Any interest in an aftermarket Merlin engine/P-51 engine bay?

[Landrotten Highlander]

4 hours ago, rtwpsom2 said:

I was fooling around on my 3D printer, an Anycubic Photon Mono X, and found I could print up to 10 crankcases at a time.  That got me to thinking what the hell I would do with 10 1/24th scale merlin crankcases and the idea of letting anyone who wants one have one was pretty much all I could come up with.  I'd love to send one to anyone who asks, but 3D printing resin is expensive and I don't have the money to throw around to do that right now.  But I had been kicking around this idea of starting a patreon page for a few months and when I combined it with the 3D printer I thought I might have come up with something that would actually get some support.  Well, as it is it's not a complete idea yet, so I'm not going to do a patreon yet, I want to have a more concrete plan before I do that. But the general idea would be that I could 3D print parts of the Merlin as I complete them and then send them to people who had subscribed at certain tiers for a certain length of time. Once it was all done you could assemble a complete 24th scale Merlin to do with as you please.  It probably wouldn't include internals just because those would be too small, but it would be the most accurate 24th scale model of a Merlin available.  

 

Well, that's the idea, I don't know if it's feasible or not, I'm just looking for feedback.  I do want to branch out into other areas, too.  One would be to do some stuff for the 24th P-47 from Kinetic like gun bays and landing gear, but I don't have R-2800 blueprints yet.  Still looking for those.  I also would love to do a kitted out engine bay for the Trumpy 1/35th Mi-24 Hind kit.

I think I could come up with the motivation to support you in this.  Let us know if and when you proceed

 

[MDuv]

Awesome work !
Supposing you intend to ship to Europe, count me in for a complete Merlin. 1/32 prefered.
I would have interest in a pimpup set for the existing Tamiya Merlin as well.
Cheers
Mathieu

Edited April 6, 2021 by MDuv

[F2G_lover]

I've considered getting a 3D printer and some CAD software because several of the planes I want to build are powered by P&W R-4360's and Rolls Royce Griffons, and I don't think anyone else would ever make those. No idea how long it would take me to come up with something acceptable starting from scratch, but I don't see a lot of alternatives if I want a Super Corsair, Dreadnought Sea Fury, or Precious Metal P-51 with the cowlings off.

[Anthony in NZ]

16 hours ago, rtwpsom2 said:

I was fooling around on my 3D printer, an Anycubic Photon Mono X, and found I could print up to 10 crankcases at a time.  That got me to thinking what the hell I would do with 10 1/24th scale merlin crankcases and the idea of letting anyone who wants one have one was pretty much all I could come up with.  I'd love to send one to anyone who asks, but 3D printing resin is expensive and I don't have the money to throw around to do that right now.  But I had been kicking around this idea of starting a patreon page for a few months and when I combined it with the 3D printer I thought I might have come up with something that would actually get some support.  Well, as it is it's not a complete idea yet, so I'm not going to do a patreon yet, I want to have a more concrete plan before I do that. But the general idea would be that I could 3D print parts of the Merlin as I complete them and then send them to people who had subscribed at certain tiers for a certain length of time. Once it was all done you could assemble a complete 24th scale Merlin to do with as you please.  It probably wouldn't include internals just because those would be too small, but it would be the most accurate 24th scale model of a Merlin available.  

 

Well, that's the idea, I don't know if it's feasible or not, I'm just looking for feedback.  I do want to branch out into other areas, too.  One would be to do some stuff for the 24th P-47 from Kinetic like gun bays and landing gear, but I don't have R-2800 blueprints yet.  Still looking for those.  I also would love to do a kitted out engine bay for the Trumpy 1/35th Mi-24 Hind kit.

I have been thinking about this a LOT since you posted as superdetailing and correcting the Airfix Mustang really appeals to me.  But right now I am buried deep in extensively rebuilding the 24th Mosquito and the engines are just terrible but a basic basis to build an early Merlin 25.

 

I would really love a Merlin 'core' for my Mosquito project if you could manage it.  I think it will look great and save me a LOT of time.  I only need one as I couldnt face rebuilding/scratchbuilding 2 Merlins!  Or even better if you would consider the early back end so those building Spitfires and Hurricanes could use it too?

 

Keep up the great work, I am admiring what you are achieving

 

Cheers Anthony

 

[nmayhew]

On 3/30/2021 at 2:48 PM, cbk57 said:

The tamiya Mustang has a really nice engine bay, however I am sure you could improve on it.  There is a lot of detail that is missing, if you did the parts that fill out the engine bay I think it could really help the kit.  If you look at the Tamiya P-51D, you could find room to improve the gun bays and the wheel bays as well.  There are some pretty good cockpit options at this point.   I have long thought especially with the Tamiya kits, the basics are perfectly good, just fill in where things are softer than they could be without having to cut everything up.  

 

Take the wheel bay, you could leave the integration for how the landing gear fit, just do the rest of the wheel bay insert and center section.  

