Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[Rock]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It's not snow, but this is how cold it was yesterday (and only that cold next to the window indoors):

Same boat. (-1F currently with a high of +2F in a few hours.) I've been debating if I want to pop outside real quick and risk trying to topcoat my build today so I can get some more progress in.

[Bolt]

Happy Deculture everyone!

[arbit]

3 hours ago, MechTech said:

And now for something different. Every year our modelling club has a gift exchange. Someone brings in a model and then we can steel other peoples models. Each model gets only three steels. Seven years ago someone brought in a rickshaw model and nobody wants it. In fact, it's now a club metaphor for the model nobody wants! My son was at last years meeting and said he'd take the rickshaw and build it. In fact, he "threatened" to soup it up a bit. Along with the weapons set he got as his gift, this is how he put them together (with my help):

Great story! 

[Thom]

Merry Christmas, to one and all!

Had a great day with the fam.

[derex3592]

Merrrrry Christmas all you fellow Macrossworld Modelers!

       As many here know, about 18 months ago while on our way down to a family holiday on the TX coast, it came up in conversation with my in laws that my father in law had a model of the Titanic in his garage that he received as a gift from his wife and kids back after the James Cameron movie came out.  He never got around to it as he really wasn't much of a modeler and was busy running his printing business all those years ago.  As the new "wanting to please!" son in law I spoke up and said "Hey, I could build that for you!, heck I could even put some LED lights in it!".  Now I was thinking they went to MJ Designs back in the day and purchased a little 12" long 1/750 or something kit for like $15, I would build over a couple of weekends and BAM, I'm the hero!. Weeeelll.....open mouth, insert both feel and bend over..When my wife brought home the kit in the back of her SUV a few weeks later, I knew I was in for it!  1/350 scale Minicraft Model, designed in the 70's by hand, a British company, and re-popped many times since then including after the movie release.  First let me say this....the kit itself is TERRIBLE.  At least my copy was. Decks were warped, NOTHING went together neatly, half the model is superglue, the other half is putty!  But through all the trials and tribulations, I managed to pull off something pretty nice.  This evening I revealed it to him, along with a movie poster size print out on metal my brother in law had done of the deck plans for the ship. VERY cool!  We have a plexiglass case on order from the same guy that did my 1/72 M.F. Finemolds case years ago.  My father in law was blown away.  Happy son in law! 🙂 

Mods include:  ALL PE Railings/PE Staircases/PE smokestack ladders/PE window frames on many of the windows/1/350 scale PE crew and passengers/custom made lifeboat covers from newspaper/flags and cargo hold covers made from kitchen foil/LED lighting (2 levels)/ ALL port holes drilled out on main hull/E-Z Line for all rigging lines/hand colored decking with colored pencils to simulate the wood planks/custom made covers for the two Grand Staircases.

Enjoy the pics! 

[arbit]

2 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Enjoy the pics! 

Congrats on finishing this beast.  Now we need some close ups of your detail work please.

[Big s]

7 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Merrrrry Christmas all you fellow Macrossworld Modelers!

       As many here know, about 18 months ago while on our way down to a family holiday on the TX coast, it came up in conversation with my in laws that my father in law had a model of the Titanic in his garage that he received as a gift from his wife and kids back after the James Cameron movie came out.  He never got around to it as he really wasn't much of a modeler and was busy running his printing business all those years ago.  As the new "wanting to please!" son in law I spoke up and said "Hey, I could build that for you!, heck I could even put some LED lights in it!".  Now I was thinking they went to MJ Designs back in the day and purchased a little 12" long 1/750 or something kit for like $15, I would build over a couple of weekends and BAM, I'm the hero!. Weeeelll.....open mouth, insert both feel and bend over..When my wife brought home the kit in the back of her SUV a few weeks later, I knew I was in for it!  1/350 scale Minicraft Model, designed in the 70's by hand, a British company, and re-popped many times since then including after the movie release.  First let me say this....the kit itself is TERRIBLE.  At least my copy was. Decks were warped, NOTHING went together neatly, half the model is superglue, the other half is putty!  But through all the trials and tribulations, I managed to pull off something pretty nice.  This evening I revealed it to him, along with a movie poster size print out on metal my brother in law had done of the deck plans for the ship. VERY cool!  We have a plexiglass case on order from the same guy that did my 1/72 M.F. Finemolds case years ago.  My father in law was blown away.  Happy son in law! 🙂 

Mods include:  ALL PE Railings/PE Staircases/PE smokestack ladders/PE window frames on many of the windows/1/350 scale PE crew and passengers/custom made lifeboat covers from newspaper/flags and cargo hold covers made from kitchen foil/LED lighting (2 levels)/ ALL port holes drilled out on main hull/E-Z Line for all rigging lines/hand colored decking with colored pencils to simulate the wood planks/custom made covers for the two Grand Staircases.

