Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[arbit]

37 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

@arbit these figures are fantastic, wished I had a resin printer (might look into that someday).

Thanks.  I have variants of her on my Patreon. 

I would definitely recommend an inexpensive Elegoo Mars.  The learning curve is pretty easy. Feel free to ask me any questions before getting into it. 

Edited November 27, 2022 by arbit

[pengbuzz]

18 hours ago, wm cheng said:

@derex3592 the rigging does at a lot for realism!  Looking great!  How do you keep it taught if you put tape in front of the crazy glue dot, when you take that tape away after its cured, isn't there slack in the thread/line?

 

Yay!!! Finally finished my FineMolds F-4J in 1/72 scale - love these hi-viz 70s schemes.  Missiles are all on and even re-did my last years Tomcat missiles too.  I would like to take some proper pictures of them someday when I have time to get out a proper background and lighting (I'm a few models behind on that). 

Really sweet finish to that one! Nice job!!

BTW:I noticed your VF-1 Wolfpack Tomcat in the background there! Looks like you got the color spot on; on mine, I thought I had it until I clear-coated it and it got way too dark and changed the tone:

Sigh... maybe I should take up macrame instead?

[derex3592]

Now we're starting to get excited for this! Also had my first trial run at making "The Marconi Array" today which was suspended between the masts for radio signals. Not bad for a 1st attempt me thinks! I'll plan about 3 hours to do for real eventually on the ship. Getting closer! 

 

 

[wm cheng]

2 hours ago, arbit said:

Thanks.  I have variants of her on my Patreon. 

I would definitely recommend an inexpensive Elegoo Mars.  The learning curve is pretty easy. Feel free to ask me any questions before getting into it. 

Great stuff @arbit but I was hoping for the specific DYRL hair and her orange spacesuit...

[Shawn]

Damn that phantom is amazing, insane job on that. Wow.

[arbit]

19 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Great stuff @arbit but I was hoping for the specific DYRL hair and her orange spacesuit...

 Im working on it. It was one of the first figure I wished I could make, but did not have the modeling skills.  I know enough tricks now to design her uniform and all the details.  But no way can I make her helmet yet...  Or can I?

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by arbit

[Urashiman]

Did some testprints on the VF-9 and VF-1P.

Except for two parts on the VF-9 (the front gear box part and the front gear) everything else failed. It is getting twisted and warped and seems that it detached from the supporting struts.

The panel lines turned out well, so they have a good size. I think I have two main issues:

1. Wall thickness. I need do make the walls a bit thicker.

2. Not enough 3D printing experience. I might need more supporting struts and better strut placement.

What I found really interesting is, how small the VF-9 parts are. The VF-9 is really a small plane. The canopy and cockpit space are almost as big as on the VF-1P, but the rest is just super small. I like how the VF-1P nose looks. Even if the print failed, it still looks nice. I will use these fails to test color on them and which primer to use.

[arbit]

1 hour ago, Urashiman said:

everything else failed. It is getting twisted and warped and seems that it detached from the supporting struts.

My two cents to help you out if you don't mind:

Detaching from supports means your supports are not strong enough. If a part is in the 3cm height range, I would use 0.35-40 minimum tip diameter.  You don't need to use a lot of supports, but you need to anchor the piece with strong supports from the beginning.  For larger pieces, say 6cm height, I have had success with 0.5-0.6mm tip diameter.  So first you anchor with 4 or 5 strong supports then you can space them out so you don't have too many supports and ruin the piece.

For the warping and wall diameter, I would say you need minimum 1mm thickness for the walls.  But as importantly, you need to orient the print so the walls build up vertically as much as possible, without too many steep angles.  You can get away with very thin thickness, but it has to be oriented vertically to succeed. So for example, if we take the nose cone, I would angle it nose down vertically, with a slight angle sloping upwards (somewhere between 45 - 70 degrees), and let the fuselage build up like a cone, with supports hidden underneath the nose cone.

For the detaching of hollow objects, you might also have a vacuum effect causing problems.  You can research youtube how to deal with that. Basically you need to orient differently or add holes to stop the vaccum from forming.

For the small parts, you have to orient them so that the thin parts build on themselves.  You will lose extremely minute details at this scale, but that's life.  For small figures in the 3cm height range, I need at least 0.2mm thickness for a detail to show.

Hope that helps.  Please let me know how it goes.

