"2001: A Space Odyssey" Discovery Build

In case any one is curious. There are a couple of other ways to smooth out a print.
You can use a product from Reynolds materials called XTC-3d.
http://www.reynoldsam.com/product/xtc-3d/
It's a two part epoxy that is self leveling. It's also not to thick so the details will still show up. You can sand it after wards if you want to.
You can also spray the model with Rust-oleum 2in1 prime.
Make sure the can says "Filler and Sandable" on the front. It's a primer that will help fill in the lines.
I've also used Gunze Sangyo Mr.Surfacer 500. Only problem with Mr.Surfacer is It can be hard to find sometimes
and the bottle is small so it would be impractical on a large scale models.
If you try any of these test it out and make sure it's doing what you want first.
Hope that helps some.

From my experience XTC-3D is literally just a slow cure two part epoxy. Probably a 30 minute work time. They charge $25 for it, when you can get basically the exact same thing from Bob Smith Industries for $8.

The XTC MAY be slightly thinner, but BSI can be thinned as much as you need it to be with some alcohol.
 
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Thanks for the 3D printing info.

If you ever want to add a cockpit or pod bay to your Discovery let me know. I can provide the models as .OBJ or .FBX or something like that. I don't know how well they have been modelled for 3D printing, but you are welcome to give them a try. Someone else here asked about some detail parts from my Millenium Falcon model and have to get that together for him as well. Been so busy lately.

Anyway, if you do want the parts, just PM me with an email address so I can drop box them for you.

Thanks...
Al
 
From my experience XTC-3D is literally just a slow cure two part epoxy. Probably a 30 minute work time. They charge $25 for it, when you can get basically the exact same thing from Bob Smith Industries for $8.

The XTC MAY be slightly thinner, but BSI can be thinned as much as you need it to be with some alcohol.


Cool, I did not know about Bob Smith Industries.
Are you talking about using the Finish-cure epoxy or the 30 minute Slow-cure Stuff?
Thanks for the info.
 
Cool, I did not know about Bob Smith Industries.
Are you talking about using the Finish-cure epoxy or the 30 minute Slow-cure Stuff?
Thanks for the info.


I've used 30 minute slow cure to smooth with good results WHEN Ive measured and mixed well. Other times it's taken it a LOOOOOONG time to set...but I'm pretty confident that it was a mistake I made while mixing. I'll post a picture of an item I used the epoxy to smooth when I get to my computer later.
 
Update for today...

I got another really good print on the cargo pods...this replaces the one that is still missing, presumably forever lost to the dimension that the cats keep their toys in.

I ordered an airbrush...and some other stuff.

The order consisted of:
Airbrush kit
Tamiya Acrylic Gray
Tamiya Acrylic White
Tamiya Thinner
Tamiya mixing jar
Airbrush cleaner
Kneadatite Green Stuff putty
Sculpting tool set

The sculpting tools and the Kneadatite will be used to fill the little gaps that I need to fill. The Tamiya paints I'll be trying to mix together to get a fairly light gray color.

It should all start arriving soon. I'm going to be painting the pieces before assembly where that's for the best, and then I will paint some of the pieces when they have been put together when that's for the best. For instance, the cargo pods will be painted separately before being assembled, but the drive section has already been assembled and will be painted that way, because there's no spots that the paint won't really be able to get to. The cargo pods, I feel, if assembled would be really difficult to get the undersides of them painted correctly, but when disassembled should be relatively easy to get painted.

I'm going to try to get at least two more sets of cargo pods printed tomorrow. I may also give that antenna array a go just to see how it prints, and to know if I'll need to order one or not.
 
I got my 1/4" pipe today. It is surprisingly rigid.

I had to drill out the holes in the parts very slightly in order to get them to fit on it...I think I went to 17/64, which gave me room to get them on there without forcing them at all. They should easily slide on then be held in place by the epoxy, so I'm not worried about them sliding once they're in place.
 
I printed one of the dish assemblies tonight. It came out...okay. It would look fine if I orient it in a way that the dishes themselves point towards the viewer of the model, but the backs of them are pretty rough. It's such a small piece that I think cleaning the supports from it would be VERY difficult.

