1/60 VF-5000 3D Printing

[Kelsain]

The arm hole looks very similar to the VF-11. Admittedly, that's one of my big sticking points with that toy. However, it's also a pretty effective way to hold the gunned in fighter mode.

What if you simplified the shape a bit. While the gun handle may flare out at the bottom in the line art, is it necessary on your version? If the handle is simpler, the shape of the cut-out can be simpler and may look less weird.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Kelsain

[Tage]

Thanks guys, glad you like it. 

Had a bit of a think on the arm and gunpod, i think pegs are the way to go as the previous indent was actually pretty deep when i measured it. This way is a little more hidden. So marked in red is where the pegs will go, and i've created seperate handle parts that'll also peg into the gunpod itself. So there is a plane and then a robot arrangement for the gunpod. For the plane arrangement, these plugs will help hold those arm parts nice and together in the middle (you're only seeing half of the plane in that second picture). And i was thinking about creating a seperate handle part for the gunpod anyway that'll have a ready made hand holding it, as creating a fully (even semi) functioning hand that articulates is going to be a bit tough due to it's size. So! Apart from putting anything else like pegs in to keep things together while in each mode (which i'll do at the very end), mechanically speaking in the basic sense – he's complete! Everything else is now finesse. haha 

Onwards and (sorta) upwards! 

[Mommar]

This thing is going to cost $2000 to print...

[Sildani]

Now, perhaps. When the file is complete, I intend to pay Tage for a copy of it and sit on it for a while. By then, 3D printing might be cheaper and have better resolution, and Kurt might be doing customs again.

[valhary]

clever solution looks much more aesthetic

[trojan_gambit]

Is this you,  Tage ?

https://mobile.twitter.com/expertenannex/status/827922728569053185

[wmkjr]

3 hours ago, trojan_gambit said:

Is this you,  Tage ?

https://mobile.twitter.com/expertenannex/status/827922728569053185

That's a GK maker that did harder to find valks in  1/100 scale. He made a 1/72 VF-5000 last year.

[Tage]

Yeah, sadly not me. Love Experten's work though. Good to see how his VF-5000 is looking. Particularly the leg fast packs... I'm currently just finishing them up myself. I was thinking of a way of still having them without cutting even more away of the wing parts... Otherwise there'd be a huge gap between the legs/engines and wings when the fast pack isn't on – keen for it to look smart and tidy with and without fast packs. Looks like he's just cut a slot out of the leg fast pack so the wing parts rests in there. Doesn't look too bad actually. I'll post up more of an update where i'm at once i'm happy with this leg fast pack :-)

[Mommar]

9 hours ago, Tage said:

Yeah, sadly not me. Love Experten's work though. Good to see how his VF-5000 is looking. Particularly the leg fast packs... I'm currently just finishing them up myself. I was thinking of a way of still having them without cutting even more away of the wing parts... Otherwise there'd be a huge gap between the legs/engines and wings when the fast pack isn't on – keen for it to look smart and tidy with and without fast packs. Looks like he's just cut a slot out of the leg fast pack so the wing parts rests in there. Doesn't look too bad actually. I'll post up more of an update where i'm at once i'm happy with this leg fast pack :-)

Actually that's pretty much how they do it for the 19's Fast Packs from both Arcadia and Bandai too.

[Sildani]

Heeey! Tage still fighting the good fight! Woo!

[valhary]

the experten kit 1/72 seems to have the right proportion at least in fighter mode

[Sildani]

Just keeping the lights on...

[Metal Man]

Yeah, what's been going on with this lately?

