airliner-civil-aircraft-modeller.com

by **Cap'n Wannabe** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 11:04 am

As some of you may know, I've had a 3D printer for about a year now. I bought it with the idea that I could make bits and pieces for various models to enhance them, or improve them. However, my initial efforts were disappointing to say the least. Thanks to my son, who's a lot more tech savvy than I am (and I consider myself fairly tech savvy..), the print quality is a whole lot better as we've printed various items such as belt tensioners, a better fan outlet, and other things which served to stabilise the printer head and generally improve the machine's set up.
Up until now, we've been using PLA as our material, but it has disadvantages for modelling. Mainly, it is incredibly tough, which makes it difficult to sand, and most glues don't hold the parts for very long. I've found a 2-part superglue that works OK most of the time...
So recently I ordered some HIPS (high-impact polystyrene), and have printed a couple of test pieces. Firstly, it sands very well. It is slightly harder than "normal" polystyrene, and slightly more flexible, but it is incredibly easy to sand. And possibly the best part is that modelling cement such as Tamiya extra thin, or Revell Contacta work in exactly the same way as with a model, ie, the plastic parts are "welded" together.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be experimenting to find out just how fine I can print, and then having a look at modelling a complete aircraft...

Watch this space..

by **hrtpaul** » Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:02 pm

Mate that's awesome. I'd love to get into 3d printing for models but considering I don't know about CAD and my Silhouette Portrait Cutter is still sitting in it's box for the last 2 years, I probably shouldn't get a 3D printer anytime soon :oops:

by **Cap'n Wannabe** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:47 am

So today I've been mucking around with the fuselage side of my Islander. It still needs some tweaking around the nose/canopy area, but it's a start. Gonna be a while before it's finished, too! A long, long while...
The next thing to do is to the fuselage profiles. I may have to sacrifice one of my 8 BN-2 kits (if only I'd kept the one my ex-girlfriend started :lol:

)

by **uncle les** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 11:23 am

keep pluggin' away ! I'm here to tell you it's well worth it in the end !
My first effort was the wing for my 1/32 DHA Glider :
http://uncleles.net/2016/04/05/dha-glid ... wo-scales/

Then I progressed into whole airframes:
http://uncleles.net/2017/06/06/132-macc ... he-making/

It's all good !