vf-31 siegfried WIP: Alternate Weapons Pods for VF-31

[Sanity is Optional]

17 minutes ago, chyll2 said:

It is not shown in line art but i wonder, does it have missiles on the bottom as well?

I don't think so, as the hatches would show up on the side of the pod.

Now, I could certainly make one with missiles on both sides, but fore-aft like the YF-30 makes more sense than top-bottom and firing half the payload into your own fighter.

[Xigfrid]

1/64" diameter sounds a bit small even for steel. I mean it won't break but it will ploy. Anyway that rose my curiosity to see how it will be implemented!

[Sanity is Optional]

3 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

1/64" diameter sounds a bit small even for steel. I mean it won't break but it will ploy. Anyway that rose my curiosity to see how it will be implemented!

I've got some sample rods showing up today so I can see how thin I want to go. Unfortunately a full 1mm thick rod like I'd prefer wouldn't quite fit.

Made up a colored render to show the detail a bit better.

 

[chyll2]

colored renders look awesome.

 

As for the steel rod, It is too bad if a 1mm rod cant fit since I cant find anything smaller than that locally.

[Sanity is Optional]

27 minutes ago, chyll2 said:

colored renders look awesome.

 

As for the steel rod, It is too bad if a 1mm rod cant fit since I cant find anything smaller than that locally.

I found them on McMaster Carr's web catalog. If you're not in the US I'm not sure what the standard metric sized below 1mm are.

I can try and make a 1mm version as well, but it'll have to encroach on the missiles and have a larger gap at the missile hatches for clearance though, or go through a complete re-design to have an armature so it opens more outwards.

Actually, I may be able to get away with gluing the rod into a channel on the door, rather than having it in an enclosed hole. I'll give it a look tomorrow.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[chyll2]

If anything, I would trust you guys to do what you guys at best are doing.

 

Question:

How will you be selling this? Via Shapeway or you have printer and is willing to send international?

Will the missile be separate pieces?

[Sanity is Optional]

I'll put it up on Shapeways, I'll also put up the CAD files (STP, IGS, and x_t) on file-sharing if anyone wants to print out their own. Not sure Shapeways ships overseas anyway (assuming people outside the US want the alternate pods).

I'm only doing this for fun and mainly personal use anyway, it's a heck of a lot simpler than the things I have to work up in CAD as part of my job.

 

[edit] I suppose if someone wants one and doesn't have access to a printer, or a store that will sell 3D prints, I could print up a batch and ship them out with the requisite hardware.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[chyll2]

Having the 3D file in file-sharing is too great for me. I have access to the 3D printing services but still, it will come down to cost.

 

[Sanity is Optional]

Got the shafts in, I think I'll be going with a 0.02" shaft, seems quite sturdy and only slightly larger than the initial 0.0156". If you can find a 0.5mm shaft (it'll be steel rather than brass) it's equivalent (0.02"=0.508mm).

I'm also working on a version which uses a 1mm shaft, note that the parts will probably not be interchangeable between the two.

[enphily]

3D file for pod is very good. I can't buy even VF-19 advance adapters for booster, because shapeways want ~$30 for it. $5 for adapters and 25 or more for shipping to Russia

[NZEOD]

Wouldn' be enough room. Given how fat those missiles are they look like they should take up the whole width of the pod for something that has a guidance head, warhead centre and drive motor rear per missile.

[NZEOD]

Oh and a section for the power cell to power the guidance system , control vanes or verniers and the cryogenics for the seeker.

Edited November 6, 2017 by NZEOD

[NZEOD]

On 02/11/2017 at 9:15 PM, Sanity is Optional said:

I'll put it up on Shapeways, I'll also put up the CAD files (STP, IGS, and x_t) on file-sharing if anyone wants to print out their own. Not sure Shapeways ships overseas anyway (assuming people outside the US want the alternate pods).

I'm only doing this for fun and mainly personal use anyway, it's a heck of a lot simpler than the things I have to work up in CAD as part of my job.

 

[edit] I suppose if someone wants one and doesn't have access to a printer, or a store that will sell 3D prints, I could print up a batch and ship them out with the requisite hardware.

Shapeways ship worldwide. I get all my missiles and pilot figures from them to new zealand

Edited November 6, 2017 by NZEOD

[Sanity is Optional]

6 minutes ago, NZEOD said:

Wouldn' be enough room. Given how fat those missiles are they look like they should take up the whole width of the pod for something that has a guidance head, warhead centre and drive motor rear per missile.

You mean the missile diameter as it is now looks too big?

I could make an alternate missile tray part with smaller missiles, or a larger number of missiles per door I suppose. Since it's just an insert that's actually relatively easy.

[NZEOD]

No i like the big fat missiles. I just meant to an earlier comment that you can't have them double stacked.

Edited November 6, 2017 by NZEOD

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, NZEOD said:

No i like the big fat missiles. I just meant to an earlier comment that you can't have them double stacked.

Ah, gotcha.

