snichols Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 (edited) With the recent demise of Shapeways it prompted me to venture into 3d printing so this will be my first build using my new filament printer . I have recently found some amazing footage provided by John Wolfram the UDT frogman who led the team on this recovery mission that I’d never seen up until this point. This was printed using Vincent’s files and he recommends using a resin printer for his models ,now that I’ve printed these parts with a filament printer I have to agree so I’ve ordered one of those too. The CM is pretty much smooth enough now to start covering but a bit more sanding is in order. Finding frogmen in this scale turned out to be difficult but I believe I’ve found a solution. Pre shading has started so it’s difficult to see any detail. Edited September 18 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted August 24 Share Posted August 24 That looks awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted August 25 Author Share Posted August 25 (edited) On 8/24/2024 at 3:43 PM, aircommando130 said: That looks awesome! Thank you! Base construction is underway, I used sheet styrene filled with a mix of floral foam and air dry clay followed by an application of spackle. Edited August 25 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 My dad was on the Apollo 11 launch team. He worked the rocket engines on the Lunar Module. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 Remember watching this "live" on tv as a kid, pretty cool concept. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted August 28 Author Share Posted August 28 (edited) On 8/25/2024 at 6:46 PM, aircommando130 said: My dad was on the Apollo 11 launch team. He worked the rocket engines on the Lunar Module. That’s a wonderful family story to have been a part of the Apollo 11 history. On 8/25/2024 at 8:51 PM, A-10 LOADER said: Remember watching this "live" on tv as a kid, pretty cool concept. Steve I too remember watching the event on television. OK everyone I haven’t done this in years and after it’s applied the bare metal foil replicating the thermal tape will have to be removed carefully and capsule exterior weathered. Edited August 28 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-10 LOADER Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 BMF, WOW, hats off to you for this. Looks really good so far. Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Just remember that most of it burned off coming back through the atmosphere! Cheers....Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 (edited) On 8/28/2024 at 12:12 PM, A-10 LOADER said: BMF, WOW, hats off to you for this. Looks really good so far. Steve Thanks , it’s really going to be painful having to remove most of it ….. On 8/28/2024 at 7:11 PM, aircommando130 said: Just remember that most of it burned off coming back through the atmosphere! Cheers....Ron See above😁 Some work completed on the flotation collar and raft but most of my time has been spent trying to figure out resin printing. I’ve been successful with small parts that don’t require any support structures but once I try printing anything with supports, I’am lost. I have resin hardened on the build plate and vat bottom but tomorrow is another day. Edited September 4 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 That's awesome so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpacecraftGuy Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 (edited) Ignore this. You are one step ahead. As Ron above said, it sure wasn't shiny by the time it hit the water. Apollo 16 in the water, Apollo 5 on display, and a close-up of I don't know what Apollo. But I don't really see why you applied all that foil if you're planning on removing almost all of it? The Beautiful work, tho'. Damn, I have to get me a printer... Edited September 6 by SpacecraftGuy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 10 Author Share Posted September 10 (edited) On 9/6/2024 at 6:53 PM, SpacecraftGuy said: Ignore this. You are one step ahead. As Ron above said, it sure wasn't shiny by the time it hit the water. Apollo 16 in the water, Apollo 5 on display, and a close-up of I don't know what Apollo. But I don't really see why you applied all that foil if you're planning on removing almost all of it? The Beautiful work, tho'. Damn, I have to get me a printer... Thanks !! If you look closely at pictures after splashdown you can see the tape pattern is still present on the CM even though most of it is gone. I’ll burn the tape with oil paints after I peel most of it off and hopefully the tape pattern will still be present . I didn’t pay close enough attention to the raft configuration either so some surgery was in order along with possibly a complete re-paint . I may have solved some of the resin printing issues I have been experiencing and was able to print out a new parachute section which I’am quite happy with , thanks to the wife for the tech support. Edited September 15 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aga Posted September 14 Share Posted September 14 Hi Congratulations, beautiful design! Are you planning to design figures of divers and crew in wetsuits? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 15 Author Share Posted September 15 (edited) On 9/14/2024 at 7:10 AM, Aga said: Hi Congratulations, beautiful design! Are you planning to design figures of divers and crew in wetsuits? Thank you very much! I contacted Max Grueter about his offering a UDT diver in this scale and received no response but I do have a figure that I’ve converted from a Dragon 35th scale SEAL to depict John Wolfram pulling the 2d raft back to the CM , unfortunately no other crewman or BIG suits. Raft took some work and still has a bit to go but I feel like it’s starting to take shape. Edited September 15 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted September 16 Share Posted September 16 Looking good! Are you going to add a shark fin in the water? The SEALS that recovered the spacecraft said the rotors beating the water in addition to the sound of the spashdown attracted some curious sharks out in the Pacific. Cheers....Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 (edited) On 9/16/2024 at 7:59 PM, aircommando130 said: Looking good! Are you going to add a shark fin in the water? The SEALS that recovered the spacecraft said the rotors beating the water in addition to the sound of the spashdown attracted some curious sharks out in the Pacific. Cheers....Ron Ron thanks for the encouragement, I was ready to shelve the whole project this morning but I made a decision to continue. Originally I wanted to depict the recovery of Columbia but after some work I realized the raft shape I was using was similar to recovery missions from Apollo 13 -17 only, so at this point I had it painted to look similar to 11’s recovery raft but the shape was different. Now after more research the new vignette will be titled vale Apollo , the recovery of command module America. Edited September 18 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
STEN8 Posted September 18 Share Posted September 18 What an amazing job you are doing. I am really enjoying following your hard work, and if the beginnings are any indication, the finish should be spectacular! Thanks for sharing. Harry Lutz, FL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted September 18 Share Posted September 18 Don't quit....Gene Kranz..."Failure is not an option" Cheers....Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 20 Author Share Posted September 20 (edited) On 9/18/2024 at 9:46 AM, STEN8 said: What an amazing job you are doing. I am really enjoying following your hard work, and if the beginnings are any indication, the finish should be spectacular! Thanks for sharing. Harry Lutz, FL Harry your words of encouragement are keeping me going here, thank you ! This was an unplanned build and unfortunately it came back to bite me. I bought a 3d filament printer and created most of the parts with it but soon realized I needed a resin printer , then things got out of control while I rushed into the build without doing my research along with trying to learn how to 3d print with resin but no excuses. So I’ve had to change the mission 3 times now starting with Columbia then realized the raft is the wrong shape but is correct for 17’s mission however America had absolutely no Mylar left after splashdown ……it’s time to quit. I’ll post some pictures later today but I now have the raft, collar and burnt tape pattern matching for a specific mission and it’s finally correct! On 9/18/2024 at 7:01 PM, aircommando130 said: Don't quit....Gene Kranz..."Failure is not an option" Cheers....Ron Funny you should say that, stay tuned and thanks! Edited September 20 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
STEN8 Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 Partner, if it is any help to you, I have a dear friend just getting into scale modeling. He is particularly interested in the space program and has built some NASA kits. I sent him a link to your build and he was ASTOUNDED. "They can build that, you can make that....etc." He and I am amazed at your research, the innovation, the attention to detail and your persistence. learning new technology and then pressing it to your limits, intellectually and production wise, in pursuit of a goal...that's impressive stuff! Keep up the good work. John (my Budd) and I will follow with avid interest. Harry Lutz, FL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 22 Author Share Posted September 22 (edited) On 9/20/2024 at 8:35 AM, STEN8 said: Partner, if it is any help to you, I have a dear friend just getting into scale modeling. He is particularly interested in the space program and has built some NASA kits. I sent him a link to your build and he was ASTOUNDED. "They can build that, you can make that....etc." He and I am amazed at your research, the innovation, the attention to detail and your persistence. learning new technology and then pressing it to your limits, intellectually and production wise, in pursuit of a goal...that's impressive stuff! Keep up the good work. John (my Budd) and I will follow with avid interest. Harry Lutz, FL Geez I don’t know what to say after that endorsement of my work other than this, I enjoy building and I’am proud to be amongst the other talented builders here whose skills far exceed mine so I can’t thank you enough! That word persistence has special meaning because had I done my homework thing’s would be going much smoother now but I’ve finally nailed down a mission that was in my top 3 to duplicate and have the raft, collar and insulation scorch marks finally matching to recreate the splashdown of Odyssey . “A Successful Failure” will now be the title and I can’t help but feel this diorama has a little bit of that same luck as 13 had. 😩. Time for some scorching !! Edited September 22 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted September 22 Share Posted September 22 That's looking really good! Can't wait to see the finished product! Cheers...Ron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 23 Author Share Posted September 23 (edited) On 9/22/2024 at 12:25 PM, aircommando130 said: That's looking really good! Can't wait to see the finished product! Cheers...Ron Ron I was just browsing into my older post history and saw that you posted in a couple of threads many years ago so thank you for all your support past and present! Edited September 24 by snichols Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aircommando130 Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 You're very welcome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snichols Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 Odyssey is starting to look the part after some airbrush work , glazes and oil paint washes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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