Westland Wasp HAS 1: 1/24th Scale.

[mozart]

That must be so gratifying to see everything coming together in such s meaningful way Tony, the fruits of your considerable labours are “ripening on the bough”! Eureka!! 

[Out2gtcha]

Tremendous work!

[Anthony in NZ]

Sensational mate!  

I love how you have been able to combine so many of the smaller assemblies together with such success!  A real testament to your skills. Nice idea with the jig too I must say.  You have skills I can only dream of!

 

Thanks for the update and looking forward to seeing one on my bench sometime

 

Cheers Anthony

[Starfighter]

This is RIDICULOUSLY good. 

[Cycling Guy]

I’m constantly blown away by the skill shown here. 

[TheBaron]

Hello again all and an update on the Wasp after some (extremely) delayed replies to the mail:

On 9/22/2023 at 12:50 PM, mozart said:

That must be so gratifying to see everything coming together in such s meaningful way Tony, the fruits of your considerable labours are “ripening on the bough”! Eureka!! 

Thanks Max - I like that 'ripening' characterization very much!

On 9/22/2023 at 10:55 PM, Out2gtcha said:

Tremendous work!

Cheers Brian.

On 9/24/2023 at 1:54 AM, Anthony in NZ said:

Thanks for the update and looking forward to seeing one on my bench sometime

No problem, 'Chief Test Pilot'.

On 9/27/2023 at 1:11 PM, Starfighter said:

This is RIDICULOUSLY good. 

Kind of you Ben. Design work has tailed off of late doe top focussing on the use of materials a lot more closely.

On 9/27/2023 at 1:43 PM, Cycling Guy said:

I’m constantly blown away by the skill shown here. 

Thank-you Mr. CG, though when I look around me at the quality of work on this forum I note just how much more room for improvement I have.

 

Things had gotten to a stage on this project where  - as a single person - I was in danger of losing control of the inventory, with parts duplicated as they are in two scales. I'd also begun to experiment more as well with materials and processes, a decision which as it turned out, serendipitously helped me to solve some overlapping problems, as the following will hopefully show.

 

One important initial step was to begin organizing the various print plates in a much more coherent, thematic manner, as shown here with the engine components for both the 1/24 and 1/32 scales.

Since switching to VDT I've found a greatly improved workflow resulting from its wider range of print support-types, something critically important when working as a single person needing to rapidly produce support structures for so many disparate shapes and objects. 

 

An allied aspect relating to these kind of improvements was realizing that with the projected use of PE requiring metal sheets of between 0.15-0.2mm, increasing the thickness of certain flat PE designs by only 0.1mm would permit them to be printed as an integrated parts of larger assemblies in a manner that did not compromise the visual fidelity of the completed machinery. Thus, it reduces the use of etch considerably, especially in some cases which were likely to be unbuildably-small wafers of metal!

 

To show the inter-relationship of this recent sets of improvements, I should add that this consolidation of parts was itself inspired by experimentation with different types of resin, as up until now I'd routinely used Elegoo's standard grey stuff for 1/72 subjects. Though it had worked reliably in terms of output quality, with the higher level of detail involved in producing the Wasp at these  larger scales I felt sure my Saturn 2 could be pushed further in terms of part quality, and so had carried out some tests with Elegoo's 8k stuff. Initially I found this a horribly frustrating resin to work with, experiencing (as many people online seemed to) constant print fails in it not sticking to the build plate for half the time (or frequently just half of a build plate not sticking). A tense fortnight of  testing eventually resolved matters with regard to the S2 however: in order to work reliably the 8k stuff needs a holy trinity of far lower lift speeds than usual, temperature maintained inside a  relatively narrow envelope, and a build plate levelled as flush to the printer as possible (short of ramming the build plate through the glass). Since then not a single fail but paid for in blood...

 

Over the last fortnight or so then I've been reprinting all the smaller parts of the Wasp at both scales in 8k resin:

Using lower exposure times than the manufactuer's recommendation the S2 has happily been chruning out the sharpest prints I've ever been able to coax from it:

(Not cleaned up for assembly so please ignore any visible support stubs on surfaces...)

