1/700 & 1/350 scale BH Cygnus builds
- Thread starter PrimitiveDave
- Start date
Darth Ronnow
New Member
Damn!!!! That's a Rampkins key board. Those are not cheap.
psimon
Well-Known Member
The laser cutting company here in Toronto is requesting the pattern files in .ai, .eps or .svg format. has anyone been able to convert the PDF files into any of theses formats? Dave hasn't replied to any of my notes or Emails in some time so I don't know if he is around much any more. Any help would be appreciated.
psimon
Well-Known Member
Dave's parts on SW are in 'Plastic' only which is Nylon with a grainy texture. I am seeing other products made for Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica model kits that have higher quality resolutions such as 'Frosted Detail' and 'Ultra Detail'. So why are the Cygnus parts not available in these higher detail options? Is it a matter of strength and/or cost? I don't mind paying more for crisper 3D detail so long as the parts are not too brittle.
JeffBond
Well-Known Member
He had a few smaller parts available in metal and other materials but I think they had printing problems. Having worked with the larger pieces, in a number of cases you NEED to have these in the flexible material for assembly--there are pipes and things that need to bend and twist due to the way sections overlap and I think the frosted detail material would be too brittle.
psimon
Well-Known Member
Having worked with resins before, I suspect many of these issues can be overcome by some carefully applied heat with a hair dryer. I contacted SW to see if they could print these parts in the more detailed options. If so I may order a sampling of each type to see how they work. I REALLY WANT this ship but am just having trouble with the texture. I know some are recommending the build up primer to help soften the roughness but I fear that will also soften the edges and corners too. In the end I will take what I can get. Once lit up I am sure it will look great.
32buds
Well-Known Member
Psimon, just out of curiosity, have you actually bought any of Daves Cygnus parts in the white plastic. Contrary to what you think, they're not that bad at all. I didn't find any roughness that would terribly affect the finished result in any way and as Jeff says, they DO need to be flexible to fit together properly. I recommend buying one piece first(if you haven't already) and checking it out. After all, whos going to put a gloss finish on this one?
psimon
Well-Known Member
Psimon, just out of curiosity, have you actually bought any of Daves Cygnus parts in the white plastic. Contrary to what you think, they're not that bad at all. I didn't find any roughness that would terribly affect the finished result in any way and as Jeff says, they DO need to be flexible to fit together properly. I recommend buying one piece first(if you haven't already) and checking it out. After all, whos going to put a gloss finish on this one?
32buds, Thanks for your input. I was just going by Nwerke's latest image post. The beams look very bumpy when viewed up close. I agree that in the finished model this may not be so noticeable but if I had the option to work with something a little more detailed like the 'frosted detail' prints, I would rather go with that. I am currently inquiring to SW if they will print these parts in 'frosted detail' and if so I will buy a test piece and play with it to see it's limitations. I will also buy one of the regular pieces to see first hand what it is like.
psimon
Well-Known Member
So what are some of you planning to do for the lit portions of your Cygnus? For my MPC model kit I started to make stickers to replace the lit scaffolding structures. I am thinking I may try this with this kit instead of just painting the clear acrylic some shade of yellow although I may use greyscale and yellow LEDs.
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Re: 1/700 & 1/350 scale BH Cygnus builds
Darth Ronnow, well spotted. It's a good bit less costly than many Datamancer keyboards though. Present to myself after we got out of debt, I think I posted some bragging pics somewhere here when it arrived.
psimon, IMO the guys are right - like I said above, "the slightly rough texture actually works *for* this ship, considering you can't really over-weather it". It is a CRUSTY old ghost ship, haha - the original models were literally weathered with chemicals on bare metal, far as I can tell. They weren't *painted* green - that was real verdigris!
The other consideration is strength and the limitations of the processes used for the different materials. The SWF material is laser-sintered powder using a nylon base plastic which makes the fragile cage structures practical and the technology doesn't require support material. In the UD and FUD processes, support material *is* required, and has to be hand-washed away. It would be difficult to remove from such fine structures without damage. That's why it is a lot more expensive and why the design rules for those materials are different - some things that work in WSF just can't work in UD and FUD.
