MechTech

I agree, the 3D thread should be here. Somebody should have told them 3D printing is no longer "science fiction"! I wish they had styrene 3D print material. It would stink the house up though. Chronocidal, if I were you, I'd try and keep the panel lines as part of the print. I can't tell you how many times I've made crooked lines or slipped up making other etchings. And I don't even drink! The back end/bracket is done. I drilled the heck out of it to lighten it up. The second photo shows what everything looks like without the motor. I added bearings and machined some things so the mechanism is smoother. The motor attaches to the left-hand upper bracket. The barrel is still not machined and a mechanism has to be made to feed the cap belt through the white styrene chute. Yes, this has styrene on it so technically it is still a model. - MT

Cool models Pengbuzz and UN Marine! Regarding the 3D printers, thanks for the updates guys! Chronocidal, your print did look too hot with all the melty blobs. I'm seriously thinking of getting a 3D printer, but will have to upgrade my mill first. I'm currently taking my lathe head and swapping it out with my mill as I do one or the other. My mill machine head failed (cheap Chinese circuits). I have a Sherline lathe and bought their adaptor that I machined to fit my mill. Now the same machine head is doing double duty. I'm thinking resign printers too for detail and to minimize bias marks. The only downfalls are that they are messier and the resins can get brittle with age. I watched a factory made model of the X-32 break itself under its own weight over time as pieces got brittle. I just HATE the bias marks that spool style printers can add too. Plus the de-laminating of layers too. -MT

Pengbuzz, That came out great. Your figure work looks good too. My hat's off to you. I SUCK at making figures from scratch! Anubis, nice clean build! It is weird that the colors came out like that. Its looks great all the same. That's cool UN Marine! You gonna do the acetone fog, or just sand down the bias marks? Looks like the seams aren't so bad at all. Chronocidal, what kind of printer are you using? I've never seen one blob up like that before. Sorry about that. I'd be frustrated too. Cool Gabe! I haven't seen a male power armor done in a while. I'm guessing that's a newer release? I'm used to seeing the ugly purple styrene. If you're looking at the picture saying, "What the heck is that!?" Its the third and hopefully final version of my ship's cap gun (cap cannon). The barrel and bolt are stainless steel. They travel back and forth inside the brass tube in the middle. They strike the cap which will fit behind the whole thing. The gear and helix piece are whole and rotate around the barrel cocking the bolt/barrel back and then letting it fly into the cap to set it off. It's only half way done now. The barrel still needs shaping and the other half of the motor drive and cap feed still need to be done. At least it looks like something now. - MT

Those are cool videos, thanks for sharing! "You can only get these on ebay..." Does he not know about other stores online in Japan? - MT

I think you can substitute the white for another color. Possibly do black, magenta and white at the same time? I'm not sure how they're doing it. - MT

Cool MickyG! I found Gorilla glue is best when you don't see it. It's weird stuff. Funny Pengbuzz! But the changes look great! Electric Indigo: Awww! It is cute. Is that going to be one of the Arab Nations schemes? Derex, that's good! You're wife understands and accepts your hobby! Now you know she's a keeper No photos yet. My maniacal cap gun design is still being machined and experimented with. I'm hoping to finish it soon and get back to the styrene assembly of the ship. - MY

Anasazi, have you seen this yet: HP Laserjet and Ghost White Toner ? At $789.95 its expensive, but should last a long time. It's cool more white toners are starting to come out. - MT

For those of you that are hardcore, they now have a printer and white toner combo up at Micro Mark. It's only $789.95 for the combo, also sold separately. HP Laserjet and Ghost White Toner In case the link breaks, check out the HP Color Laserjet Pro M452dw and Ghost White Toner when doing searches. - MT

Awww - it's so cute -in a cool manly way! - MT

That's too bad Pengbuzz! It almost sounds like something got to it to attack it for parts that got brittle. For the whole kit being bad, that's just bad chemistry. Poor Derex, can't get any slack around here! Cool Pengbuzz, except, "My eyes!" That just hurts looking at the light - MT

Cool Derex! I love that kit despite its fit. Pengbuzz, what old kits have you experienced that brittleness with? Just curious.-MY

Congrats on an awesome joint project! Great internal details and overall design too!-MT

