Yes, it's obviously the really nice work in your posts above that motivated me to try. We'll see how this turns out over the next couple weeks as I go through all the steps. I'll keep this updated with progress, good and/or bad...
Dan
Koolshade alternative?
- Thread starter Ghastlyjeff
- Start date
Yes, it's obviously the really nice work in your posts above that motivated me to try. We'll see how this turns out over the next couple weeks as I go through all the steps. I'll keep this updated with progress, good and/or bad...
Dan
Matte Painter
Active Member
This is great! Would you ever sell or make available the digital files? Modo is fine, that's my weapon of choice too
I promised progress reports, both good and bad. This one is both good and bad.
Good: first full print of an 18x24 cm section of the necessary size to fit the TIE wing stars is done. Beautiful stuff!
Bad: the print developed a tear right about half way into the process.
While it was printing I was thinking that maybe I could 'tuck' it back in after washing but before UV curing, while the resin is still a bit soft. But unfortunately that's just not possible in this case. One alternative to printing the whole thing again might be to splice in a narrow cm-wide patch in that area and try to blend it in with a careful glue job, but I suspect that'd actually be harder than it sounds to achieve a good seamless fix. So I'm afraid it's looking like I'm off to another 28 hours of printing with perhaps some adjustments to the mesh and/or supports and bracing (I'm not sure of the origin of the flaw)...
Dan
Good: first full print of an 18x24 cm section of the necessary size to fit the TIE wing stars is done. Beautiful stuff!
Bad: the print developed a tear right about half way into the process.
While it was printing I was thinking that maybe I could 'tuck' it back in after washing but before UV curing, while the resin is still a bit soft. But unfortunately that's just not possible in this case. One alternative to printing the whole thing again might be to splice in a narrow cm-wide patch in that area and try to blend it in with a careful glue job, but I suspect that'd actually be harder than it sounds to achieve a good seamless fix. So I'm afraid it's looking like I'm off to another 28 hours of printing with perhaps some adjustments to the mesh and/or supports and bracing (I'm not sure of the origin of the flaw)...
Dan
jessemoody
New Member
Hey man. Beautiful work. I have a phenom massive L and if you are open to sharing the files I'd love to give it a run on the printer.
I've also been playing with different resins and I might be able to make a print that isn't as fragile.
Another update, all good this time.
While re-printing the file in order to make the section to splice to the previous print to make the full-size mold master I saw that it had progressed past the point where the mesh tore the last time. So, I just let it continue printing just in case...
Yay! It all printed flawlessly this time - one continuous 18x24 cm piece (I ran low on white resin about half way into the print and had to add gray resin, hence the color shift). So this piece when affixed flat to the splitter board will be my mold master.
The original test print of a smaller section looks convincing enough for TIE wing material:
Here's another 3D test print:
"What's so special about that?" you may ask.
Solid-backed Koolshade replica is fine (and, indeed, even helpful) for TIE wings, but just won't do for those Falcon engine vents... ;-)
Dan
While re-printing the file in order to make the section to splice to the previous print to make the full-size mold master I saw that it had progressed past the point where the mesh tore the last time. So, I just let it continue printing just in case...
Yay! It all printed flawlessly this time - one continuous 18x24 cm piece (I ran low on white resin about half way into the print and had to add gray resin, hence the color shift). So this piece when affixed flat to the splitter board will be my mold master.
The original test print of a smaller section looks convincing enough for TIE wing material:
Here's another 3D test print:
"What's so special about that?" you may ask.
Solid-backed Koolshade replica is fine (and, indeed, even helpful) for TIE wings, but just won't do for those Falcon engine vents... ;-)
Dan
Nice work, Dan. Looks like a tough one to mold up but I'm sure you can do it! Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Thanks!
So far, for at least that small a test print, it's fairly flexible and forgiving. I haven't tried to cut it and I imagine that a section with about 4 times the area - enough to cover one 5-footer Falcon engine vent - might require a bit of care. But this one test piece suggests that it is entirely feasible to consider making Falcon vents this way...
Dan
Voodoocaster
Well-Known Member
Could you design and print the koolshade with deeper louvres.and twisted wire ,say twice as deep, and sand/shave off the backside of the printed material until the material becomes see through?
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I wonder if all that sanding would be rougher on the print than simply working carefully with the to-scale stuff to begin with. It's a plausible idea though, for sure.
Voodoocaster
Well-Known Member
Nice mould!
Am i correct if i state that if you pour the resin level with the top of the louvres ,...the resin cast will be a see through louvre?
Am i correct if i state that if you pour the resin level with the top of the louvres ,...the resin cast will be a see through louvre?
Thanks! Yes, I suppose if I were to pour just that right amount and then lightly 'squeegee' the resin right to the level of the louvres that that might work. I'm sure the reality is that it would still require sanding back to remove the inevitable flashing but it might be worth the experiment after I'm done with my backed version I need. Now that I know that I can simply print the non-backed version straight from the printer I think that's actually the more accurate way to go for small sections.
My plan is to make a few more molds as well so that I can cast in parallel...
Dan
johnpolacchi
New Member
I know this is an older, possibly ongoing subject that hasn't been commented on in in a while, but next to 3d printing, has anyone attempted to have Kool Shade replicated in photo etch, or is that more complicated/expensive than 3d printing it?
JimmyB
Member
I've been pondering that for a 1/32 Andor TIE. The etching would probably be very straightforward using brass shim, but the folding/bending of the slats at the correct angle at small scale and for so many rows would need a very fine tuned jig which I've wondered about making from triangular cross section plastic rods, but I'm not sure I could find those at a small enough gauge.
Another option is to cut thin slats from brass shim, and use CA to fix them into grooves that have been scored into styrene sheet using a conical scriber to get an angle in the grooves. A jig would be needed to score the grooves to a consistent depth and spacing. Imperfections in setting the brass slats wouldn't be an issue for me as the Andor TIE Kool Shade seems imperfect and heavily weathered anyway, like original studio models. I was thinking of using lead wire to create the vertical struts.
Edit:
One way could be to overlap thicker sheet styrene strips instead, like overlapped wood board sidings or fences. Narrower strips would result in a larger angle, and wider strips a shallower angle.
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johnpolacchi
New Member
There are parts(anatomy) of Kool Shade that I don't have enough information on to really know how it all fits and goes together. I have a 1"x1" square piece of the original Kool Shade and it's really not enough for me to get a complete picture of how everything fits together.I think the slats photo etched is easy enough and straight forward enough and I think a jig can be made by a good machinist and then a softer version cast from the machined jig that would be gentler than one machine in aluminum. It would be photo etched out of extremely thin
brass .005 to .010 or less? I'm not sure how thin the material is? The nice part about sheets of it being photo etched is you can make them any size really by the size of the jig, but I think the brass could be anodized black like the original Kool Shade rather than trying to rely on matching it with the right sheen of black paint.
