NEW ! F-22 A STRATO CAD PARTS ! Upcoming 3D PRINTED WHEELS

[Crazy Snap Captain]

I would love to see his Mirage stuff come out. The CAD images certainly look nice.

[Stratospheremodels]

Hi Waco. These are nice but did anyone notice how these guys use CGI images for their products (including this example) ? Although i found one small pic showing their resin cast wheel parts painted, they were low resolution. I have found that the larger resin kit companies usually only show low or fairly low resolution pictures of their resin wheels. Also check and compare the type of fonts they used on their tires versus photos of the actual F-22 tires. I also added 90% of the other engraved lettering on the tires which were missing.

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle3/f-22a_01-4019/images/f-22a_01-4019_18_of_24.jpg

I doubt the F-22 wheels are secret, did anyone notice that the F-22 tires (and possibly the wheel as well) are made in France ?

But i guess, for personal visits that would be a whole different ball game. One of my friends recently found out (and broke out laughing when he found out) that a visit to a public section of an French air base now requires a 2 week wait period before obtaining permission to visit the base museum (!). Luckily, another base had a Much shorter waiting time to get photos of wheels and other similar details i was looking for.

F-22's are always guarded by armed guards at open base events and air shows in the US from what i can see from photos, similar thing for the F-35, but i believe it's got more to do with avoiding damage to the (very costly) airframes than anything else. Ever seen what some kids and sometimes adult do to aircrafts at air shows when you are not watching too closely ? Admittedly, most other aircrafts skins, probes and antennas are more bump and damage tolerant, but stealth aircrafts use several types of materials that are more fragile and susceptible to damage versus conventional aircrafts. Nobody would love to see dents in the ram surfaces of a stealth fighter. Thus that's why there are not too many close up pictures for the hard to reach corners of said aircrafts.

Another solution: there is at least one pre-production airframe in a museum, although its tires and wheel are slightly different. Take a look at the yellow panel and notice how they are "touchy" about people putting their hands on the aircrafts, as i mentioned earlier, and that one is a museum item (!):

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/weichao_chen2/f-22a_91-4003/images/f-22a_91-4003_11_of_30.jpg

(And notice the "Star Trek" thingy flying overhead :woot.gif:/> !)

Alternatively, there is yet another way if Waco's hands are tied over this one: Someone using a good telephoto lens attached to a high resolution digital camera with a high dynamic range (anyone who is interested to do the job and bring me more detailled photos of the brake assembly, contact me and i will explain in detail the type of equipment necessary to do the best job). I personally use such equipment and it gives spectacular results for anything that is hidden in shadow areas. So if there is a public show soon featuring F-22's, i am sure there is an opportunity for someone to take better telephoto pictures with the type of camera i have in mind. There are only two narrow angles where the brake assembly can be seen from a distance from the public.

Stephane

Stratosphere Models

Email: stratospheremodels@yahoo.fr

"Darwin, the Second Law, Heisenberg, and Godel to Clausewitz."

Edited April 27, 2015 by Stratospheremodels

[Stratospheremodels]

I hope you already know that these are out and extremely nice as well.

http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Brassin/Aircraft/1-48/F-22A-wheels-1-48-1.html

Hi Brian, yes, i was aware of all them, i actually discovered most of them when my design was nearing completion, so, that brought a smile. Basically, to me, it is the same as say Hasegawa produced an F-4 Phantom kit in the 1960's, yet that never stopped Italeri, Trumpeteer, Revell, Airfix, etc, to produce their own kits of the same aicraft since decades. My own philosophy is, why let companies in Eastern Europe or Asia or anywhere else make all the money when you can make it yourself, and bring to modellers a product with detail added value and better research as well as high quality.

Stephane

Stratosphere Models

Email: stratospheremodels@yahoo.fr

Website: http://www.picturetrail.com/stratospheremodels

"Darwin, the Second Law, Heisenberg, and Godel to Clausewitz."

