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Well, as the title suggests I have moved on from the 2nd generation of technology for Unusual Subjects (a beautiful resin Sea Fury) to coming bang up to date with @airscale's remarkable Defiant, printed with spectacular fidelity in a range of resins and plastics. It is quite amazing, I will let a few frame sprue plate does-anybody-know-the-right-term-for-these show what you get in the box. Actually, I should have taken a photo of the packaging because, like the kit, it is an extraordinary class act, with everything individually protected in bubble wrap, itself deployed into cunningly contrived recesses and holes in a matrix: you can assume that the postal services would *really* have to work at it if they wanted to damage any bits in transit. Anyway, I didn't. 😞 So, pictures of internal bits and bobs... You can see I have already removed some parts, in an orgy of anticipation. The little nubbins you can see are where the support structures used to live. The parts are packed in *really* tightly, and it can be tricky to get some of them detached. My technique was a combination of DSPIAE nippers, and a razor saw running parallel vey close to the base plate. A brief hiatus in posting is going to happen whilst I try and work out why, in the middle of this editing session, my view of my OneDrive changed such that I can no longer generate HTML embedding code. And we're back. It now takes more clicks to embed pictures than it did 20 minutes ago. Progress. Right, Some elements of what for many ought to be the high point of any Defiant, the turret... As you can see, Peter clearly didn't bother expending any time on creating details! 🙂 Here we can see one of the hazards of resin 3D printing, which is an unavoidable striation appearing on curved surfaces. The good news is that it is very hard to see in real life, gets reduced significantly under primer, and the resin is extremely soft and reacts well to being wet-sanded with a very fine grit (600 worked well for me) This is a wing surface after treatment: Now, here's a place where I guess design compromises had to made when laying out the pieces for printing. This is where the wing joins the body: The detailing is exquisite, *but* I foresee issues when getting the wing attached to the fuselage. There are very tight fitting and sturdy pins to make a strong join - excellent! - but the join is difficult to get right, at least on the first 30mins or so gently fettling and removing excess material from the mating surfaces whilst being paranoid about not altering the profile of the wing's 'skin' where it's going to join the fuselage fairing. I have a few ideas involving perfect plastic putty being the answer to my prayers 🙂. The most amazing thing, to me, is how few individual parts are actually present. Here is virtually the entire cockpit, made of 3 (!) pieces... It's true... @airscale really does like cockpits! I suppose you'd like to see it painted? It's still got bit of Citadel wash drying on it, I wanted to make it look slightly grubby but not totally wrecked. Those seatbelts are... challenging. You see the little brass grommets on the straps? They are each individually removed from a PE frame and glued on, and of course there is one on each side of the strap. Soon, I will be getting majorly structural. Closing the fuselage lies in wait... Mike

"Thunder... thunder - THUNDERCATS, HOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I loved the Thundercats when I was a kid and as soon as I saw this I grabbed it! But between the crazy heat, trips and playing with the kids I've been dragging my feet with modelling but I'm desperate to get painting again so its time to get this started! IMG_20250819_174226 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250819_174255 by Nick Frost, on Flickr I haven't done much for now, he needed the usual bit of sanding and clean-up but nothing major, the fit is good, only bit of modifying I had to do was saw of the CRAZY big location pegs on his feet so it would go in as far as it should to the holes on the base. IMG_20250823_155716 by Nick Frost, on Flickr And with that done I got him primed with chaos black out of a rattle can IMG_20250824_181706 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250825_185202 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Thats all I've done for now, I just really wanted to get the topic going. From here I will do the usual zenithal start point with some white acrylic ink through the airbrush and then I can get the brushes out. Thanks for looking, more soon

Some images from my Sterling Airliner. Bought a STL file from the net and converted it into 1/72 and printed it in a resinprinter. Took me about 3 month to get everything right but in Januar 25 it was finished. Printed the fuselage in Clear resin, its not perfect but gives a better impression than only black decals. The windows allow light to shine threw, so thats acceptable for me, (ok has to, as I can't do it better😁). Most of the logos are masked and painted, the smaller ones are decals. All of Sterlings 727 looked like a bit individual, but I found some good refference of this so I hope I haven't made too many mistakes. here is an pic before I'd realized I had swapped the intakes of the engines, so after the picture was taken I cut them away and swapped sides...................

