Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

[bubble]

yes, they are 1/160 and print is gray and after cleaning a very thin layer gray primer , the little figures on wooden pallet are also 1/160 

[spaceman]

Great,  I still can't believe it, then make a price including shipping to Germany. 

 

And Joe, thank you again for sharing your STL files with bubble for test printing, your great 3D model was the trailblazer. 

Edited September 5, 2021 by spaceman

[freshnewstart]

5 hours ago, bubble said:

they are done 

They look fantastic!!!

Incredible sharp work you can do 💪😊

Mr. Spaceman must be very pleased..

Its exciting what shapeways come up with, i hope they are just as good thoug 😊

Jesper

[spaceman]

Definitely, Jesper! 

 

I'm also pleasantly surprised and excited about the new Combo-Pair by Shapeways. 

[Aussie-Pete]

these look great but Shapeways is why I bought my own printer.
The prices to produce your own and sell via Shapeways I find to be ridiculous.
The items I have in my shop have about $5 profit to me. Most profit goes to Shapeways and then they only pay your your profit once you reach a $30 margin.
You would be best to print and sell yourself IMO.

[spaceman]

The trend is towards your own 3D printer, but it is only worthwhile for experts who can also model 3D.  

[Aussie-Pete]

2 hours ago, spaceman said:

The trend is towards your own 3D printer, but it is only worthwhile for experts who can also model 3D.  

Looking the expert here.
I learned 3D and Fusion because of the above.
You are fortunate toi be not in Australia where postage to anywhere out side makes me selling models impractical unless some one wants far more than the $40 min postage.

[CaptKirk]

14 hours ago, spaceman said:

... experts who can also model 3D.  

 

I reckon it would take you about a week to start producing useful 3D models, Manfred.

 

The main challenge is to be able to visualise the shape you want to make and how to explode/combine solids to get there. The rest is just the usual "why does no one make manuals anymore?" problem.

[spaceman]

Thank you Kirk for your advance laurels,  but I would be skeptical about that and I'm curious to Aussie-Pete's opinion regarding this ...  

 

It seems like you're speaking from your own experience? 

 

BTW, Pete, Mischa Klement also complains about the low sales of his ingenious Crawler Paper Kit overseas because the shipping costs are as high as yours ... 

[CaptKirk]

18 hours ago, spaceman said:

It seems like you're speaking from your own experience? 

 

To some extent, yes. I tinkered with 2D CAD many years ago to produce drawings for my builders and this actually made the transition to 3D much more difficult. If I could start again without ever having used 2D I would be much better. Most of my drawing nowadays is done on an ancient copy of AutoCAD (from which the likes of Fusion360 are derived) but it's pretty good for making models and exporting them in STL format for my new(ish) Ender 3D printer. I'm using it mostly to make instruments for a flight simulator at a fraction of the cost of "flyable" ones. If I had more time, I would spend much more of it doing this.

 

So I'm just about skilled enough to be very impressed at the work being done here (looks better than I might do) and also encourage you to get started; So much easier to draw something many times larger than life and then print it than do what you do with styrene - and sometimes faster is good. 

[spaceman]

Thanks Kirk for your interest. 

 

For me, buying my own 3D printer is no longer worthwhile, especially since 3D modeling would be completely new territory for me. 

 

I just wanted to let print the parts and assemblies of the crawler that are needed in large numbers and whose scratch building would be too time-consuming and too stressful ... ...  And those are the 456 Track shoes and the 16 tricky Motor-Gearbox-Combos, I took care of them. The rest of the Crawler I'll try to scratch build.

 

Apart from that, I have enough other parts of my Mega project to do, which means I'm totally busy. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by spaceman

[Aussie-Pete]

I looked around and compared all the 3D apps out there. Blender and Fusion 360 are the go to for functionality and cost
Blender is way above what is require to produce 3D models so I stuck with Fusion

The online (youtube ) tutorials are great especially from Lars.

I would say it too a week to start producing my own models. 
 

[spaceman]

Thanks Pete for your support and all the luck! 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

after we have clarified all formalities including expenses, my Dutch friend Pascal (bubble) has packed all of his 3D prints, 

 

Source: arcforums.com (bubble)

 

and sent it to me in this chic box. http://www.die-kartonmodellbauer.de/wcf/images/smilies/smiley250.gif

 

Source: arcforums.com (bubble)

 

Now I'm curious to see what his Resin 3D prints look like in real life, and I hope that they will arrive safely. 