Edited April 27, 2015 by Stratospheremodels

[Waco]

ARC review - 1/48 F-22 Wheels

Not the only option either:

Royale Resin 1/48 F-22 Wheels

...bring to modellers a product with detail added value and better research as well as high quality.

The key part of this statement is the part about actually bringing a product to modellers. I can order Brassin or Royale Resin wheels in one hand, and have very nicely detailed kit augmentation for either the Academy or the Hasegawa kit in short order. I can hope in the other hand for Stratosphere Models F-22 wheels. I'm pretty sure I know which hand ends up empty.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Waco

[Stratospheremodels]

Admittedly, you found a higher resolution photo version of the same painted tires i had found. That's for the one large company among these 3. The other large company i know of, AIRES, also usually only post lower or medium-low resolution pictures of their excellent tires. I am guessing the first photo you found above was taken by one of the reviewers as i didn't find it on the website of the manufacturer, and as the notice "ARC review" seems to indicate.

You are talking about today April 27th Waco. Specifically for the Mirage 2000 wheels people will have to wait after May 5th (plus count at least a week or so for the shipped package to reach me before you can actually see pictures of the final item, as you surely noticed from my earlier post and photo). Waiting a few more days for a new product to reach the market won't hurt anyone. I am sure if Trumpeteer announced a new F-22 for in 6 months, you will wait too. My F-22, MIG and Sukhoi wheels will follow after that, once i get their final details done and make the files watertight. Perhaps if you want to help accelerate things, you could put on a piece of paper some of the small writings that are written on the metal wheel, and i will add those to my model. Anyway it's just a matter of time before someone with a better lens takes photos of these at a public event. If that too is not possible i won't mind at all and i will perfectly understand, let me know and i will look for another alternative.

Order taking will follow reception of my first parts, as i need to take photos of them and i also still have to open the Shapeways online shop to the public first (just to clarify: neither have i announced any price yet, nor have i said the parts were ready for sale today, nor am i taking orders for them (yet)). Just following the wishes of the majority, who want to see photos of the actual thing first (otherwise i could Already be taking orders and offering them for the public at Shapeways, since the files are already uploaded there and have been reviewed and accepted by their 3D printing engineers, we have been in close communication since i sent them my parts).

But if you're in a hurry and do not want to wait until May, be my guest, you can place an order for any of the above examples you are showing. But there's gonna be a 4th F-22 tires offer on the market next month.

By the way, thanks for your always laser sharp eyes, please keep them that way

Stephane.

Stratosphere Models

Email: stratospheremodels@yahoo.fr

Website: http://www.picturetrail.com/stratospheremodels

Edited April 27, 2015 by Stratospheremodels

[Waco]

No offense, Stephane, but the fact you're still asking for references on these items is not confidence inspiring.

I think I'll wait until you release your bulldozer kit.

[Stratospheremodels]

On Monday, April 27, 2015 at 1:19 AM, Waco said:

No offense, Stephane, but the fact you're still asking for references on these items is not confidence inspiring.

I think I'll wait until you release your bulldozer kit.

Specifically for the hidden corners in the back of the wheel (brake assembly) that are no visible from the general public. No one else except people in the service or manufacturing those have seen them up close and in detail. If you have critical points to bring about the parts i have already made, please, i invite you to comment and i will modify those. I prefer to be among those manufacturers who listen and are ready to add the correct details rather than rush in and bring something and cut corners, as too many injected kit companies are doing these days.

Then again i could go reference the F-22 at the museum i referred to above, but i already noticed its wheel (brakes)seem slightly different (from the angles i can see them anyway). So do many of the details of the whole aircraft and its engine since it's pre-production. I personally prefer to get the external details as close as possible to the operational aircraft.

You want to know how in depth i research my subjects: just a short example: Mirage 2000, during my research i found out there are 3 different types of tires the Mirage 2000 have used along the years, and a lot of variations between each individual wing fuel tank details (ridges) from tank to tank. Plus similar things concerning the MIG-25 (found two different types of tires so far, even some aircraft wearing both types of tires. Or even different variants of engines on the same aircraft). And so on.

