1/48 Lynx HAS 3 SGM, XZ733, BRAVE Flight, Op Granby 1991 - FINISHED

[Chewbacca]

Right, let's get something squared away from the outset.  No arguments.  The Lynx HAS Mk 3 was the finest helicopter ever built.  Not that I'm biased with a fraction over 2,000 hours on type.

 

And the pinnacle of Lynx HAS Mk 3 was the Mk 3 SGM.  S for secure speech and GM for Gulf Modified.  9 of us were deployed to the Persian Gulf for Op Granby in 1990/91.  HMS LONDON, BRAZEN, GLOUCESTER ad CARDIFF went first in about September 1990 as part of Group X-Ray; Group Yankee, comprising HMS Ships BRAVE, EXETER, MANCHESTER and BRILLIANT followed up as the roulement in January 1991.  All ships bar BRILLIANT carried one Lynx, BRILLIANT carried two though one of these was later cross decked to BRAVE because we were operating further upthreat.  All of these bar one were HAS 3 GMs, in other words they had the Gul cooling modifications but only had an interim secure speech.  Just one, XZ733 in BRAVE, was an SGM (the first SGM for that matter) with the fully integrated secure speech including twin UHF AD3400 radios.  Oh, did I say?  I was the Flight Commander on board so I have a bit of interest.

 

Between GLOUCESTER and CARDIFF Flights, they virtually wiped out the Iraqi Navy.  I had one target in my sights and was about to engage when I was hauled off and retasked; GLOUCESTER's Lynx then came in and engaged.

 

 

In addition to the cooling package, Gulf Mods also included a number of theatre enhancements including:

 

• Yellow Veil ECM pod
• 0.5 in Heavy Machine Gun Pod
• M130 Chaff and Flare system
• AN-ALQ 157 Challenger Infra Red Countermeasures
• Sandpiper electro optics
• Trimble GPS
• Orange Crop ESM "MA/PA" (Modulation Analyser/Pulse Analyser)

 

Prior to deploying in 1991, I had been the Electronic Warfare Instructor on 829 Sqn responsible for training and developing the tactics for many of these modifications, especially Yellow Veil 2 and ALQ 157 which I brought into service and Sandpiper which I helped design and then developed its concept of use.  So the plan is to represent XZ733 (also known as "The FBI" or "Flippin' Big Injun" with certainly Yellow Veil on the port outer weapon carrier and Sandpiper on the port inner.  I'm undecided yet whether I will have a pair of Skua on the stbd or perhaps a single 0.5 in HMP on the stbd inner.  I certainly won't be fitting the ALQ 157 since I flew with it three times in the Gulf itself and twice it caught fire in flight so after that I told my Senior Maintenance rating (SMR) to take the turrets off and save weight.

 

Nose art

 

Annoyingly, despite all of my experience on this aircraft, I took precious few photos and certainly none of the modifications inside the cockpit/cabin.  I can remember vaguely which boxes went where and what they looked like but not well enough to draw them accurately in 3D CAD.  This one is taken inside the hanger and shows some of the kit on weapon trolleys

 

 

 

I have already drawn the Yellow Veil pod - that was quite easy - but I need to try to remember where the Tektronix spectrum analyser went.  I know there was a small repeat display on top of the Orange Crop ESM and angled towards the Observer.  I do have access to a copy of AP101C-1303-15, Lynx Aircrew Manual, but quite frankly the images in there of the kit are shocking.  My last job in the RN was as the boss of Rotary Wing Handling Squadron at Boscombe Down where I was responsible for signing off and approving all of this documentation.  I think the only reason I let it through was because I knew that during my time there, all of these mods were being withdrawn from service and "if it's been good enough for 20 years..."

 

So before I start work on the plastic, I need to do some more research.  And find some AM decals so that I have the right size and font white letters/numbers

 

But to whet your appetite, here is the FBI onboard USS NIMITZ in April 1991

 

Edited June 23, 2024 by Chewbacca
Updated title

[Pete in Lincs]

This sounds interesting. You can't beat hands on experience for modelling. Of course, it does depend on how good your memory is. Fire up the brain cells and let's lift off!

[heloman1]

Now this looks like an interesting build, I do like the Lynx.

So far, I've built a HAS Mk2 with the ROTORcraft parts, which I partly mastered, along with Ali from Ali-Cats. The second a Marines ship from 847 NAS, my last front line squadron but with Wessi 5's out Far East.