Edited November 28, 2022 by arbit

[Urashiman]

27 minutes ago, arbit said:

My two cents to help you out if you don't mind:

Detaching from supports means your supports are not strong enough. If a part is in the 3cm height range, I would use 0.35-40 minimum tip diameter.  You don't need to use a lot of supports, but you need to anchor the piece with strong supports from the beginning.  For larger pieces, say 6cm height, I have had success with 0.5-0.6mm tip diameter.  So first you anchor with 4 or 5 strong supports then you can space them out so you don't have too many supports and ruin the piece.

For the warping and wall diameter, I would say you need minimum 1mm thickness for the walls.  But as importantly, you need to orient the print so the walls build up vertically as much as possible, without too many steep angles.  You can get away with very thin thickness, but it has to be oriented vertically to succeed. So for example, if we take the nose cone, I would angle it nose down vertically, with a slight angle sloping upwards (somewhere between 45 - 70 degrees), and let the fuselage build up like a cone, with supports hidden underneath the nose cone.

For the detaching of hollow objects, you might also have a vacuum effect causing problems.  You can research youtube how to deal with that. Basically you need to orient differently or add holes to stop the vaccum from forming.

For the small parts, you have to orient them so that the thin parts build on themselves.  You will lose extremely minute details at this scale, but that's life.  For small figures in the 3cm height range, I need at least 0.2mm thickness for a detail to show.

Hope that helps.  Please let me know how it goes.

That is valuable information. I will try that on my next print

[arbit]

2 minutes ago, Urashiman said:

That is valuable information. I will try that on my next print

😍😍

[SpacePirateNeko]

Did a little more work 

[Bolt]

Looking awesome. 

[Thom]

Damn fine looking VF!

[MechTech]

Sorry, haven't been online in a couple days...

Thank you everyone! I LOVE milling styrene. It's so easy to work with and bits last forever cutting it. I wish I could get 1/4" sheets. Evergreen doesn't reply to my emails - I've asked them. Gluing them together they are not as solid. It is what helps make this look easy - because its not! But fun when things come together.

@arbit Great looking figures again! Especially the cockpit with Hikaru and MinMei.

@wm cheng The extra work on your missiles was worth it, especially the Sidewinder rollerons. Stuff like that stands out and makes it all that more realistic. Great aircraft photos too - without backdrops.

@derex3592 Your rigging looks very convincing and makes the ship all that more detailed too. The contrasting colors make the details pop!

@Urashiman What printer did you end up getting? - MT

[Urashiman]

12 hours ago, MechTech said:

Sorry, haven't been online in a couple days...

Thank you everyone! I LOVE milling styrene. It's so easy to work with and bits last forever cutting it. I wish I could get 1/4" sheets. Evergreen doesn't reply to my emails - I've asked them. Gluing them together they are not as solid. It is what helps make this look easy - because its not! But fun when things come together.

@arbit Great looking figures again! Especially the cockpit with Hikaru and MinMei.

@wm cheng The extra work on your missiles was worth it, especially the Sidewinder rollerons. Stuff like that stands out and makes it all that more realistic. Great aircraft photos too - without backdrops.

@derex3592 Your rigging looks very convincing and makes the ship all that more detailed too. The contrasting colors make the details pop!

@Urashiman What printer did you end up getting? - MT

An Anycubic Photon Mono 4K for a whopping 169€

There was a sale prior to the black friday deals, which was actually cheaper than the black friday deals.

[electric indigo]

So is this getting like the inkjet printers where they throw the printer at you and then milk you with the material prices?

The results look pretty promising anyway.

[arbit]

32 minutes ago, electric indigo said:

So is this getting like the inkjet printers where they throw the printer at you and then milk you with the material prices?

The results look pretty promising anyway.

Not from my experience.  I expected the worst when I first got into it, but that has not been the case at all.  A 1000 grams of resin for USD 20-30 can print hundreds of my mini figures and lasts ages.   Unlike my detested HP printer which I cannot hate enough!

As for the machine, my elegoo runs problem free, with excellent service from the manufacturer (for example they sent me a replacement LCD screen for a minor bubble problem, that I still have not even installed yet, among other freebies).  But that's just my experience.  Others may have a different experience.  My approach is I don't buy new models, I wait for all the testing and reviews to come out first.

As for the ease of use and learning curve, I don't have any of the problems people complain about, and I attribute most problems I face to my own user error or lack of experience.  I learned not to use fan settings or off brand resins for example.

I don't want to be mean, but "pro" youtube tutorials make dozens of mistakes, such as ripping the supports off without care, not filtering the resin bay between uses, ignoring manufacturer settings, not using non-scratch tools, using add-ons and hacks, scratching up the lift base, scratching the resin bay, mixing resins, letting dust/water/alcohol into their resin, spilling resin on the machine, and a mistake we all make, not supporting the figure properly and then blaming it on the machine.