My latest project will be to build this 3D printed kit which has been designed and produced by Peter Harvey of PH Designs. My intention is to build the model as a representation of a vehicle I used in the mid-1970s, whilst deployed with a Forward Air Control (FAC) team in Norway. First off, I've needed to make a test print of the body, to check that I have the supports in the right place and that everything printed correctly. With the supports removed and sprayed with grey primer, this view shows up the detail nicely. Looking much better with a coat of green. I shall check this test print for any areas that need fine-tuning and do any adjustments as necessary before I make another print for the actual build. There are over 50 parts to this kit, some only 2.5mm in size, so this will not be a quick build. I hope that I can make a good model from the beautifully designed components. Further details about the kit and information of availabilty can be obtained from Peter at PH Designs cheers, Mike

All of these CAD renders have been taken periodically over 2022, each vehicle has been modeled from separate parts items like the engines and gear boxes have been designed as single items, chassis frames, suspension, drive shafts, axles, door and other parts are separate parts (80 parts make up one of the vehicles) all designed for 3D printing. The parts and the vehicles were designed according to workshop manuals and individual component drawings, and a lot of help from owners of the real historic vehicle owners. Some are designed as conversions for the Italeri 109" Kits and before anyone asks Yes Mike @bootneck is aware of these and has helped me with the Series 3 Ambulance conversion. The next stage is to start test prints of the parts and once I'm happy with everything I am planning on making the files available for purchase buy others A full 17 CH 4 cylinder petrol engine Mike was happy when I sent him these images. Yes a full 3.5 Rover V8 engine Yes I have modeled the body door handles on the finished doors. The radio and vampire vehicles are void of any internal parts as I could not able to get anything on the equipment and considering it is still in service quite right too. The series 3 Ambulance body will be a conversion to the Italeri base Kit. I will post updates as I proceed with the test printing. Pete

Hi! This is my first post here and with everything that was done to this kit, I have no idea where to start so bear with me 😅 Right after this kit was announced I knew two things 1. I must have it, so I've placed a preorder right when it became available 2. I knew I have to go the extra mile and build something unique (you be the judged of that) I received and started working on the actual kit in January but the plan started to come together way before that. Once I saw how the kit will look like I decided I want to implement multiple 3D printed parts in this build, something I've only tried once in my previous projects. Once the kit arrived I started measuring everything up and this is what I ended up 3D modelling and 3D printing: - Door frame/seal - New rims with center locks - Hood scoop/vents - A few other bits there I ended up scrapping them as they weren't really matching the scale Once the digital side of things was complete I started working on the plastic and the first step was to cut the door and fit the door frame, the door seals and making the door panel that will be visible: The door face had to be separated from the rest of the plastic but didn't required other modifications but everything else did, such as the dashboard, the interior bucket, the 3D printed parts etc. By this point I was already over 100 hours invested in this project so I stopped counting 😂 but this is where I ended up:

Hallo, As a boy in the late 70s I loved the original BSG films, series and comic books. I spent many hours building Vipers from Lego, and I never did get the chance to get the now classic Monogram kit at the time. Fast forward 45 years, I saw a 3D printed model online that looked absolutely great so decided to take the plunge! A solid, one piece print (it's very heavy!) it is I think around about 1/55 scale. It had solid cockpit windows, so I followed the practice for the studio models at the time and used gloss black, which worked surprisingly well. I think the original Monogram kit took the same approach. Anyway, finished in Tamiya paints, it was great fun and I finally have a model of this iconic design! Ralph

