Firefox MIG-31 movie aircraft

Sorry ran out of time to take a pic, It came out good, couple of tiny glitches, think I might still be a bit low on perimeter laser power. I washed it off in the isopropyl bath and left it to dry,

Will post when I get home :)
 
Special hi-viz paint scheme ;)
Not the greatest shots, my phone camera is noisy in low light
IMG_20170817_210158.jpgIMG_20170817_210619.jpg

I inset the window edges so I can (hopefully) glue 0.5mm acylic or PETG sheet in place.

Have to UV set it, then trim the base and supports.
 
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Just discovered this thread...how's I miss it!? Amazing work :D

I just bought the Anigrand 1/48 kit as I thought it was the best kit available, but now I'm regretting it. :( I do think it is different from their 1/72, though. If you look at the front canopy it looks different between the 2. The 1/48 looks like it extends down further than the side windows as it should while the 1/72 doesn't. Still after reading your assessment of the kit I am having buyers remorse. Any chance you could still do some 1/48 one offs of your model?

Chris
 
Just discovered this thread...how's I miss it!? Amazing work :D

I just bought the Anigrand 1/48 kit as I thought it was the best kit available, but now I'm regretting it. :( I do think it is different from their 1/72, though. If you look at the front canopy it looks different between the 2. The 1/48 looks like it extends down further than the side windows as it should while the 1/72 doesn't. Still after reading your assessment of the kit I am having buyers remorse. Any chance you could still do some 1/48 one offs of your model?

Chris
Jon, I second that (but you know that already!) Knowing your Firefox exists makes all others unsatisfying..
;^P

Regards, Robert
 
Just discovered this thread...how's I miss it!? Amazing work :D

I just bought the Anigrand 1/48 kit as I thought it was the best kit available, but now I'm regretting it. :( I do think it is different from their 1/72, though. If you look at the front canopy it looks different between the 2. The 1/48 looks like it extends down further than the side windows as it should while the 1/72 doesn't. Still after reading your assessment of the kit I am having buyers remorse. Any chance you could still do some 1/48 one offs of your model?

Chris

I have the 1/72 Anigrand sitting in a cupboard have seen pics of the 1/48th, the main problem with the front on both is the front facet is about 50% too narrow so it looks pinched. The nose is very difficult to get right.

Talking of noses, I ended up printing another 2 as the scaling I had measured for shrinkage with small pieces turned out to be way too much for bigger pieces, think maybe the thin wing parts were throwing the measurements. First one I did the same with supports but the thin pieces of the canopy still distorted, so did one with blanking windows which I can dremel out. This came out cleaner.

Printing wing leading edge parts now, which I can not stop from warping, which does seem to be a problem with the Funtodo resin. Someone has posted good results with a resin from Australia called Monocure, which even with shipping is cheaper than the Funtodo amazingly. Think I need to get some and try it, or bite the bullet and get some genuine Formlabs grey.

Yes I can still do 1/48th, in fact I am reconsidering, as I think I was just being too picky about the fine detail stuff, 1/48th might actually make more sense as I need to split the model up into many more pieces to print at 1/36th.
 
Quick update - wing leading edge pieces at 1/24th, these are about 140mm wide.
IMG_20170821_215548.jpg
Top one at 0.1mm layer resolution, ok, but rough looking. Then below it at 0.05mm layer, much, much better. Not only the resolution, but the whole print was cleaner. At 0.1mm layers the supports pulled at the part distorting it, at 0.05mm it's really clean. The warping is not so bad as it takes little force to straighten it, so taping it in place while the glue goes off will makes it sit flat.

I then ran the same part at 1/48th, 0.05mm layers.
IMG_20170821_215127.jpg
Not so good, in fact a mess really.

Just finished one at the highest resolution of 0.025mm and the difference looks as much as between the 1/24th part at 0.05mm vs 0.1mm. It's UV curing now, but the tiny details look sharp.
 
0.025mm layers worked well for 1/48th, that teeny part took 2 hours mind you...
IMG_20170822_235733.jpg

And a rough assembly to show how it will look
IMG_20170823_221923.jpg
IMG_20170823_221847.jpg

Even though I knew how big it was going to be, I am still surprised how big 1/24th looks!

Realised I forgot to add a stand mount point in the belly, and some location tabs to make aligning the parts easier, will do those for the next one.
 
That's looking very impressive so far. I'm busting to see the final result. Have you given consideration as to where it will be displayed?
 
That's looking very impressive so far. I'm busting to see the final result. Have you given consideration as to where it will be displayed?

Me too, I hit a point where I had been staring at it so long the excitement part of creating it had subsided, now seeing it in the flesh I really want to get it finished.

I have a fix a small issue with my big printer, the constant heat when printing and the fact I did the belts really tight, as they should be, caused the X motor mount to distort and the belt or drive gear has been rubbing against the carriage. Might have to make up a aluminium piece to replace the acrylic one.

I was thinking of a wall mount originally, with an adjustable angle arm/ball joint kind of thing, but might go with a more traditional display stand with the Firefox logo on as that's what the smaller one will need.
 
I'd look at a more traditional sort of stand, with the aircraft in a steep, banking climb.
See a lasersmith about getting a logo printed. The engraved finish is quite nice and can be painted.
 
My God this looks so good. The more I look at the anigrand one, the more I see how much better yours looks. It's hard to describe specifics, but you just tell when it is right, and yours is right. Outstanding work!

Chris
 
Thanks Chris, I have spent quite a lot of time on it, certainly beyond what most people would think is sane, to quote my brother "you still working on that"

It's probably still not 100%. but maybe 99.8% ;)

Yes Steve an angled climbing pose it what I had in my head. I have had stuff made on aluminium sheet where it is colour printed into the anodising so it is scratch proof, expensive for 1 offs but not bad for multiples.

Jon
 
That is awesome looking, will we ever be able to purchase the stl so we can print out or own M-31? =] I had a poster of that on my door growing up for YEARS loved the movie and that plane =]
 
Hi guys, sorry for the lack of progress, my Mom had been ill, really wasn't looking good for a while, and stuff like this seems kind of unimportant when things like that happen, she's doing better now luckily.

The last thing it did was trying to print the rear section on my Formlabs clone which went badly to say the least, junk parts messed up PDMS layer, and if I couldn't print that reliably then a 1/48th master wasn't going to happen either. I was toying with the idea of getting a Wanhao Duplicator 7 but the small print size and the fact the resins for it seem to have high shrinkage put me off.

I have taken a bit of a risk on a used Photocentric resin printer which I will have in a few days, hopefully can report back with positive results soon.
 

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