose ends.  I know they are not 100% correct but, without a maintenance pub that shows a trace of each line....I’ve achieved a, let’s say, 98% accurate result.

 

 

 

 

Here are a few more printed parts.  I finally invested in a proper macro lens with a ring flash.  I think the photos are much better...two problems though.  1. You can see every microscopic flaw, even though I build with layers of magnification from my cheaters down to 10x jewelers loop.  ....and.... 2. I’m working on my f stops for depth of field.   So far my shots are hand held, maybe a little less laziness on my part and I should use a tripod and focus merge multiple shots.  Irregardess y’all ort git the gist of my progress.

 

 

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

Timmy!

Edited July 4, 2019 by Timmy!

[geedubelyer]

Phenomenal Timmy! Like looking at reference photos of the real deal. Simply amazing.

 

I feel your pain with your eyesight It's a headache when you want to be able to add fine detail but can't really see accurately enough to do so.

Have you considered using the soft foil from around the tops of wine bottles for your labels? The sort of metal that wraps over the corks rather than the stiffer screw top version.

Some of it is even pre-coloured in black. It's easier to get square/rectangular shapes by cutting the foil than it is by painting. Also, scratching the paint off with the tip of a blade replicates the metal lettering of these labels, placards and data panels quite convincingly.

 

Can't think how I missed the start of this thread but I'll be sure to follow along now that I've found it.

 

Looking forward to more.

 

Cheers.

[Timmy!]

Thanks fellas!  I appreciate the kind words.

8 hours ago, geedubelyer said:

I feel your pain with your eyesight It's a headache when you want to be able to add fine detail but can't really see accurately enough to do so.

Have you considered using the soft foil from around the tops of wine bottles for your labels? The sort of metal that wraps over the corks rather than the stiffer screw top version.

Some of it is even pre-coloured in black. It's easier to get square/rectangular shapes by cutting the foil than it is by painting. Also, scratching the paint off with the tip of a blade replicates the metal lettering of these labels, placards and data panels quite convincingly.

 

Old eyes, cheaters came into my life just about a year ago.  They work, I miss just being able to see though.

 

You are reading my mind with regards to the little placards.  I will be using decals over foil the more conspicuous ones.  The ones on the nose gear up lock, and hydraulic tubes are just too small to reasonably print.  At a normal viewing distance the markings are convincing.   It’s just the macro lens...looks up my skirt!  If you look at the big insulated lines, those have line identification  decals applied.

 

Cheers,

Timmy!

[Madelf75]

for a long time i have been wanting to get in to 3D printing but it seams very intimidating . Not knowing what machine to get 

[Pete Fleischmann]

You are the best. Its that simple.

 

Cheers

 

Me

[Timmy!]

On 7/3/2019 at 11:43 PM, MARU5137 said:

Timmy,

 

EXCEPTIONAL  & INCREDIBLY detailed and precision workmanship.

I would not expect anything  from you Sir.

STUPENDOUS  work I am seeing so far..{ as good as Pete’s   }.

see you later for more.

 

MARU 5137.

 

Thanks very much Maru, I'm glad you are enjoying the build!  Pete always gives me a run for my money!

 

On 7/4/2019 at 2:36 PM, Madelf75 said:

for a long time i have been wanting to get in to 3D printing but it seams very intimidating . Not knowing what machine to get 

 

It's on my list of side projects, to provide a little more detail about why I chose the printers I did and how I made them better.

 

23 hours ago, Pete Fleischmann said:

You are the best. Its that simple.

 

Cheers

 

Me

 

Thanks you!!