Cheers,
Martyn
- - - Updated - - -
PS had a GINORMOUS box arrive this morning.
Darth Ronnow, well spotted. It's a good bit less costly than many Datamancer keyboards though. Present to myself after we got out of debt, I think I posted some bragging pics somewhere here when it arrived.
psimon, IMO the guys are right - like I said above, "the slightly rough texture actually works *for* this ship, considering you can't really over-weather it". It is a CRUSTY old ghost ship, haha - the original models were literally weathered with chemicals on bare metal, far as I can tell. They weren't *painted* green - that was real verdigris!
The other consideration is strength and the limitations of the processes used for the different materials. The SWF material is laser-sintered powder using a nylon base plastic which makes the fragile cage structures practical and the technology doesn't require support material. In the UD and FUD processes, support material *is* required, and has to be hand-washed away. It would be difficult to remove from such fine structures without damage. That's why it is a lot more expensive and why the design rules for those materials are different - some things that work in WSF just can't work in UD and FUD.
Cheers,
Martyn
- - - Updated - - -
PS had a GINORMOUS box arrive this morning.
Frankpr01
New Member
Re: 1/700 & 1/350 scale BH Cygnus builds
he he he...I received mine as well...so spectacular the details! But SW did not send all..they cancelled part of the order :-( they say it was "unprintable". So mad at them. That is something I wish they would improve, their customer complaint resolution process is just disappointing.
he he he...I received mine as well...so spectacular the details! But SW did not send all..they cancelled part of the order :-( they say it was "unprintable". So mad at them. That is something I wish they would improve, their customer complaint resolution process is just disappointing.
psimon
Well-Known Member
Re: 1/700 & 1/350 scale BH Cygnus builds
Thanks again for your input Martyn. Based on your and other's feedback I am ready to buy all the parts except I now see Frankpr01's post aboutsome parts not being able to print. It's mind boggling that they approved all the parts at one point and now it's hundreds of dollars for an incomplete kit. I've not seen Dave on here in a while but I hope he can look into what's going on with SW.
Thanks again for your input Martyn. Based on your and other's feedback I am ready to buy all the parts except I now see Frankpr01's post aboutsome parts not being able to print. It's mind boggling that they approved all the parts at one point and now it's hundreds of dollars for an incomplete kit. I've not seen Dave on here in a while but I hope he can look into what's going on with SW.
psimon
Well-Known Member
Re: 1/700 & 1/350 scale BH Cygnus builds
Sorry to hear this Frankpr01 and thanks for the heads up. Can you provide a list of the parts that are missing/unprintable? Hopefully Dave can work with them again to get this issue resolved. I feel bad for him that he did all this work and SW approved everything and now they say some parts can't be printed.
Sorry to hear this Frankpr01 and thanks for the heads up. Can you provide a list of the parts that are missing/unprintable? Hopefully Dave can work with them again to get this issue resolved. I feel bad for him that he did all this work and SW approved everything and now they say some parts can't be printed.
Oh it's crazy. They will change their own rules and deem a part that has printed before PERFECTLY as unable to print. They explained that one by saying 'well we didn't enforce our rules strictly before, now we do'...but it was a clear change to the minimum part diameter. And if the piece has DEMONSTRABLY been printable in the past, why isn't it now? At least the much-hated 'first to try' feature may prevent that kind of BS in the future, but again, since it's their own rule, they'll just change it. The problem seems to be that the company isn't run by anyone with much idea of customer service. The CS staff actually really try hard, but the company itself pulls the rug out from under their feet.
psimon
Well-Known Member
It's possible there are some parts that may be 'difficult' to print in that 1 out of 4 or 5 prints actually work and the rest is wasted time and material that they have to eat. Either way it is unfortunate if this project fails. I haven't placed my order yet and I will be kicking myself forever if I miss out on this kit.
I did notice Dave updated the store recently by renaming some parts and offering some parts in black plastic (YAY!). Once again I hope he can work with SW to get these printing issues resolved and I hope he also makes the rest of the parts in black. I am itching to go but I will wait for him to ring in and say the issues are resolved!
