Dandiego Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 13 minutes ago, themongoose said: Wow that material looks like it takes scribing and riveting super good. This is a sharp looking jet buddy you’re doing a stellar job Thanks for your comments. In order for this project to look even remotely like a contemporary model it will need lots of scribing and riveting. So I needed to see how it would react. The printed PLA is on the softer side when compared to regular IM kits/plastic. Seems to take scribing well. Same for the rivets. Dan blackbetty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) 12 minutes ago, blackbetty said: you make it look so easy Well, actually, for me, it isn't really. I really struggle with the cad portion of this build. Constantly getting things wrong and needing to go back and re-design. Rather frustrating but I continue to plug along. I have signed up for a introductory cad design class at the local adult education center. Can't wait, starts Feb 15. Hope that the virus doesn't shut it down. Dan Edited January 8, 2022 by Dandiego GMK and blackbetty 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 Wow Dan, that rivetting/scribing is really cool! I've mostly steered away from trying to scribe into 3D printed surfaces mainly due to fear of the layers splitting. But as you've already mentioned, perhaps because PLA is softer than ABS it may take the impressions better. In any case, great work! Craig Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy! Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 3 hours ago, Dandiego said: Well, actually, for me, it isn't really. I really struggle with the cad portion of this build. Constantly getting things wrong and needing to go back and re-design. Rather frustrating but I continue to plug along. I have signed up for a introductory cad design class at the local adult education center. Can't wait, starts Feb 15. Hope that the virus doesn't shut it down. Dan Good on you for seeking out a hands on course. My two cents is starting with good dimension reference is key. Get the gross dimensions right and establish the proper geometry and go smaller from there; often using relative size comparison to establish smaller dimensions. Ideally these types of drawings and data are what I prefer to start with. All the numbers are inches from a reference point, line or plane. You can make drawing true to scale and scale after or scale from the beginning, either way you have lots of numbers to fill in dimensions on your CAD sketches and the geometry builds itself. Keep chugging you're doing great...looking forward to the finish line. Landrotten Highlander, Starfighter, Out2gtcha and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 Thanks Tim for the drawings, somewhere along the line they will come in handy. Here are some pictures of Version 1 of the wings. Why version 1? Well the profile at the wing root needs to be slightly thicker, as well as at the tip. It is so thin at the tip and along the trailing edge that the print did not come out very well. The tip was so thin that I snapped it off while sanding. There are 2 parts because my printer will not print the whole thing in one bite. Also you can see the metal/plastic sandwich that will join the wing to the fuselage. New wing hopefully tomorrow. The 2 parts of the wing take 4.5 hours to print. Dan Starfighter, themongoose, LSP_Kevin and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Looking good Dan! This will be very rewarding at the end Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) Slow but steady progress. Newly designed wings. What did I change? The profile up against the fuselage was made thicker. This added thickness was also added to the whole wing so that the outermost portions were thicker and less prone to breakage. I also re-aligned the slots that the metal connecting tab goes into. On the first wing the slots were mis-aligned and produced a "step" on both upper and lower surfaces. Not anymore! Drop tanks. The Vigi didn't often carry tanks but mine will. Or bombs, ( I have pictures). My sources said that it carried 400 gallon tanks. I looked up the dimensions on a 400 gallon tank, drew it up, printed it, doesn't look right. Way too fat. So I found some extra tanks in my spares box. You can see the difference. So I used the small diameter tank as a guide and printed out some new ones. And some pylons. That's all, Dan Edited January 12, 2022 by Dandiego daveculp, Landrotten Highlander, Marcel111 and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Great stuff, Dan! Kev Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbaldguy Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 I think you are going to have your hands full with the drops because the shape is as elusive as the shape of the nose. More of a tear drop shape in profile with four fins. Probably a lot more expensive to build in real life than they were worth, but they looked cool. Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 (edited) Ok, I have printed out the starboard wing. Here is how the Vigi looks right now. And yes, it is getting big! Everything is dry fit at the moment, I want to get the wings sanded and primed, scribed and riveted before it is glued in place. And here is a rough prototype of the drop tank. I am thinking of printing the tank and pylon as one component. That way the tank is securely affixed to the pylon and sitting straight and level. Currently I cut the slots for the fins by hand. Final print will have the slots for the fins added at the digital level. Cleaner and more precise that way. It seems that every time that I print something I get the wonderful idea to make an improvement, which necessitates changes to the cad drawing. If I was thinking of what the finished, final configuration would be I would save myself some filament and printer time. If only I was that smart. Dan Edited January 13, 2022 by Dandiego Landrotten Highlander, Cheetah11, Scotsman and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbaldguy Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Hmmmm. I think your drop tank looks more like a shape than a Viggie drop. Needs to taper more to the rear and some work on the shape and size of the fins. Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbaldguy Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 If you haven’t already been there, check out Tommy’s tailhook blog from September 2011. He has a couple of very telling photos of Viggie tanks and I think maybe a company drawing or two. Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandiego Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 36 minutes ago, Oldbaldguy said: Hmmmm. I think your drop tank looks more like a shape than a Viggie drop. Needs to taper more to the rear and some work on the shape and size of the fins. You are correct, shape is off. I did look at Tommy's blog and will reshape the tanks. Thanks. Dan Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aigore Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Cheeezus! It's humongous! Way to go! Dandiego 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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