VF-25 renewal fold booster adapter

[Jaustin89]

I'm working on creating an adapter for the VF-25 renewal to mount Bandai's fold booster released for the older versions. I worked up a model replicating the adapter that comes with the booster but I'm not sure exactly where I need to add pegs as I don't have a 25v1 to compare mounting patterns.

Does this look about right for positioning?

If so I'll probably just add another arch directly under the peg for the booster to pick up the holes there, then just leave the forward portion of the adapter for stability/appearance but with no pegs.

 

Also as this is the first part I'm designing for 3D printing there's a few things I'm not sure of that I was hoping one of the mombers more familiar with it could answer.

The adapter has an arch ~24mm wide by ~10mm tall with a minimum thicknes of 1.5mm will this be self supporting during printing or do I need to add a support in the center?

What's the detail resolution on an average 3D print? The adapter has panel lines molded into it that are ~.25mm wide and deep; I'm guessing I should just disable those features before exporting to .STL as they'll just get lost in printing or destroyed in sanding/painting.

 

If anyone has the fold booster set and a v1 that it fits any closeup pictures of how the adapter mounts to the Valk would be helpful.

 

 

Thanks

Edited January 12, 2018 by Jaustin89

[barurutor]

like this?

[Jaustin89]

Perfect, thanks. Looks like it goes just about where I was thinking though I probably had it 5-6mm too far aft. I should be able to work up mounting flanges to work with that.

Unfortunately if I use those mounting holes it'll be incomparable with the super pack. I'll probably also make pair of shoulder plates to accept the existing adapter, that'll be more work painting to match the valks but there's nowhere else to mount to.

[Sanity is Optional]

If you're printing, the minimum material thickness and panel lines really depend on material/machine resolution.

From Shapeways: I'd suggest 2mm if you're planning to use strong+flexible, and the panel lines won't show unless you go to Frosted (Ultra/Extreme) Detail or Hi-def Acrylate.

[Jaustin89]

Finally gave up on getting my 3D printer running and shifted focus to this; I got the models done exported to .stl and will upload to shapeways.

 

I apprently wasn't paying attention when I exported images though since I ended up with PDFs rather than Jpegs; no idea if these'll work but since the site let me upload them:

Adapter_new.pdf

ShoulderPlate_L1.pdf

[Jaustin89]

Got the test parts I ordered from Shapeways; the shoulder plates to allow using the booster W/ super packs need to be redesigned (for those curious I have the peg ~1mm too far aft and apparently the underlying structure in the V1s was different allowing the peg from the adapters to protrude through the plate; I'll have to create a boss around the hole to get enough engagement.)

 

The modified adapter however works almost perfectly, the booster is fairly loose on it but It's close enough that I think changing the model is more likely to cause problems than solve them and it's probably better to just use nail polish to add a bit more engagement.

 

Any opinions on whether I should offer it as is with a note to use nail polish to tighten it up or see how it works with a larger peg? My calipers are at work but I'd estimate less than .1mm larger diameter or 2-3 coats of nail polish to get it as tight as the original adapter.

 

Waiting on polish to fully dry, will add picture W/ booster attached later.

[barurutor]

Nice progress, now i have to re-buy a fold booster for my 25g.

[Xigfrid]

Well well, that convinced to order one from Japan

@Jaustin89 I think I would prefer that you make the Shapeways model a bit thicker so it can be sand down to size, instead of buffing with nail polish. As soon as I got my fold booster I will order the adapter.

[Jaustin89]

3 hours ago, Xigfrid said:

Well well, that convinced to order one from Japan

@Jaustin89 I think I would prefer that you make the Shapeways model a bit thicker so it can be sand down to size, instead of buffing with nail polish. As soon as I got my fold booster I will order the adapter.

Agreed, especially since I got to five layers of polish last night and the fits still not tight enough. I'll update the models today and see how they work.

[no3Ljm]

That looks nice.

But it means that you can't install the chest missile rack, yes? I forgot how this looks in the anime nor it did transform with it. Does the VF-25G eject the Fold Booster before transforming? 

 

[Jaustin89]

Pretty sure the booster is only shown attached in fighter mode and is left on orbit.

As for the super packs; no that adapter won't work with either the shoulder missile pods or the back armor, that's why I was also working on shoulder plates that would accept the super pack adapter that's included with the booster I just have to get a design that works which requires a fair bit of guesswork with how diffcult getting good measurements on the original shoulder plates is.

Renders of the updated models:

(I didn't bother with much detail on the shoulder plates as they'll be covered by the missile pods.)

 

I'll probably make the adapter available as soon as Shapeways clears it as the changes from the version I have in hand are minimal (OD of the booster peg increased from 3.8mm to 3.99mm) and shouldn't affect printability. The shoulder plates I'm going to continue doing test prints on till I'm certain I have something that works.

 

Shapeways link: VF-25 Fold Booster Adapter

I set it as available in all of the strong and flexible plastics and metalic plastic. For the pricing I just took the base price added $1 and rounded to the neaest whole number (average markup is somewhere around $1.15 or so); I figured that was reasonable.

