ES-3A Shadow - scratchprinted.

[Rainer Hoffmann]

5 hours ago, Starfighter said:

Virtually no sanding at all is needed - only in areas where my 3D modelling is not perfect. The Mighty 8K is a very good printer, and it has become even better with the 12K upgrade. 

 

Thanks for the info, Ben. That is very impressive. 3D printing obviously is maturing fast.

 

Cheers

Rainer

[A-10LOADER]

8 hours ago, Starfighter said:

Virtually no sanding at all is needed - only in areas where my 3D modelling is not perfect. The Mighty 8K is a very good printer, and it has become even better with the 12K upgrade. 

Gotta love that, no sanding.

Steve

[Jim Barry]

Loving this so much! Thanks for showing how much fusion can do! 

[Starfighter]

Surface detail... and more of it. Plus: Lumps'n'bumps. The raised rivets on the rudder are pretty characteristic and took a lot of time to add. The rivet pattern is different on different airframes as it seems rudders have either been repaired or strengthened from the inside. 

 

 

 

The tail antenna fairing got its characteristic surrounding reinforcement strip, another reinforcement was added to the tail cone. Note the avionics exhaust below the tail antenna fairing. 

 

 

More lumps and bumps on the underside. I have also added the recesses into which the antennas will be fitted. 

 

 

[Cycling Guy]

When you finish, please tell me how many children I have to have to trade you for a print of this. Please and thank you. 
 

Also, wonderful work. 

[A-10LOADER]

Nice work Ben, this is gonna be awesome !!

Steve

[Starfighter]

On 9/27/2023 at 11:21 PM, Cycling Guy said:

When you finish, please tell me how many children I have to have to trade you for a print of this. Please and thank you. 
 

Also, wonderful work. 

 

I have two own kids, so you may have to look for other means of payment! 

[Starfighter]

To make things easier, I have decided to open a few more hatches.

 

With a few more details added, it looks like this: 

 

 

 

The other side is still in progress. 

 

 

As there is no bulkhead between the bays, I had to add a rudimentary FLIR turret. The avionics boxes have yet to be detailed. 

 

 

 

In parallel, I have been working on the landing gear and the bays. 

 

 

[Oldbaldguy]

Is this whole 3D print process that you seem to have taken to a new level kinda, sorta similar to masking a model for a very complicated paint scheme where you spend hours and hours and hours in prep only to have the actual production part take only a couple of minutes?  I have no way to relate to what you are doing and this analogy is the best I can come up with.  How many hours of computer time will you have invested before your magic box spits out an LSP S-3?

[A-10LOADER]

Outstanding work so far, this is going to be epic !

Steve

[scvrobeson]

Always spectacular work. It's so cool to see what you guys are able to come up with on CAD software. Is it something that you taught yourself for hobby purposes, or do you have a job requiring CAD skills? 

 

 

Matt 

[dsahling1]

This is amazing I've always been so impressed by your skills with modeling, I love your 1/32 EA-6B conversion (maybe a 3D printed conversion set for production? :-).  Im already so impressed by all the wonderful new aftermarket 3D printed parts coming, and seeing things so amazing as this; this new technology is really going to take our hobby to a new level.  My dream of a 1/32 YF-23 Blackwidow and 1/32 Su-34 Fullback are seeming closer to reality...speaking of which anyone here able to do a 3D printed 1/32 F-8C Crusader conversion since unfortunately Fisher Models had that fire, I'd be very interested.