1/16 scale Boxer reconnaissance vehicle

[GMK]

More substantial update, this week. 
 

After 256 hours, the front end of the hull is done. 
 

 

The raw print is pretty large. 
 

 

After some cleanup, it was connected with the back end. 
 

 

Another view:

 

With a CNC-milled kit from Germany designed for RC:

 

So, that’s the largest & longest of the prints out of the way. 

Had a minor tweak in the appliqué armour. Before/after, below:

 

 

The design process continues. 
 

 

 

Thanks for looking in!

Edited January 23, 2022 by GMK

[Uncarina]

Simply amazing.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[GMK]

Well, imagine my surprise when checking the references for the surface details that I discovered that the front end of the truck changed between the trial (“RMA”) & the first deliveries (“Block 1”). 
 

 

Luckily I hadn’t spent 11 days printing the front end. Whoopse!

[GMK]

Started on aligning the CAD with the Block 1 gun cars. 
 

 

Not there, yet. But a lot closer. 
 

 

Thanks for looking in. 

[Uncarina]

Go man go! This must be one advantage of your complete scratchbuild: you have more flexibility. In any case this build is amazing.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[LSP_Matt]

Wow. Amazing project. I'd recently see a picture of one a mate had taken when it was on a trailer going somewhere. I had thought the rear door for troops was too small but he did say it was bigger than it looked as the entire vehicle was massive.

 

Love your project. I'm familiar with inventor but I haven't tried Fusion360.  Are you making individual parts and then turning them into assemblies within the CAD? 

 

I tried designing a large hobby spray booth in Galvabond.  I found getting the centres of fixture holes in various parts tricky to align and snap together to form assemblies. Something to do with bends and how that changes alignment from the extruded 2D part.

 

Thanks for posting your updates. It looks awesome.

 

Cheers Matty

[GMK]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:30 PM, Uncarina said:

Go man go! This must be one advantage of your complete scratchbuild: you have more flexibility. In any case this build is amazing.

 

Cheers,  Tom

Thanks, Tom. You’re 100% right, you own the design, but you also own the mistakes lol. 

 

On 1/31/2022 at 12:21 AM, LSP_Matt said:

Wow. Amazing project. I'd recently see a picture of one a mate had taken when it was on a trailer going somewhere. I had thought the rear door for troops was too small but he did say it was bigger than it looked as the entire vehicle was massive.

 

Love your project. I'm familiar with inventor but I haven't tried Fusion360.  Are you making individual parts and then turning them into assemblies within the CAD? 

 

I tried designing a large hobby spray booth in Galvabond.  I found getting the centres of fixture holes in various parts tricky to align and snap together to form assemblies. Something to do with bends and how that changes alignment from the extruded 2D part.

 

Thanks for posting your updates. It looks awesome.

 

Cheers Matty

G’day Matty, thanks for taking the time to comment. Yeah, I’ve tried both ways of design. As I’m a n00b, I find that I make fewer errors when I have a parent design with parts derived from that. I do have issues translating from CAD to CAM as the 3D printer’s tolerances are larger than those in Fusion360. Need to do more learning. 
 

Had my first work trip overseas since the bad times last weekend. Certainly a different experience. 

 

Refining the turret base to see what the print will look like has resulted in this. 
 

 

The details will be done on the resin printer. 
 

 

When dumped in the slicer, it’ll be positioned thusly. 
 

 

It’s a lot smaller than the hull. 
 

 

A lot shorter print time, too. ‘Only’ 101 hours!

 

Thanks for dropping in, please keep the comments coming. 

[GMK]

Back onto surface detailing this week, focussing on the bosses that affix the appliqué armour to the hull, as well as the bolts surrounding the forward fairings.
 

Previous work on locating the recesses for the bosses paid off. There’s two types of bosses - these were drawn up, then copied into the recesses. 
 

Like physical models, surface detailing can be both tedious & rewarding. 
 

Once the detailing is completed, higher resolution printing will commence. 
 

Thanks for stopping by. 

 

[GMK]

Here are some better screen caps of the 200+ appliqué armour bosses. They’re highlighted in blue.
 

 

 

Four different types of bosses, differing in size, detail, & location. 
 

Cheers. 

[GMK]

To quote Wes Chatham: Welcome back

 

Spent the available time updating the details of the lower hull facings. 

 

 

 

The undersides have also been tweaked for details. 
 

 

 

Almost at the point where the detailed racings can be printed. 
 

Thanks for checking in. 

[GMK]

A while between updates. The war in Ukraine has affected my motivation, as has some serious print quality issues. 
 

On the things I can control, I’ve had issues with poor design, print bed adhesion (the print sticking to the bed over a >300 hour print), poor quality filament (same brand, somehow poorer quality), and hot end erosion (the part that extrudes 1.75mm filament at .4mm diameter. 
 

The score so far is two back end prints and three front end prints, with a fourth in progress. I’m not counting “failed prints”. 
 

One of each end was scrapped due to poor design - I conflated the tolerances of the CAD with the capabilities of my printer. The second back end is excellent, the other two front ends exhibited curling around the edges. 
 

First, the design. Initially the joint between the front & rear was a joggle that followed a hull contour (left). Difficulty mating the front & rear led to a redesign of flat surfaces (right). 

 

This redesign led to an own goal - a massive heat sink on the print bed that, when paired with poor bed adhesion, induced curling around the edges. 
 

 

 

Even with 5mm of stand-off, the curling affected the body of the print itself. 
 

So, the design was further tweaked to make the alignment peg integral to the front end, which added 25mm of stand-off to the print. Further, the slicer settings were changed to include a “brim”, which increases contact surface with the printer bed. Lastly, the hot end, printer bed cover, & filament was replaced. Fingers crossed!

 

 

Hopefully these changes will result in a useable front end. At 11-14 days per print, this is getting time consuming!

 

Thanks for checking in. 

 

[LSP_Ray]

Good luck!

[GMK]

 

On 3/16/2022 at 10:48 AM, LSP_Ray said:

Good luck!

Thanks, Ray. Only 3.5 days to go!

 

Well, first paint is on. I use an automotive high-build primer to fill between the striations left from the printer.

 

 

Most of the upper surfaces are masked as they’ll be covered by appliqué & I want to keep the mating surfaces clean. 

Part of version 6 of the front hull was merging the alignment peg with the hull front, as well as elongating the four supports to get the stand off from the heated printer bed. 
 

 

Circled in red, these will be removed once the print is complete. They’ve been chamfered to make this easier. 
 

 

 

Looking forward to getting a basic hull together. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by GMK

[Robthepom]

Hello GKM

I've not been active for a while and have just spotted this thread, great stuff so far, I'm waiting for a 1/35 injection moulded kit, so watching your 1/16 print versoin is so interesting

 

Also what happened to your Bushmaster thread? i cant see it, did you finish it?

 

rob

 

[GMK]

8 hours ago, Robthepom said:

Hello GKM

I've not been active for a while and have just spotted this thread, great stuff so far, I'm waiting for a 1/35 injection moulded kit, so watching your 1/16 print versoin is so interesting

 

Also what happened to your Bushmaster thread? i cant see it, did you finish it?

 

rob

 

Thanks Rob.

 

A 1/35 kit would be most welcome. Revell’s version isn’t the easiest build & is a flat top. 
 

Bushmaster is here: 

There’s a little bit of work left on it, but it’s 95-98% done.