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

[thaipham101]

30 minutes ago, quang said:

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

oh nothing wrong, I can print it perfectly like the center console in the last pic :p it's just that with separate knobs and dials, like Anyz, I don't have to cut/sand much to put 3D decals on and I can also paint them separately, making cleaner dials. It seems to be a new trend currently so I just want to do a little survey to see how many are on the bandwagon and how many still stick with the traditional way

 

that's a nice build btw, I've always wanted a T-28 but don't really like Shittyhawk that much. It was sad to learn that Zoukei Mura almost released a T-28 but for some reasons they canned it  

Edited August 23, 2024 by thaipham101

[quang]

Shittyhawk heh?
The KHM 1/32 T-28 Trojan kit is surprisingly good and well-molded with an excellent fit. I only hope that your upcoming AD-5 would be as good 

Cheers,

Quang
 

[thaipham101]

3 hours ago, quang said:

Shittyhawk heh?
The KHM 1/32 T-28 Trojan kit is surprisingly good and well-molded with an excellent fit. I only hope that your upcoming AD-5 would be as good 

Cheers,

Quang
 

just a play on their name based on my experience with their 1/48 kits lol

I wish I can be half as successful as them. 

[quang]

50 minutes ago, thaipham101 said:

just a play on their name based on my experience with their 1/48 kits lol

Well, I’ve never considered plays on names particularly playful nor respectful. But it’s only me. 

As for the KH 1/48 kits, I’ve completed two, the RF-101 Voodoo and the F9F Cougar. Muscular yet rather pleasant experiences if you ask me.

But like someone said, sometimes it’s NOT the kit, it’s the modeller. 

[thaipham101]

Some pics of the instrument panels and instrument consoles. I changed resin brand and there seems to be some contamination on these but it's cleaned up already for future prints. Unfortunately, I haven't sold enough to splurge on 3D decals so I'll go with these panels with details printed on and decals for instrument panel dials, unless customers ask for separate switches and knobs. I'm also working on designing the protective cages for smaller, more fragile parts to prevent damage during shipping, start with the engine set, along with printing and painting my first sample production kit.

 

Oh and also, I've modified the engine set to have the ignition ring as a separate piece, completed with couplings to install ignition coils (customers will need to supply their own wires tho).

 

I'm driving to Nebraska this weekend and will be back the next weekend, with the test production print of the fuselage and IP panels and consoles running while I'm away. Hopefully things turn out ok and I'll finish the mold and equipments to start testing the vacu-form canopies once I'm back.

 

 

 

 

[thaipham101]

Another adjustment I've made is separating the tail landing gear into separate components so I can also add the option of inflated tires used by the USAF/VNAF. It also aids in printing and painting. Got my brother to run the print right now and I'll show it together with the fuselage and instrument panels and consoles once I'm back

[Breaker]

What depth have you used for the IP panels? As some feedback, it looks a little shallow and might make the use of decals or paint difficult. 

 

Excellent work though - are you using Fusion for the modelling? 

[thaipham101]

20 hours ago, Breaker said:

What depth have you used for the IP panels? As some feedback, it looks a little shallow and might make the use of decals or paint difficult. 

 

Excellent work though - are you using Fusion for the modelling? 

Thanks,
Do you mean the depth of the dials? I can increase it however I want and I just want to see how it goes in scale first, but I think you're right I need to deepen them a little more for decals and painting.
I model these in Blender.

Edited September 13, 2024 by thaipham101

[Breaker]

Yeah, dials. I normally work in Fusion, I can't get my head around Blender at all! 

[thaipham101]

Nothing kicks the ball harder than coming back from a roadtrip to see your printers stopped so close to the finish line. From what I've seen it looks like my house experienced a brief power outage, short enough to not ring up any alarm but enough to reset the printers. I'm tired, will clean things up and reprint tmr. Thanksfully, the coming Saturn 4 Ultra has resume feature to combat this

 

[LSP_Kevin]

That's frustrating, Thai! Grab yourself a small consumer UPS when you can. They're a lifesaver.

 

Kev

[thaipham101]

Hi guys,

Sorry for the long absence. The Saturn 4 Ultra turned out to be more of a dog that I'd think, it worked initially but after an update shortly after I got the machine, things when to poop. Pretty demoralizing because whenever I ask people and even Elegoo keep suggesting that it might be something wrong in my design or my setting that made the print look so bad, even though previous prints came out fine before. That and the low sale number.

Anyway, I've figured workaround to get it playing nice again, after 2 months and a few kgs of resin. Had to modify some major parts like the fuselage halves and wings, and re-experiment with print angles and support settings to make the S4U work since my S2 is showing its age after constant printing.

 

Afterall, I want to thank you guys for your support and happy Thanksgiving, now is a photo dump of things I've got underway so far. The biggest improvement I'd say is the engine, now it's in one piece with ignition wire and all, and while it looks daunting, removing from support is pretty straightforward, just needed to nip the supports on the ignition wires, which are only a handfull, then you can pretty much rip it off the rest of the support.

 

Oh and also now I'm making the 1/48 kit available too, after many requests. 1/72 and 1/144 will be coming no earlier than Q2 next year since I need to do a lot of work to get the finer details and panel lines thick enough for print.

 

 

Edited November 28, 2024 by thaipham101

[Stevepd]

I don't know how I've missed this until now. I personally have never had the spark for a skyraider but only the other day I was reading this (link attached) and thought that was different in a cool way. Great to have the kahoonas to start and carry on with this.

 

https://theaviationist.com/2024/11/29/ad-5n-skyraider-nuclear-role/

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by Stevepd

[Cycling Guy]

I hope you make some of the individual components available like the Tail Wheel and maybe landing gear, so that I can adapt them to the ZM kit.

[thaipham101]

On 12/12/2024 at 8:09 AM, Cycling Guy said:

I hope you make some of the individual components available like the Tail Wheel and maybe landing gear, so that I can adapt them to the ZM kit.

Oh of course I do, I have 2 ZM kits too and plan to buy more so I'll make parts for them. Just need to get this AD-5 thing on the way I'll start modifying my parts to fit ZM kits around Jan-Feb. 

 

The tail wheel is easy, for main landing gear I have to remove the catapult hooks