Edited February 3, 2018 by Jaustin89

[Xigfrid]

Hi @Jaustin89, I was wondering if the model available on shapeways is good to order or if you want to make small changes before I place an order.

Concerning the Super pack, I am 99% that the VF-25G released it super pack together with the "new technology/enhanced" fold booster, and that they folded together in a losange shape and they stayed in orbit until the VF-25F took it to come back to Frontier, giving us the joice of having a red VF-25F equipped with the blue super packs.

I remember telling me that it would be nice to have an adapter to hold the fold booster together with Michael Super pack just like it was shown in the episode.

[Jaustin89]

I'd say there's a 90%+ probability that the adapter I made available is good as is; still waiting on the test print I ordered to confirm (shapeways list it as in production so I should have it in hand within a week or so if you wish to wait till I can be certain it works.).

[Jaustin89]

Adapter still doesn't work; I suspect the printing method Shapeways used just can' meet the kind of tolerance needed for this tight a fit.

I'm going to try changing to a hexagonal peg to match the hole in the booster; that should prevent the booster from rotating without needing to meet a really tight tolerance like the force fit circular peg the stock adapter uses.

 

The redesigned shoulder plates however work just about perfectly. Bandai apparently changed the missile pods for the v2 supers so those won't fit on the stock super parts adapter like I was assuming (I tried filing down the missile pod pegs on the stock adapter but even then the pegs are too close to the arch to attach) but everything else works.

 

I'll try making a variant of the adapter that'll work with the missile pods but if they need the same kind of precision tolerances as the booster I'm not terrbly optimistic on the results.

 

I'm making the shoulder plates available now for anyone that doesn't mind not using the missile pods and they'd be required anyway for any super part compatible adapter since there's nowhere else I could use to mount it. I didn't add a markup on these as it doesn't feel right to add a 50-100% markup and anything less than would be kinda pointless in the volumes these are likely to sell.

Shoulder Plate, Right

Shoulder Plate, Left

[Sanity is Optional]

You can also try a split peg, flared out and slightly oversized. It'll compress to fit and the springiness of the plastic will give some friction.

[Xigfrid]

I don't really understand the issues you are facing right now, but as soon as I will receive the booster, it should be clearer. If by then you haven't figured out a solution, I will try to have a look too.

[Jaustin89]

Updated the model with a hybrid of my idea and Sanity's suggetion to get the best result.

I think the only potential problem with this design is if Shapeways refuses to print it because of the walls in the flare being slightly below their recommended thickness (.5 mm vs. .7 mm) and potentially flexible (ie: exactly how I want them).

 

I also made a variant that should accept the ball joint on the missile pods for the super pack.

 

Ordered a test print of each; if there's no issues when I get them I'll make them available.

 

Edit: Shapeways won't print them as is; I'll have to adjust the models again tomorrow and re-upload. I just hope I don't loose too much flexibility.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Jaustin89

[Jaustin89]

Got the updated adapters from Shapeways and they work perfectly. The new peg design is very solid, enough so that I could invert the adapter and the booster didn't even shift (Not sure I'd advise that with the full setup though as the interface between the shoulder plates and the underlying frame probably would't bear that much weight; it's fine for normal display even with a banking adapter, jut probably not much beyond 90 degrees bank.)

All parts are now available on my Shapeways shop.

 If you're planning on using the fold booster without super packs I'd recommend using my non sp compatible adapter and the stock shoulder plates; you can use the shoulder plates and the stock adapter but the plates do leave some gaps with the surrounding panels that get covered by the missile pods when using the sp compatible adapter. The sp compatible adapter does require the shoulder plates in order to mount to the Valk.

Photos:

[Xigfrid]

They are looking great, I will grab these asap and thank you for sharing this models with us

[Xigfrid]

I was wondering if you would mind making a unique model with sprues (I recommend at least 2.1mm diameter sprues, otherwise Shapeways would reject your model) for the Shoulders plates + fold Booster adapter (super pack ver) to reduce costs and also to avoid any confusion with the standard fold Booster adapter ?

 

[Jaustin89]

I'll see if I can get something workable; the reason I didn't try that before is that the plate thickness on these is thinner than Shapeways' minimum diameter for sprues so I have nowhere to mount the sprues horizontally.

I'll try stacking the shoulder plates above the mounting flanges on the adapter; that should be workable and will likely reduce the price compared to going out horizontally since the print volume should be about the same as the current adapter.

[Xigfrid]

You can place the sprue anywhere on your slim shoulder plates, here is a working example.  The rule of having a  >2mm thick sprue doesn't apply to the spot where they are attached to the actual model.

[Jaustin89]

Uploaded a sprued kit; I left the individual pieces available for spares in case of any loss/breakage.

 

Sprues are all attached to flat surfaces so it should be pretty easy to trim and sand down.

[UN Spacy]

WOW...thanks jaustin...will probably pick up a set.

[Xigfrid]

I just received @Jaustin89 parts but unfortunately I have been short in time to disassemble the supers from my 25G and to mount them on my 25F with the Fold Booster. Will take pictures as soon as this is done, promise.