Enjoy the pics! 

He looks proud and happy. Great build

[Thom]

@derex3592 Awesome looking model. He looks really pleased with it. You may now bask in your 15 Min of Son-in-Law-Fame!

[derex3592]

Thanks a lot guys! @arbit, yes, I'm going to be getting better daytime and nighttime pics today hopefully now that the Christmas day crazy is over and wife if going to see Avatar 2 the search for more money 💵 .. LOL 

[MechTech]

Thank you guys!

CONGRATULATIONS @derex3592! You got a win -win!!! You completed a model and made it look FANTASTIC! Great details AND all lit up too! AND you made the in-laws happy - VERY important! That's like a multi-level win-win too! I'm glad you guys had a great Christmas as well. - MT

[Bolt]

Fantastic job @derex3592 ! You did it , just in time. She's a beauty!

[derex3592]

Thank you so much guys!  I learned a lot!!!

 

I'm going to do a separate thread in the "Model Kits" section with full resolution pictures of Titanic, just FYI. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by derex3592

[Rock]

That feeling when it is the dead of night.
When the only sound heard is audible sigh of relief,
As the end is finally in sight.



 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Rock

[Bolt]

Great job ! 

[derex3592]

@Rock - Dude!! - that paint job looks fantastic! 

[Thom]

Oh, the mood lighting!😉 Looks ready for a night trap.

[ElliotGrimes]

3D printing on a Creality Ender 3! Sorry, the print isn't perfect and the printer needs some tuning!

I hope this counts as a "workbench" project: a tomcatized-flankerized VF-25F with hinged swinging wings, vertical and horizontal stabs (monobloc). This is just the beginning of a longer project that should lead to releasing a printable file for this modification on a website such as Thingiverse, and then various printable valks from the Macross franchise. Note: the source material is a larger archive of most macross valks in fighter mode, all of which were totally unprintable, but through intense tinkering and the use of Meshmixer and Blender, I figured out some ways to correct the 3D files and would like to add articulations - and why not, let's get crazy, transformability or partsformability - to some designs. Most designs - .stl files - are "breakable" into parts that contain errors. Building an archive of macross designs that are breakable into printable components would allow other MWers to make their own fun 3D projects and print them!

Note to mods and other people on the forum: do I start a separate thread on this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by ElliotGrimes

[Bolt]

Looks brilliant! Is that about 1/72 scale?

[ElliotGrimes]

33 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Looks brilliant! Is that about 1/72 scale?

Were you writing about my post? Wow, thanks!

What I did was 1/100-ish. 50 grams, the shells are 1.2mm thick, the print took about 15hrs to complete. I just wanted to test the idea without wasting too much time and plastic if it didn't go well. But any scale would be possible.

The final plan would be to make scale 3D-printed Macross RC planes with light-weight PLA. Many people are currently making RC planes with PLA.
But for now, making a downloadable library of Macross printable STL files is very feasible! I'm sure that with a little bit of painting and sanding, the files can be turned into nice really nice 3D printed models... (Plus... I really got my hands on nearly all Macross valkyrie design stl files, some of which don't even exist as injection plastic models! Many people will be pleased to print their own)...

Edited December 28, 2022 by ElliotGrimes

[Bolt]

1 minute ago, ElliotGrimes said:

Were you writing about my post? Wow, thanks!

Yes. Great job. Looking forward to seeing more 

[ElliotGrimes]

13 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Yes. Great job. Looking forward to seeing more 

Thanks so much!

[pengbuzz]

3 hours ago, ElliotGrimes said:

3D printing on a Creality Ender 3! Sorry, the print isn't perfect and the printer needs some tuning!

I hope this counts as a "workbench" project: a tomcatized-flankerized VF-25F with hinged swinging wings, vertical and horizontal stabs (monobloc). This is just the beginning of a longer project that should lead to releasing a printable file for this modification on a website such as Thingiverse, and then various printable valks from the Macross franchise. Note: the source material is a larger archive of most macross valks in fighter mode, all of which were totally unprintable, but through intense tinkering and the use of Meshmixer and Blender, I figured out some ways to correct the 3D files and would like to add articulations - and why not, let's get crazy, transformability or partsformability - to some designs. Most designs - .stl files - are "breakable" into parts that contain errors. Building an archive of macross designs that are breakable into printable components would allow other MWers to make their own fun 3D projects and print them!

Note to mods and other people on the forum: do I start a separate thread on this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice job with the printing on those! They look really sharp!

