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A pair of Airfix Hawks in 1/72. Finished.


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That canopy frame is ridiculous(-ly brilliant). Privately, if not secretly, I approach the decal stage of my Revell 1/72 Hawk build (converted to T53 to avoid any sense of competition with this duo of T1 gems), and I also contemplate the canopy frame task and my selection of paintbrushes. Sigh... 

 

As others have said this is just great modelling.

 

Justin

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4 hours ago, perdu said:

Because never in a month of Wednesday afternoons will I get anywhere near adequate with the methods involved

 

 

Bill, I worked in IT for over 30 years and I know I would just get totally p'd off trying to learn to use the software to get anywhere the level that the guys on here have achieved so I just decided not to bother and just concentrate on sticking together bits of plastic and painting them as best I can. And do you know what - you are pretty damned good at doing just that too, as shown by the lovely little gems that appear regularly from your workbench - so don't stress about it! :)

 

Keith  

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On 9/6/2021 at 6:35 PM, Terry1954 said:

It'll be Tuesday before you know it. At least we are on page 139 now. I think we should have a party when we get to 150. 🤪

 

Terry

 

It’ll be your round then Terry…. :whistle:

 

See that’s the thing about social media type stuff - it never disappears and can alway be resurrected agin you……:winkgrin:

 

I accidentally  came across Terry’s post (and it’s ok Terry - I’m too much of a lawyer not to notice that you hadn’t actually promised to buy any beer :D) looking back to last year when Alan posted this:

 

On 9/10/2021 at 12:58 AM, hendie said:

as Steve is going to be putting my bits on full display

 

Which also goes to show that you have to be careful what you post……but which not denuded of context by an untrustworthy copyist referred as you may remember to Alan sending me some printed MDC for the Hawk canopies. 

 

Quite literally it wos Alan’s bits prints that, along with inspiring much BM punning, inspired me to get back on with the build.  Oh and to try and learn Fusion and to buy a printer…..

 

But I now find myself in the rather embarrassing position of not being able to put Alan’s bits on display after all (that sounds wrong on just so many levels) cos in producing a new canopy for the Hawks the original MDCs no longer fit quite properly.

 

And so, following in the footsteps of the master, numbn*ts has started to have a bash hisself.

 

EAA09D31-2B96-44F2-AE79-5A17E0F69CB5

 

This is a sketch of half the front cockpit MDC prior to being mirrored to make t’other ‘alf.

 

I have to say my macbook air struggled a bit with all the computation needed in copying and moving some of the sketch elements and got quite bogged down at times…

 

But anyways - a bit of mirroring etc and I’ve got this far.  Front MDC only at present.

 

11F4718D-D9EB-4BB9-81BA-24695F0D86B3

 

I had. bash at doing it with the sweep function but the complexity of the zig zag path blew Fusions mind.

 

So I reverted to extruding a cut through a suitably sized thin-shelled solid canopy.

 

Over-scale is inevitable, but I’ll try and keep it as thin as possible.  Hoping it’ll print at a cross-section of 0.2mm.  But we’ll see.

 

The idea of printing it pre-canopy shaped rather than flat is to try and make the gluing task simpler.  Maybe to only have to glue it at the root.  If it can be got to print in the first place of course…

 

Getting quite a kit of cockpit/canopy bits now:

 

 

0C5090AF-D918-4DFE-B4BB-CDD8C8D5C2BD

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Now how can one respond to a post like that without it descending rapidly into playground humor?  

Nope, I'd best not. 😄

 

The Mars3 should produce a finer job than my old Mars1 in a task like this, and since you've raised the bar with Fritag's cornucopia of canopy bits it seems rather fitting that you are revisiting the MDC - now you can say "it's all my own work guv" with a straight face and won't get struck down by a bolt of lightning.

 

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

So I reverted to extruding a cut through a suitably sized thin-shelled solid canopy.

 

Cat skinning. Lesson 7.

