1/32 JetMADS Draken reservations are open

[firefly7]

You can also register for the FH-1 Phantom.  Cheers.

[JMeyer]

23 hours ago, Violator1991 said:

Based on my pleasure of having multiple copies of all of their releases I have just placed a reservation for 3 Drakens and am truly wondering what those "terrible print layers" look like because I don't see them on any of my kits.

 

Please post some photos of your kits to show us how smooth the prints are.

 

It is true there are some layers on some parts. But hey, this is about 3D printing and this is how it works: LAYERS! The guys themselves note in the instruction sheets that sanding of some parts would be required to achieve smoother surfaces. And as an engineer and a businessman who has to deal with this 3D printing stuff everyday, I must tell you that it is not mostly the resolution of the printer but the geometry of what you are printing that generates visible layers.

 

With the printers available today, there is no reason to have layer lines as prominent as what the Jetmads X-3 displays. They are printing at too low of a resolution, or their print angles are not optimal, or something. The point is: the print quality on many (not all) of the parts is poor.  I posted photos to a thread here shortly after I received my X-3. It's true that the "wood grain" texture of the fuselage parts is relatively easy to deal with. (Not that one should have to on a high-end kit). My copy's fuselage fits pretty well. That is not the case with some of the other kits my friends received. One had a print error resulting in a malformed air inlet. (To Jetmads credit, they responded an sent a replacement part. )
 

It's on the smaller parts where the print line issue becomes a real problem because they appear in tight areas with other fine detail that will be very difficulty to address with sanding.
 

As a very happy customer of Jetmads I have started to think now, for some reason or another there is a malicious effort for a smear campaign but I don't think it'll work. Anybody complaining so much about printing layers do not have to buy their kits. And they would probably be happy to produce for those who appreciate and love their work.
 

A malicious effort to smear Jetmads? Are you serious? People are excited about their releases. They spend their money without actually seeing the kit they're ordering. When they point out that the print quality can and should be better, that's a smear campaign? Nonsense.

 

Niels has published a tremendous Viggen here and I don't see any layers on it! Nor on any other one you would find on the internet. I don't mean to say that you would not need to spend some effort and time to make things better, more or less like with any other kit of any other brand, and I have no reason at all to advocate their efforts apart from being a fan of their work, but I hate this kit/manufacturer bashing attitude which only harms our hobby.

 

Nobody is setting out to "bash" Jetmads. I want them to succeed; my modeling colleagues who have spent money on their kits want them to succeed. But we also want to recieve a high quality product for our money. To say that "Anybody complaining so much about printing layers do not have to buy their kits" is absurd. Complaining to any manufacturer about a quality control issue should result in the manufacturer correcting the issue. But what Jetmads has done instead, when someone mentions the print quality on their Facebook page, is to delete the comments and in once case block the commenter. That is not good.

 

 

 

[Herbert SF]

Sent my reservation today. Let´s see if we get it next year.

[Violator1991]

2 hours ago, JMeyer said:

Please post some photos of your kits to show us how smooth the prints are.

And why would I ever bother to do that?? To convince you their prints are good and smooth enough? Or to make you believe I own these kits?

Sorry, wouldn't waste a second or give damn a s..t about it! Spend some more time on the forum as a newcomer and read older threads, youl'll find your answers to both.

[JMeyer]

28 minutes ago, Violator1991 said:

And why would I ever bother to do that?? To convince you their prints are good and smooth enough? Or to make you believe I own these kits?

Sorry, wouldn't waste a second or give damn a s..t about it! Spend some more time on the forum as a newcomer and read older threads, youl'll find your answers to both.

I was curious as to what you consider acceptable. I don't expect your kits look any better than mine. For the record, I also have the Skystreak, and overall I have to say it's a better product because more parts are cast and fewer are printed.

[Violator1991]

18 minutes ago, JMeyer said:

I was curious as to what you consider acceptable. I don't expect your kits look any better than mine. For the record, I also have the Skystreak, and overall I have to say it's a better product because more parts are cast and fewer are printed.

Considering they are the same products of the same manufacturer who produces the same kits, our kits should look the same, no better or worse, and what you see is what I see.

 

I agree with you on the Skystreak, and Viggen was like that too, with all major parts as cast. The long fuselage of the Learjet with many internal details is printed as are the main two fuselage halves of the X-3. Looking at these parts I understand they must have preferred a trade off: produce intricate parts with more precision and just spend some minutes for sanding them to get smooth surfaces. I've tested it on the Learjet, achieved a very smooth surface with no loss of any surface details, works absolutely fine.