 

Good designers constantly strive at improving their products. Case in point: a pilot fly on an aircraft that was full of defect when the first production aircraft came out of the assembly line (i am not stating a critique here, everyone knows that the first of any new product, with very few exceptions, do contain defects and inevitably end up being updated and improved as those problems are discovered. That's why we get things like aircraft "Blocks". Those are not only improvements to modernize such or such aircraft or to just improve basic performances, but are also done to repair known technical problems: Structural reinforcements for F-16's and F-15's (items that are often quite noticeable and which we are also familiar with when new model kits show up on the market). Going back to the F-22 and some of its known technical issues, we know it had "clock" problems when they deployed the aircraft in the Pacific. This certainly had to be adressed. We know it does have "nose wandering" problems (not sure if they were ever able to correct that, as maybe it is inherent to the shape of the aircraft itself and correcting it might actually diminish its stealth characteristics. I am pretty much sure there were other F-22 glitches and problems that had to be corrected.

 

So, the same way as for many manufacturers including major aerospace companies, you will see iterations and updates of my designs from time to time or even as the design progresses prior to release (which is even better as the problem ends up being corrected before the final product reaches my customers, unlike some aerospace companies who only find about the problem after they delivered to the client, and pilots end up having to deal with it, which is not ideal). So, trust problems ? I Don't think so.

 

This is also why i never make a secret about what parts of my models i updated, it's all there for everyone to see, unlike aerospace companies who often deliver a faulty product and the customer ends up finding about these the hard way (case in point: F-35).

 

Personally i prefer to deal with the problems before i release a product. Now if there were some small details i had not been able to add due to the rarity or absence of available reference material, i will usually happily add those once new reference materials see the light of day later on or when people send me reference material.

 

Any serious detail parts manufacturer will go the extra mile to find the correct data (i even found the catalog part number for the F-22 wheel assembly). In the case of an operational version of the aircraft such as this one which have one piece of detail which is hard to see from the public, it is only normal to ask for infos that are not visible otherwise due to the limitations mentioned above. But anyway, i understand your reticence. I worked in aerospace too. I always asked, even when i thought they would say no, doesn't hurt to try. Sometimes they'd say yes, sometimes they'd say no, sometimes for the strangest reasons. Once, a long long time ago, they even assigned a security guard to follow me around every rows of a manufacturer's library when when i was just looking for a copy of Jane's (...). They were a lot more generous a few years later when i asked for data for one of their aircrafts, they sent me technical manual drawings and a lot of nice photos for it. It wasn't that way when i finally worked at Bombardier. Engineers from the production line and QC had to ask for my permission to get their blueprints. Funny isn't it ? Sorry for the disgression, and sorry about having bothered you with my requests. That said I'm pretty much sure these tires show up on radar.

Stephane.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Stratospheremodels

[MoFo]

Screw it. It's not worth it. I'll just leave this here, since it pretty much sums it up:

Edited April 27, 2015 by MoFo

[Janissary]

This must be a social experiment… Yep, that's it!

[Airfixer]

Stephane, you should have known better.

All due respect for your enthusiasm, but your recent, allegedly full-throated announcements have been regularly leading to this kind of discussion, we are witnessing right now.

How about a new strategy? Less pompous announcements + supçon of modesty + actual, palpable products living up to the hallelujah = Bob's your uncle.

Otherwise, it may suggest, you're either totally misconstrued or, in a way, a pathological glutton for punishment or no longer caring about being taken seriously.

[Murph]

I'd suggest we just move on to discussing something less controversial, like BUFF Master, Golden Dragon, or Super Bug resins.

Regards,

Murph

[Gene K]

I'd suggest we just move on to discussing something less controversial, like BUFF Master, Golden Dragon, or Super Bug resins.

Ouch!!!

Gene K

[Stratospheremodels]

Stephane, you should have known better.

All due respect for your enthusiasm, but your recent, allegedly full-throated announcements have been regularly leading to this kind of discussion, we are witnessing right now.