This is a kit that was donated/ foisted on me as the original owner couldn't face it. I think he may have started it and got cold feet. And if I'd known then how much priming, sanding and filling would be needed, maybe I'd have given it a miss too. But I do like a bit of a challenge... The handle had been printed in vertical 'slices' which needed to be assembled with CA glue. The print resolution seemed low - I'm new to this sort of stuff - so the curved surfaces were slightly 'stepped' and needed filling with P38. The hollow areas were filled with excess P38 filler to strengthen the handle and give it some weight. Halfords filler primer was essential. I think I'd used pretty much the whole can by the end. The barrel went together fairly well with 3D printed dowelling provided. Had a bit of a disaster when I put too much pressure on the rearmost part of the barrel while sanding and it sheared off. Cue yet more sanding and filling. By this point I was determined to get this thing over the line! The pieces did come up well after using fine 1200 wet and dry, though the interior of those front recesses was virtually impossible to get to. The barrel was connected to the body using short lengths of brass rod - I never trust basic butt joints. The finished kit, painted with Halfords satin black and lacquered. Not a bad end result, though like many builds it doesn't reflect the hours of hard labour that went into it!

UPDATE! So, first of all, thank you all for your lovely comments about this figure. I really appreciate them. However, looking at the photos, something felt a bit off about her. She seemed to be gazing into the distance and not really engaging. I realised that the problem was her eyes! So, out came my strongest magnifier and finest brush and here is the result. She's now looking in the same direction as the smart gun and looks like she actually means business instead of wondering whether she left the gas on! It goes to show that the smallest of changes can completely alter the end result. (It also goes to show that backgrounds matter when taking photos. Her skin tone has completely changed!) ***Original post*** The ultimate badass in a squad of ultimate badasses! This is 3d print from sculptor Koton and painted by me. I always loved the concept of the M56 Smart gun from the film (actually a a modified MG42 machine gun married to a Steadicam harness, with additional parts added from various motorcycles) and when I found this amazing sculpt online, I had to make it my next project. Hudson: "Hey, Vasquez? Have you ever been mistaken for a man?" Vasquez: ""No, have you?" The quote on her chest armour, "El Riesgo Siempre Vive", means "The Risk Always Lives", which is both a line from a Spanish poem and Vasquez's personal motto.

Hi All, I have recently finished this kit, which is intended for use with the newish tool Airfix Lancaster kit (A08013A). The kit is intended to be a minimal fuss conversion with the only minor surgery required to the kit flaps and undercarriage doors (both cut to length). Here's the WIP and RFI if you wish to see the finished result: The kit provides the ability to produce an early Mk.I with the smaller 28' empennage and central dorsal fin, or the later Mk.Ia which used the same empennage as the Lanc (the kit parts can be used for this version). This is an extensive conversion, including the following elements: - Wings at 90' wingspan - Nacelles for the twin RR Vultures along with propellers - Empennage at 28' span, with smaller vertical stabilisers and central fin - Main and tail wheels - Bomb bay doors - Control column and Mk.IX bombsight - Aerial Mast - FN7 dorsal and FN4 rear turrets, with vacuum formed transparencies (also included is the landing light cover) A few CAD images follow. Here's the port wing assembly: Port empennage: Central dorsal fin: Main wheel: Tail wheel: Dorsal FN7 Turret: Rear FN4 Turret: Dorsal Turret Fairing: Flat bomb bay doors: Mk.IX bombsight Dual yoke control column: I think that's everything! You can find this kit via my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561410731459 Thanks for looking, Roger

