Studio Scale TOS Enterprise(11.25 feet)

Wow! :thumbsup

What do you mean you found "the original gearmotor" for the nacelles? How'd you do that?

Very cool!

Holy Sh@t! Hey, I live n Fountain Hills, I want to come visit it!

Let me know if you'd like any help with the pennants and other markings. They'd be a whole lot easier to put on as vinyl rather than trying to paint them or worrying about decals yellowing over time

What are your plans upon completion for display?

Here is some more for you guys.

This is how you can make Bondo cake.

Start with a filling of MDF...

Cover with Bondo...

Mill to shape.

Add what I call the "Nubs", I machined those separately. I'll show those in another post. I was surprised the fit was so good.

This is the part removed, with some of the nubs set on the deflector ring. I revised the nubs when I realized I would have a heck of a time putting the parts together.



Here is the impulse drive. I had to split it so I could print it. It still needs to be finished as well. Note the change in shape on the right side of the part(just above the " 24"x36" ") that's what I consider to be a tell for an accurate model of the E. Because it's real easy to miss.


Here is the accelerator and the lower dome(from the primary hull, weapons array?). These were printed as well, I left out the strip in the accelerator. It's easier to make a piece of styrene to fit than to make a flat printed part flat. The printer works best with organic shapes, but it leaves a very grainy surface which has to be filled and sanded smooth.

CD to answer your questions, I wasn't planning to put a shuttle bay in the models. Really I never thought of it, I would need to know how far back it goes into the 2nd hull. A shuttle would be 2.75" long, the Botany Bay @ 4' long, D-7 @ 8.89' and BOP @ 5.11'.

To answer the question of display, I was going to mount them high enough to be able to walk under the saucer(I'm 6'3" so that will tell how high it going to go) and incorporate a circular display cabinet below the models. With the whole thing on industrial casters.

My background is in designing a variety of stuff, from artistic items to machines. Finding the same type of gearmotors used in the spinners(at the front of each nacelles). Was a matter of looking around the surplus sites, and E-bay. This picture was a real help.

It gave a shape and a dimension. Take a measurement across the front of the nacelle, and look for a part with similar specs. Electrically the E is very simple, these motors run on 110 and use a pot to control the speed. I still have to layout the motor mount and how I'm going to place the lights(I know where they go). I'm using the original Christmas lights. I don't like the look of LEDs on the other E's I've seen. Any ships I sell will have LEDs, I'm only using the the old style of lighting on mine.

Thanks for the offer AD, I had the same idea about a month ago. Using automotive vinyl is far superior to decals and saves a great deal of time on painting. I've already created most of the masks, having a 3d model of the subject makes that process a lot easier.

Thanks all for your support.

Beautiful! Here's my 5.5 footer on the way.

http://www.therpf.com/f11/studio-ha...-scratch-build-98400/index15.html#post1514125

Great work you're doing,

Steve

More updates guys.


Here is the parts for the shuttle bay. The parts are just set in place, to see how well it's going. I cut off the secondary hull in this manner to simplify assembly.

This is where this technology really shines. I printed the fantail long before I machined the hull, I can't place the shuttle doors since they are partly inside the 2nd hull.

I used my old nubs to show how this goes together.

Now for the engines, since they are symmetrical I only need to make one.

The bussard mount was printed, and here again is just set in place.

Here it is with the bussard ring in place.
And now to the other end...

The end-caps were printed along with the spacer below it.

Here they are together, with the end-cap ball sitting on top of the 2nd hull.

With the end-cap ball set in place. It likes to slide off so I have to be quick in taking pics. I did it separately to facilitate making the pilot versions.
These parts still have to be cleaned up, which means endless hours of sand and fill, sand and fill, a little paint, sand and fill...

That's it for today,

This sort of thing makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I may be the only one—and I do feel really stupid—but I'm simply not privy to the technology involved here that allows reproducing/scaling/sculpting with such accuracy! What is "printing"?
:wacko
:confused

Atemylunch said:

Click to expand...

Atemylunch said:

Click to expand...

Are you using Alan Sinclair's plans? The shapes in these images match those that are unique to his plans.

Proper said:

I may be the only one—and I do feel really stupid—but I'm simply not privy to the technology involved here that allows reproducing/scaling/sculpting with such accuracy! What is "printing"?
:wacko
:confused

Click to expand...

Don't feel stupid, you just don't know. And thanks for the question.

A lot of people have their own ideas about using this technology. They think it's point and click, everything just appears by magic. It's no where near that. To use these tools takes training, experience, and endless trial and error.

Before I can do anything I have to start with a model, namely a model created in the computer. Those start out as drawings in the computer.
This is what started the whole thing for me(please forgive the image quality), These drawings were created by Alan Sinclair(wizardofflight) in Autocad. They were his take on the 11' Enterprise. In my opinion they are the best that is commonly available(there are better drawings out there, I've never seen them, they are something that takes contacts to get. But his are real close, his parts almost match the JK 66"E & the MR E, I have both models and made comparisons to these drawings, I can't say any of these are 100% accurate. Nor am I making any claims it's going to be truly accurate, I'm just going by what resources I had access to. So no ultimate claims here).