How about a new strategy? Less pompous announcements + supçon of modesty + actual, palpable products living up to the hallelujah = Bob's your uncle.

Otherwise, it may suggest, you're either totally misconstrued or, in a way, a pathological glutton for punishment or no longer caring about being taken seriously.

Hi, please have a look at page one, there is a photo showing that my first parts have been sent to Shapeways several days ago and have been accepted for 3D printing. I am currently waiting for the parts, as the date on the photo indicates. The facts speak for themselves and more parts are going to be sent to the 3D printers following the Mirage 2000 wheels. So just ignore the trolls. When such individuals cannot attack logic and facts their only resort is insults and denying the evidence:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/11/world/internet-trolling/index.html

http://anti-troll.org/

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/fv-vf/har/part1.html#footnote65

I have lots of screen saves of these people popping up online the very moment i log in (even when i log in anonymously, meaning they tagged my posts for any updates) at any hour of the day or night over a period of several days on various threads. I don't even remember posting on any of their own threads even once, so that brings a lot of questions about their behavior which have a lot more to do with typical troll behavior, attacking people they do not know, using the anonymity of the web as a cover for acts they would not dare do face to face. There are thousands of people following my threads and the trolls are just a handful of a tiny minority, and for most of them they are the very same people who attacked my Mirage 2000 CAD parts thread.

Please also read the notice at the bottom of Eduard Brassin kit boxings, it says: "the best (brass) resin parts around". I guess if someone thinks i am pompous then i am in good company. Most companies (in general) do not advertising their products as "less good than the competition".

So just ignore the trolls.

Now back to the F-22 wheels thread, i am still looking for anyone who can help me make this product even more accurate by helping me find the last small tidbits that are hidden in a corner at the back of the wheel (it is not like it is visible or would make much of a difference even if i don't find it, since the upper brake assembly arms are hidden from view from all but two narrow low angles by the wheel well doors. But i know they are there, and even if they cannot be seen directly once an F-22 model is built, i would still like to add it, just because.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Stratospheremodels

[Crazy Snap Captain]

How about this chaps...why don't we give Stephane here a chance to show his final product and then we can make a call. Let bygones be bygones and stop baiting him. I'm prepared to wait till May 31st for him to come up with set of Mirage 2000 wheels (he's quoted 5th or so of May). After that we can come back and hurl e-stones.

[vince14]

How about this chaps...why don't we give Stephane here a chance to show his final product and then we can make a call. Let bygones be bygones and stop baiting him. I'm prepared to wait till May 31st for him to come up with set of Mirage 2000 wheels (he's quoted 5th or so of May). After that we can come back and hurl e-stones.

Hmmm, an interesting idea. But how about this for a deal?

- We stop criticizing Stephane until 31st May.

- Stephane stops posting his 'Proclamations of Shock & Awe' until he can post a picture of his finished products.

- If Stephane's work is indeed better than, say, Eduard Brassin then we all apologise for doubting him.

- If, however, he fails to post pictures of his completed product on time, or it is significantly inferior than expected, we get to re-name 31st May as 'International ARC Vapourware Day (sponsored by Stratosphere Models)'.

Edited April 28, 2015 by vince14

[Crazy Snap Captain]

Hmmm, an interesting idea. But how about this for a deal?

- We stop criticizing Stephane until 31st May.

- Stephane stops posting his 'Proclamations of Shock & Awe' until he can post a picture of his finished products.

- If Stephane's work is indeed better than, say, Eduard Brassin then we all apologise for doubting him.

- If, however, he fails to post pictures of his completed product on time, or it is significantly inferior than expected, we get to re-name 31st May as 'International ARC Vapourware Day (sponsored by Stratosphere Models)'.

I'm down with that. Stephane, your up.

[Brian 1]

thats cool, but nothing from shapeways is even going to be close to what eduard is printing and casting.

[Crazy Snap Captain]

Now now Brian...Wait...

