Hi again. I am back. Not been doing much on the build for a long while, for many reasons.
I miss it. I see the parts inside their boxes every day.

The two metal frames takes up quite a lot of space and I have no good place to put them while working on it, the model outgrew the table.
And I need to keep it safe and not risk dropping it to the floor because I have to move it around all the time, from a top of the pile of laundry, to the floor and so on.
Very soon I will have a dedicated table for this, and it will be big enough. And covered with a self-healing cutting-mat.

I have not been completey cut off from building.
I did build the Revell 1:28 Sopwith Camel.
Bright colors, many decals and I used floor polish to cover the airbrushed paint and decals. Worked out really great.
So trying out some new techniques that will be useful later.
And getting better at airbrushing. I need the practice.
Time well spent.

But the big news is that I got a 3d printer the other day.
I have unboxed it but not started it up yet.
It's a M3D Micro Plus. It was cheap, small and "plug and play".

Perfect for me to start learn about these machines.

I have been waiting a few years for the right moment to buy one.
Many has been saying they are not good enough yet.
But what do I know. I have no frame of reference for this.

I know printers are a bit controversial within the model-comunity, I understand why.
I see it as another tool and hopefully a way to build better models for less money.
I am a 3d artist so I will not buy finished models online to print myself.
The idea is to model and print everything I need myself.
And document the process when its possible.

For many years I didn't have a need for a printer, but suddenly I have so many projects
that could benefit of a printer. Not only model related projects.
So I just got tired of waiting.

Expect more posts when I get everything set up, and start producing test prints.

The M3d is a good starter printer.I see you have a spool of ABS filament.It is a bit tricky using ABS filament,especially in a printer without a heated print bed like this one.ABS tends to warp as it cools and it often does not stick well to the print bed which will ruin your print job.I think you will find PLA much easier to work with.The main difference between PLA and ABS is ABS is easier to sand and a bit tougher than PLA, but these are not that important for the small low detail prints that this printer is capable of.PLA sticks to the print bed much better and you will see less warpage as it cools.

Carl

Thanks darbyvet.

I bought one of each, ABS and PLA.
The research can only get you so far.
Hands-on experience is more important I think.

I have read about the heated bed and the other issues that you mention.
I have also read that PLA could possibly melt in a warm window, and ABS will not.
What a dilemma. A plastic that melts far too easily or a plastic that doesn't stick to the printing bed.

Once I get past that hurdle, I need prints that have some sort of quality and resolution to them, and I will test different primers and paints on the testprints I make.
I have no use for prints that I can't properly paint or glue.

I somehow expect to be disapointed with the machine.
Every bad thing I read about the printer is twice as heavy as a good thing. That is the feeling I get. Or that is the way I feel.

One thing to be aware of.You will need quite a bit of clean up before you can paint your piece.The print lines will be obvious so you will need to sand those down and use a filler to fill the lines.PLA is harder to sand than ABS, but it is possible to make parts smooth so you dont see the print lines.I plan on doing a step by step guide to sanding PLA soon on the forum.

Printers have a resolution setting.This refers to hoe thin the individual slices are.If you choose a low resolution (0.3mm) you will see obvious print lines, but the print will be quicker because there are fewer layers per mm of Z axis height.If you choose a high resolution (like 0.1mm) the layers will be thinner and so the print lines will be finer, but the print will takes MUCH longer. Also be aware that 3d printing is SLOW.It often takes hours to print anything bigger than 2-3 cm.


As far as being disappointed I think it is all about expectations.For the price of the M3D you cant expect perfect prints every time.You are better sticking with parts that are fairly simple shapes without too much surface detail.For example you could easily print the arches that are at the entrance to the hold on the Falcon and they would look good.You wont be able to print some of the detail parts on the side of the falcon because the printer is not good at small and fine detail.

Carl

For small figures you will need an SLA printer.These use a laser and photsensitive resin and can produce very fine detail.They can also do overhangs like you need for I beams.The downside is they are VERY expensive to buy, the resin is very expensive and they are very slow to print.
One of the best ones on the market at the moment is the Form2 from Formlabs.The printer costs $3499 and the resin is about $150 for 1Kg.It has a small print size but the level of detail it is capable of it amazing.here are some pictures of a smaple print for the Form2.There is no way you can get this level of detail with a FDM printer.

I have been playing with my printer today.
First time I tried to make actual parts for my build, and at the same time learn some more.
So time and filament are not wasted.

During the past week I have printed some test objects in different qualities and so on.
I am getting a better understanding of what the M3D Micro Plus can and can not do.

One way to make my not-to-be Falcon is to change the weaponry.

I modelled a triple-laser-gun to replace the quadgun.
I made the quad first. Took measurements from the metal version with a caliper.

It looked good in Studio Max, but were a bit harder to recreate on the printer. Version 3 is the best one so far.


For the kit, the main body of the quadgun comes in two halves, I made it as one piece.
It looks better IRL. My camera phone is too good to capture the bad things on the prints.

I have just sanded it a bit, removed some bulging plastic and added a thin coat of primer.
No filler yet. I need to see and understand all the bad things with the print before I get to next step in the progress, which is the filler.
I print with white so it's hard to see the details because of its gloss. The primer dulls the shine.


Even the metal barrels fit without breaking the part.

So, how to move forward.
I need filament with a different color. Preferably grey because its the default color on the kit,
but the seller doesn't have that. So I might go with black.

I also will try to print without all smaller details.
I think this might be close to what he printer can handle and the details might mess things up.
And it will be easier to fill and sand if its a simplified model.
I think I can add details easy with styrén afterwards.

Overall I am happy with the result.
Not even close to the finish on the metal parts, but I am not done trying yet.

That is some very nice paintwork on the cockpit.

I decided to add all hullplates on the bottom of the ship.
I needed to see how all interiour parts fit, to work out how I can extend the ramp.




And a good thing that I did assemble all this, because now I realize the issues with the ramp.
I want to remove the servomotor and extend the boardingramp up into the ship, but it will not be as easy as I thought.
I have found some solutions on the net, so I will look into those before I decide what to do.

Anyone out there who knows about the cragolift in the aft?
It's not found in the interior of the model or on the outside.
Still I see it in allmost all non-Deago blueprints of the ship.
I guess they left it out, completely.
I want one!

Nice idea, looking forward to seeing this progress.

Mark

Holidays, and I am a bit all over the place, or the ship right now.
I have some hard decisions to make so while doing that I focus on another part of the ship while the decisions percolate in my mind for a while.

I am not going to use the lighting for the engine because my ship will be landed and engines turned off.
And the plastic semitransparent part that will cover the lights just looks awful without lights. It even looks bad with the lights on from what I seen from photos. There's a lack of detailing.
If I were to use the lights I would consider adding detail to the part directly.
But I am not doing that, I am making a new part.



I thought I could use the part that came with the kit but cutting all those white squares out seemed a horrible way to spend my time when I can glue some styren strips together and get it done in an hour.
I also added some "rudders". Maybe they are moveable "IRL".
I took some measurements from the original part when assembled on the ship, so I hope my new part will fit perfectly. It seemed to work pretty well from a test-assembly I did.

I put some transparent tape to the gridded buildmat with sticky side up and the styrén profiles stuck to that nicely while gluing them together.


Here is a section of how I made it.

It bends pretty well. Some creaking but I think it will survive without parts breaking off.

And there will be some detailing behind it.

The vectorplates will also get some detailing.
I have seen some great kits on Shapeways, but its too expensive I think.
So I will again rely on my styrén strips for that.
It will be fun.