And on that note: welcome to Macrossworld, ElilotGrimes!😀

[Thom]

Indeed those are some sexy looking valks! Nice work @ElliotGrimes.

And I'll add another welcome to the forum!

[ElliotGrimes]

7 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Nice job with the printing on those! They look really sharp!

And on that note: welcome to Macrossworld, ElilotGrimes!😀

Thanks Pengbuzz! 🙂

[ElliotGrimes]

27 minutes ago, Thom said:

Indeed those are some sexy looking valks! Nice work @ElliotGrimes.

And I'll add another welcome to the forum!

Thanks Thom! 🙂

[ElliotGrimes]

Some people who love Macross AND have a 3D printer (the Ender 3 is all you need for this, 250-ish delivered at your door) are going to love this link (yes, this is my source material - used to be in Thingiverse, now it's in Cults3D:
https://cults3d.com/fr/utilisateurs/MiniValks/créations (Oh please DO click on that link, it is so full of wonders, see some examples below)
And the archive that contains everything is here: https://cults3d.com/fr/modèle-3d/art/macross-vf-collection-1-285-scale
Note: MOST stl files, if not all, are unprintable as they are but still very useful since they will allow you to not have to design everything from scratch (I did try the ones that seemed the most printable, and got frustrating results) so here is what I did to "correct" the files:
In PrusaSlicer, select the model, and then select "split into parts" and then see which parts have an alert, right-click them, select "fix through the netfabb" (ouch... works in the Windows version of PrusaSlicer, NOT in the Mac version!); once all parts are fixed, printing is possible. If, in addition to this you want to create major changes to the parts in Blender, you have to go through MeshMixer (free software like Prusaslicer and Blender) and "solidify" the model (or the parts, but after that, you will have to "re-assemble them"). Once this is done, open the "solidified" model in Blender and you can operate modifications (interserctions, substractions, additions, etc)...

And below the images from the Cults3D website, some examples of what my Ender 3 can do when it cooperates (Oh and I added a few shots of some "Bandai PlaMo" just for good measure) 

And now for another thing I have on my mind: design and print modifications for Bandai Plamo transformable valks - such as the custom stabs - that could be snapped onto the Bandai models! And also a tab system for the VF25's (because they are unstable in fighter mode) and some better joints for some areas (knee joints, allowing for an extra rotational degree for better poseability!)

Note: I apologize in advance for the indecent exposure on one of the pictures, that was totally unintentional (b00b flash) 🙂
 

Edited December 29, 2022 by ElliotGrimes

[arbit]

4 hours ago, ElliotGrimes said:

MOST stl files, if not all, are unprintable

Hi Elliot,   Senovis, a.k.a. Minivalks, is a good friend of mine and I have seen many successful prints of his models.  I printed the Megaroad and it was great.   Please give me an example of a file you believe is unprintable so I can evaluate.

From what I know, all you need to do to print his models is to first put them in Microsoft 3D Builder and click "repair" (or another repair software).   And you need to print them at the scale he built them.   You do not need to solidify, unless you find a particularly thin piece you want to beef up.

[ElliotGrimes]

3 hours ago, arbit said:

Hi Elliot,   Senovis, a.k.a. Minivalks, is a good friend of mine and I have seen many successful prints of his models.  I printed the Megaroad and it was great.   Please give me an example of a file you believe is unprintable so I can evaluate.

From what I know, all you need to do to print his models is to first put them in Microsoft 3D Builder and click "repair" (or another repair software).   And you need to print them at the scale he built them.   You do not need to solidify, unless you find a particularly thin piece you want to beef up.

Hello Arbit,

Nice to meet you too!

I will give you specific examples later. But my experience converges with what you wrote: "repairs" are needed, whether with Microsoft3D or another software (I did that with Windows PrusaSlicer's "repair with the Netfabb" function. "Solidify" is needed if you want to print parts separately. I must admit I did not try to print the large spaceships, only the valks until now!

Will show some specific examples later... I did tried some valks including the Sv-152, but did not keep the failed prints unfortulately, otherwise I would show them. Cura would allow me to slice this model, unfortulately the resulting (physical) print was disastrous in some areas! For most models, I'd get empty layers in Prusa slicer. It should be easy to show you examples later. The "non-manifold" type error.

And the VF-25 had some parts that had "holes" (I will do my best to provide screen captures, and this specific error could be solved in Meshmixer...

But once again, nothing that can't be solved with a little bit of perseverance! And your friends did a fantastic job! But no actual "makes" were shown in Thingiverse, and his files were removed from that site! Do you have any idea why his files were removed from Thingiverse by any chance?