I then take/modify these drawings to create a 3d model.


But that's just the beginning of this process. Models such as this are useless in this state. It has to be broken down and simplified for construction. When I do this process I don't bother with formal drawings, that would be a waste of my time(the only time I do it is with outside contractors).
The next step is to figure out what will be made with what process, and determine the internal structure. This process can take ages, and endless revisions. I can't tell you how many times I've recreated the same parts. It's like building a house, there will always be surprises along the way.

Once I have an idea of what I want to do, then the fun begins.
Take for instance the 2nd hull.

To get to this stage takes a lot of effort, it's nothing like how the original was made. The original was a made of balsa planks and turned to shape on a lathe, the original was a one off, the guys that made it were on a budget and a deadline. Nobody cared how they did it, just that it was done on time and below budget.

Where is start is with a profile.

This shows the side view of the 2nd hull. Since the hull is circular this makes things easy. Well easier than it could be. From this drawing I layout pieces that make the bulk of the part. I cut out each piece and laminate them to make a general shape of the part.

I then make a rough cut of the part below the final surface.

Here is the final part in RinoCam.

This is a wire frame model, this is what I use to create tool paths(it tells the machine how to move to create the shape of the part). That looks like this...

The software creates a path dividing the part into a series of profiles, in this case they are spaced in .01" increments. This is(in essence) the same as the traditional method of setting profiles at regular intervals, and filling in between them, then fill & sand to shape. Using machines make that process much more efficient and accurate to the shape desired. BUT, it makes mistakes, and it's leaves a surface that requires finishing(you can't just put the part in rubber). If this isn't modeling I don't know what is, because I still have to do all of the same stuff I would with a resin model. I still use Dremels and X-acto knives on these parts, plus the sanding seems endless.


This is the part coated with bondo and being milled to shape(this can take several tries, to get right). The final cut for this part took over 30 hours. But the machine doesn't need to rest, eat or take bathroom breaks.

3D Printing is very similar to milling.

This is my printer(the box to the right is the depowdering station), it is the same as a HP inkjet with a 3rd dimension.
Only it eats print heads at a much faster rate. It uses a powder as a base and prints a section of the part desired with a binder(it makes the powder stick together). Then it drops (.004") spreads another layer of powder and repeats the process. The software screen looks like this...

This software turns a 3d part into a series of layers. Or sections if you like. The section being printed is displayed on the right. The software controls the printer, this is one of the easiest pieces of software I have ever used. But then what's doing isn't that complex. The milling software takes a lot more effort to get right. But then the printer can literally print any shape(withing the realms of physics).
Here is what the work area of my printer looks like...

It doesn't have a very big capacity. So I have to make parts fit it's work envelope(8"x10"x8").
The fun is getting parts out of the machine. They are buried in the powder(and it gets a little messy).

This is the forward part of the Botany Bay(in the printer), scaled to my 66" Enterprise.
This same model was scaled down to 350 scale and offered from Sovereign Replicas. The patterns were later sold and the same model is offered from Fantastic Plastic. These parts are in the depowder station, where any remaining powder in the parts is cleaned out. I use brushes and an airbrush, the depowder station is connected to a vacuum to catch and collect any airborne powder.

This is the 350 scale model, I'm showing these images to give you guys an idea of how this stuff works. I could literally make this model any scale at will. Saying that makes it sound easy, in some ways it is. But you still have to use modeling techniques after this stage. The surfaces show the striation of the building process, and have a very grainy texture. Plus they are not very strong. The parts are very porous I use CA to soak into the surface to strengthen the part. Then it's back to traditional modeling again.

I hope this was informative, I'm sure I missed something, so please ask questions.

Awesome project! I've never seen the big E done in this scale, so it's cool to see it being done. And thanks for the peek at the methods you're using, very cool!

Atemylunch: This is an awesome project and, like everyone else, I was enjoying both your ambition and the exciting progress shots.

But with the detailed, illustrated description of your process behind the scenes, this thread has jumped into a whole new realm for me. What a fascinating and instructive look at 3D modeling and printing! Thank you SO much for having taken the time and trouble to share this with us.

Just fantastic! :love :thumbsup

Thanks for sharing your methods in detail, Atemylunch - pure genius. And that settled it for me - now I'm totally sure I can't do it. :wacko

Thank for sharing this great project and as mentioned the methodology in which you are building it. Very cool and I agree with crackerjazz; now I'm totally sure I can't do it either, lol

ATM,
This may be a stupid question (but that's why they call me "Dummy")..

Is the powder re-usable? or is the leftover powder from your 8"x10"x8" block like waste toner in a copier?

Secondly, how to you figure in the thickness of the bondo layer when you are milling the wooden under structure? Do you make everything like a 1/4 inch smaller than the final size? then add 1/2 " of bondo on top and mill that down to your final size?

I MUST thank both 'Proper' and 'Atemylunch'. Proper actually asked the question I was too afraid to ask (for fear of appearing grossly "out-of-the-know"). Thank you, Proper.

A HUGE thank you to Mr. Amazing, himself: Atemylunch. Your answer to Proper's question was a wonderful and enlightening lesson on manufacturing techniques. Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time.