Though I am now thinking I want to do some alternate missile inserts, just for fun. I was also planning to make 2 versions of the base one, a 1-piece, and one where the missiles are separate parts (because it's so much easier to paint that way).

[Valkyrie Driver]

I was actually wondering, how much harder would it be to engineer this to be multiple parts, so it could be painted and then assembled?

[Sanity is Optional]

6 minutes ago, Valkyrie Driver said:

I was actually wondering, how much harder would it be to engineer this to be multiple parts, so it could be painted and then assembled?

Not terribly, depending on what you want to be separated out.

For the inserts with the missiles, it's both easy and planned (missiles being stand-alone parts that peg in at the base, or as a second monolithic part that attaches from below). For the doors they can be painted and then put into the assembly without issue.

For the exterior, it's a simple top/bottom shell design, with the parting line at the midpoint for front/back and at the hole for the hinge rod in the center.

I think you ought to be able to paint and then assemble with the exception of the outside shell, which will be relatively easy to mask off.

[Sanity is Optional]

Alright, I've got everything separated by parts, all that's left is tweaking the dimensions to adjust the gaps between components.

It will be 10 parts as shown above, plus 6 0.5mm/0.02" rods. Should be able to be pre-painted before assembly, excepting the outer shell which will have some seams that need sanding. I haven't yet uploaded anything to Shapeways, so not much of an idea what it'll cost.

 

[edit] One thing to note is that there currently are no tabs holding the doors closed, it just relies on the friction of the steel rods.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[Sanity is Optional]

Just uploaded the first pass of parts to shapeways, ends up at $35.88 for a full set of parts made out of white strong/flexible, plus another $10.50 for the metal hinge rods.

Looks like using frosted detail will be between $50-$70 depending on ultra or extreme.

Acrylic will probably be around $100.

[Edit] I've ordered some parts (in various materials) to help figure out the fits and tolerances as well as what materials are suitable.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[no3Ljm]

Nice. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Sanity is Optional]

7 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

Nice. Let us know how it goes.

Well so far I know that the doors cannot be printed in strong/flexible material, they need to be in the detail material due to wall thickness.

[chyll2]

How did the Shapeways print turn out?

[Sanity is Optional]

Still 1 in production and 1 in pre-production. I'll post an update when they show up.

[Mommar]

How are you envisioning this sitting on top of the valk?  Missiles pointing upward in Battroid or forward?

Edited November 14, 2017 by Mommar

[Sanity is Optional]

So it'll match (more or less) the lineart from the tech manual. The missiles will launch vertically out of the pod rather than forwards, and the pod will be held above the wings running forwards/back rather than left-right like the YF-30.

Top-left picture.

 

As far as battroid, it'd probably be running left-right firing up, unless you wanted to have it up-down firing back behind the battroid.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[seti88]

Gosh happened to miss this thread.... interested to see the final result sanity!

Still early days i guess, hope the physical swapping out of the existing pod wont be too much of a pain.  

Way to make a near perfect model perfect-er! 

[kajnrig]

If the model kit's anything to go by, the articulating arm should have enough range so that the missiles can face up and slightly forward in all three modes, in either fore-to-aft (front-to-back) or port-to-starboard (side-to-side) configurations. (EDIT: Hm... maybe even be able to launch missiles downward from the stowed position?)

That was some impressively fast work from start 'til now. Super looking forward to this.

Speaking of the model kit, any intent to bring this to 1/72 scale?

Edited November 15, 2017 by kajnrig

[Sanity is Optional]

Swapping ought to be pretty easy, I've sized the peg hole to be the same as the one used on the DX Chogokin.

As to a 1/72 version, I can try scaling it and then tweaking the dimensions to match the 1/72's pod. Since the 1/60 and 1/72 were both based on a proper CG model from the show it ought to be pretty close to start with. I've got a 1/72 on my shelf to check against. The biggest issues are going to be thickening up the plastic and fixing the hinge pin diameter so it's not scaled down.

Now, the next one after this is trying to replicate the dual beam-cannon pod at the bottom of the page, that'll be a bit more interesting.

[Sanity is Optional]

All the test parts have finished production, now just waiting for them to ship out. I did not buy a full set, as I'm still checking what materials ought to be used.

 

[edit] And right as I post this, I get shipping notification. Hopefully will have the parts in hand by early next week.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Sanity is Optional

[Sildani]

How do you remove the pod on the DX 31?

[Sanity is Optional]

15 minutes ago, Sildani said:

How do you remove the pod on the DX 31?

It's just on a split peg, comes off quite easily. I'll take some pictures later tonight when I'm back home.

[Sanity is Optional]

Here's some pics of how it attaches:

Peg on the VF-31.

Hole on the weapons pod.

[seti88]

That looks non destructive, imagine it doesn't take too much force to pull out!  Seems bandai might be thinking of future pod replacements too?

 

[slide]

Just now, seti88 said:

That looks non destructive, imagine it doesn't take too much force to pull out!  Seems bandai might be thinking of future pod replacements too?

 

That thought bodes well for those waiting on Chuck's AWAC/EWAC version...