 

 

 

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10 hours ago, Fritag said:

I accidentally  came across Terry’s post (and it’s ok Terry - I’m too much of a lawyer not to notice that you hadn’t actually promised to buy any beer :D)

 

Well fortunately we have a barrister in the family who guides me through life's legalities, and those who know me would have noted the lack of promise at that point, but what the hell, it's a party now, so beers all round I say!

 

Page 150 already, and I did wonder about the MDC the other day, thinking in a not dissimilar way to what you are doing, given all this 3D canapé work you are doing. (did you see what I did there to maintain the party spirit).

 

That is a very neat solution showing in that last Fusion shot. Very interested to see where you will have the supports for that frame and MDC set up. Brilliant work of course!

 

Terry

 

PS The Fritage etch is staring at me longingly from the shelf still. An early idea I had failed, but I have one more idea to try, that I will share ........... if it works!

 

 

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More impressive work there, Steve. Regarding your Macbook struggling, welcome to the joys of just how resource-hungry CAD can be!

 

James

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On 4/12/2022 at 3:24 AM, Terry1954 said:

That is a very neat solution showing in that last Fusion shot. Very interested to see where you will have the supports for that frame and MDC set up. Brilliant work of course!

 

Yes, that's immediately where my mind went as well. I've had terrible luck trying to support stuff on my dinky Mono 4K.

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Now where was I?

 

Drafted the rear MDC so’s the instructor weren’t left out of things :winkgrin:

 

BDCEADD5-6476-44EF-9BAE-F784F2747212

 

 

I then added sufficient details to the frame for 1/72 purposes - the framing around the blast screen, the diagonal struts and the substantial structure around the frame periphery.  (It’s quite a beefy frame at 1:1).

 

Somewhere along the way it struck me that the best way of printing off the MDC was to print it as an integral part of an entire canopy framing complex.

 

And after some further thought about the practicalities of printing and handling the MDC, I added some little sacrificial links between the ends of the MDC and the adjacent frame to give it a tad more robustness prior to fixing it in place.

 

The theory being that the sacrificial links help hold the MDC in position and can be removed once the frame and the MDC is safely fixed to the canopy.

 

So thus (links visible at the ends of the MDC)

 

81AAF980-474D-4FE7-83D4-10F7ADF22EDC

 

 

On 4/12/2022 at 9:24 AM, Terry1954 said:

Very interested to see where you will have the supports for that

 

Like this Terry.

 

Proof of the Pudding?  Fits neatly enough into the test vac-canopy.

 

E31F81E0-F82A-4BEA-BC96-9A057F04ECFD

 

On 4/14/2022 at 4:19 AM, Procopius said:

Yes, that's immediately where my mind went as well.

 

Did my head in trying to work out if and to what extent that was said ironically PC :D

 

Deep breath, separate it from the supports…..You can see the sacrificial links between the front and rear ends of the MDC and the frame.  Not bad.

 

CAC7A304-BEF8-4A32-A6BE-C1BD6275D8EE

 

View from underneath without the canopy.

 

6CDD1A71-C4C1-43A4-BDE8-6FD03948F456

 

Better see what it looks like in situ I s’pose….

 

Dry fitted with the vac-formed windscreen/printed windscreen frame and printed coamings (valley hawk ones without the weapons sight).

 

A8B5C7D0-6488-4C46-BFC8-DC18E02B0FEF

 

BCECE066-73E7-4DAC-BAF5-24DC89A72199

 

It’s coming together quite pleasingly.

 

Closer:

 

FD919008-C265-47AE-9770-8B91638F90B2

 

092580F0-567B-40CF-BA9D-AE1C24039C40

 

I think I’m getting there, and I think I made the right decision to learn Fusion/buy a printer; it’s worth the hassle of cajoling the decrepit brain cells into learning something new :D And it’s a satisfying and enjoyable process in it’s own right.