[jenshb]

... These are nice but did anyone notice how these guys use CGI images for their products (including this example) ? Although i found one small pic showing their resin cast wheel parts painted, they were low resolution. I have found that the larger resin kit companies usually only show low or fairly low resolution pictures of their resin wheels.

Seeing that this came from you, I nearly wet myself laughing...

Jens

[Harold]

Seeing that this came from you, I nearly wet myself laughing...

Jens

too funny!!!

[Stratospheremodels]

Hi Crazy Snap Captain, Hello to Down Under !

You are welcome, thank you !

However, and respectfully, the first part of your message is perfectly fine, there is just one little glitch with the 2nd part (and i know you surely didn't mean harm, it was to delay them i believe), because that's the part the criminal code doesn't like too much in their section about online criminal harassment and which they call "encouraging others to harass" (from what i was reading the other day). So we'll have to forget about the 2nd part.

I am a person who is very patient, that's it why i have been sitting and letting some individuals and companies get way beyond the safe limit since 2 months as someone noted, but even for a very patient person there is a stop mark, and that mark was reached 4 days ago. In the meanwhile however, i was quietly working on dossiers (don't worry, this is not addressed at you Snap Captain, just at some of the trolls), they now have 2 names on them. So there isn't going to be any sort of negotiations of any kind with any of the individuals/companies involved in criminal acts, the very idea would be nonsense. There's a huge difference between criticizing and malicious troll attacks to cause financial harm. Constructive criticism is perfectly fine but there will be NO tolerance for companies, sub-contractors and their pals who want to use my announcements as a jumping board to attack and cause damage just because the parts i make are not made by them or whatever excuses. I think most people know what is acceptable, but those sort of things are not. So far i didn't hear a word from modelers to tell me i forgot something on my tires. So it looks like i did my job well so far.

Also, there is Not and there will Not be a post-May 31st, or a post-May 5th or a post date whatever cyber-harassment campaign. If i see anymore of this from the offenders on my announcements, i will take appropriate measures against the main companies/persons involved to send a message.

So i am going to continue to do exactly what i have been doing since years, which is to do my job and continue my design work and bring new kits to the market. There is absolutely NO question at ANY moment in my mind that i would ask for a permission, Ever, to any people involved in illegal acts to "continue to do my work", that falls directly under criminal blackmail. Just go ask any injected kit company to STOP all their factories to please trolls until they release their next 3D tooled kits.... Same here. It's going to be ZERO tolerance for criminals. So suggestions that i should stop my work until May so and so and then after if someone does not like the pictures "Let's call all the trolls to gang up on him", trust me, it would be an Very bad idea.

I don't make the laws, i just use them when criminals show up. If competitors and attackers do not like the pics or hate Shapeways just because i use them and they prefer a 3D printer located in Meaford, Ontario instead, then just go watch something else. There are companies and sub-contracting competitors who swear they hate Shapeways no matter what even at 16 microns even though they secretely print parts at a similar resolution and declare on their own blog that they are quite happy about the results from their other favorite printer... (and i have seen their pictures) but who will lie and swear Shapeways is bad and so on no matter what... for obvious reasons: They don't like the competition 3D printing production brings and they are well aware why since they already use 3D printing for their own tooling.

So anyone who wants to willfully participate in a campaign to cause financial harm, it doesn't matter where they are, measures can be taken regardless. This is not the first time i've had to take action due to criminal attempts against me or my company since decades. Not long ago i tackled a person who i found out is very close to the ambassador of a country i won't name near Europe. The guy tried to extract a large sum of money from me under what looked like an extortion attempt when i no longer had anything to do with the services offered by his business since months. He was told in no uncertain legal terms that he was contemplating a pursuit under the criminal code for attempted extortion if he persisted. Never heard from him again. I have fixed a dozen similar cases over the years involving countries as far as South East Asia. Several were multinationals. One of them was when i went against the customs department of a certain country which have notorious problems with corruption. I might post info about this on a different venue eventually, it will make for interesting reading. They were very surprised by what i did and in the end they were all smiles and i didn't pay a cent even though they tried to extort hundreds of dollars. I never had to be there in person to fix the problems, never directly met the persons implicated. Sure i'd rather work on my models, nobody likes to spend time in court, but if i have to i'll devote all the time necessary until resolution. To be honest, i actually love doing stuff like that once i get into it.