My hobby costs have shrunk to near zero since I got into 3D design. And with 4 kids, that's a blessing.

Edited November 30, 2022 by arbit

[Urashiman]

2 hours ago, electric indigo said:

So is this getting like the inkjet printers where they throw the printer at you and then milk you with the material prices?

The results look pretty promising anyway.

Basically what @arbit says.

PLUS:

3D Printing is a super manual task and you have to look at so many different things. It feels like operating my 80s 24 needle printer. You print one page, it goes bad and you have to calibrate and clean out the printing heads and and and and and ... The technology for the large audience isn't too fool proof, as it is with general laser or ink jet printers nowadays. A lot of tweaking is needed to get proper results. It also depends on what kind of printer you have.

Using an FDM printer properly is the easiest way of 3D printing and has a better success rate in the beginning than SLA printers. When it comes to useability and maintenance, an FDM printer is super easy to use. There is no smelly resin that you'll get hyper allergetic to (or even worse get cancer), but PLA or ABS filament which is heated up. An 1KG roll is 12-20€ each and will last depending on how much you print. The fun part about FDM is, that you have less waste and you need less other tools.

The SLA printers on the other hand are rather complex to handle. Use gloves all the time, setup an UV light to cure your print. Cleaning your print from left over resin. Cleaning out the resin bay, calibrating the printer all the time. You need much more stuff to operate it. e.g.:

- Gloves
- Resin filters
- Isopropanol Alcohol
- Lot's of kitchenroll/paper towels
- Face masks

While the resin price is relatively stable and cheap, you have to invest in the above disposables as well, making it less cheap to print one model.

[arbit]

51 minutes ago, Urashiman said:

PLUS:

3D Printing is a super manual task and you have to look at so many different things. It feels like operating my 80s 24 needle printer. You print one page, it goes bad and you have to calibrate and clean out the printing heads and and and and and ... The technology for the large audience isn't too fool proof, as it is with general laser or ink jet printers nowadays. A lot of tweaking is needed to get proper results. It also depends on what kind of printer you have.

Thanks Urashiman.  But as I said I don't have these calibration issues.  Its just print and go with the Elegoo.   I achieved this because, I use only factory settings and manufacturer settings. and I use only the same brand resin with my brand printer, because I assume they have been factory tested.

[Urashiman]

1 hour ago, arbit said:

Thanks Urashiman.  But as I said I don't have these calibration issues.  Its just print and go with the Elegoo.   I achieved this because, I use only factory settings and manufacturer settings. and I use only the same brand resin with my brand printer, because I assume they have been factory tested.

The calibration thing is, because after printing, I take apart the lift base and clean out the resin from every piece. So I have to level the lift base again. I do this to save isopropanol, an manually clean that thing. I carefully clean every piece after every print. Maybe I am crazy. Well, not maybe. I am definately crazy. Everything else is factory settings.

[arbit]

1 hour ago, Urashiman said:

The calibration thing is, because after printing, I take apart the lift base and clean out the resin from every piece. So I have to level the lift base again. I do this to save isopropanol, an manually clean that thing. I carefully clean every piece after every print. Maybe I am crazy. Well, not maybe. I am definately crazy. Everything else is factory settings.

I understand...  I clean everything out after each print too.  But the design of my printer does not require relevelling, it just screws right back on.  And I found that relevelling is not needed so often anyway.

[wm cheng]

Now for something completely different... wish me luck!  Fantastic Nerf toy BTW, highly recommend it if you don't have one.

 

[Urashiman]

@wm cheng Oooooh! Awesome  Weyland-Yutani M41A pulse rifle to the rescue!

Btw: I like the masking tape strips on your cutting mat. That is exactly how my workbench tends to look like as well. Masking tape sticking everywhere hahaha.

[Bolt]

13 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Now for something completely different... wish me luck!  Fantastic Nerf toy BTW, highly recommend it if you don't have one.

 

Nice! Looking forward to seeing this come along !

[arbit]

16 hours ago, wm cheng said:

Now for something completely different... wish me luck!  Fantastic Nerf toy BTW, highly recommend it if you don't have one.

I painted up my kid's Nerf gun a few years back too, after seeing an Adam Savage video.

On 11/28/2022 at 4:19 AM, wm cheng said:

Great stuff @arbit but I was hoping for the specific DYRL hair and her orange spacesuit...

