Jump to content

1/48 Hph XB-70A Its finally COMPLETED!


Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

Well Kev will be another day or so on pics , first run of the P/E failed. Since the system didn't come with much I have to wait for more Printing material and photo resistance.

Printed perfectly, pictures were wrong and didn't etch correctly. At first you don't succeed, try, try, try,try again. then try some more.😫

 

Sorry to hear the etch went awry, but I'm sure you can overcome such a small hurdle 🙂 After all you've been through with the 'Beast' this is just a small hiccup. Chin up, respirator on and let's feed some more brass sheet to the invisible shark in the tank... 😉

 

Kev

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Nachtwulf said:

Loren, I have been following this build thread for a while and appreciate what you have been through so far! We seem to share the same taste in kit as I have several HPH kit including the XB-70 and B-36, the B-52H has been on order since last year. Please keep up the inspirational work! The B-70 looks mighty impressive! Am I reading your posts correctly? Are you offering copies of your photo etch exhaust work for sale? If you are please let me know.

 

If I can get the quality right and not be cost prohibitive for the builder, I will. I'll have to see how this new idea turns out.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I took a pass on the B-52H, I'd managed to grab the last B-52 Gerald had and it ironically was an "H" model. Which since I wanted to do a large bomber with a nuke,and detailed out Bomb bay, shifted my attention to the B-36 leaving my B-52B reverting back to NB-52A as originally planned, The "H" model will have the full bomb load out. but that build is Waaaay down the line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Afternoon folks, I will have to say,creating your own photo etch is a process that is not for the faint of heart. Especially when most of the parts in creation are not reusable if you stuff up.

And I've done a lot of that in the last few weeks. Still haven't got to a piece yet that I would call worthy for this project but not giving up.Awaiting on more photo resist film to keep on trying, 

In the meantime, I've tabulated everyone's comments and suggestions on which monster to start next, its pretty much an even match. Makes one's decisions a tad harder. Even tried using my personal

professional decision apparatus.

48038058703_6f2e8a0d73_z.jpg

Couldn't even give me a simple decision,neither heads nor tails, but on its b****y side!

So I guess its the modeling gods idea of a joke,jokes on them. I won't do either /or ,but both concurrently, so it will be a looong one Hope you'll all be there for the ride.

Keep a look out for the title 1/48 Strategic Air Command Parts 1 & 2. Don't worry this threads not finished yet. not by a long shot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Strange thing about self quarantining, One ends up with A LOT of idle time on ones hands.  WAAAAAY back when, I had the foolish notion to improve on the Engine nacelles of the Great White Beast with home made photo etch. Well I here to report it wasn't a success. at least entirely. I did manage to have some progress but for every good piece I had strewn behind it  10-12 bad pieces that were melted slag. So I quietly set it on the shelf almost forgotten. Then while working on the Magnesium Overcast, which there will be an update this week, I saw some posts by serkan sen using a resin printer. Well that led to checking it out and eventually getting an Elegoo Mars with the intent of improving the turrets and possibly  making a decent MK17 Bomb. I started playing around with it and for s**ts and grins dug out my old engine nacelles from the beast as a test of capabilities. I am happy to report SUCCESS!  The first few tries were too thin. Some experimentation and noting that wall thickness should be 500 um or greater. Under that and it may print but will be so thin you can read the Lord's Prayer through it and so delicate it crumbles while cleaning up the supports. I printed these pieces at between 1 and 2 mm in thickness which is still very thin. but I could put infinitely more detail into the part than I could ever think about if it was photo-etch.

49714472136_77cfaf9d95_c.jpg

49713933493_e222c1d608_c.jpg

Now those strips on the left are what impressed me more than anything else. The measure 35mm long , 1mm thick and 2 mm high.the holes are 500 um in diameter! They are the Bracing at the back above the engine compartment. I had lost a couple P/E pieces in the intervening months that didn't adhere well.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course the drawback is I have to make 6 of everything.

49714787362_b64fd715da_c.jpg

It is hard to see in the photo but I was able to recreate the "heat corrugation" on the inside feathers.