Likewise, I didn't take photos, when I had ample opportunity!

Are there any images in the Lynx STGB from a few years ago.  know Tony O'Toole (Lynx7) posted a lot of ref.

 

Colin

[Wicksy]

Looking forward to this. I used to be an AET working on the Lynx at Yeovilton and have the Revell 1/32 kit with Big Ed Eduard PE set just waiting until my skills improve to do it justice. Following with interest. 

[LorenSharp]

A worthy addition to the GB, Chewbacca! I have a Mk88A I want to try to do if I have time.

[Chewbacca]

10 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

This sounds interesting. You can't beat hands on experience for modelling. Of course, it does depend on how good your memory is. Fire up the brain cells and let's lift off!

In some things, it's very good.  Give me a TANS Nav computer and I'll set it up for you in 30 seconds.  But some other things, like remembering where the spectrum analyser went in the cabin or what the Power Supply Unit Launching or Sequence Unit Launching boxes looked like behind the pilot's seat (effectively the gubbins that made the aircraft talk to the Sea Skua missiles), I have no idea.  I shall have to do some digging.  Sadly even the Topic 15 doesn't have any images of those.  The Haynes manual has some photos that might be useful.

 

The major changes I shall have to make are all around the nose area.  The Sea Spray radome under the nose needs to go because it was a 180 deg radar in the Mk 3 mounted on the forward bulkhead.  The Sea Owl Passive Identification Device (PID) also needs to go, though I will repurpose that for the Sandpiper turret since that was exactly how it was designed .  I will also need to scratch build some Orange Crop ESM aerials for the front upper nose.  I may be able to  use the Mk 90B nose which doesn't have the PID which would reduce workload though I will have to check if the profiles match.  If not I have two options, butcher the Mk 8 nose and take out shares in Milliput or draw and print a new one in 3D CAD.

 

The Sandpiper development story is interesting and worth relating.  I had been the EWI on 829 Sqn until 1 Aug 1990 when I completed my handover to my relief and went on leave before taking up my new role as Flight Commander HMS BRAVE and forming to a new flight to take over from the Sea King that she currently had embarked.  On the morning of 2 Aug 1990, I was at home when the phone rang.  "It's the boss.  Get your a*se into the squadron now.  There's a Lynx waiting to take you to Westlands.  I want an electro optic system ready to fit to the Gulf modded cabs and I want it ready to deploy in 5 weeks.  You can have any resources you need just make it happen.  You have to do it because xxxxxxx [my relief] isn't up to speed yet".  Within 30 minutes I was strapped into the back of a Lynx and heading north.  Within 2 hours, a couple of engineers from Westlands, an engineer from GEC Marconi and I had designed what became Sandpiper, literally on half a dozen sheets of A4 paper.  It was my idea to take the Sea Owl turret, turn it upside down and mount it on a black (grey) box on the port inboard weapon carrier.  When the man from GEC started talking about fitting a dedicated display in the back of the cab and therefore needing a third crew member, I asked if there were any reason why it could not be spliced into the Sea Spray radar display loom and selected using Test 2 which had no other purpose.  The boffins scratched their heads and after about 5 minutes concluded there was no reason why not.  So that's what we did.

 

I missed the 5 week deadline by 1 day.  The trials aircraft developed a hydraulic fault at Boscombe Down and so the final sign-off sortie was delayed until the following morning, but 5 weeks and 1 day after the phone call, 4 sets were being boxed up and dispatched to the Middle East while the set used for trials became the reference/training set at Portland.  And Sandpiper basically stayed like that until I very sadly and almost with a tear in my eye, signed the paperwork that formally withdrew it from service in December 2010.  It was even fitted in a slightly modified form to Nimrod MR2.  And that's why necessity is the mother of all invention!

 

I will get on with cutting some plastic soon.  Honest!

 

8 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Are there any images in the Lynx STGB from a few years ago.  know Tony O'Toole (Lynx7) posted a lot of ref.

That's a very good suggestion.  I will have a look.

 

2 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

A worthy addition to the GB, Chewbacca! I have a Mk88A I want to try to do if I have time.

Go on, you know you want to.  How many Lynx do you need in a Fleet Air Arm GB?  Answer n+1 where n is the number currently registered.

