TTModelworks 1/32 AD-5 (A-1E) Skyraider

[quang]

Wow! Looking forward for the pics soon! Now I can start searching for an appropriate colour scheme 

[thaipham101]

Hi guys,

Some more photo dumps. Took me a while to figure out why my prints came out wonky and it turned out the new update of Chitubox somehow caused some weird glitches where the whole print shifted by a few pixels for a few layers and back to normal, took me many tried in releveling the bed and cleaning the vat but never thought of software side. Between installing the older Chitubox version and replacing my car's alternator I found time to resume printing again. Please note that no glue is used in this post's engine compartment, it's just all dry fitting.

 

 

The R-3350 is printed at 0.02mm and came out perfect, smooth as a baby's butt. One regret is that I don't think I can confidently print the ignition wires at this scale that would yield consistent result so there'll be attachment points for them on the ignition ring but you guys have to run the wire on your own, wire included of course. Crank case and the transmission are printed as one piece, each cylinder is on its own and you can just snap it off the support like a Bandai kit and stick it in. Then the engine mount to the fuselage is one piece with the intake pipes, while exhaust stacks are coming in the next batch with interior and canopy frames, then the center and inboard pylon, plus weapons. I'm printing them at multiple angles at once to see which one turns out the best so it takes a little long. I've reduced the amount of support for better removal but I'll push the limit and remove more to see how many I can remove while keeping the quality. Fuselage is printed at 0.04 if I'm not mistaken, and wings at 0.06mm, for quicker printing, so they look a little rougher than the engine. All production prints will be at 0.02mm or even lower if the printer permits. All in all, it looks quite like a Skyraider now and should quack like one

 

For options, there'll be both closed and open nose flap as well as cowl flaps, and flap hinges at both up and down position, I'm working for a wheels up and down option too. Though for the flap hinge I'll probably print them with ABS-like resin for strength since these don't have thin edges to worry about like other parts and the Elegoo resin can break, as pictured. 

 

Brought the Skyraider to local IPMS meeting and generally everyone leaves good reviews, one guy even liked my R-3350 so much he asked me to do a 1/24 one for him so he can put in his custom 1/24 truck build inspired by the Plymouth Radial Air

 

Thanks for keeping up with this project and supporting me, next print when you see me, it'll be a completed sample with wings folded. 

 

 

 

 

[thaipham101]

and this is the 1/24 R-3350 that I made for my local IPMS member, with a custom exhaust ring resembling the one on the Plymouth. Have to print one extra to keep for myself of course. He told me to not worry about anything and just scale the 1/32 up, but I plan to, once this whole AD-5 family is over, redo this R-3350 in probably 1/16, 12, or maybe even 1/6 with finer details, thinner cooling fins (in scale of course) so there'll be more cooling fins like the real thing, and a proper ignition ring that can fit Anyz braided lines. Crossing fingers that this AD-5 sale goes well, I've spent a ton of money on it already lol

 

[thaipham101]

On 4/27/2024 at 4:33 AM, quang said:

Wow! Looking forward for the pics soon! Now I can start searching for an appropriate colour scheme 

hi Quang do you know Huy and Cuong? I remember them mentioning you when they saw me at IPMS Houston's Model Mania 

[quang]

9 hours ago, thaipham101 said:

do you know Huy and Cuong?

Could be. I got in touch with some of on the VNAF forum but only through their avatars. I never knew their real-life names.

I just discovered a distant cousin in Florida who used to be a VNAF mechanic on DH. Caribou and other transports. He also happens to be an avid modeller.

The engine looks excellent. Can’t wait to see the bird with folded wings.

[alaninaustria]

Man, nice project! How did you learn to design such intricate patterns? I would love to learn how to do 3d design for 3d printing! 

Great work

Cheers

Alan

[thaipham101]

6 hours ago, alaninaustria said:

Man, nice project! How did you learn to design such intricate patterns? I would love to learn how to do 3d design for 3d printing! 

Great work

Cheers

Alan

Hi Alan,

I learnt basic stuff of Blender in a college class since my college required Art class to graduate, 10 years ago, we learnt the very basics of Blender, Fusion 360, Sketchup, and Autodesk 3ds max in one course.

 

I later chose Blender because I'm more used to it and it's free while the others require license and my student license for them expired (it was before Fusion 360 starts to offer free Hobbyish license) and I used it here and there for years for some basic stuff for my FDM printer. 