I've been beavering away on this one for a while now, and had it mostly finished and on display at MAM Show last weekend, but finally got it properly done last night. So for those who don't know, the ER.103C was Fairey's initial submission for the F.155T (yes, yes, I know its becoming an obsession....). An enlargement of the FD2 with radar, missiles, two crew and a significantly larger engine. As usual, there was the frustration of Fusion, mainly because I just haven't sat down and relearned SolidWorks yet. However, this time I must have refined my methodology because there was a lot less swearing at the screen. And I reduced my wine consumption too, so things were going er, well? Anyway, I've got the hang of the new printer too now, so have also reduced the number of test prints required meaning I don't enough spare bits to build a squadron this time! Design-wise, the available information is pretty scarce, so some things were open to both interpretation or outright design freedom. So if you see something that doesn't look feasible, yeah, that's probably one of mine.... As far as the scheme, I wanted something different to all the usual and well know squadrons. So I copied the Meteor F.8 scheme from 66 Squadron. Colourful yet not overly flamboyant. Technically, the ER.103C should probably have been in camo, but, well, its Whifworld and I like NMF so what can I say? I also went a little bit leftfield and went with a raw fibreglass colour for the radome (daring I know). I think also nailed the white chalky look inside the exhaust finally; I simply sprayed pure Tamiya Flat Base (only a little), then once dry rubbed it gently with a cotton bud. I'm happy with the effect. Kit - My own 3d print design Extras - Master Lightning pitot; CMK MB.Mk4 Mirage Ejector Seats; Etch pull handles from spares 3d Print - Are you kidding? Vac Forming - The canopy Scratchbuilding - none this time Primer - Hobbycraft black acrylic aerosol, Mr Base White 1000 Paint - Alclad II Aluminium, Dull Aluminium, White Aluminium, Magnesium, Chrome for Plastic, Stainless Steel, Polished Aluminium; Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, X-1 Black, X-2 White, X-11 Chrome Silver, X-9 Brown, XF-8 Flat Blue, XF-16 Flat Aluminium; Mr Gunze Aqeous 8 Silver, 18 Steel, 52 Olive Drab, 77 Tyre Black, 27 Tan, 79 Sand Yellow Weathering - Tamiya Weathering Master Burnt Red, Burnt Blue, Silver, Gunmetal, Oil Varnish/Finish - Tamiya X-21 Flat Base, X-35 Semi-Gloss Clear; Intermediate Gauzy Agent, Gloss Coat Gauzy Agent; Micro Set; Sludge wash Decals - Stencils & roundels mainly from various Lightning sheets, Squadron markings a mix of Sabre and Meteor And please, some feedback on any and all cock-ups is welcome and desired (I already know about the dust and grit everywhere!) "Silence!" I hear you shriek, "Show us the pictures or bugger off!" I bow to your demands, enjoy! And as a cheeky bonus, here she is with her rivals.... As before, once I've sorted out a few things in the background I'll make kits available to those who are interested. EDIT - I now have this for sale via my online store at Machina Models.

Way back at the end of the 90s, I bought a Playstation (for my young son of course 😉 ) and part of the bundle of games that came with it was one called "Medievil" which is basically about a Knight (Sir Daniel Fortescue) who comes back from the dead to rescue the kingdom of Gallowmere from an evil scorcerer called Zarok and redeem himself from the shame of being killed in battle 100 years before, by being shot in the eye with the first arrow fired. It's a 3D printed figure I found on E-**y and I thought why not, it looks neatly done with plenty of detail I've never worked with 3D printing before, so it'll be a learning curve for me, as well as a blast from the past for my memory I've only built one figure which was the ICM viking, which was for the out of my comfort zone GB, as I usually build competition cars (rally and F1) So I may be asking questions along the way Ian

Another 3D printed model I bought a file for, this time a Drone, a maritime survailance Drone, developed from the MQ-9 Reaper with new wing arrangement and sharing major parts of the fuselage of it. So far I have found pictures with 3 different winglets and various payload. The shown has a sonobuoy management and control system under belly and sonobuoy dispenser system underwing. The file was in 1/64 which I scaled to 1/72, it has lot of details, kniveedge sharp trailing edges and stabs, very nice propblades and equipment under the "hood". I was very impressed of the work made by the designer and also help from him during the preparations. I searched the net for some good pictures with the markings but found none that I fancied, so I'll wait with decals for it later. What surprised me is the size of it, with a wingspan of 24 m its no small bird. Here's a comparision to the Reaper, the rawmodel, some bits and pieces