49713933468_48f6011e61_c.jpg

49714472976_b3979446ac_c.jpg

49714787367_e6baff98e2_c.jpg

Inside ring above the flame holder.

 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did have to use plastic rod to make the constriction actuators on the feathers. Those were too small to  consistently recreate.

49713934618_ec968127cd_c.jpg

And the flames holders came out very crisp and a lot better looking than P/E.

I did work out that as thin as these parts are if I remove them from their supports BEFORE I run them through the UV curing while semi soft. I had less shattering and breakage.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the first engine finished looking at the inside

49713934608_4e5d9bbca3_c.jpg

I painted the interior using a base of Model Master Burnt metal, with a light dusting of AlcladII Pale Burnt Metal and a wash of a mixture of flat white and radome tan and a dusting of pastel chalk

The exterior was Burnt metal and exhaust buffed out a little and coated with pastels. mostly BUrnt sienna and black.

Here is a comparison of my new nacelle on the left and the kit nacelle on the right.

49714474006_4e5d9bbca3_c.jpg

One down and 5 to go. I may get this old girl to the final inspection yet.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

I saw some posts by serkan sen using a resin printer.

I am glad to see that my thread has inspired you to go with 3D printing, although I haven't printed any part yet 🙂

 

Maybe you can help me to print exhaust parts for my vacuform Valkyrie which is waiting for many years to be finished...

 

Serkan

 

900.jpg

911.jpg

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

I am glad to see that my thread has inspired you to go with 3D printing, although I haven't printed any part yet 🙂

 

Maybe you can help me to print exhaust parts for my vacuform Valkyrie which is waiting for many years to be finished...

 

Serkan

 

900.jpg

911.jpg

 

I'd be happy to help you any way I can. Although these parts are 1/48 I did lose a lot of detail I wanted to incorporate. I did take my initial designs from a 1/72 scale Photo etch scans that modelman182 had given me with the original intent of making my own phot-etch just upscaled. I just couldn't get the quality consistent for 6 engines. I was getting 15-20 failures for one so-so piece. It got cost prohibitive. Hence following the Printed resin path. Not sure how much detail would be lost making smaller. Worth a shot, I ain't never not done it. Have to wait on more resin though before I an try.

 

18 hours ago, Nachtwulf said:

Awesome! Where do I send the money!? Really!

 

Let me get some more resin in and I'll see what we can do.

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Pretty amazing, those resin printers. Good design too - I guess you only get the detail out that you put in!

 

Regards,

Adrian

The design was North American and General Electrics 😉 all I did was try to recreate it.I wish I could have gotten the work I had done on interior of the nacelle to have shone up better.

49717528133_1074261f90_c.jpg

This was what I was trying for.

Edited by LorenSharp
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Shorty84, Longer than it should have. My 3D modeling expertise was geared more toward Animation. I use Lightwave 3D and it builds ok, but converting to an SLI file not as good. So while I'm trying to "unlearn" 30 years of training and then  learning conventional CAD I've had to clean up and correct in Meshlab before going into Chituhub. Sometimes going back and forth multiple times. Getting the designs where I wanted them probably 40 hrs. not counting test shots. That's how I found out anything under about 500 um is so thin that its almost transparent. As simple as the parts are it should have taken 3-4 hours from a production standpoint. But thats how we learn. Once I get a handle on how a program like FreeCAD operates the build times will drop a lot.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

I'd be happy to help you any way I can. Although these parts are 1/48 I did lose a lot of detail I wanted to incorporate. I did take my initial designs from a 1/72 scale Photo etch scans that modelman182 had given me with the original intent of making my own phot-etch just upscaled.