[Tage]

Hey Chaps - yeah sorry, been rather busy with work since my last post. 3 pitches in a row means a lot of late nights and weekends, so often felt like the last thing i wanted to do was pop back on the computer when getting home at 2am to work on the VF-5000 haha. BUT! the end is in sight. and really there isn't that much left to work on him. Hoping to finish off the leg fast packs this weekend, then after that it's 'just' detailing with panel lines. My good friend has offered up his work's 3D printer for test printing, so i'll just have to buy the reels of material. Thinking of opting for a sort of wooden material actually, as it looks easy to manage post print... will be a nice experiment anyway. Then also have to order all the screws to size :-S

So yeah - will give a proper update over the weekend. thanks for sticking around - sorry this really has been a long project. Although, already excited about my next project after this one (just have to get this one done first!!!) 

[Sildani]

I saw Bogue, so I knew there were tidings!

Please don't apologize. You're doing this out of love for the design, and it's turning out very well indeed, with no mention of reward. You're awesome. Most of us - I think - won't have the opportunity to buy the new Experten kit.

Uh, what's a "pitch"?

[wmkjr]

Sales pitch? Project pitches?

[Tage]

Thanks Sildani! That means a lot actually :-)

Oh yeah sorry - I meant new client project pitches. I work at an advertising agency, and that's how we get new business. Basically a potential new client goes 'we need to sell more stuff' to a bunch of ad agencies, we go 'you can sell more stuff this way' and show them a bunch of work. Then you hope they find your way the best way and give you all their advertising work to do for the next few years or so. Normally you do about 3/4 of these pitches in a year, as it's pretty taxing on everyone. So 3 in a row within 2 months has been particularly erm... challenging......

This morning I was looking at my 1/60 red VF-19 Fire, VF-17S, blue VF-19S and looked at the gap next to them on my bookshelf and thought 'Soon...' :-)

[Sildani]

Ah. Didn't know if "pitch" was 3D designer slang for... something. It's not.

[Tage]

Hey guys!

Right! Update time! Sorry it's been a while.

I've finally finished the leg fast pack! Had to cut away a bit of the top of it to allow room for the wing in fighter mode, but overall, i'm happy with the result.

So next is detailing this thing with panel lines.

I've had a look at comparing this model with the line art to make sure i'm as close as i can be, and look i'll be honest, it's not THE best rendition of a VF-5000. My guy has some chunky legs and arms compared to the line art. And a few squashed proportions here and there. But i'm actually pretty happy with my work on this, as i need to keep reminding myself that this is my first ever proper 3D project, and somethings aren't going to be 'perfect'.  And really - to get me up to speed with using Sketch Up, and make this transforming valk thing possible, I have been just copying the SHE kit and essentially upscaling it, with a few little improvements here and there. So even looking at the SHE kit, it's not really accurate to the line art, but it's close enough I reckon. And at the end of the day, i still think it looks cool. And should look even cooler once printed.

One thing i'd love your guys' advice on though is the head... is it there yet? Thanks for your continued interest in this rather epic project. cheers. 

 

[valhary]

in general terms looks awesome!!!!

the macross valks specifically are very difficult to make and at the same time look good in the 3 modes (anime magic) for that reason in the most of cases you have prioritize one mode over the others

however I see well proportion in fighter and battroid only need to see the gerwalk mode but I like it!!!

I cant wait to see printed this bird!

and one more time thanks for have the courage to do this project very refreshing

[juice14]

Wow so basically you are doing Arcadia's design job for them! Wonder if you can sell them the design lol and we end up buying it

[Xigfrid]

Going through all the troubles of making a transforming toy as your 1st project ... and to finish it, is already pretty much incredible!

[Tage]

Hello again!

Back at it again - and hoping to keep up with weekly updates. 

This week I've been adding panel lines! I started on the hardest part, which was the nose and around the cockpit. Mainly to learn a few lessons which is now making doing the rest of the panel lines pretty quick and easy. I've printed off some of the line art and highlighting that as I go as a bit of a checklist so no panel lines get missed :-)

The panel lines look deep and big at the moment in 3D, but i'm pretty sure they'll be fine once printed. Big shout out to Xigfrid for explaining the tech side of these panel lines in an old PM many moons ago haha. Cheers. 

[Sildani]

Now the Star Mirage starts to come into its personality so to speak! Cheers!