[Aussie-Pete]

I just wish postage too and from Australia was not so expensive.
it's still cold in my shed/garage so printing has been off.

[spaceman]

Keep calm, better times will come ... 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

the parcel from Holland got there faster than I thought, and of course it was opened immediately.  And already the first glance through the two bags onto the Combos looked very promising and pleasantly surprised me. 

 

 

And even after unpacking I was very impressed by the sight, 

 

 

whereupon I took a closer look, here first a Combo-R,  

 

 

as well as here a Pair (R/L) lying next to each other, 

 

 

and here in the installation position in the Truck. 

 

 

Now all 16 Combos that are required for the Crawler have been completed, which was made possible by the spontaneous helpfulness of my ARC friend Pascal (bubble) went faster than I could have imagined. 

 

 

Nevertheless, I then took a closer look, and here is the comparison with the last printed Combo Pair (XSFDP) which was printed in the best print orientation, the contours of which unfortunately cannot be recognized better, due to SW's well-known Print look.  

 

 

Therefore, for a better comparison, here is a larger macro shot in the installation position, 

 

 

and here still with a look at my Scratch prototype, which looks a bit more filigree in some details like the stiffening struts because I made them from Styrene (0,15 mm), which corresponds to the paper thickness used in the Paper Kit (MicroArtwork), but what cannot be realized in 3D printing due to the minimal wall thicknesses > 0,3 mm, as requested by SW.  

 

On this point, Paper modeling is plain and simple superior to 3D printing, what my friend Joe (crackerjazz) honestly admitted right at the beginning of our modeling efforts. 

 

 

Before I go into a few more details (i. a. painting) of the Resin Combos and the quality of the last SW prints, I would like to underline in a first résumé that I can imagine the Crawler with these Resin combos very well and that I presumably can save the printing of further SW-Combo-Pairs by SW.  

Edited September 15, 2021 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

today in a follow-up I would like to take another look at the Priming of the Resin combos, because on closer inspection I noticed certain differences in quality. 

 

In the unprimed state immediately after printing, the details of the combos were still clearly pronounced, as one can see here. 

 

Source: arcforums.com (bubble)

 

Then my friend Pascal (bubble) allegedly gave them a thin layer of a gray primer with MoTip Primer (04054) from a spray can.

 

The following comparison makes it easy to see the different layer thickness of the primer. While the details come out relatively well with the left combo, with the right combo they are quite heavily covered by the primer, which doesn't look that great, but is still quite acceptable. 

 

 

I had already observed similar results myself when priming/painting models from the spray can and have since been rather skeptical about this method of applying paint, as the amount of paint cannot be dosed evenly and finely enough and the risk of leveling details is relatively high. 

 

On the other hand, these problems can be largely avoided when using good Airbrush equipment, in which the paint application can be dosed much more finely. 

 

 

Nonetheless, I can use the Resin combos for my Crawler with a clear conscience, as I can choose in which places on the trucks I install the 'less good' combos, especially since they in the installed state can hardly be seen between the trucks anyway and then also only the upper sides of the combos with the Propel motors. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by spaceman

[crowe-t]

Hi Manfred,

 

The motors look great!  That buildup of primer won't be noticeable on those small parts especially where they will be located.  You can also put the parts into 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and remove the primer which will require using a small brush and possbly a tooth pick to get all the primer off but I would just use them the way they are.

 

I spray primer from a spray can all the time.  It's important to spray very light mist coats of primer to build it up.  It can be controlled using  a spray can but has to be applied in light coats.  It's much easier than having to decant the primer from the spray can and then airbrushing it unless you can find primer in a jar for airbrushing.

 

Mike. 

[spaceman]

Hi Mike,

 

thanks for your experience with such kind of spray cans,  but I would like to save myself the effort of removing the current primer, especially since I don't want to take the risk of breaking off any small parts of the filigreed combos while cleaning. 

 

As I said before,  I can use the Resin combos for my Crawler and will install them, when I'm going to build the Crawler. 

 

And for priming I will use the Surface Primer by Vallejo, with which I'm currently experimenting, in order to dilute it ready for Airbrushing, because otherwise it is still a bit too thick, as I've found out with Heinz Wagner's Method. 