Thanks for your kind offer and I accept this gladly. I will be appreciated if you can answer my below questions:

1. Is there any way to get scan of 1/72 photo etched drawing?

2. How did you generate your 3D model? In which format your parts were saved? (Apart from STL for printing)

3. Is the reason of tilting the nozzles during printing because of height of the part to be able to fit it in printable volume?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Serkan

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

Thanks for your kind offer and I accept this gladly. I will be appreciated if you can answer my below questions:

1. Is there any way to get scan of 1/72 photo etched drawing?

2. How did you generate your 3D model? In which format your parts were saved? (Apart from STL for printing)

3. Is the reason of tilting the nozzles during printing because of height of the part to be able to fit it in printable volume?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Serkan

 

I do have my original P/E scans still had to do some digging,a lot of digging, They are large though totaling 51MB If I can figure out how to get them to you. I downloaded these from a personal server, which I don't have and it's out of operation now. BUt you are welcome to them. They may have to be resized back to 1/72 scale.

 

The original Program I used was Lightwave 3d, an Animation program. I've been using it since it came out in the mid 80's on the old Amiga Platform, no snickering you young guys, yes I'm a old fart.There I said it and D**m proud of it.😎 It's not the best for this type of creation. Even though it can save out STL files too many errors creep in during conversion and have been a pain in the backside to find and correct. Ideally a standard CAD program like, AutoCAd or FreeCAD would be optimal. Blender is supposed to be a good way to create and then export out in STL . It and FreeCAD have the benefit of both being free, open source. FreeCAD is what I'm wrestling with now because it will cut out numerous steps. since you have experience in CAD with your  work on the A-11 oxcart you can export out your STL from there. Since I'm using a Mars printer, it uses Chithub (also free) to do the slicing. the only other program I would recommend from my limited time doing this is down loading Anycubic's Photon file validator also free. I like free, it's cheap. this will point out any problems with supports in the printfile before printing, Learned that one the hard way.

 

I've tried both tilted and non-tilted setups. for some models due to size tilting is necessary, but in this case none of the parts are higher than the build height cutoff. I've found that tilting the part optimizes the cross-section print area. lets you get finer detail in and keeps everything uniform. especially if its a big old flat piece. when I tried to print out the Nozzles perpendicular to the plate I lost a lot of the detail and some sections of the walls did't print at all. I know it does sound like its counter intuitive but when you see how the part is actually built by the printer it make sense. The other counter intuitive thing is once one object is sliced its the same time printing one  as you would with  multiples of the same object on the build plate. Hope this helps.

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something I failed to point out to Serkan , or anyone else interested in resin printing in these times. The cleaning agent recommended  is at least a 95% IPA, and no that is not beer, but Isopropyl Alcohol. I don't know about the U.K or else where. but here in the States right now you'd have an easier time finding  a a roll of toilet paper. But what about Vodka you say? it's alcohol. nope not strong enough at best 100 proof or, 50% alcohol and would be a waste of good booze.Now if you know how to build a still good on ya! grain alcohol runs at 99-100% but is illegal in most places, I suppose you could tell the local constabulary you producing your own hand sanitizer, They may be impressed with the creativity of your B.S. but don't hold your breath. Best option. and I found this on a resin printing board is denatured alcohol, Here you can find it at the local hardware store or, my case, the local farm supply. It may go by another name elsewhere. It's primary usefulness is for running camp stoves or sterno heaters. It's 100% grain alcohol with an added bitter chemical to prevent drinking. does the job and usually cheaper than regular rubbing alcohol. Also, rubber gloves are a necessary, resin gets on everything and not something one should be ingesting,Said denatured alcohol would probably be safer. Nitrile gloves are perfect but again, toilet paper is easier to get. Option? a pair of rubber kitchen gloves like Mum would use to clean the dishes that she claimed prevented "dishpan hands" If you have to ask what a dishpan is you're too young. I see you two snickering in the back. There will be a class on ancient history later. it is resistant to the alcohol and is reusable! Lastly, during clean up best option is paper towels, guess what, in the same boat as the toilet paper. Option, micro fibre towels, like you use for cleaning the car. washable and you can get a few uses from them before having to toss. There's my pubic service announcement for today Remember It looks like our homes have become the equivalent of an Anderson Shelter but instead of the occasional 250Kg bomb or Doodlebug dropping on our heads it a nasty little germ. So stay safe, Remain Calm and Carry On Modeling.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...