How's it going. Keen to see more!
My SS TIE Fighter
- Thread starter swgeek
- Start date
Slooooowwwly!
I haven't had a lot of spare time lately. I'm trying to fix some parts that were off and driving me nuts. Now I'm not sure if it was better before the "fix". Trying to work on it every day, a little here and there. I'll try to get more done soon.
I haven't had a lot of spare time lately. I'm trying to fix some parts that were off and driving me nuts. Now I'm not sure if it was better before the "fix". Trying to work on it every day, a little here and there. I'll try to get more done soon.
Swgeek.
I have another question about how you cut your spheres. I understand how you cut you the openings on the top of the 2-5.25 balls, but how did you cut away the openings along the balls seam, where the 2 mate together? Did you cut them one at a time, or mount it into your gig again (that gig only held 1 half of a sphere)?
Also, how did you plot out and cut the armatures holes? By hand with a Demel, or on your mill/lathe? Thanks so much. And again, great build.
-emojo5
I have another question about how you cut your spheres. I understand how you cut you the openings on the top of the 2-5.25 balls, but how did you cut away the openings along the balls seam, where the 2 mate together? Did you cut them one at a time, or mount it into your gig again (that gig only held 1 half of a sphere)?
Also, how did you plot out and cut the armatures holes? By hand with a Demel, or on your mill/lathe? Thanks so much. And again, great build.
-emojo5
Well to answer your question it's both. I did reuse the jig, but I altered it to mount vertically. I did use a dremel for the small holes where the pylon passes through. I knew those holes would eventually be covered up so they didn't have to be perfect. The bigger holes I did on the mill (which isn't my mill, I wish I had one, I have access to a few mills and lathes at work) one at a time.
The one thing I didn't include in the picture is the sacrificial brace I used on the right side. I found out the hard way that if I didn't brace the acrylic it would vibrate, catch and explode.
The one thing I didn't include in the picture is the sacrificial brace I used on the right side. I found out the hard way that if I didn't brace the acrylic it would vibrate, catch and explode.
Yes. That’s what I was thinking. Thanks so much for sharing this shot. Very, very helpful. Not sure what you mean about “the sacrificial brace I used on the right side”, but I can use this photo to help with my sphere cutting. Awesome work SWGeek. Thanks so much again. Be well.
-emojo5/Ed
-emojo5/Ed
Exploding acrylic...yeah; I can relateLooking very clean so far
Thanks!
The first time scared the crap out of me. And the second time.
Thank you.
I just mean I clamped a piece of mdf against the right side of the acrylic where I was cutting so it wouldn't vibrate. I used mdf so that if and when I hit it with the milling bit it wouldn't damage anything.
SWGeek.
Thanks for the info. Very helpful. Just one last question about your sphere construction. Just love your approach, by the way.
So what height did you arrive at after your milled off the top? I’m asking about 1-half sphere. Jason Eaton has stated that his research of casting came in at 5.25 for the hero ball size. Plastruct half-sphere would be 2.625 tall, right? Let’s go with that.
My research has the upper and lower domes/hatches (not the spheres) at approx. 3.125 in diameter (7.9mm), and I have arrived at 0.574 tall (14.6mm) That’s based on a original casting I was able to throw a caliber on. So a half the sphere size is 5.25 x 2.625, and we mill/remove 0.574 off the top, we should be left with approx. 2.05 left or 50.8mm.
Did you arrive anywhere near that number. Or am I totally off on my calculations. Thanks.
-emojo5
Thanks for the info. Very helpful. Just one last question about your sphere construction. Just love your approach, by the way.
So what height did you arrive at after your milled off the top? I’m asking about 1-half sphere. Jason Eaton has stated that his research of casting came in at 5.25 for the hero ball size. Plastruct half-sphere would be 2.625 tall, right? Let’s go with that.
My research has the upper and lower domes/hatches (not the spheres) at approx. 3.125 in diameter (7.9mm), and I have arrived at 0.574 tall (14.6mm) That’s based on a original casting I was able to throw a caliber on. So a half the sphere size is 5.25 x 2.625, and we mill/remove 0.574 off the top, we should be left with approx. 2.05 left or 50.8mm.
Did you arrive anywhere near that number. Or am I totally off on my calculations. Thanks.
-emojo5
Ask away, I'm happy to answer anything I can.
I don't know how tall one of my hemispheres is. I'll measure it when I get home. I wasn't going for height, I just knew that the top hatch was 3.1398" dia according to Gene, who had measured an actual ANH TIE Fighter top hatch. So I just milled it down until I had a top dia that was slightly less than the top hatch dimension.
I don't know how tall one of my hemispheres is. I'll measure it when I get home. I wasn't going for height, I just knew that the top hatch was 3.1398" dia according to Gene, who had measured an actual ANH TIE Fighter top hatch. So I just milled it down until I had a top dia that was slightly less than the top hatch dimension.
That’s great news. Thanks so much for checking on that for me. My math checks out.
So you know Gene? Are you in L.A.?
-emojo5
So finally more progress.
I got the bottom hatch/pylon cover done today.
This is the cover under construction.
I design/scale my parts in Adobe Illustrator and then print them out on paper to check scale and alignment. You'll see a number 10 on the top of the two plating pieces, that's attempt number 10 at getting the right shape and size. Things always shift a bit going from 2D to the 3D real world. It took me 16 attempts to get the plates "right". Lots of little adjustments and still more fine tuning when I got the actual parts cut out.
Next is more construction, this time with the real parts.
And finally the finished product. The little white spots are where the paint built up in the drill spots, so I redrilled them after the primer.
I got the bottom hatch/pylon cover done today.
This is the cover under construction.
I design/scale my parts in Adobe Illustrator and then print them out on paper to check scale and alignment. You'll see a number 10 on the top of the two plating pieces, that's attempt number 10 at getting the right shape and size. Things always shift a bit going from 2D to the 3D real world. It took me 16 attempts to get the plates "right". Lots of little adjustments and still more fine tuning when I got the actual parts cut out.
Next is more construction, this time with the real parts.
And finally the finished product. The little white spots are where the paint built up in the drill spots, so I redrilled them after the primer.
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Looks great!