I am going to try a couple of things.

First, I'm going to see how well I can cut it up on my computer and see if I can print it as separate pieces...the dishes as separate pieces, and the arms as one piece.

Second, I've bought one from Shapeways...so that will be shipping in about a week.

I WANT to do everything on the model myself, but if this part proves too troublesome I know I'll have the one from Shapeways here to use.
 
Here is a VERY loose look at the front of the Discovery. None of these pieces are hooked together or attached to the spine, they are just loosely fit on there...that is why the gap between the control module and the collar is so pronounced. When I snug those up by hand they are nice and flush...and when I glue them together it will be even more flush.

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joberg, you seem to be my "Go To" guy for information on the ship itself...I'm guessing that the dish assembly would be mounted in a way that it is pointing back to earth?? Meaning that it actually would have rotated as the ship orbited the planet, correct?? I ask because I'm able to get good prints of ONE SIDE of the dish array...the back looks great but the front looks meh, or the front looks great and the back looks meh. This is because of the supports that are needed to print this part. What I have done is taken the one where the back looks good and I've used some filler on the front to smooth it out, so that it should look quite a bit more passable. I am thinking that for my display I will just angle the front a bit away from where it would be viewed from, so as to kind of hide the fact that side isn't perfect...and as long as it works with the idea of the ship, then that will be fine as I have a display in mind that will take Jupiter into account.
mash3d here are a couple of pictures of a print that I did that has no post processing at all other than slow cure BSI epoxy brushed onto the entire thing.

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As you can see it does away with all of the print lines really well. This model ended up not getting finished, because one SMALL spot on the front didn't want to cure correctly. Again, I believe this to primarily be my own fault due to the way I was mixing the epoxy at the time. What didn't help was that in this area that wasn't curing right...it was curing VERRRRY slowly...my wife happened to pick it up to look at it and ended up leaving fingerprints in the area that wasn't quite cured yet. Of course, after quite some time this ended up actually curing (my guess is I didn't have quite enough hardener mixed into this tiny glob of epoxy and that glob ended up right in this spot) just fine...but the fingerprint had to be brushed out and the finished product isn't quite as nice as I would have hoped.

I ended up printing again, and this time finishing with filler and high fill primer. Lines are still noticeable in a few spots, and I could probably get them out with a bit more effort, but I have put the project on hold while the weather is cold outside. I may go back to it in the spring and finish it up.
 
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Thanks...I don't know if I can qualify as the go-to-guy, but I'll do my best:) In the movie the antenna is always pointed toward Earth. NASA techs who helped designed the models had it right!
 
@mash3d here are a couple of pictures of a print that I did that has no post processing at all other than slow cure BSI epoxy brushed onto the entire thing.

As you can see it does away with all of the print lines really well. This model ended up not getting finished, because one SMALL spot on the front didn't want to cure correctly. Again, I believe this to primarily be my own fault due to the way I was mixing the epoxy at the time. What didn't help was that in this area that wasn't curing right...it was curing VERRRRY slowly...my wife happened to pick it up to look at it and ended up leaving fingerprints in the area that wasn't quite cured yet. Of course, after quite some time this ended up actually curing (my guess is I didn't have quite enough hardener mixed into this tiny glob of epoxy and that glob ended up right in this spot) just fine...but the fingerprint had to be brushed out and the finished product isn't quite as nice as I would have hoped.

I ended up printing again, and this time finishing with filler and high fill primer. Lines are still noticeable in a few spots, and I could probably get them out with a bit more effort, but I have put the project on hold while the weather is cold outside. I may go back to it in the spring and finish it up.

Thanks for posting photos of the Alien Model. I managed to pick up some BSI 30 minute epoxy and some 20 minute Finish Cure.
I'm going to tinker with them this weekend.
I watched a few videos on the BSI site and they keep mentioning that the epoxy should not be applied below 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
They do mention using a heat gun to help cure the epoxy.
I've seen RC model builders use micro balloons added to epoxy to create a more sand-able filler.
I have some of that also I'll see if that helps any.

