Firefox MIG-31 movie aircraft

Got a bit ahead of myself, knew I had to fix a few little things that would be an issue at 1/48th and fix a few bugs (one really hard to find) to get the part watertight. Also had to add the stand fixing and internal supports so it hangs together while printing. I had to do this part in different software as it handles merging/intersecting STL's much better than Sketchup, and I had used it a small amount but realised I was still on that initial steep learning curve.

However the good news is I am essentially on holiday this week so once I get back from a small errand I can finish the supports and get it printing, it is going to take nearly a day to print, so really want to get it right first time!
 
So after spending around an hour setting up the print job and adjusting supports just so, realised I had forgot to integrate two underside greeblies into the model, AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!

After that and then a software crash - note to self DO NOT have one of the slice images open when the slicing completes as it makes it crash.

So, It's nearly 4am, but the print has been running for about 2 hours and looks ok, so hopefully I haven't make any stupid mistakes in editing the supports and when I get up there will be about 1/4 of a Firefox to take a picture of.
 
Pic of what the part looks like in the slicing software, so you can tell what you are looking at ;) The software somehow estimates the print time at around 3.12 hours!?! Think that might just be a bug, lol.

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All going well by the look of it, the resin is quite viscous so hangs on around the support joints and the panel lines, you can makes some of them out in the pics.

Looks like it will finish around 2am, so around a 24 hour print time. It's actually comparable with the time of an FDM print considering it's 50 micron layers, around 27 seconds a layer.

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Oh and a pic that shows the other side of the print, tricky bit will be the really thin probe parts on the tailplanes, if they get messed up I will cut them off and print separately.
 
That's looking pretty good so far. Crazy colour though...:)
I don't know, a banana coloured Firefox would be unique though!
 
That's looking pretty good so far. Crazy colour though...:)
I don't know, a banana coloured Firefox would be unique though!

How dare you insult the colour of my resin ;) they call it cream, it does look banana yellow with the flash, still a bit more interesting than grey...

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Emerging from the ooze, going well, hard to see but the small vent detail on the top of the engines intakes and the airbrakes on the wings look good. Also the super thin probe parts on the tailplanes are good at just over 1mm wide, bodes well for the canopy struts printing ok.

I left the intake vanes out as they are 0.5mm thick correct scale which I don't think would work. If 1mm plastic looks ok then I will add them to the next print.
 
Oh yes, that's looking good.
As for the intake vanes, what about some thin brass sheet? How many vanes are in each engine intake? Each modeller could supply his own- just a thought...
 
I had thought about brass, there are two per intake - 8 plus one small one at the front. Would be easy photoetch artwork to make, they are small only 20mm tall. At a quick estimate around 8 kits per standard sheet size, so wouldn't add much to the cost.
 
Part printed ok apart from the last bit. I thought it was a gamble as when a part of the print closes it can trap air and the oxygen inhibits the curing, thought the area would be small enough not to matter, bugger.

Cleanup was fun as it was too big to fit in any of the containers I have, so had to do it the hard way and bath it with IPA with a brush.

I feel in a glass half full mood because it's not completely ok, but it's like 95%+ perfect and just changing the print should stop it from happening, have a couple of ideas to try.

The part is sunbathing at the moment, will post pics later when it's cured.
 
Better late than never, went to my Dad's for dinner last night and watched The Departed, maybe 5th time for me 1st time for my Dad. He enjoyed it apart from having trouble understanding the Boston accent :)

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Print actually took nearly 30 hours at 50 micron layers. Haven't done any cleanup yet,intakes need flattening where there is excess from the support points. All the tiny details came out great, quite surprised about the tiny little points off the top of the tailplanes, the little fin bits next to them are missing about 50% they were just too thin, about 0.25mm, little bit thicker should fix that. Airbrakes on the wings are slightly soft, but I'm being super picky there.

Have worked out that the slightly thick thin effect (slight band across the wing and near the exhausts) happens when there is an outer shell and inner shell with a void in-between. I'm guessing the resin either swells or contacts when it's curing, so need to fill those parts and possibly thicken the shell overall. Pretty sure the split behind the tailplalne is from a similar effect, think if I taper the inside so the last part prints solid should fix that. The small under engine parts will have to be printed as a separate pieces I think with an optimised orientation.

Will be quite an easy kit as that's about 50% of the plane in one piece. Working on organising the front print, can hopefully fit all the other parts into the same print job.
 
That's looking very sharp - can't wait to see how the all-important nose prints up. While you're waiting for the machine to do it's thing why not post up a gallery of those oh so sexy renders you do so well? ;)
 
Hi guys, had a commission for two, yes two! 1/18th scale birds, the larger size actually lets me see that I did finally get the neck shaping right much easier than at 1/24th scale.
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So my first complete ones will be 1/18th, bigger is always better, eh ladies, ahem...

Have changed the Z drive on my big printer since these as I was still getting uneven banding, most noticeable the neck part around the canard cut out near the top of travel. Could not get a good alignment of the motor to threaded spindle, think the coupler was causing an off centre fit, the wobble causes a stretch/squish layer banding. So with the fixed spindle motor out my older printer and a bit of adaptor metalwork should now have a perfect 0.04mm increment stepping Z drive, there is a neck part printing now which looks good.

Have not given up on the 1/48th scale version, just going to get these out the way first, print time is around a week and a half for each one.
 
Hi guys, had a commission for two, yes two! 1/18th scale birds, the larger size actually lets me see that I did finally get the neck shaping right much easier than at 1/24th scale.
View attachment 846898
View attachment 846899
View attachment 846900
So my first complete ones will be 1/18th, bigger is always better, eh ladies, ahem...

Have changed the Z drive on my big printer since these as I was still getting uneven banding, most noticeable the neck part around the canard cut out near the top of travel. Could not get a good alignment of the motor to threaded spindle, think the coupler was causing an off centre fit, the wobble causes a stretch/squish layer banding. So with the fixed spindle motor out my older printer and a bit of adaptor metalwork should now have a perfect 0.04mm increment stepping Z drive, there is a neck part printing now which looks good.

Have not given up on the 1/48th scale version, just going to get these out the way first, print time is around a week and a half for each one.
That is awesome! Two foot long- how long overall then? At least another two?


Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
 
I haven't been following this thread because I always thought that it was a smaller build, even though I do love the aircraft. I had no idea that the work progressed this much and even became larger. Great work.

TazMan2000
 

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