 

Need to decide whether or not to print an exterior frame for the canopy as well; I’m leaning toward the view that masking and painting will be a better bet.

 

Next steps then are to print the definitive versions, vac-form the ‘best’ windscreen/canopy and paint and fix em…. 

 

Oh, BTW the MDC is (only) 0.2mm x 0.2mm in cross section.  The Mars 3 happily printed it at 0.15mm x 0.15mm! but it was just a bit too flimsy to work with, so 0.2mm looks like the best compromise.

Edited by Fritag
typo
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That's some seriously impressive results! Even more so given how new to both 3d printing AND CAD you are. You may have a future in this if the legal stuff doesn't work out ;)

 

James

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2 hours ago, Fritag said:

Next steps then are to print the definitive versions, vac-form the ‘best’ windscreen/canopy and paint and fix em....

 

I should blooming well think so too!

Those parts are so obviously sub par and well... just downright shoddy. :D

 

Seeing that lot together (even tho' just a dry fit) raises this build to a whole new level.

 

That right there is a piece of desk art in its own right - even with all the supports still in place.

2 hours ago, Fritag said:

 

E31F81E0-F82A-4BEA-BC96-9A057F04ECFD

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Fritag said:

and I think I made the right decision to learn Fusion/buy a printer;

 

I think the hive would be in complete agreement with you there Steve. These last few updates have been wondrous to behold.

You do realize that you have set a standard now that must be maintained going forward. 

 

Q: if it printed at 0.15 but was too flimsy, is it worth trying one at 0.175?  Not that there's owt wrong with what you have there, but we know how you like pushing the boundaries. 

 

I can't wait to see what delights the next update has in store for us

 

 

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11 hours ago, Procopius said:

HOLY CRAP FRITAG

My learned friend and I are in tune, wow...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I fear that any model that impressive must fall foul of several sanity laws by the way.

 

What a relief our learned friend's area of jurisprudential expertise covers the field.

 

Just saying...

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Wow Steve, just wow.

 

If I may make three observations/ statements of the glaringly obvious:

 

1. That canopy frame & MDC is utterly exquisite. 

2. It's impressive (but not at all surprising) just how quickly you've mastered this (along with vac forming, photo-etch & resin casting).

3. This 3-D printing malarkey is a game-changer for our hobby. 

 

Like everyone else, I can't wait to see the next update. 

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17 hours ago, Fritag said:

Like this Terry.

 

Ah, I thought something like that might be afoot. Very neat solution, you should be right pleased with that.

 

Remind me, does it get painted white, or will you leave it that colour?

 

Also, I imagine trimming the rear connections from the rear cockpit MDC and the front connections from the front MDC will be a tad challenging, cos they might surely flop about a bit? 

 

As Edward has observed, it is all a bit HOLY CRAP!

 

Terry

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I can't add anything to what has been said already. This model was already setting the bar higher than most of us can reach, now it's gone into orbit.

Wonderful stuff, and very enlightening as to what the limits of 3d printing are, or are not!

 

Ian

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What can I say that's not been said before.......astounding attention to detail - new techniques/technologies to be conquered - and you make it happen!!  Repeatedly!! .......In1:72!!!

 

Flabbers Gasted all around...

 

I think I'll hang up my Modellers Knife and acccessories and just watch the (many) Masters on this  Forum, now on.....

 

(But then, the Stash is calling.....

 

Ooooh............)

 

Geoff

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HMOG, Steve! This last update alone is good reason enough for having dragged you out from hiking/biking/skiing and getting you back to modelling! (OK, you did that, but we did poke you from time to time...  :winkgrin:).

 

I'm in awe, and slightly envious too...

 

Ciao 

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The question that must be asked now is, where does he go from here?

Is the limiting factor the technology or the imagination ?

Whilst scale modeling is a fairly niche pastime, it is a privelidge to be able to say 'I was there' when the top 1% of the top 1% pushed the envelope.

 

Box On

 

Strickers

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