[LorenSharp]

ITs going to be a time factor more than anything else. I have 4 in the queue for this GB, 3-4 in the Southern Europe GB, a(maybe) for the B_!7 STGB one to finish up, finally, for Out of my comfort zone GB and   2 BIG Bombers in the main WIP But you're what's one more build( especially since its a Lynx). Can't take 'em with me when I die, so might as well build as many of the blighters before then.

[Pete in Lincs]

12 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Haynes manual has some photos that might be useful

Says it all really. Sounds like you know what you're doing then. I'll land on for a rotors running update from time to time. BTW, that reminds me. Chivenor airshow, many years ago...'you're ex Pumas', you can do a rotors running refuel on the Lynx. First & last time I ever touched one!

[heloman1]

21 hours ago, Wicksy said:

Looking forward to this. I used to be an AET working on the Lynx at Yeovilton and have the Revell 1/32 kit with Big Ed Eduard PE set just waiting until my skills improve to do it justice. Following with interest. 

Hi, I built the Revell kit a few yeas back, you will need two sheets of Archers or MHG rivets, for some reason Revell didn't think the Lynx had any!

 

Colin

[Terry1954]

I've got to be in on this one Ralph for a number of reasons. I love the Lynx, FAA subjects are amongst my favourites, I love the Lynx, Wildcats buzz my house daily and I class those as suped up Lynx, and I love the Lynx!

 

It will be great watching someone who "knows a bit" about the subject, turn out what I am sure will be a superb model!

 

Well done on your BDAC show wins by the way. At one point I was seriously worried about how you were going to get back home with all those winning certificates!!

 

Terry

 

 

[Wicksy]

On 24/07/2023 at 08:35, heloman1 said:

Hi, I built the Revell kit a few yeas back, you will need two sheets of Archers or MHG rivets, for some reason Revell didn't think the Lynx had any!

 

Colin

Appreciate the advice, but my skills are nowhere near the level needed to even think about adding extra rivets. I’ll be amazed if I even finish it properly with the extra PE!

[Colin W]

Excellent back story. Years ago I built the 1/48 Belcher Bits Lynx (who would ever expect Airfix to kit one, its only been in service for 20 years!) and Bob provided a black box for the Sea Skua control. After studying the instructions for hours there was no indication where to fit it so I left it out. Everytime I see a Lynx in a museum now I look for the Sea Skua launch box but I still have no idea where it as supposed to have gone.

I look forward to see the model.

[Chewbacca]

The Sea Skua Power Supply Unit Launching (PSUL) and Sequence Unit Launching (SUL) sit in the equipment rack just behind the Pilot's seat while the Orange Crop ESM Pulse Receiver sits behind the Observer's seat.  I was pleasantly surprised when I was looking through the bits that Airfix provide to find that these are actually included with the kit (parts 64/65B and 95/98B)  and on first inspection, appear to be a reasonable representation.  The Orange Crop Pulse Receiver even has the Modulation Analyser/Pulse Analyser enhancement that was introduced into service from about 1990 onwards.  I won't say what it did because I think that enhancement is still classified. 

 

When I was looking through the instructions, I realised some other changes that I will have to make.

 

Airfix provide a winch but only a deployed winch.  In reality, even if the cab was fitted with weapon carriers on the stbd side, the winch was almost always still fitted in the cabin and could be deployed by pulling down on a release cable by the grab handle above the stbd cabin door, slewed outwards and then the jib extended using the screw actuator handwheel.  It was a right royal pain in the proverbial winching with a weapon carrier fitted but it was permitted and needs must and all that.  What wasn't permitted was winching with a weapon actually fitted to the carrier...so I won't admit that I ever did it 🙂.  Anyway what that means is that the winch does need to be fitted in the stowed position which in turn means that I need to modify it to have a shorter stowed jib.  This changes the geometry of the cable drum so it's certainly doable but isn't a 5 minute fix.  I'm really surprised that Airfix didn't include it as an option. 