I have already built three 1/32 racers for the collection so I’ve decided to add a few more as part of this GB probably a Caudron and maybe a Supermarine but I thought I’d start with the Vervile Packard R1. It’s quite a natty little biplane about the same size as an me109 as happens. Time to hit the CAD Solidworks for makers is my preferred app. I completed the drawing sometime ago. Although I still need to do some prop blades. Printed. The fuselage split was intended to have it fit on the printer bed. The segmented wings are because I was down to bits and scraps of PLA filament and I let it run out twice (doh) but it’s nothing a bit of brass rod and some filler can’t fix. Next step, cleanup the components. Some assembly and lots (and lots) of filling and sanding😀🤪 But of course I won’t start any of that till Sunday. Now I’m torn as to the next project I think I’ll start modelling the Caudron next but I’m very inclined to knock out a quick model if the nose and tail for the Lancastrian conversion. Although both are moot atm as I’m out of action with a pretty bad dose of flu…

I’ve always wanted to build a TSR2 but I’ve never gotten round to it and seeing as how my default scale for modern jets is 1/144 I decided to make my own. Time to fire up the CAD solid works for makers is my preferred option Fuselage almost done. CAD work almost finished. Printed Assembled Filled

Hi All, Well this is unfamiliar territory! I am normally firmly in the wingy thing section, but this thread is to document my first 'commission' build. The parentheses indicate that nobody is actually paying for this build; rather, it is intended as a gift for my brother-in-law, who turns 50 soon. He spent over a decade working on the Combat Management System for the Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers, so I thought I'd attempt a rather unique gift for this significant anniversary. HMAS Hobart was the lead ship in this class, commissioned in 2017. Here's a photo of the ship: I'm going to be designing and 3D printing the whole lot, so it's sure to be a journey of discovery. I did download a 3D file from Shapeways, hoping for an easy win, but it turned out to be absolute bobbins, so I am going from scratch with a downloaded schematic, which at least looks like it could be accurate. Here's where I am with the blocked out upper hull design: I haven't yet achieved that distinctive swoop on the waist, which suggests that I need to tweak the lower hull profile - all will be good! The finished model will be about 250mm long and mounted in a display case. Detail will be progressively added before I commit to printing. I have until mid-June so time is short, although I shall not compromise on quality to achieve the delivery date. This should be fun! Thanks for looking, Roger

This is bust I've been working on for the last couple of months, I've really enjoyed this one and I'm so chuffed with it. I've spent the last year and a bit doing figure painting and I really feel this is my favourite one I've done and the culmination of a lot of learning along the way. I wanted to give him a very punk feel with the colours and also had a go at freehanding a lot of little bits on him, like the gang name and logo on the back of his jacket and the tattoos and the name on his bat (I went with Eloise as a reference to the Damned, I really like their version of that song) This was just the usual way I approach figure painting, with a light direction in mind, then working dark to light from the shadows and building up the highlights. Thanks to everyone who commented in the wip and followed along with the progress, I always appreciate the interest and it makes the build more fun. Speaking of the wip, heres a link to it:- And heres the final pics IMG_20250411_141450 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141459 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141508 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141533 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141525 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141542 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141549 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141603 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141614 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141628 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141649 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141833 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141842 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250411_141912 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Thanks for looking, I'll be back with another one soon