 

I think making add-ons for Tamiya kits would be a nice easy win, and there are a number of Merlin related kits you could augment

 

On 3/30/2021 at 5:13 PM, Rick Griewski said:

I would appreciate one for the Revell kit. 

 

I don't see the point in this - just buy the Tamiya kit!

 

More generally, one aircraft that is **just crying out** for an engine plug is the Hasegawa Fw190 Dora!

Why no-one in 20 years (yes it probably is that long!) has done anything for this kit is beyond me - maybe it's too difficult?

 

And as D.B Andrus alluded too, stuff that actually fits the donor kit would always be welcomed 

 

Wishing you all the best with your ventures.

 

Nick

[Rick Griewski]

Nick,   I have the Tamiya kit and I also want one for all of my Revell kits.  There is IIRC an engine upgrade for the Hasegawa Dora. It has been around for years.  
 

yup,  Aries product 2019 about $68 USD. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Rick Griewski
found product

[rtwpsom2]

Thanks for the input so far, I am taking it all into consideration.  I printed the 8th scale crankcase today, it took 4.5 hours and I learned a few lessons from it to change for next time.

 

 

The first was not to let the raft interfere with the body at the base, it overwrote all the holes in the base and is making the cleanup in that area a pain.  I think I'll raise it off the build plate by 4mm next time and just connect to the raft via supports.  I'll also move a few supports a tiny bit further away from body so they stick less.  Here's a gallery of the larger piece. I kinda like the idea of making a standalone kit, I think I could get away with 1/6th scale if I really wanted to.

 

I will probably move ahead with a patreon just to get it started and see how far that can take me.  I'm still trying to figure how I'd do rewards on that, in that the rewards would be kits.

 

Anyway, thanks for the support so far and please, let me know what you think. I really do want to know.

[rtwpsom2]

On 3/30/2021 at 1:50 PM, LSP_Ray said:

Sounds interesting!

As far as 1/18th scale just wanted to let you know this one is out there:

Ray, I could have sworn I replied to this but I guess it got lost in the shuffle.  I've seen the kit, there are some areas I think that could be improved on. The engine mount leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. Also, you will notice that the cowl frame covers the last exhaust port of the Merlin. Es no bueno.

[LSP_Ray]

Your prints look great!

I am sure you can improve on the HpH set, I just wanted to let you know it was out there to help gauge sales. I haven't really messed with it yet, it's buried in the stash somewhere. 

[rtwpsom2]

I just noticed that the holes for the lifting shackle just above the center of the upper gear housing casting printed perfectly.

 

 

So I checked and all the holes for the housing bolts themselves printed clearly, too. Though it's a bit hard to show them all at once.

 

 

Damn, this could be a badass kit.

[Landrotten Highlander]

Oh ye of evil disposition, stop tempting me...

[nmayhew]

10 hours ago, Rick Griewski said:

Nick,   I have the Tamiya kit and I also want one for all of my Revell kits.  There is IIRC an engine upgrade for the Hasegawa Dora. It has been around for years.  
 

yup,  Aries product 2019 about $68 USD. 

 

I am talking about an engine plug - something that you use without having to build the thing completely opened up

[Rick Griewski]

Ah you mean a theatrical facade.  
 

Hmmm. Buy one engine cut it lengthwise and voila you have two. Cut my Tamiya engine and put 1/2 in The Tamiya kit and 1/2 in the Revell kit.  
 

 

Edited April 7, 2021 by Rick Griewski
Clarify

[nmayhew]

13 minutes ago, Rick Griewski said:

Ah you mean a theatrical facade.  
 

Hmmm. Buy one engine cut it lengthwise and voila you have two. Cut my Tamiya engine and put 1/2 in The Tamiya kit and 1/2 in the Revell kit.  
 

 

 

er no, i mean a correction for what you can see through the wheel well, which is A LOT, although technically it's not the engine, but certainly is a whole lot of 'stuff'

 

something that doesn't mean a full on everything out and naked as you have with the full aires engine etc

 

oh and a wheel well correction that actually fits would be good too lol

[rtwpsom2]

Allright guys, you convinced me, I'm moving forward with the projects.  I've started a patreon page here if you are interested.  I have included the idea of "store credit" into it.  For every dollar you pledge now, you can get a dollar in "store credit" up to a certain amount depending on tier.  Now I probably won't enforce that limit because I doubt to many people will support the project.  But I am putting the limit in just in case I have so many people support me that I end up going broke once kits are actually released trying to match everyone dollar for dollar.  It also gives you the choice to pledge just enough to get a kit if that's what you are wanting and once you have reached the limit, just stop supporting.  The credit won't go away.  I'll do my best to keep track of it all, but you might want to keep the info in your records as well, just to keep me honest. (Actually it's more about me being so birdbrained sometimes, but we can just call it keeping me honest.) I haven't decided on kit prices but I have a feeling that for patreon patron it'll be $50 for a 32nd scale engine or a 24th a scale one, their choice.  The large standalone kit is going to be more, but I don't know how much yet.

 

While I say all this, it can all change to depending on what people want or if people feel I am being unfair.  Just please let me know your feedback.