Okay, between some FIFA matches, I made good progress on VT-1 Minmay's suit and hair.    Comments and feedback appreciated before finalizing the seated figure.  I tucked her long hair behind the backpack, do you think that's a good idea for seated as well as standing pose, or should I let the hair flow over the backpack?  No joy on the helmet yet, but we can have a no-helmet version until I figure it out or someone volunteers to make it.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by arbit

[Bolt]

57 minutes ago, arbit said:

I painted up my kid's Nerf gun a few years back too, after seeing an Adam Savage video.

Okay, between some FIFA matches, I made good progress on VT-1 Minmay's suit and hair.    Comments and feedback appreciated before finalizing the seated figure.  I tucked her long hair behind the backpack, do you think that's a good idea for seated as well as standing pose, or should I let the hair flow over the backpack?  No joy on the helmet yet, but we can have a no-helmet version until I figure it out or someone volunteers to make it.

 

 

Great work @arbit ! As much as i love  the backpack details, i think it would look better, as in more natural, with her hair flowing over it. Or maybe to the side. I'm loving your modeling skills!

Edited December 3, 2022 by Bolt

[arbit]

9 hours ago, Bolt said:

Great work @arbit ! As much as i love  the backpack details, i think it would look better, as in more natural, with her hair flowing over it. Or maybe to the side. I'm loving your modeling skills!

This is a shoulder length version. Front profile doesnt change.  In the DYRL VT-1 cockpit scene, Minmay's hair shrinks in the back with anime magic.  Otherwise her hair is quite long in other scenes.  But in the cockpit scene it suddenly appears shoulder length.

Her yellow and black shoulder pads need to show clearly, but if her hair is long, the shoulder pads will be obscured, and ruin the main design element of her cockpit suit.  Otherwise for the hair to be long and not hide the shoulder pads, it would have to be long and thin like a tube in place of the backpack, which doesn't look right.

Edited December 3, 2022 by arbit

[electric indigo]

Finally enough light today to add another camo color.

[arbit]

A test to see how the model holds up to posing and processing. She's doing very well.

[Bolt]

8 hours ago, arbit said:

This is a shoulder length version. Front profile doesnt change.  In the DYRL VT-1 cockpit scene, Minmay's hair shrinks in the back with anime magic.

Anime magic it is, then  

 

4 hours ago, electric indigo said:

Finally enough light today to add another camo color.

Looks great !

[arbit]

Patron Downloads here. https://www.patreon.com/arbitscalemodels

Edited December 3, 2022 by arbit

[arbit]

1 minute ago, Bolt said:

Anime magic it is, then  

Thanks.  Your feedback actually helped me to figure it out.

[Thom]

@arbit Those are some great cockpit figures. Have you considered doing Misa and Hikaru just after he rescued her from the Grand Canon site? I've been thinking about doing a dio and some figs in the 'pit would be awesome. He and Misa are in almost the exact same pose during the escape, but there's also a point where she's standing and holding his helmet and he's sitting on the cockpit edge.

[arbit]

20 minutes ago, Thom said:

@arbit Those are some great cockpit figures. Have you considered doing Misa and Hikaru just after he rescued her from the Grand Canon site? I've been thinking about doing a dio and some figs in the 'pit would be awesome. He and Misa are in almost the exact same pose during the escape, but there's also a point where she's standing and holding his helmet and he's sitting on the cockpit edge.

Thanks.  I plan on doing a ton of cockpit figures, Max, Miria, Ben, Roy, SDF and DYRL versions.  And I am eager for your ideas, so nudge me if I forget something.

These are WIP.  But if you would send me a screen cap of what you have in mind.

 

[wm cheng]

It's looking great @arbit!  I'd love it either hair out or hair tucked in - don't really know, but its amazing!  Could you get her to lean forward a little in the seat like she's yelling at Hikaru.  How would you paint the eyes and facial features at this scale?  May I put in an paid order for one printed by you please :)!!!

 

Not much to show on the Nerf gun yet, A LOT OF SANDING!  The Lacquer black paint is so thick that I'm worried it will telegraph through underneath the paint finish, so I stripped it with lacquer thinner but that attacked the plastic, so I had to sand it all back to make sure there's no wipe marks, should have just sanded the markings off in the first place!  There's so much kiddie warnings to sand off too, so I sanded it the best I could and then covered it in a sheet styrene.  Using spray cans is a who new skill level, I wanted the Krylon spray cans because they are very durable, but it certainly lacks the precision of an airbrush so I made a makeshift spray booth to contain the overspray as its too cold to do it outside now.