JimmyB
Member
Last edited:
5' Falcon base hull building
- Thread starter RealDaveWinter
- Start date
Necronaut
Active Member
I’ve also seen petroleum jelly + naphtha or campstove fuel brushes on as a lube. I’ll try that later this month.
Well, a bit of a milestone for the build tonight. All of the primary structural components have been printed, and in some cases, port and starboard halves have been glued together. I did not really appreciate how large this was going to be until I laid everything out like this. Obviously this isn't assembled but it still takes up 1/3rd of my workshop just sitting on the floor. It's also going to be a lot heavier than I'd hoped. Even with as much lightening as I could manage, and still have it hold its shape, it's going to be very heavy. I probably could have made that central hub lighter, but it has to carry a lot of weight so I tried to find that balance of weight vs strength. It does look a little flimsy, but like the skin of a stressed-skin aircraft, the ABS domes will provide a lot of structural support. Or at least, that's the idea.
The light grey parts are to support the aluminum tubes that hold the mandibles on.
The central hub also has 8 magnets around the perimeter, 4 top, 4 bottom, that are used to lock the top and bottom gun platforms in place.
For those that would like to have a go at this frame, you can grab all the STL's from here -> 5' Falcon Frame
The light grey parts are to support the aluminum tubes that hold the mandibles on.
The central hub also has 8 magnets around the perimeter, 4 top, 4 bottom, that are used to lock the top and bottom gun platforms in place.
For those that would like to have a go at this frame, you can grab all the STL's from here -> 5' Falcon Frame
Very kind of you to share your files.
The hub is a critical core component in the design. Your overbuilt attention will pay off. Applying skin (and then armor plates) will indeed work with the internal ribs to strengthen the entire disc and outer rim. Your also have airlocks, pilot tube & jaw boxes that act as external ribs. The Falcon is a covered “wagon wheel.”
Current work in progress on the port side docking port. Still missing two kits (the Tamiya Sherman and Bulldog) and the HO Brick. I'm attending the country's largest hobby show and swap meet this weekend, so I should be able to pick up a few of the missing donor kits from there. The HO Brick will still be a challenge, but I've created a 3D model of that material based on photos. If worse comes to worse, I will just print some and hope to find the real stuff in the future before I get to painting.
The parts here are either correct donor parts or I've cast them from donor parts.
The parts here are either correct donor parts or I've cast them from donor parts.
My take on the HO Brick 101. I've only seen a couple of photos of this mythical stuff and I'm sure the vacuformed plastic wasn't this perfectly uniform, but like I said, until I find this particular unicorn out in the wild, this will have to make due.
Beautiful work all around.
The first test print, I used ABS resin so the final print is more flexible, like the original vacuformed plastic. This piece is 1.5" x 3" and about 0.5mm thick. I think the brick pattern should stand out more though. Maybe it's too thin? (I don't know how thick the real stuff is)
t2sides
Master Member
Dave,
Your approach on this project has been really fun to watch - so many different ways folks are approaching this project!
Was curious on your central core picture in post #143 above. Do you have enough room/clearance to put in the 'pit' under the Turret Window? Is the opening on the back side of that pic?
IIRC, you need around 2.6" depth below the turret with a diameter a little bigger than the window in order to fit in the kit parts in there. Or are you not going to recreate that part of the original?
Keep up the good work - gonna be another great buildup!
Your approach on this project has been really fun to watch - so many different ways folks are approaching this project!
Was curious on your central core picture in post #143 above. Do you have enough room/clearance to put in the 'pit' under the Turret Window? Is the opening on the back side of that pic?
IIRC, you need around 2.6" depth below the turret with a diameter a little bigger than the window in order to fit in the kit parts in there. Or are you not going to recreate that part of the original?
Keep up the good work - gonna be another great buildup!
Yeah, there's room there for the interior, but if worse comes to worse, I can always just re-print parts if there are mistakes. There are opening all around it to accommodate wires for lighting.
It's the brick size. Nobody else, that I'm aware of, makes an HO scale brick sheet with bricks the same size. The reality is that you could use another manufactures sheet and 99.99% of the people looking at your build will never be able to tell the difference, but there's always that one dude that shows up with reference photos....
The H&R is indeed .5mm
and while I'm at it, I'm getting 2.1x.9mm for a single brick. Given possible error on my part or of my cheap calipers, round numbers of 2x1 would do.
As for "standing out more", the real thing does have a certain look of bumpiness about it. I imagine it's because of roundness at brick edges due to vacuforming (or pressing?). Maybe if you designed in a teeny tiny chamfer?
...if you bother with microscopic-level duplication, of course. Yours looks great!
and while I'm at it, I'm getting 2.1x.9mm for a single brick. Given possible error on my part or of my cheap calipers, round numbers of 2x1 would do.
As for "standing out more", the real thing does have a certain look of bumpiness about it. I imagine it's because of roundness at brick edges due to vacuforming (or pressing?). Maybe if you designed in a teeny tiny chamfer?
...if you bother with microscopic-level duplication, of course. Yours looks great!
Last edited:
Thanks! Elsewhere on this forum there's a photo of the brick with a ruler beside it, so I based my brick sizes on the number of individual bricks inside a 1.5" x 1.75" space. Not terribly accurate but now that I have proper numbers I can redo this model.
Last edited:
Oh Perfect! Thank you.