This is my next project, Moe the punk from the Undercity Exiles range of 3D printable figures, I've not done a huge amount with this guy yet but just want to get cracking with the wip topic IMG_20250101_110942 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Got some big plans for him, I want to freehand some punk style icons on to his jacket, add a couple of tattoos, do some zebra print on his lapel panels and I definitely want him to have a black eye. Oh and also I want the metal cybernetics of his right arm to be an nmm chrome effect. First thing I did was sand him down and clean up a few support marks and then had to deal with the big holes in his back. IMG_20250101_110954 by Nick Frost, on Flickr So I rolled some green stuff sausages and stuffed them in the holes IMG_20250101_111446 by Nick Frost, on Flickr After cuttting it off I put just a little ball on the top and rolled it down as flat as I could with the handle of one of my tools IMG_20250101_112117 by Nick Frost, on Flickr I gave him a blast of chaos black primer, but I still need to fill over the top of the greenstuff to feather it in, which is when I found out all my filler has dried up! IMG_20250219_195527 by Nick Frost, on Flickr So going to grab some milliput today and get that sorted so I can then give him a blast of white acrylic ink through the airbrush for my zenithal start point. Thanks for looking, more soon

I am really quite taken with these resin printed kits from Osiris Models - this is my 4th and there are another 2 on the way! Available in a range of scales, this one is 1/72 and the level of detail is superb. This one represents one of the ex-Swedish/Norwegian Archer mobile howitzers recently acquired by the Royal Artillery, as an interim replacement for the AS-90s that were gifted to Ukraine. The kit is an easy build with 11 larger parts and a myriad of smaller detail parts. Fit is superb for everything except the wheels, which needed a little reamng to get them to fit. Decals (number plates, Regimental badge, bridge/weight plate and wide load plates) are home-made inkjet printed, based on the recent deployment to Finland to trial the vehicles in extreme cold and snow.

This is a 3D printed bust I've been working on, it actually is apparently a weregoat in human form, but I think he looks more like an old norse god which is why I called it The Old God. Its painted with acrylics, mainly citadel and vallejo, and with this one I really wanted to try some polished steel for the armour as its something new to try. Had a blast doing this one, thanks to everyone who followed along in the WIP, I'm always grateful of any interest in my work. Heres a link to the WIP And here are the final pics IMG_20250217_195120 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195142 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195152 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195216 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195222 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195259 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195650 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195711 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195736 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195744 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_195757 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_200012 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_200033 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250217_200120 by Nick Frost, on Flickr I've just added a few daylight shots, just thought they help give a better impression of the colours. IMG_20250222_125403~2 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250222_125410~2 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250222_125444~2 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Thanks for looking, all comments and questions welcome

Got a couple of busts for Christmas, so its time to start one of them. This first one is actually apparently supposed to be a weregoat in human form, but to me he looks more like Odin and i like the idea of him being an old God, so that's what I'm calling him. Haven't done a lot with him so far but really wanted to get going with the topic. I gave him a wipe down with some ipa and sanded and cleaned up the support marks which thankfully were all either on the back or out if the way areas. IMG_20241229_201130 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Then i did the usual start point, i sprayed him with chaos black primer and then used some thinned down white acrylic ink from my light direction to get a zenithal effect. IMG_20250102_184847 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20250104_171403 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Im trying something different for this project, i want his metal bits to be polished steel nmm so i looked up a new way of doing it which starts with airbrushing a base coat of teradon turquoise contrast paint. From there I'll build up highlights using fenrisian grey and vallejo light flesh. IMG_20250105_152122 by Nick Frost, on Flickr This is all I've done so far, my airbrush set up is in the shed so the weather has slowed this start point but now its all brush from here so i can finally get going with it. Although I've laid down the base for the polished steel nmm, I'm doing the flesh first as im working inside out as always. I'll just have to be more careful though as I'll need to avoid the turquoise base coat which shouldn't be too hard. So next I'll get the skin base colour laid down which will be bugmans glow. Thanks for looking, more soon