 

The tail rotor gearbox (TRGB) fairing needs to be modified.  The kit supplied version is the larger more bulbous affair to accommodate the later TRGB that reversed the direction of the tail rotor but that was only fitted to Mk 8s (and Mk 7s/9s for the Army).  It was one of those idiosyncrasies of the early Lynx and it always left me wondering how it was ever allowed to leave the drawing board like that.  Imagine this.  The main rotor is rotating and pushing down the equivalent of 4.5 tons of air.  The tail rotor rotates to counter the rotational force of the main disc but also to provide the Pilot with yaw control to turn the aircraft nose to the left or right.  Now logically, the would want the leading edge of the tail rotor to bite into the downdraught from the main disc to provide maximum thrust.  But no, the aircraft designer, in his (or her, but I think it was a he) inimitable wisdom, decided to make the tail rotor leading blade cut down though the downdraught.  The upshot of this was that it needed to rotate about 4 times faster to provide the same level of thrust and meant that in certain wind conditions, the Pilot would "run out of left pedal" and be unable to stop the aircraft from yawing.  It was why the "Ship Helicopter Operating Limit", or SHOL, was severely limited with relative winds on the starboard side of the ship because that was one place we did not want to run out of yaw control.  And it was also what gave the Lynx Mk 3 its most distinctive whine.  When I was flying I lived about 7 miles from the base and on a Saturday morning, I could clearly hear if an aircraft was ground running; at sea it was routine for the flight to hear the returning Lynx before they could see it.

 

Of course the other change I shall have to make is the instrument panel which is completely different in a Mk 3.  I have two options.  I can either just use the kit part and print a replacement decal which is easy enough, I have access to more than sufficient Mk 3 cockpit images, or I could build it up with small blocks of plasticard to represent the different boxes that were bolted in such as the Sea Skua control panel.  

 

And I shall have to draw/print a pair of flying helmets.  My pilot and I always used to leave our helmets in the cockpit hanging from the grab handle alongside the engine control levers (ECLs) and were very visible when the cab was on deck.  While I'm at it I will need to detail the ECL panel as the kit supplied part looks a bit bland.

 

Slightly surprised that Airfx don't provide the bright yellow inflatable life raft that used to sit in the cabin  (usually strapped into the port side seat of the 3 man seat across the back.  But that will be straightforward enough the draw/print.

 

Right, must stop the research and start work.  I've nearly lost a week already.

[TheBaron]

The blend of personal history and technology involved here make this an utterly fascinating endeavour Ralph. The very best of luck with what I'm sure will be an exemplary build (helmets and all!)

[Colin W]

On 7/27/2023 at 6:57 AM, Chewbacca said:

The Sea Skua Power Supply Unit Launching (PSUL) and Sequence Unit Launching (SUL) sit in the equipment rack just behind the Pilot's seat while the Orange Crop ESM Pulse Receiver sits behind the Observer's seat.

Excellent, Now I know and a 16 year mystery is solved.

Thanks

[Chewbacca]

Finally made a start, though pretty inauspicious so far!

 

Cleared the bench down following the Sea Fury build:

 

 

Obligatory box art:

 

 

I don't intend to do sprue shots as they are exactly the same as every other 1/48 Lynx build on here.  One thing that did surprise me about the sprues was the size of the attachment gates which given how delicate some of the components are will be interesting to say the least.  Just the 4th piece cut from the runner was a cockpit door right hand frame and as you can, despite being really careful, the longitudinal frame broke in the process.

 

 

But not too difficult to put right

 

 

Now the observant among you will have noticed that I have changed the angle of the seat height adjustment lever.  In the upper position it was a snagging hazard in case you needed to get out in a hurry in event of a ditching and so certainly all of the Navy Lynx had the facility to fold it down to get it out of the way.  Since our cab was only flown by the same two people all of the time, we had no need to adjust the seats because they were already in the optimum position, so these levers would have been permanently in the stowed position.  In fairness though, after I took these photos, I realised that the levers were a wee bit on the chunky side (0.8 mm = 38 mm) whereas in reality the lever was only about 15-20 mm diameter so replaced them with 20 thou Evergreen rod.  Still a little oversized but more realistic.

 

The other task was to sort out the moulded on seat harnesses.  We always used to tuck the shoulder straps into the sound-proofing just above and behind our heads so that they were easy to reach in the event of a rapid launch such as a "Scramble the Lynx".  And so the moulded on ones needed to go anyway, regardless of the fact that they didn't sit at anything like the angle the Airfix designer has drawn them!  So out with the micro-chisel and the Dremmel:

 

Before

 

And after

 

This is the Pilot's set which was the first one I did.  My seat wasn't quite so clean as the micro-chisel tip sliced a nasty gouge out of the backrest, but that has been filled with Vallejo filler and sanded back.