[Tage]

Oh! Forgot to mention... How many of you guys would actually be interested in this is a kit? Just starting to research reproduction options, and basically depending on how many people are interested, I'd want to get you the best quality for the cost basically. If it is 3D printed it'll be fine, but if i can get it casted in some good resin, even better!

So yeah - just a quick PM to me will do - don't worry, it's not a commitment or anything, just keen to know vague numbers. Cheers

[Mommar]

I'm going to assume this is going to cost somewhere around $1200.

[Tage]

Hahaha, if it is even half of that, I certainly wouldn't want one haha.

[Tage]

Hey guys, update time! 

Just been doing more panel lining this week. Overall it's going well, the main time spent is actually repairing the mesh of the model the panel lines cut into, as some overlapping errors occur sometimes. But really liking how its is really coming to life. 

Also did a quick test print on my friend's 3D printer.... I think a few more tests are required as i don't think any of the pieces came out as good as i'd like. As you can see, I tried the nose and some internal parts for this test. My friend has a Makerbot Replicator 2 for those who know what that is. Used this wooden material he actually recommended as it's meant to be easier to clean up and sand. It also makes the whole thing look like a wafer once printed! It was easy to clean, but I think i'm going to have to do a few tricks like splitting sections in half.... This is because the support structures the printer builds up to support high objects (like you can sort of see for the nose) really eats into the detail i've worked so hard on, and is hard to clean off lol. Also, this material is weak as hell, which doesn't matter too much as i'm hoping to then cast these pieces in a stronger material, but it would be nice to make sure all the joints and every piece comes together before i do cast him. Plus i think i'd need to print each part at a time rather than his big chunk at a time like i did.

But really, I'm looking into just going with Shapeways and using their stuff and go from there. But hey, it was a fun test anyway. Nice to start to see the size difference and how it's going to come together. Hope you like!

[valhary]

Very interesting by my side I have the mini makerbot that only allow PLA Ignorant the existence of wooden material 

by other side is so nice that you test all the parts before you make it available in shapeways

I already bought some things in shapeways that actually not even works because never been tested

[Sildani]

The first tangible fruit of your labor, Tage! It looks like a spider spun a cobweb over a wooden carving, but it really looks like the nose has a good shape! Well done!

 

[Chronocidal]

The thing with Shapeways is that it's going to be a high quality print, but it's also too expensive to use for the prototype stage.  You probably don't want to be ordering parts over and over from them as you ensure that things fit together, or it'll get really expensive really fast.

That nose looks like a pretty good start though, even with the material as rough as it is.  You'll probably want something a little sturdier and smoother for test-fitting parts though, if that's what you plan to do.

What's the other plastic nose you have there, a resin kit?

[Tage]

Cheers dudes. 

Chronocidal - Yeah so the resin kit is the Studio Half Eye kit of the VF-5000 I've been trying to copy and make into a 1/60 to match the rest of my Macross collection essentially.

And yeah i'm hoping if i do need to redo any parts it's going to be a minimal amount.

[Xigfrid]

I didn't know this use of the wood filament. Interesting. If you use shapeways, you will see a huge boost in quality of print for sure, just make sure to make best use of the print orientation. This nose should be printed vertically, not horizontally!

[Tage]

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Not too much new to report. Just still going on details. Repairing the top tail fin after recessing the panel lines took the longest this week as there were just so many errors! Main exciting detail part i added was the little black circles that are on a lot of valks. 

Xigfrid - once it comes to printing SLS, the orientation of things don't really matter does it? Or will i still get a bit of stepping?

Thanks dudes. 

[Xigfrid]

Hey Tage, this is coming along nicely. The panel lines are really important because it is so hard to scribe them later, make sure to put too many than too few. 

Yeah sls is prone to very small steppings. These are not a problem on small surface but bigger flat surfaces like the wings or the fins would become a nightmare to sand if you don't make sure of the best orientation for printing.