1/2256 Tantive IV

darthviper107

I've got the Anigrand Star Destroyer so I wanted to get a Tantive to go along with it. There's the Anigrand one, but you have to buy that with the Medical Frigate and I'm not interested in that at all.

So I decided to make a 3D model of it and have it printed.
Things are going well, but I decided I'd like to make it so I can light the engines and stuff, so what I'm thinking is that I could design it to have holes going from the engines to the center to fit fiber optics, then I could have an LED inside to light those. I could even have another LED pointing forward to light the cockpit.

I can make the 3D model available for people to get their own printed as well, so I'm wondering what way people would like to have the ship mounted.

I can have it attached to the top, so you could have it in the hanger of the SD. Or I could have it attached to the bottom, so you could just have its own small base where the battery would be (I'm even planning on designing a base to fit it). Or I could even have it attached to the side, like how the real filming model was done.

Let me know what you guys think

Robiwon

I'm interested in seeing your final piece. I have the Ani SD and the Medical Frigate w/Tantive IV. It's a very nice little model. If you were able to capture the same level of detail and make it suitable for lighting I would love to have one.

Here is part of my 1/2256 collection.

Picasa Web Albums - Robert Cass - Anigrand Medi...

darthviper107

Yeah, I saw your build, it's the only build of the Anigrand Tantive that I've seen so I was trying to make sure to have at least that much detail

Which way do you think it should be mounted?

Also--I'm not that experienced at electronics, does anyone know if a 3v coin battery would be able to run two 3mm LED's? I'm thinking of designing the base to specifically be able to hold the battery and everything

Robiwon

Thanks, they are great little kits. I would suggest mounting from the bottom. That way you don't loose detail on the side. That's just my opinion though. A 3v coin battery should run them fine. However for longer run times I would suggest two 3v coins with a resistor to drop the voltage to 3v from the 6 produced by two.

Jedi Dade

I can't even imagine trying to run fiber in there. I would think it would be easier to cast the LED into the ship and cast it in clear... the engine "block" might be big enough for a small LED... I have one of the anigrand ones... and its teeny...

Good Luck with it!

Jedi Dade

vaderdarth

just cast the LED into a clear resin ship, paint it silver then your base colors and drill away the parts you want light to come thru.

darthviper107

It's actually not difficult at all--I've got a 1mm hole going through each engine, enough to fit a good sized fiber optic, the engines will be one section, and then the middle will be another section, which is big enough to fit a 3mm LED inside, so the fiber optics would go through the engines and then to the center to where the LED is, then there would be another LED facing forward, and both would have the wires going down through the center.

The 3D printing makes it very easy to add the holes in there, as long as the support material has a way to get out of the holes it's fine.

darthviper107

Here's a render of it. The insides aren't fully hollowed out yet, but it's all solid and I've gotten the thicknesses of the pieces to the minimum so that it can print. Minimum thickness is 0.3mm

cosmic_x

looks very nice, do you have any idea on the price?

Robiwon

Dartviper107, looks fantastic, I'll gladly replace my Anigrand with one of those!

darthviper107

I don't know yet, have to finish hollowing it out and do the base. I'm getting this printed at Shapeways, which isn't so bad a price. I hope to finish this later today in which case I can find out how much it will actually cost.

zenix

Shapeways/3d printing design tip: you shouldn't put the entire model at the minimum thickness.

It's cool to have some parts down to that thickness (pro tip: sometimes even smaller than the minimum thickness) but if you make the entire shape the minimum thickness, it will usually not be strong enough to support itself.

Jedi Dade

Wilth all deference to your skill I seriously think that a better way to go would be to print the ship SOLID in 2 pieces. The engine block with a 3.1mm hole for the 3mm LED to go into, and the main body of the ship. Cast it in clear, place the LED in the engine block and glue it all up... good to go. This would allow you to also light the cockpit if you desired to since light would travel through the clear resin to the front of the ship

Your 3d model is gorgeous.