 

One pretty helpful reasource was a guy called Mark Alloway on Youtube, I'll post the link to his album below, I learnt to do the basic aircraft shapes from him and the documents I was able to buy online (maintenance manual, structural repair manual, flight manual, etc). However that stops there because he teaches aircraft modeling for vfx not scale modeling, so pretty much the rest I taught myself and found my own way, like splitting parts and making them thick/hollow for printing or things like the engine, etc. I'll learn surface painting from him for artworks and paint scheme too but probably not now, I have my friend to draw the artwork for me. 

 

Took me probably 2-3 months learning, practicing, and procastinating from scratch to get the overall shape right

 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2024 by thaipham101

[Martinnfb]

Impressive progress !  

[Padubon]

On 3/16/2024 at 7:39 AM, thierry laurent said:

As far as I know no one ever announced a 1/32 model of the A-37...

I am still praying for one! 

[thierry laurent]

5 minutes ago, Padubon said:

I am still praying for one! 

So do I!

[firefly7]

Me too, love the Tweety bird. 

[thaipham101]

Hi guys,

 

So, some updates. After doing some test prints I found out that some details that I made to scale printed out too thin/fragile for consistent prints so I decided to make them a little overscaled, gotta lose some to gain some I guess. Anyway, the fix is basically done, I can show you guys render and some test prints, and now I'm printing a new demo kit, again.

 

Hurricane Beryl did us in pretty good and broke my window along with the test kit I left near it. Between spending time fixing what Beryl damaged and taking care of my mom's medial issues I was just too exhausted to update you guys. Fortunately, both of that is behind me now so I can focus on the kit once again.

 

So, now, for a timeline. Again, I'm really sorry for having you guys wait this long, this is a one man job. Right now I'm correcting some inaccuracies within the decals that an acquaintance of mine pointed out, regarding the VNAF scheme, should be done within this weekend after I celebrate my girlfriend, the other T in our name, birthday.

 

I got the test decal sheet from my friend, while it's good enough for my personal use, I don't think it's good enough for retail kits so I'm contacting Microscale and Caracal to place an order instead. Also, I've been contacting Quinta studio regarding the possibility of interior decals but still haven't heard anything from them yet.

 

So, all in all, regretfully I think I'll have to push it back to around early October for shipping. However, it will mean that the AD-5W and AD-5N/Q will follow this kit pretty close too, I plan to release them all within this year if sale goes well and I get enough fund to place decal orders. For now I'm planning to release the AD-5 (A-1E), then AD-5W (EA-1E), then AD-5N/Q (A-1G/EA-1F) in one kit, and then a target tug AD-5U (UA-1E) as the finale, all will come with optional parts to upgrade it into the USAF/VNAF variants.

 

Regarding the canopy, I've decided to go with vac-form canopy pieces with 3D printed frame, which offers more finer details than traditional resin casting. My vac form machine is too old so I'm waiting for the new one to arrive and make test pieces to show you guys. As of now I'm still learning how to render clear parts to my liking so all of them but the windshield is not visible in the render, just the frames.

 

Now onto the main attraction of the show. As always, if you guys see any inconsistance or anything wrong, just let me know here or through my email ttmodelworks@gmail.com

 

 

 

[thaipham101]

and here are some test prints of the 2 landing gear options, without load and with full load. One of the ex-VNAF guy pointed out that the full load gear's brake hose make a long U bend so that's in the work to fix already.

[thaipham101]

and the cockpit

there are options for both USN/USMC AD-5 and USAF/VNAF A-1E cockpits with bare bucket seat, bucket seat with paddings, and Yankee seats, and appropriate instrument panels

 

Do you guys prefer separate dials and knobs, Anyz-style, or everything moulded on, traditional style?

[quang]

2 hours ago, thaipham101 said:

and the cockpit

there are options for both USN/USMC AD-5 and USAF/VNAF A-1E cockpits with bare bucket seat, bucket seat with paddings, and Yankee seats, and appropriate instrument panels

 

Do you guys prefer separate dials and knobs, Anyz-style, or everything moulded on, traditional style?

 

What’s wrong with traditional moulded?

Kitty Hawk Models did a quite commendable job on their 2016 T-28 Trojan using old school styrene injection techniques. Why can’t you?

 

GREAT progress on the Fat Face I can’t wait for the first fly.

Cheers,

Quang