Looking GREAT Pengbuzz? You have a lot of cool details in there. Yeah, old printers are awesome for all kinds of parts. I usually find old ones for $5 at thrift stores. -MT

Those look GREAT Thom and Pengbuzz! I'm glad to see you guys making progress! Derex, the ole' girl is looking good so far (for being gray)! No photos yet, but my cap cannon is still in bitty pieces that don't look like anything yet. - MT

Thanks 505! I'm shooting for realistic - pun intended! - MT

Nice n clean Derex. That thing almost looks the size of the Chrsitmas ornament Defiant we have. Thank you guys! That was the first time I've cut flutes into barrels like that. "Does this muzzle brake make me look fat?" I thought the first muzzle brakes looked awkward, bulbous at the end so I made something more modern looking in brass. The turrets are nearly done now too after adding details. I wanted optics turrets for the ship and turrets so I turned some radii (balls) on my lathe and then milled "lenses" into them of various sizes to simulate lasers, IR cameras and cameras. I just need to clean the dust out of the cuts. Long story short, I rechecked the main turret size and am going to redo the cap firing mechanism to make it smaller. Right now the mechanism sticks out of the turret where it should and has no room to cycle in either. Hopefully it won't take me another month like the last ones did each. - MT

I'm just now seeing this. AWESOME work as always! Great details and design work! - MT

It's great to see this step by step now from the Workbench thread! Awesome work! - MT

That's looking great Thom! I got some details done this weekend. The first was the louvers for the air intakes. A strip of styrene was milled to simulate the louvers. Then a template was made to etch the four openings and louvers were cut to fit. A thin strip will go between the louvers and the opening. Next, the tough part. I always loved the look of the fluted barrels on the Oerlikon 35mm. Those are what will be the secondary turrets. The tough part is machining them. I tried a lot of methods and materials. Aluminum, too soft. Brass, too hard, but not strong enough. I finally found steel could be lathed thin enough (with a live chuck holder on the other end). Next, I carefully milled the length of them with a special, thin saw blade. The slots were then hand widened with hobby files. I milled some muzzle brakes to go on them, but not sure they are convincing enough. They are shown in their turrets (modified Bradley turrets under construction). Then the RAM launcher was finally completed. Its an enlarged and stealthy version I made up. Next step will be making the tie-downs in the decking areas and other deck related details. - MT

AWESOME Arbit!!! Once upon a time there was this guy asking about wiring up motors. Now you OWN IT man! You're Crushing that Crusher Joe fighter Electric Indigo! (Sorry, just had to pun it) That's cool Bolt! My son is thinking of getting some Tau stuff. Had a productive weekend! I machined a buck for both the SATCOM antennas and the bottom got cut off for the gun turret bases with a new top glued on for the turrets. I machined the buck on my mill in the same chuck that fits on my lathe. After each vacu-forming, I threw it on my lathe to cut the base off uniformly. It saves trying to sand a level base with flimsy plastic sides. The SATCOM antennas are above the hanger (not glued on yet) and the turret bases below it. Lost the small navigation radar antenna and had to make a new one. Also added small link antenna globes below the spinning radars (also covers screw holes). The radar tower comes off and the bridge roof hinges upward to open up. Covered all those seems with angles and other shaped styrene extrusions. The long strip going around the base of the bridge / top of the hanger covers the seem where that top piece also comes off to allow maintenance access. The yellow paper turret and missile turret are all still hypothetical and still under development. - MT

Thank you Gabe! I'd listen to Sanity is Optional. Wait, did I just say that? - MT

Thanks Thom! Your Saber is looking smooth now. Gabe, sorry, its hard to tell, but is that the kit or the toy? If its the kit, you can just order the sprue. If its the part I think it is, maybe even a textured sheet of styrene. - MT

FINALLY got the radars done. The is the third and final version of the main one, second of the secondary. The last main one one my wife thought looked like a dog tag and I thought it looked too old, not angled enough as is the modern trend with some (not all) radars. Also cleaned up the fit between the top of the deck house and the lower half of the ship. The whole section on top comes off to get access to stuff below. I placed a strip of styrene over the seam and will clean it up when the cement dries. I'll get a video up when I get further along showing some of the gimmicks. - MT

Thanks for sharing that Rock! - MT

I didn't know 3M made that stuff. Who usually sells it?