Your prints are coming out really well.
I don't think your going to have to do much to finish it off.
 
Thanks for posting photos of the Alien Model. I managed to pick up some BSI 30 minute epoxy and some 20 minute Finish Cure.
I'm going to tinker with them this weekend.
I watched a few videos on the BSI site and they keep mentioning that the epoxy should not be applied below 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
They do mention using a heat gun to help cure the epoxy.
I've seen RC model builders use micro balloons added to epoxy to create a more sand-able filler.
I have some of that also I'll see if that helps any.

Your prints are coming out really well.
I don't think your going to have to do much to finish it off.


Let me know how the Finish Curr works out...I've never used that at all.

I'm pretty happy with how the model looks so far. There are many small details that I think no matter what I did I would lose if trying to smooth things. I put some epoxy on top of one of the test cargo pods and it lost quite a bit of detail. I could try adding some alcohol to thin it, but I don't know if it would make any real difference.

As I've mentioned, when I started this project I knew that there would be some limitations due to the nature of printing, and I'm okay with that. The display plaque I plan on having made is going to mention it is a 3D printed model, and I personally think that makes it pretty cool!! I will have literally turned strings of plastic into an easily recognizable representation of an iconic sci-fi ship!




As an update, I got several more sets of cargo pods today. I've gotten these printed perfectly flat and have gotten the process of removing the "brim" that holds them in place down to a science!!

I also got some filler work done on the dish assembly. It looks much better now, but could use a bit more sanding. I still have the one from Shapeways on the way and I'm kind of torn...I'm guessing the Shapeways piece will look much nicer...they use SLS printers I believe...but is it worth using that piece or should I use my piece that might not look quite as good but was actually printed by me?
 
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Got some supplies in today!!!

I filled the gaps in the side of the drive that is finished. The green stuff was pretty easy to work with, and I THINK I did a pretty good job with it. It's funny, with the green stuff in there you can really see how large the gap on the one side was. With it filled, though, I think it'll work out just fine.
 
As the work I did with the Green Stuff cures, it's looking better and better. I had it pretty wet, because it said to keep it lubed up with water while using it, and that was making it look quite a bit more sloppy than it actually ended up being. I'm pretty happy with how it looks right now...I might give a couple more spots just a TAD bit more of it, and I've read that Green Stuff doesn't take to sanding the greatest, but I'll probably run my needle file over it a couple of times just to get it nice and completely level...if it leaves a few sanding marks I'm okay with that, as the texture will actually match the overall look of the print pretty well.

Currently printing the sixth set of cargo pods...I have one more set somewhere, but it's the missing set. After this, there are five more sets of cargo pods, the cargo pod/dish holder piece, and then all of the "nuts" that are used to hold everything in place with the cargo pods. After that, it will be on to painting and assembly...and possibly one more go at the command module with the .1mm resolution, just to see if it makes any actual difference in the overall look.
 
Just a quick update here guys, as I continue to finish off the printing of the cargo pods. I'll have eight of them done when the ones cooking right now are done, leaving me with three more to print...I have three days off this week, so I should easily be able to finish up with the parts that I have left to print.

I've got a plan of attack for the process of putting the model together. I'll be painting the underside of the pods with a brush, and probably the "nuts" that hold those pods together, simply because they aren't going to really be able to be seen when viewing the model, and it will make it easier for me to keep the parts that will end up having glue on them nice and clean so the glue sticks well. Then I'll be airbrushing all of the parts prior to assembly. The one thing I'm not really sure on right now is the rod itself...I'm not sure if I should attempt to paint it BEFORE sliding pieces onto it, or if I should wait and paint it AFTER parts are slid onto it. I'm leaning towards trying to figure out a good way to do it after, so that I don't end up trying to put any epoxy/glue on the parts of the rod that are painted. I actually found my one assembled cargo pod section, but it's been pretty banged up in it's time with the cats...so I'll just be using that for some measurements and such. I might, however, go at it with the airbrush just to see how well I can paint a set of them that's already assembled...if I can actually paint it while they're assembled, I can probably just assemble them all and paint them that way...but we'll see. Another option is to basically glue ONE of the cargo pods to the three "nuts," then slide that onto the rod...this would allow me to actually airbrush the rod while pieces are assembled on it, then glue the OTHER cargo pods to the nuts AFTER the rod and such are already assembled.