[spaceman]

Dear friends,

 

in weeks of painful grief I want to try to slowly come to my senses and bring myself to continue working on my project ...  

 

For this purpose I took the last printed Gearbox-Pair (XSFDP) from Shapeways and examined it once again more closely, because in retrospect I noticed some things that are not entirely plausible to me and do not really want to please. 

 

In order to minimize the wax residues remaining despite Shapeways' cleaning after printing, we had let print this pair in the best possible print orientation (standing upright), which we had been previously recognized, 

 

Source: ARC Forums (crackerjazz)

 

which has the following support wax arrangement.

 

Source: ARC Forums (crackerjazz)

 

Source: ARC Forums (crackerjazz)

 

At first glance, the Combos (XSFDP) look clean on the outside, only there are wax residues in the inner cavities of the gear case and on the underside of the motor, which, however, are not so important for the later priming/painting, because one can hardly see these areas in the installed state anyway. 

 

However, clearly visible longitudinal grooves on the surfaces are noticeable,  which I cannot explain to myself due to the selected print orientation, which is why I asked Shapeways for a statement.  These grooves are clearly felt and have after all a distance/width of approx. 0,4 mm. 

 

 

These two SW Combos I have now tried to clean so that they can then be primed and compared with the Resin combos, which I'll use for the crawler.  

 

This time the cleaning was not done in the dental laboratory but by using my small Ultrasonic cleaning device, 

 

 

based on the conditions proposed by BANDELIN at that time by using TICKOPUR R 60.

 

Source: bandelin.com

 

Since my US bath has no heating, I filled the trough with 50°C hot water and added 20% TICKOPUR. 

 

But since the Combos swam up and didn't want to sink, 

 

 

I've held them down with tweezers and cleaned them approx. 2 h by turning over several times at intervals of 10 minutes. 

 

 

Then they were rinsed in water, dipped briefly in 2-Propanol and dried under the hair dryer. 

 

 

As one can see, the cleaning time of 2 h is not enough to completely remove the wax residues out of the inner cavities, but which is no longer important to me. 

 

 

 

Both on the underside of the engine, as can be seen here, 

 

 

as well as inside the case there are still considerable wax residues. 

 

 

So I want to leave it at that for now and will now prime both combos in this state and also my scratched prototype in order to be able to compare them with the primed Resin combos. 

Edited October 13, 2021 by spaceman

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

in response to my complaint about the grooves, Shapeways has sent the following statement: 

 

Hey Manfred,

Let's start off by saying sorry! We work hard to make sure you are 100% satisfied with your purchase. Unfortunately sometimes we mess up.
To make sure you are completely satisfied we just placed a new order for you at no charge.  

Your new order will ship by: 2021-10-25 

 

Well then, let's wait and see the new MotorGearboxCombo-Pair in Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic (XSFDP), I'm curious. 

[spaceman]

Hello everybody,

 

Shapeways has delivered the day before yesterday, so here are a few images of the new MotorGearboxCombo-Pair (XSFDP).  

 

Here at first the new pair, on which one can already see with a little good will that the grooves are still there, but seem to be a little less distinct. 

 

 

And here once again the complained previous pair with the clearly distinct grooves. 

 

 

In order to be able to recognize differences, one has to look carefully and also pay attention to a favorable incidence of light.  

 

On this zoomed direct comparison one can see the differences better and it is easy to see that the grooves are weaker distinct but still present.  

 

 

Therefore I came to the realization that Shapeways besides the well-known annoying wax problem still has problems with the print quality, which is why I'm able to live without further efforts and will use the Resin combos with a clear conscience. 

[Aussie-Pete]

Hard to avoid this with layer deposition 3D printing unless you do yourself.
With a home resin printer it's much easier and cheaper to get orientation right and layer thickness. 
Having said that these still look great.
If you consider the home print option I would highly recommend an Anycubic Photon.

Edited October 28, 2021 by Aussie-Pete

[spaceman]

Thanks Pete for sharing your experience with Anycubic Photon, which seem to be a great solution.  And besides, I am not so familiar with 3D modeling that it would be worth it. 

 

That's why I just don't plan to do so much with 3D printing, at least not with Shapeways.