 

Next stage is to modify the left hand seat frames.  Airfix has included the seat inertia reel lock but it is flat and unrealistic.  I need to sand that off and scratch build a replacement lock plus add the control cable that lad back to the inertia reel itself from 5 A fuse wire; sorry, no photos of that yet.

 

Thanks for watching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[heloman1]

Ralph, I'm with you on those overly large gates. If I remember back tot he Lynx STGB, I used a Tamiya razor saw to cut the smaller, more delicate parts from the sprue.

Also, if I remember, the rear upper corners of the cabin need a little filing to relive then once inserted into the fuselage halves,

 

Colin

[LorenSharp]

Great start with lots of things to be aware of when the time comes. This will definitely be impressive when finished.

[Chewbacca]

8 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Ralph, I'm with you on those overly large gates. If I remember back tot he Lynx STGB, I used a Tamiya razor saw to cut the smaller, more delicate parts from the sprue.

Also, if I remember, the rear upper corners of the cabin need a little filing to relive then once inserted into the fuselage halves,

 

Colin

Thanks for the heads up Colin.  Annoyingly I nearly bought one of those really fine razor saws at the Boscombe Down Model Show last Sunday.  Wish I had now.

 

Anyway, wet weather equals more time at the bench so have made progress this afternoon.

 

Firstly here are the left hand side seat frames, showing the moulded on inertia reel lock and with one scraped away.

 

 

This is what it's supposed to look like:

 

 

Then took the half round fire extinguisher off the back of the Observer's seat

 

 

 

That will be replaced with a 3D printed version.  here is the render of the CAD

 

 

Seats are assembled and the holes cut out of the frames.  I intend to remove the sheepskin covering from the single man liferaft packs and replace with an offcut of my wife's dressmaking velvet, as I did with the Wasp build.  Much more realistic texture

 

 

 

 

Attention then turned to the centre console and instrument panel.  First job was to return the centre console back to Mk 3 standard buy removing the raised tactical display input panel

 

 

 

In a non-Yellow Veil fitted aircraft that area is a stowage box for the Observer's maps, flight reference cards and so on, but in this aircraft it was the Yellow Veil jammer control panel.  That will be crawn in a decal later.

 

The instrument panel has a nice rendition of the Sea Spray radar display but that's about it.  Underneath the Sea Spray originally was a rolling map display.  Can't remember what it was called.  Only ever used it in anger once and that was in training.  It didn't work very well and few front line aircraft had it fitted.  We used that as a stowage area.  So that has been drilled out and cut away with a small fillet of plasticard behind to bring the base up level.

 

 

 

The armament switch panel stood slightly proud of the engine instrument panel so that was built up using a small fillet of 20 thou plasticard.

 

 

But somehow it still didn't look right and then I realised that the instrument panel coaming wasn't deep enough.  It should start slightly proud of the Orange Crop ESM display/centralised warning panel and then become much deeper on the Pilot's side.  Plus the Observer's mini-instrument panel also had a slightly deeper cowling and a rounded top.

 

So it was off with the old and on with replacements made from etch brass offcuts

 

 

 

Think that's about it for now.  Thanks for watching

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Chewbacca
Images not loading correctly

[LorenSharp]

Nice!

[Chewbacca]

Single man liferafts modified with moulded on harnesses removed.  Need to wait until Mrs Chewbacca is out and I can raid her dressmaking cupboard for the sheepskin 😁.  I jest, I have asked her.  This shows one modified and one unmodified.  Both are now ready for painting - I shall add the off-white sheepskin cover after I have sprayed the cannisters.

 

 

But this is going to be fun.

 

 

Couple of problems with this.  Firstly, and most obvious, Airfix have made this a straight section and missed off the broom cupboard, the recessed section in the middle.  Now that may be because in the Mk 8, that area was filled with extra electronics and was covered in sound-proofing.  It was very open in the Mk 3.  So I'll need to have read through some other Lynx WIPs to see how others have addressed it.  I don't know if it is even possible to retrofit it because I don't know whether that will prevent it fitting.  And I'll have to work out a way of replicating the padded sound proofing.