This shot shows an example (that big plate on the side of the Nimbus which the heat exchange unit is mounted on) of how I've been able to avoid the use of etch parts by printing more integrated assemblages:

Similarly, finer features like that blade-like connector on the engine governor fitting could also be included now:

With the increased sharp[ness of the 8k stuff, nothing present in prints at 1/24 has failed to reproduce at 1/32 - even more miniscule features like the tiny rubber collars for the snubber struts:

Likewise for surface details like the tiny 'teeth'  inside of the connector for the tail rotor driveshaft:

Previously in  the 1/32 version those had failed to reproduce in standard grey but do so now in 8k.

 

Some of the larger electrical harnesses and air pipes also came out well defined at both scales:

As do some of the surface features on the rear cabin wall, which were originally intended as brass additions but now function perfectly well in resin:

Likewise the flotation gear clamshells have been redone in 8k resin to better effect:

In particular I've been able to integrate into the whole the clamps at either end along with many of the thinner lateral ribs so that the only remaining feature requiring expression in PE is a thin 'lip' around the rounded perimeter of the clamshells at either end. Whilst printable, the latter had to be excluded due to the placement of printing supports:

The standard grey resin remains fine for larger sections like the deck/boom assembly, where smoothness rather than fine detail are at a premium. These parts have however been reprinted  in standard grey, as the revised designs for them now incorporate more features from the electrical system into the surface of the engine deck. As these are for the most parts variations upon rubberized connectors, they wouldn't have visibly benefitted from the 8k resin treatment:

Tail rotor assemblies were also added to the inventory:

In a previous post I'd outlined how I'd switched to using eSun's Hard Tough resin for printing the undercarriage on account of its excellent mechanical properties in terms of strength/hardness. Subsequent testing confirmed however that the translucent blue version I'd using was highly unsuied to parts with negative spaces inside them. I can illustrate this best with a test print for the main rotor hub/pillar assembly, where you can see how the mounting pins for the blade forks are themselves mounted into the hub for strength/support:

The fatal issue with the transparency of this resin is that it appears to scatter light within the structure to such a degree that any unused resin in places like the holes those pins slide into also ends up getting cured, blocking them. I had to drill these out by hand in the end - not a task I'd wish anyone to have to do in hard resin of this kind. Such scattering similarly leads to a 'blooming' of the print which overwhelms/blunts delicate surface details to an unacceptable degree.  I really liked the material strength of the eSun hard-tough resin however so upon discovering that they did a more opaque 'Ab-black' version with identical physical properties, I redid the hub/pillar in that and the resulting prints were a vast improvement:

Clearly the greater opacity of the black medium suppresses any problem inherent in its more translucent cousin. It does however have a slightly repellent 'Baron Harkonnen emerging from his slime-bath' appearance when fresh out the vat!

Cleaned up the, new version of the undercarriage is a much more satisfactory affair in terms of strength and visual fidelity. I had to test fit a wheel as well 'just because':

With the combination of strength and acuity provided by the Ab-Black version, I was also able to extend the repertoire in resin when it came to highly fragile features like the compensator flyweights which mount beneath the rotor hub:

Previously these would have been too delicate a proposition to consider in even ABS resin.

 

'Elbows' and collars of the spider arms also received the same Hard Tough treatment:

With the now redundant  blue rotor hubs to act as a test-mule, this latter piece of experimentation in materials strength solved the last remaining piece of the puzzle allowing me to produce a functional pitch control for blade-folding:

This is a crude mockup to act as proof of principle of course: the important aspect of it is the manner in which it demonstrates how incorporating an aluminium blade fork/pitch change arm with a hard resin spider base allows you to faithfully reproduce the telescoping push-pull rods of the original as a fully working mechanism:

To describe how this process work for real I've reproduced the relevant page from the PN's here:

Reproducing this mechanism in smaller scale, the main rotor blades on this model can be either spread for take-off or folded back into the support cradle as often as display duties require (or just on Trafalgar Day!):

Pleasing at 1/24 of course, but you can also pull off the same trick at 1/32 as well:

The lower one of those push-pull rods will look better in nickel silver on the finished piece and the relative lengths of the two sections need adjustment, but other than that, confirmation of the ability to produce a robust working rotor pitch for folding/spreading at both scales now:

With blade fork/pitch change arms in aluminium at both scales, there's no compromise in strength for either version:

This was a long one so thanks for persevering - it made more sense to illustrate in a single post how all the above decisions were interconnected with one another, rather than hop you back and forth over a series of posts. I'll leave you in peace now with this recent shot of a rather extraordinary crepuscular ray stretching all the way across the sky from the West at sunset to merge into the rising shadow of the Earth in the East:

Take care until next time,

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by TheBaron

[mozart]

Astonishing, astounding....simply unbelievable wizardry Tony.  I imagine it's going to need quite a high level of skill to build, is that something that you try to factor in to the design process?