I don't think I'll have enough paint to do the whole thing right now...I'll order a couple more bottles, but seeing as I've never really used an airbrush I wanted to start really lightly.
@joberg, I remember you said that I'd want to paint the ship gray for it to be film accurate...I'm assuming it's a very light gray?? I have a light gray Tamiya color and a white Tamiya color, and I was planning on just kind of mixing them to get a very light gray that I would hope would be suitable for the finish.

Anyway...on to a few pictures...

This was my first ever attempt at Kneadatite, aka Green Stuff. It's not as bad as it looks...the one side was maybe like .5mm, and the other side is like 1mm or so. For some reason the picture makes it look like the gaps were bigger than they are. Along the rear, there's only the Green Stuff on the one side because elsewhere back there the epoxy actually did a good job of sealing the pieces all the way to the edge.

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This is the best print I've been able to get of the dish assembly. I'm not 100% happy with it, but once I get some paint on it I'll be able to tell for sure if it's a part I'm going to use or not. The back of it is pretty solid, but the front side isn't that great. There is a piece that goes in the center of the main dish, but I broke it off while trying to sand the filler out. I have it, so I can glue it back into place no problem. The part from Shapeways hasn't printed yet...but they also haven't contacted me to let me know that they can NOT print it, so I figure it's just in the queue to be printed.

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Do you guys think those dishes look bad? Or am I just being overly critical and trying to be too perfect on something that, due to it's nature, won't really ever be perfect? Sure, in the SLS world of Shapeways, everything comes out great...but in the world of FFF printers like mine, lines and marks are just part of the deal.

Finally, here are my cargo pods. There are seven sets here. I have a good reference image to tell me which ones need to be where when I actually go to assemble the full model, so they should end up being fairly screen accurate.

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I will say one thing about this build...I've learned a lot about printing. I've got hundreds of hours of prints on this printer, but some of these pieces have taught me some new things. For instance, I'd never really seen a purpose to the "brim" feature that puts a flat single layer of filament around a part...until doing these cargo pods. The brim feature keeps them flat with basically no warping at all...which makes a TON of difference when assembling them. This is something that I can use to go back and reprint a few things that I've printed in the past that I just kind of lived with the warping...for instance I've got this cool robot retro sci-fi clock that I printed, and his arms always had some warping so they never really looked as good as I had hoped they would...but now that I know about the brim and what it does, I can print those arms with brims around them and have them come out nice and flat.

I've also learned that in the next six months or so I WILL be upgrading to something with a heated bed...and if I can afford it, something that will do support printing from PLA glue, so that I can just wash a part in water to get rid of the supports. I will for sure be keeping this printer around, as it's great for lots of things, and with a model like this I could get a LOT more done if I printed pieces on two printers at once. I would also like something with a larger build volume...it possible, based on what I end up with, I may revisit this model at 150% scale to get it even bigger than it is...which would be awesome. One guy that finished one and posted it on the 'verse built one at 200% scale, so it's like 8 feet long...it's great!!!!

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm thinking by early Sunday morning I'll have all of my cargo pods printed...then just 30 of the 3x3 nuts, three of the 4x3 nuts, and the two final parts of the dish assembly setup and I'll be done printing. Those 33 nuts should go pretty quick...I can do 3 of them in like 15 minutes...so I'll just load up 9 or 12 of them at a time and get it done in just a few goes.


As a side note, I've been looking for things I'll move to next. I found a cool sentry gun from the movie "Oblivion," the flying drone sphere things, and I think I'd like to give that a go. Should be pretty slick.
 
I think the radar dish wont get better...but it's in line with the overall look that you have already. I feel that, if you make that piece "too perfect" it's going to clash with the others.
I'm sure that, at a bigger scale, it would be better as you said. Eager to see it put together.
 
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