Joining the 32" Falcon club

Hi, Joe White! :) I just found this thread. I guess it was the recent bump, but I am glad I did. I sent you a PM to request the drawing you did for the parts template. I am really busy on another model, right now, but I plan to join the WTF group in about a month. I don't have 2K for the donors, so I am planning to scratch-build every square mm. It ought to be a lot of fun. :) Since your back, I hope to see some more progress, soon! Take care.
 
Looking good!!

You have me motivated to dust off mine!!
here she is!!

falcon2rs.jpg


Yep. She has landing gear.

falcon1d.jpg
 
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Wow, thanks guys! Ben, I sent ya those files. Can't wait to see your jump into this model.

Frank, wow man, that looks awesome! I always wish you guys wouldn't paint them. :) They look so cool with all the exposed kit parts and material!

I actually pulled the laser cut panels out and started playing with them. I plan on starting by tacking on the greeblies to the 1" side wall strips to start testing the length and size of my cutouts. Should be fun.

Joe
 
Joe...test those sidewalls soon as that's almost where I am! :lol I can honestly say that those drawings are a HUGE help! So THANK YOU!!

You had mentioned in an email about working on the docking tunnel side walls...you still wanna do that?

Going to try and get a bunch of progress accomplished on mine this weekend and hopefully start a thread.

When are you going to post some pics? Not rushing you by any means! :popcorn

Dave
 
You're welcome, Dave! I want to pick up where I left off but first I need to get through the next two weeks. I've got a pile of things coming up at work.
Once those things are done, I will break out the strips and show where I am at.

Joe
 
joewhite said:
You're welcome, Dave! I want to pick up where I left off but first I need to get through the next two weeks. I've got a pile of things coming up at work.
Once those things are done, I will break out the strips and show where I am at.

Joe
Click to expand...

Work...yeah, I know what THAT is! Trying to get in as much building as I can before I get insanely busy again. Nothing like not having a day off for about 4 months.

Just PM me or shoot me an email if/when you want to work on some of this pattern stuff! I might play around in the meantime.
Dave
 
Frank, thanks for returning the motivation to dust off this project. Not much to look at still but here's what I did the last two days. Luckily my plate is less full these days....hopefully for a good while. I don't have room in my current house and may have to build a carrying case for this as well due to me having to move every few years (military). Nevertheless, I got the itch to continue with this so here is my recent progress.

Here are most of the parts for the basic body. About 70 parts will make it up NOT including the 1-inch sidewalls and inner support located in the middle of the pic. Not pictured are the mandibles and the 1-inch square and round aluminum tubing that will make up the armature. These parts alone have already given me an idea of how much this thing could potentially weigh! I'm shooting for under 25 pounds if I can help it!

IMG_20130214_184319_zps77cc08f0.jpg


Here you can see the way I designed the hex tunnel boxes. The increasing side angles on the three ribs follows the curve of the hull. I calculated the crap out of this area! Hopefully it'll save me time like I envisioned and not bite me in the butt!

IMG_20130214_184304_zps01aeec7f.jpg


Again, not much. However, between Frank's last pic and his comment about how most builders stop after the drawing phase, a fire has been lit under my ***. Let's see how long it stays lit, job permitting! :lol

Joe
 
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Can someone recommend a program for the following? I want to draw the dome hull in a 3d program using the drawings I have been working on. Ultimately, I would like to be able to flatten the drawing so I can have a template that I can cut out and transfer onto the ribs. I know the curvature brings some complications....maybe it can't be done, I don't know. But if anyone knows something that might work, please let me know, I will learn it. I have Autocad, which I sorta mess with, and Rhino, which I just got. Any ideas?

Joe
 
Hey, Joe, try sending Nwerke a PM, maybe he knows a way to flatten it in Rhino, which he is using as well.

I don't understand either how others do the hull using the simple rib and cover method. The way I see it - theoretically, with that method it should end up looking like an umbrella. And put in more ribs and it should become just a finer umbrella and still require sanding. But just look at Phil's build and that does not seem to be case. The problem didn't even arise, it seemed. I guess Phil's method of making rib pairs covered with a styrene strip really helped in preventing sag. Still, for the styrene sheet cover to bend both crosswise and lengthwise at the same time to form a clean dome is really strange but I suppose it just works.
 
Here Joe, This is the biggest part of the top dome unrolled from your .AI profile drawings. I Had to make them water tight by joining the nodes but other than that it's your original drawing. See if you can use it.
 
3d-builder said:
Shoot I wouldn't know that's where I spend the least
amount of time!:lol
Click to expand...

I can tell! You build them speeders up so fast and they look perfect!



crackerjazz said:
Hey, Joe, try sending Nwerke a PM, maybe he knows a way to flatten it in Rhino, which he is using as well.

I don't understand either how others do the hull using the simple rib and cover method.
Click to expand...

Thanks, CJ! I was guessing that the .040" sheeting for the hull is just strong enough not too sag. However, I know JB was having sagging problems on his recently.



dsp5500 said:
Here Joe, This is the biggest part of the top dome unrolled from your .AI profile drawings. I Had to make them water tight by joining the nodes but other than that it's your original drawing. See if you can use it.
Click to expand...

DSP, dude you rock! Also, thanks for the nudging me towards Rhino! I was going insane with AutoCAD. I do like it but I just haven't taken the time to figure it out. I like Rhino so far.

I'm still gonna figure out how to flatten the drawing like that but thank you so much for this! I won't pretend that I'll have success the first time.....I may eventually have to do pie slices as well.

BTW, we were discussing whether or not ILM might have vac-formed the hull. I'm looking for good shots of the hole in the hull underneath the port side blast marks. Has anyone noticed ribbing underneath? From what I can tell, Maruska was correct in stating that somewhere around .040" was used for the hull sheeting. If sagging is a common problem, the lack of ribs in that section of the ILM bird would also have been a problem. Unless they post-cut that hole and also took sections of the ribs with it?

Joe
 
I guessing it was vacuum formed Acrylic, like they used on the larger 5 footer.

I didn't have a vacuum former that big, and I had Tim helping me, so I did it his way.

I have a picture of the falcon with the rear engine plate off, and they are PULLING the rear quarter panel detail sets out from the hull. Yes, they were removable, and you only see about 70 % of them when they are installed.

Im not doing a "naner naner"
It's just not my pic, but if I get permission to post it I will.

I can at least provide the info in conveys for now.
 
Oh, and here is a pretty good shot of that blast mark hole from Shadowman's thread.

EDIT: And coincidentally, you can also see the bottom of the rear-starboard pit hole Ease is working on through the engine panel hole.

ease.jpg
 
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Hello Joe, I always dream to build my falcon also, if it's still possible to get your file I will be very grateful

Thank you for your enthusiastic post :thumbsup
 
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