If those involved want to contact me to announce they will stop, I will listen, and if i find there is no longer ground for action, i will act accordingly. I don't hold grudges for years. Then we can forget and move on as Snap Captain said, we all say a few out of place things from time to time. My practice in such cases is to look for signs that the offenders amended themselves and stopped their attacks completely over a period of months or years.

Take note that None of this is directed at members of the general public but only and specifically at companies and sub-contractors and wannabes who have a vested interest in causing financial harm. But if trolls join them, read above again.

This is not the first time my company have been a target in the past. Over the years i have tackled fraudsters, criminal blackmailers, recasters, you name it. After a few years if you create products that attract attention from the market and create something that is valuable you are bound to attract the wrath and the attention of some competitors and recasters. It's part of the game. Just look at companies like Samsung and Apple, they are forever in court battle. But what is also part of the game are the legal consequences for companies that don't play by the rules. You have NO idea the kind of war that is going on behind the scene in the resin kit industry. There are Lots of criminals. So much so that a few years ago, with the help of friends, we started the foundation of what i called the Anti Piracy Network. One of them was already a manufacturer. The 2nd one became a manufacturer shortly after. We contacted a few businesses who i knew were at high risk of seeing their products targeted due to the high quality of their work to invite them to join in the fight to help protect manufacturers from recasters. Unfortunately, people generally preferred to do it alone, and as you can imagine, what was bound to happen, happened: A few years later several of them were the target of pirates. Including a well known member of our board. Just one example of many recasters i have seen along the years, one that was involved in so many criminal activities: multiple counts of fraud against various companies, his employer, an international shipping company, a well known actor, and recasting, that in the end, even after all what i collected to nail him, i didn't even have to go all the way against him: he sank himself after more companies got hit by his recasting.

Now back to the model i am announcing here (and enough time wasted on the other stuff). Like is said before, if there is anyone who have photos i can use for the hard to reach corners of the brake assembly or who is willing to go take some, i am looking to ear from you, otherwise, i will just ask one of my friends to take the photos and that will fix the problem.

So i want to thank very much Crazy Snap Captain and the other person who calmed things down. I'm about to post more good surprises in a short while, lots of things are moving forward, on both fronts.

Lastly, if some of the people involved who have too much energy and time to waste want to do something really useful, a suggestion: please make a blood donation to the Red Cross: There are C-17 cargo planes leaving for Nepal right now to help the victims of the earthquake. One of our friends just left for Nepal to go assist the relief efforts. I would join him if i was not so busy. I'll go see the Red Cross.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Stratospheremodels

[Darren Roberts]

Stephane, with all due respect, I think you have made a mountain out of a molehill. Unless there are posts that I have missed, there is absolutely nothing in this thread that would constitute criminal action. To accuse a group of having a concerted campaign to financially harm you would take huge amounts of evidence. If you are basing that on what was posted here, you don't have a case. The best thing you can do is bring your product to market and let the market dictate the outcome. I'll be honest, I've never even heard of your company until just recently when you started posting on ARC. I think you might be taking yourself a little more seriously than you ought to. Let your product speak for you. That's the best way to do it.

[MoFo]

Seriously Stephane, seek help.

And in the mean time, stop digging. The only person who is hurting your business is you. Alienating potential customers and then threatening to have them arrested for displaying that alienation is a hilariously terrible way to run a business. Just... stop.

[jgrease]

This is the internet. Unless the RCMP are crossing borders to make arrests based on one person's complaint this is free expression. I suppose if someone were to actually produce something this thread would have gone away by now.

[Janissary]

We have been all warned. We shall do as he says or endure the wrath of