 

[nmayhew]

On 10/21/2023 at 9:18 PM, Tomcatfreak said:

I hope they will making better printing quality of their 3D parts. Its so much money and waiting time, than I expect a better quality of the parts.

yup that looks like complete wood grain junk

 

when someone called them out on that on their FB page they promptly got blocked

 

I wouldn’t pay $3 for that let alone $300

 

how these guys are suckering people to buy their stuff is beyond me

[JMeyer]

37 minutes ago, Violator1991 said:

Considering they are the same products of the same manufacturer who produces the same kits, our kits should look the same, no better or worse, and what you see is what I see.

 

I agree with you on the Skystreak, and Viggen was like that too, with all major parts as cast. The long fuselage of the Learjet with many internal details is printed as are the main two fuselage halves of the X-3. Looking at these parts I understand they must have preferred a trade off: produce intricate parts with more precision and just spend some minutes for sanding them to get smooth surfaces. I've tested it on the Learjet, achieved a very smooth surface with no loss of any surface details, works absolutely fine.

 

It's relatively easy to achieve a smooth surface on the fuselage parts (I assume the Lear wings are cast). I've already done it, although it will need more finishing after assembly. Again, I've seen other copies of this kit that are less good than mine. Cleanup to this extent should not be necessary!

 

 

 

The problem is parts like these:

Ejection seat.

Main landing gear door.

 

Layer lines all over the instrument panel, and within the instrument faces. Good thing this kit has no canopy to open.

[Landrotten Highlander]

As in all business, trade-offs are made to ensure manufacturability while maintaining profitaility.

Each manufacturing technique has is pro's and con's, and 3D printing - being relatively new - is literally placing on layer of material on top of the previous layer (or sometimes building from top down instead of bottom up).  Hence there will always be printing lines visible - particularly if you look at it with light coming from a specific angle.  Unlike more traditional manufacturing methods individual part cost remains the same irrespective of how many parts are being made, while the traditional manufacturing allows to drop individual price due to mass production.

 

I am certain that Jetmads are looking carefully at each individual component to assess which manufacturing method is best in terms of repeatability and quality control (e.g. resin parts may differ between consecutive casts due to different shrinking/cooling rates, as well as wearing down quicker than other methods such as injection moulding).  As mentioned before, visibility / presence of 3D printing layers are hugely depending on angle of each facet versus the printing plane.  The thinner your layers the smaller the 'wood grain', but also the longer the production time - again here a trade-off is required.

 

Although it is beneficial for the company to get constructive feedback, feedback fro feedback's sake is rarely beneficial to any party.  And to make sure, I respect each and every opinion/feeling on this subject and welcome constructive discussions on any subject at any time, but in this case may I ask all to return to the topic of this thread which is the reservation opportunity for a rare kit in (this / our preffered) scale?

 

Reason I ask is that I do follow certain topics in case something useful props up, but I feel at this point we are appraching a digging in of opposing views which is neither instructive nor productive.

 

Thanks in advance, and accept my contrition if I have offended anyone - this has not been my intention.

 

 

[RicardoD]

1 hour ago, nmayhew said:

how these guys are suckering people to buy their stuff is beyond me

Maybe that's why!

The first one built by Zola25 and the second by Piero on this forum. There are many others on the web as well.

 

[RicardoD]

1 hour ago, nmayhew said:

yup that looks like complete wood grain junk

 

when someone called them out on that on their FB page they promptly got blocked

 

I wouldn’t pay $3 for that let alone $300

 

how these guys are suckering people to buy their stuff is beyond me

And this one especially, now that you have found my comment on the previous page about metallic finish page to be funny!

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by RicardoD

[Violator1991]

Ahhh... Looks like totally "complete wood grain junk" to me... all of them 

[Violator1991]

On 10/21/2023 at 11:38 PM, mattcour said:

Yes, indeed !!

[Zola25]

4 minutes ago, RicardoD said:

And this one especially, now that you have found my comment on the previous about metallic finish page to be funny!

 

 

 

That is one beautiful Viggen build..

 

I prefer the Fields & Meadows scheme but I might have a go at a NMF with my AJ37 kit.

I can't see myself going through all that masking again 

 

Niels

[RicardoD]

4 minutes ago, Zola25 said:

That is one beautiful Viggen build..

 

I prefer the Fields & Meadows scheme but I might have a go at a NMF with my AJ37 kit.

I can't see myself going through all that masking again 

 

Niels

Absolutely beautiful and my second favourite after yours. Myself too will try that with the AJ37.