Could you show some examples of your prints? (Or just links to your posts that have pictures?) And have you seen some successful prints of his files, and if yes, where, and can I see them, please? 🙂

Cheers!

Edited December 29, 2022 by ElliotGrimes

[arbit]

53 minutes ago, ElliotGrimes said:

But once again, nothing that can't be solved with a little bit of perseverance! And your friends did a fantastic job! But no actual "makes" were shown in Thingiverse, and his files were removed from that site! Do you have any idea why his files were removed from Thingiverse by any chance?

Could you show some examples of your prints? (Or just links to your posts that have pictures?) And have you seen some successful prints of his files, and if yes, where, and can I see them, please? 🙂

You can ask him why he removed them.

As for holes and thin shells, your slicer should show you they are solid, otherwise don't print until you get them repaired. 

If something is unrepairable, I would inform him. At the time, he did not know about repairing, but his newer models are print-ready.

You can find images of his 3D prints by lots of guys on Macross Fan Central and Macross Builder (Facebook).

This is my small scale megaroad.

[ElliotGrimes]

6 minutes ago, arbit said:

You can ask him why he removed them.

As for holes and thin shells, your slicer should show you they are solid, otherwise don't print until you get them repaired. 

If something is unrepairable, I would inform him. At the time, he did not know about repairing, but his newer models are print-ready.

You can find images of his 3D prints by lots of guys on Macross Fan Central and Macross Builder (Facebook).

This is my small scale megaroad.

Thanks! Looks great! I could also inform him. Any other page or forum where people show some prints of his stl files? Ever tried to printt at a greater scale/size? Among the other issues I had: the stl's that were printable, became unprintable if the print size was made larger - i.e. errors that became neglectable because of their small relative size, made the prints fail when the tentative prints became larger as a whole. Did he create all the geometries himself and with what software, since you know him so well I am sure you have the answer!

[ElliotGrimes]

12 minutes ago, arbit said:

You can ask him why he removed them.

As for holes and thin shells, your slicer should show you they are solid, otherwise don't print until you get them repaired. 

If something is unrepairable, I would inform him. At the time, he did not know about repairing, but his newer models are print-ready.

You can find images of his 3D prints by lots of guys on Macross Fan Central and Macross Builder (Facebook).

This is my small scale megaroad.

Thanks. Will check those two "places". Weird that nobody had shown any print/make on Thingiverse and that his files were removed from Thingiverse. Haven't seen makes on Cults3D yet, will re-check.

Have you tried making bigger versions of this Megaroad?

[ElliotGrimes]

4 hours ago, arbit said:

Hi Elliot,   Senovis, a.k.a. Minivalks, is a good friend of mine and I have seen many successful prints of his models.  I printed the Megaroad and it was great.   Please give me an example of a file you believe is unprintable so I can evaluate.

From what I know, all you need to do to print his models is to first put them in Microsoft 3D Builder and click "repair" (or another repair software).   And you need to print them at the scale he built them.   You do not need to solidify, unless you find a particularly thin piece you want to beef up.

OK, found the Facebook group and some pictures of Macross models or macross addon parts' prints. Your friend did a fantastic job once again. It's just that for the majority of the valk models, some extra steps are needed, but once you have found them, everything becomes printable!

Here is the link to the Macross Central group (I wish I'd known earlier about it) for the other MW members...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/357754304585336/search?q=3D print

[arbit]

2 hours ago, ElliotGrimes said:

Did he create all the geometries himself and with what software, since you know him so well I am sure you have the answer!

yes, all made by hand. but IDK what software. you can ask him.

Edited December 29, 2022 by arbit

[MechTech]

Welcome @ElliotGrimes ! You're in the right thread. Just about every build is here other than specific Macross models. Your Macross prints look great! - MT

[Rock]

Bench cleared!

Few issues. Canopy popped someyime while painting. Glue held but, it is slightly raised on the corner. Secondly, got a better feel on shading these birds, just need to get a bit more comfortable with highlighting instead of replying somly on filters and preshading. I also need to spend a bit more time with decaling. I've had the process down but, painting OVER them and such is mixed. For example after 2 topcoats and doing a white/black dot filter you can see how the filter still managed to find the decals edges and react differently. Maybe mineralspirits is too strong for the acrylics/laquer topcoats.

I feel I hit a lot of my hobby goals in 2022... yeah still don't finish much but, I really wanted to break away from clean, solid paint jobs that 20 years of gunpla will do to 'ya. Really focused on improving my ground work (putty/primer,) moving away from grabbing that rattle can when to lazy to pull out the airbrush. Lastly a large goal of not buying every damn kit in sight! At one point I can say I had over 21 models of Wing Zero... lol

Anyways One more Tamiya cat left to go!

See you all next year!