[geedubelyer]

I second my learned friends observations.

Utterly remarkable. 

The patience, talent and skill involved to create such a masterpiece is mind boggling. 

Tony, out of curiosity, do you have a list of intended projects that you'd like to develop over time?

 

Cheers,

Guy

[Shoggz]

Brilliant, fascinating and eye-opening stuff..

[Out2gtcha]

Amazing work Tony!

May I ask what "VDT" is regarding 3D printing?

[TheBaron]

7 hours ago, mozart said:

Astonishing, astounding....simply unbelievable wizardry Tony.  I imagine it's going to need quite a high level of skill to build, is that something that you try to factor in to the design process?

That's an important question to raise Max: as far as is possible I design these things to be assembled without the need for any specialist skills, or for tools beyond what would be on the average hobbyist's workbench when building your average model kit. Where something might not be straightforward to assemble, like the pitch change rods or oil and fuel pipe systems, the instructions will contain a thorough visual description of how people can construct these features themselves from the relevant materials. This still leaves people plenty of room to express their skills through such scratch building, but with the research provided, as it were.

5 hours ago, geedubelyer said:

Tony, out of curiosity, do you have a list of intended projects that you'd like to develop over time?

Thanks for your kind sentiments Guy. 

 

You're right that I do have a list of potential projects though my enthusiasm for any given subject on that fluctuates over time. Much of it is made up of late by French aircraft designs from the 1930s to 1960s as these are grossly underrepresented by kit manufacturers and yet display a wonderfully inventive visual sensibility. What would drive me to undertake a specific subject would be a twofold motivation: it must be something not attempted before (in terms of either the subject, its treatment, or scale) and usually must require me to learn a new skill in order to produce it. 

 

The next confirmed project after the Wasp though will be a 3d printed 1/24 Gemini space capsule - specifically the Gemini IX mission of John Young and Mike Collins. The Gemini spacecraft is a subject dear to my heart and one I've long wanted to do.

4 hours ago, Shoggz said:

Brilliant, fascinating and eye-opening stuff..

Ta Shoggz - most kind.

4 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Amazing work Tony!

May I ask what "VDT" is regarding 3D printing?

Apologies mate: 'VDT' is just the acronym for Voxeldance's Tango software, which I use for support design.

[Out2gtcha]

48 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

 

Apologies mate: 'VDT' is just the acronym for Voxeldance's Tango software, which I use for support design.

 

 

Ah, Ok, so its what I thought it might be, a type of slicer program, that can also add supports. Im currently split between Lychee and AnyCubics OOB software (They offer hollowing and punching as a standard feature, where you have to pay to upgrade to "Pro" in Lychee to get that feature), but I am always open for anything that is a better option.

 

Thank you, Ill be giving Voxeldance a shot! 

[LSP_Kevin]

Staggering stuff, Tony. The future of the hobby is nigh.

 

Kev

[Archimedes]

Hi Tony,

 

I spent several hours reading this thread from the beginning again to catch up with it and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. There are mere kit assemblers (like me) and then there are proper modellers of which there are many here but you crossed the line into artistry a long time ago. Max @mozart has it right: this is proper renaissance man stuff. Not only are you doing all of this but sharing gems of knowledge freely with all that are both integral to the design and build but also the peripheral elements (Pureref for example was one of the gems you let us know about early on). It is hard to add meaningfully to the teetering stack of superlatives relating to your peerless build. Your skills, perseverance and attention to detail have been seen in only a vanishingly few here. This is not modelling: this is model engineering and you do it superlatively. 

 

Thank you for sharing all of your journey with us.

 

Kind regards,

Paul

P.S. Thank you for sharing that you use Fusion 360! A great recommendation. 

[Starfighter]

Excuisite! Each update is an absolute pleasure to read. Please keep them coming!