Firefox MIG-31 movie aircraft

Zeroing in on the finish! I admit though I am disappointed the 1:48 version isn't to be... perhaps I could be a print of the majority of the parts (even rough ones) to finish up if you're open to that sort of thing...
Regards, Robert
 
Glad you're still working on this.It looks great.
1/36...Mmmm. This I can live with!:). I've very nearly completed my Cygnus model and will be looking for something to occupy me over the winter. A firefox would be good. Can you put me down for one-please?
Thanks,

Steven.

Hi Steven, will do, as I said a while back I will get there, just not the fastest worker, lol. Have been following the Cygnus build thread for a while, I'm guessing the 3D printing bill was pretty high for that!
Are you in the UK btw, looks like a UK garden in your pics?
 
If you are making a list for Studio Scale kits. Please put my name on it.

Saw this at the WB tour and Love it!

Hi Brian, will do, I will list it in the Project run section when I'm close to ready. Just hit me, did you mean the same size as the original 1/12th?

Robert 1/48th one-offs are possible, don't think it would be too expensive even if mostly Form printed.

What I didn't say was I was intending to print the nose section on the Form for each kit as casting it is going to be difficult with the the thin canopy frame. Then use 0.25mm clear sheet for the canopy glass. Also saves me having to learn how to vac-form!

Jon
 
1/12 is a dream kit! Major Matt Mason scale...

I'll take what I can get, but of course bigger IS better.

BrianM



Hi Brian, will do, I will list it in the Project run section when I'm close to ready. Just hit me, did you mean the same size as the original 1/12th?

Robert 1/48th one-offs are possible, don't think it would be too expensive even if mostly Form printed.

What I didn't say was I was intending to print the nose section on the Form for each kit as casting it is going to be difficult with the the thin canopy frame. Then use 0.25mm clear sheet for the canopy glass. Also saves me having to learn how to vac-form!

Jon
 
Yep-based in the uk. Sunny Greyabbey(not so sunny now though-it's pouring down. You've gotta love British summertime...).
The plants are the wife's- she's been badly bitten by the gardening bug.
The bill for the Cygnus...I try not to think about that. Thankfully it was spread over a few years. I would imagine, what with the armature,laser cutting, extra 3d design and printing, stand,paints etc, it must be pushing £2500. Happily, it looks it!
I actually never intended to build it, as I had already modded the old 79 styrene release, and was happy enough with the results.
My son now has that one.
When Dave released some of his early Cygnus components, I found them on shapeways,ordered one piece and was hooked.
It sort of snowballed from then on- in a good way.
Thankfully the wife loves it- hence it's place on the sideboard.
 
Been surprisingly good for the past 3 weeks or so here, in fact pretty roasting. Had to look up Greyabbey, certainly looks like a nice place to live.
 
Been surprisingly good for the past 3 weeks or so here, in fact pretty roasting. Had to look up Greyabbey, certainly looks like a nice place to live.

OT/ And in the mid 90's (F not C) here on the eastern US seaboard (Chesapeake Bay area...) With the humidity, more like a clam bake! ;^P
Props! (in the vernacular...)
Regards, Robert
 
Panel lines, panel lines, panel lines, say it with me!
I literally dreamt about panel lines last night, lol

Firefox panel lines top.jpg

Really happy with the fuselage to wing blend part, I think I have overall spent about a week on that bit!

Before starting I went back and did an "idiot check" against the reference photos, overlaying in photoshop to make sure stuff I had done maybe a year ago was right, found a couple of things I fixed, canards were a bit too far forward, and one really big thing was the front of the underside intakes were too far back. Don't know how I missed that, but luckily it was easy to fix.

Finishing the underside, damn it takes a long time...

Really trying to get it done for the weekend so I can actually print my 1/24 one finally. Timing is good as they just released a new version of Simply3D which by the look of the preview will improve the way things print and has reduced print times by about 10-15%.
 
Took a bit longer than I thought but finished the panel lines on all but the rear fins, also did some fine detailing to the front nose edges and other bits.
Firefox panel lines bottom.jpg
Firefox panel lines side.jpg

Nice little final render
Firefox render 36.jpg

And finally started printing my 1/24th!
Firefox 1-24th print 01.jpg

That's the first part, 11 hours in, got about 6 hours to go. Looking really good so far, think I struck lucky with the ABS I bought, and the changes they made in the Simplify3D software seems to have improved the artefacts I was getting around the panel lines. I also made a couple of mechanical improvements to the printer, stiffening the bed support which has got rid of the layer variations.

Created insets for the airbrake detail, going to try a Form 1 print, if that doesn't look sharp enough will get photo etch done.

Only parts left are the small rear engine detail, cockpit wall and seat details and a bit of work on the Clint pilot.
 
After about 50 hours of printing...
IMG_20170811_164154.jpgIMG_20170811_164252.jpgIMG_20170811_164315.jpgIMG_20170811_164414.jpgIMG_20170811_164427.jpgIMG_20170811_165857.jpg

Panel lines come out good now, almost too shallow after a bit of sanding to even the surface. They will need going over, but it's better than having the print layering showing up which was what was happening before. The changes they made in Simplify3D have really helped here.

Have been dialling in the settings as I go, couple of glitches, hence the grey ABS slurry fill on the spine. Mostly my fault as I forgot to force the layer start/stop to in inside corner, also was printing too cold. The base piece (top engine fronts) was printed last, a bit faster and hotter and virtually blemish free.

Engine section printing now, will finish early hours of the morning.

Nose section almost ready to go on the Form 1 printer. Worked out I can print the front as a shell then slide the cockpit/pilot in from the back, which judging by the feint seam I can see in the pics is how the guys at Apogee did it.
 
Had some real fun trying to print the 1/24th nose on the Form 1, first time I have printed something that big and it didn't go well. So went back to the drawing board and did some more testing, more annoyance, but finally with some help from a laser power calculation spreadsheet someone posted on the Formlabs forum to make sense of the power variations between outline infill and support material. Also it looks like it doesn't take much more than being about 3% off with the settings for things to go south.
Felt somewhat better when I found a number of other people having similar problems!

Realised the supports created by the Formlabs software is just too soft and flexible with the Funtodo resin, as in it doesn't actually support very well - at all. So built custom supports as part of the model, now at about 30% and looking good, hopefully that doesn't jinx it and and I get up to see a nice finished part in the morning.
 

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