This was a figure i had my eye on for a while, straight away he really looked like he's sitting in front of a fire and i liked the idea of doing some object source lighting as if he's sitting in a dark room bathed in the warm light of the fire. I put it off because the idea of an OSL paint job seemed too challenging but after getting a few figures under belt i did some research on object source lighting abd decided to give it a go. So from one angle he has the fire and from the opposite direction i did some moonlight highlights as if its shing on him from a window. The whole thing had a base coat of vallejo dark sea blue and then i airbrushed mephiston red from the direction of the fire to get a start on the osl effect and show what parts are catching the light. From there i built up the highlights with shades of orange saving the yellow firvthe bits closest to the fire or metal which will be very reflective. Had great fun doing this, here's a link to the WIP:- And here are the final pics: IMG_20241115_200935 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_200952 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201001 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201012 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201019 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201027 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201152 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201200 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201226 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_200843 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201410 by Nick Frost, on Flickr IMG_20241115_201351 by Nick Frost, on Flickr Thanks for everyone who commented/reacted in the WIP I always appreciate the interest. All comments and questions welcome

So I have had a 3D printer for a few months now and I have be going slightly mad on printing and painting figures. This is one will be my first sci-fi robot-type print with lots of flat surfaces, this brings lots of new problems with X Y orientation and supports. The model files or from Thingiverse and by a designer Carlz, its a nice looking print but with room to improve with some added greeblies and the size will be approximately 1/8th scale. I have made a start on the leg manipulators and I'm quite happy with how they have tuned out, still some sanding to do but nothing to bad. Slicer picture of the top part of the droid, lots of nice details.

The story: This is a new 3D project initiated by friend Roland Grard and myself. Roland, who lives in Le Havre, has been in contact over the last few years with Australians who are interested in the sinking of the coaster Blythe Star. The ship sank very quickly without a distress message being sent out, but the ten crew members were able to get to safety in an inflatable raft. One of his Australian correspondents wrote a book about the tragedy, and was able to send them photos and plans of the boat. Other plans were "unearthed" from the Australian archives by another of his Australian correspondents who was also passionate about the Normandie liner. Last month he received a photo from her showing him with the last survivor of the sinking posing in front of a model of the Blythe Star. Roland knew that he had modelled the plans in 3D but was unaware that he had undertaken to make a model, and he was surprised to discover that this model had been partly made by 3D wire printing. Nicolas in front of his model and Mick Doleman on the left, last survivor of the Blythe Star. The model has been on display at the Tasmanian Maritime Museum in Hobart since the end of October 2023. https://www.facebook.com/MaritimeMuseumTasmania/ https://www.maritimetas.org/ He kindly sent her his various print files to produce another copy. That's when he asked me to print the ship. The problem is that the coaster is at 1/50 scale and it would have been complicated to print a ship of this size with a resin printer as I only had the final STL files at my disposal, which would have been difficult to modify in order to split them correctly. What's more, the printing technique is not the same between wire and resin, which is its own constraint. So I suggested to Roland that he redo the 3D drawing from A to Z with more detail, but at 1/100 scale, using the same plans he had available. The ship will be as she was in 1973. An extract from the plans: I've made good progress on the project since 28 November, a good week ago, I'm already at 50 hours of drawing, putting paid to my good resolution to finish the current projects, but at the same time I'm continuing to finish the battleship Bretagne. This project should be completed very quickly, a 'Flash' project. Here is some progress from the first 3 days:

Greetings! It's a bit late in the day/GB to start one, but given the scale and the size of the subject I'm optimistic that I can get it done in time. Picked up from eBay for a reasonable price, complete with the figures which have been passed on to a collector friend of mine. Not sure the artist had ever drawn people before! The only problem is this... The tracks - Not sure what has happened to them, but they have lost all elasticity, broken into pieces, and are unusable. Fortunately - I've just purchased a 3D printer (Creality Ender 3) so was able to download a 3D model of an M3A1, and extract the track/suspension to then print as completed units. I've just started modifying the hull sides to accommodate the suspension units. More when it happens. IanJ