 

This is what a Mk 3 rear cabin looks like:

 

 

Secondly, the Mk 3 only ever had 3 point lap/shoulder harnesses in its 3-man seat.  The only times I ever flew in a Mk 8 it was always in the 4-man inflatable seat so don't know whether the 3-man seat actually did have 4 point harnesses or not.  So that means I need to somehow scrape off the moulded on harnesses (not a major issue) without damaging the sound-proofing and replicating the soundproofing where I fill the upper attachment points (a major issue).  Wish me luck!

 

 

[heloman1]

Those moulded in harness straps didn't really look the part and the sound deadening quilt looks like someone went mad with urethane foam!!!

I like your treatment of the IP shroud, should have done that with my build! Next time, I have another four in the stash on which to practice.

 

Colin

[Chewbacca]

From what I can see from dry fitting, there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to fit the broom cupboard so out with the razor saw and cut away!  I've also managed to scrape away most of the harnesses without damaging too much of the surrounding sound proofing. 

 

 

 

Filled the upper mounting brackets and when the Vallejo filler had set, rescribed as best I can.  Also fitted out the broom cupboard with some plasticard which I had also scribed but I really don't think it will be very visible.  I had saved some textured foil lids to some tins of coffee that I thought would be perfect for this soundproofing but when I got up and close the diamond pattern was a little too large so I had to stick with the original Airfix pattern even though as you say Colin, it does look like someone went mad with foam.

 

 

Looks a bit rough at the moment but given that its a bit gloomy in here even in the real thing, unless I put an endoscope in there I don't think it's going to need to be perfect.  I'll have a rethink I guess after its got some primer on there.

 

I deliberately haven't done anything with the fitting points for the three-man seat.  There were three options for that seat, well four I suppose if you didn't fit it at all.  It could be a three-man seat or optional single man seat either far left or far right.  I seem to recall that we only fitted the right hand single seat because the Yellow Veil NSM 3179 Spectrum Analyser used the mounting points for the left hand seat, but I can't remember.  Having reached out to my network of former Lynx colleagues, I have managed to get my hands on some information and another former colleague, who like me was a Yellow Veil instructor, is rummaging through his photos to see what he has.  I'm waiting until he gets back to me before I do anything rash in case his info proves that 3179 sat in front of the 3 man seat.

 

But based on the information I have received so far, I have done an initial drawing of the spectrum analyser and control computer

 

There are a whole raft more switches on both the spectrum analyser on the bottom and the control computer on top.  But given that these were only 3-4 mm square in real life and stood proud by about 1-2 mm, that's less than 0.1 mm in 1/48 and there's little chance that my printer can print to that level of granularity.

 

I've also redrawn the rescue hoist screw actuator jack.  There are two reasons for that.  Firstly, Airfix only provide the hoist in its deployed position with the actuator jack fully extended.  We usually had the hoist fitted for emergencies (it took several hours to refit it if you did take it out) but it was always stowed in the cabin unless we were actually about to use it in anger.  And that meant that the actuator jack was fully wound in and the winch slewed inboard just in front of the right hand of the three man seats.  So I needed a shorter actuator jack.

 

Now I could have simply cut down the Airfix one, cut through the jib mounting hinge and re-assemble, but there was another key issue with the kit supplied hoist.  The screw actuator handwheel in the kit is solid whereas in reality it is a genuine handwheel with three spokes.  So it was easier to redraw in CAD.  And because I redrew the screw actuator, I added the actuator lock (the knurled knob on the side that's also missing from the kit.  I'm undecided whether I redraw the entire hoist but the rest of it doesn't look too bad.  The hydraulic servo box is perhaps a little small but the rest looks okay. 

 

 

Next job is to redraw the instrument panel decals.  Obviously the kit supplied decals are for the Mk 8 with it's Centralised Tactical System whereas I need to revert mine back to a very analogue set up.  There aren't too many differences on the Pilot's side but the central panel with the engine instruments and my weapon system controls are totally different.  

Thanks for watching

 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Chewbacca

[LorenSharp]

Looks very good Chewbacca. I've found out that anything smaller than 100-150 microns rarely prints well enough to see. Way too many times I've stuck all kinds of detail into a printed object down to the nth degree only to find out nothing shows up. At best I would have over emphasize the scale to show up reasonably well. Maybe when the screens get above 15-18k resolution or more, things will be different.

[CliffB]

I'm settling in for another master class!