PLEASE post pics of it when you get there...

Thanks,
Jedi Dade

darthviper107

It isn't that thickness on the whole thing--the only parts that are 0.3mm are the parts that have to be that thickness, like the gun barrels, or the communication dish, the rest of it has plenty of room.

I don't see how that would make it better at all--I can easily put the holes in exactly where I need them, especially for the engines which would have to bend around the corner to be able to join in the middle. No need to make it solid and drill it later.

Jedi Dade

If the model is cast in clear then there is no need for drilling - other than to remove the paint from the end of the engines.

Heh I'm just trying to help that's all - I think your model is great. Do what you think is best. my suggestion was to place a hole in the engine block area for an LED and cast in clear resin... that way there is no need to drilling and cutting of any kind simply insert LED glue together and paint.

Jedi Dade

darthviper107

Oh ok, Well I don't think an LED would light that correctly, there would be too much that would block the light from transmitting to the engines properly. Plus it couldn't be recast anyways because of the extreme overhangs on the model, especially the back engine pieces.

Just did a test upload to Shapeways--just the ship with no base comes to $17. I'll post some pictures detailing what it's like when I get home

darthviper107

Finished up the model:







The price was much too high with the stand, like $80 so it would be better to just build one out of styrene or something, so I dropped that. So here's the options:

This one has the hole in the bottom, along with a rod for it to all go on:
Blockade Runner No Stand by darthviper107 on Shapeways

It is $18.40

This one does not have the hole in the bottom, or the rod to mount it on:
Blockade Runner Only by darthviper107 on Shapeways

That one is $17.28

Both are hollow, with holes going to the engines, and the cockpit head is hollow. Don't worry, it's not too thin, it's at least 1mm thick on the hull, and has lots of support. The holes in the back are big enough to fit 1mm fiber optics. I'm hoping the angles are good so that they will be able to slide through there, I'm not sure on that since they've got to go at weird angles to get to the engines.

I'd recommend everyone wait until I get my prints done, that way I'll know if it works, plus I'll know how the quality print is, since the last print I got from Shapeways had lines on it, they supposedly fixed that issue so we'll see.

Another thing is---there's a minimum order of $25, and this doesn't reach that, so I guess you have to find something else on shapeways just to add to it, unless you guys can think of something I could add to this to bring the cost up to $25.

On another topic----I just noticed how the Anigrand Star Destroyer was made--it's a 3D model that's available at Sci-Fi 3D for free download: Sci-Fi 3D: The Ultimate 3D Sci-Fi Resource

I'm surprised I didn't recognize it before. But it shows they got a good service for making their kits, it's a very clean model.

Robiwon

What would it be if you had them do the ship and the support tube, but not the base itself?

darthviper107

In my last post, there's two options, the first has the ship and the support tube, and it's $18.40

The second doesn't have the support tube and it doesn't have a mounting hole for it (although the ship is still hollow).

By the way---the size of the mounting hole is 1/8" So if you wanted, you could replace it with a brass tube.

darthviper107

And again, I'd like to add that I'm getting it printed now so you should wait until I can make sure that it comes out right.

Robiwon

Sorry, I missed the first qoute as including the support tube, my bad.

Noumcea

To bring the price up to $25, how about adding the LEDs, fibre optics and wires required to light the model ?

Just a thought.

darthviper107

Shapeways doesn't sell that stuff, they just do a print, so it would have to be something that gets printed.

Anyways, when I submitted the order for printing it didn't ask me to add anything more, so maybe they changed their rules, used to be that shipping was included in the price too, but now it costs extra.

Robiwon

Do they give you a turn around time frame? Like, how long it will take for them to print it and get it back to you?

darthviper107

Originally they said they try to get it to you within 10 work days, but the last time I got something printed they were behind and it took like a month and a half.

They're supposed to be more on top of things now so hopefully it won't take that long. Original estimate was before the 28th