DrEmilLang

Sold!

So I'm working on the mockup and the real thing as it goes along. Without bracing, the walls have a tendency to shift, or rotate a bit so the top isn't square. So I'm going to have to brace it more than I first thought. Also, cutting all the parts before using is a bad idea because invariably the measurements will be a bit off. So I'm going to only cut parts as I go, and I'm going to have to work from the corners inward, or else the corners come out asymmetrical.

Here's the state of things so far (note: the "top" actually started as the base, but I drew my lines to cut in the wrong place and accidentally made it 2" too short. So now that piece is the top and before I cut, I check against the mockup.

Here's the sources:

(as an aside: the colorists kind of pick-and-chose what color things were, and I think that's a 1J and a 1A in "weird cannon fodder" colors.)

There's no "clip", but changes must be made to make it removable. It was either that or fashion a peg-fit version and drill out the landing gear, which I don't trust to be that strong.

Oleo trailing links are in!

You can save to your computer. Though, overall, the 123D interface is so simplified (or "enlarged") for Touch-centric devices that it's a bit cartoonish.

Sadly, the free non-cloud version is no longer available for download. The latest version (360) is cloud-based, and monthly charges start at 25 USD. Personally, I'm not about to "rent" a piece of software indefinitely.

It seems that there's not much in Fusion that's not actually in 123D Designer; it's just that 123D has a "tablet friendly" interface.

1. "Elasto": poor resolution, crazy flexible, almost like silicone rubber. I just wanted to see how it was
2. "White Strong and Flexible" Actually stronger than the original ABS, I think. Fair detail, but not great. Probably what I'll end up using.
3. "Frosted Ultra Detail" Very very detailed. Strong, but as you can see, it shears easily between layers. If I used this, I'd have to print all the vertical pegs horizontally and have "drill holes" for them to fit into, then glue them in place.
4. the original ABS

As far as the model itself goes, the mount at the top has a peg that's just barely too thick, and the tines are just barely too close together, and thick. Not by much: probably the combined slop in my micrometer is the issue. The missile pegs themselves are probably 0.07mm too close together, so it's a snug fit; I'll have to move them all. Once I get that fixed, I'll probably make the file public on a six-rack sprue. I might also modify the model so all the pegs are twice as long as needed, so you can cut and drill and mount them, then offer it in WSF and FUD at cost.

I'm working on measurements and the design of the top and floor plates.

Left to Right:

1. Cut options if I go with laser-cut plywood (trying to figure out how to make my strokes while leaving a solid piece, and how to order them)
2. Deck layout (top): I've actually changed this up in Illustrator; I've made the cross-deck angle of the catapult 22.5º, which looks better I think, with the 45º angles
3. Floor layout (bottom) It's going to be a small bay with a closed bay door on one side and three smaller doors (two personnel, on equipment). I wanted some color so I've added the guide-stripes (which'll have bar codes; yeah robots might not need OCR, but, maybe they're old?)
4. The starting sketch I made while thinking about the interior layout.

So after seeing a couple 1/48 dioramas, I decided I wanted to do a carrier-deck diorama with my valk. But then I thought "sometimes I move stuff around; it'd be nice to have a box to put them away in".

Enter: The boxorama. A carrier top-deck hiding a carrier hangar deck storage area.

I'm mocking it up as a rough sketch in foamcore first; then I'll do half or third-scale blueprints--maybe some light 3d modeling--then I'll most likely put it together from plywood and balsa and styrene. Once I build the box I can detail the flight deck (I'm tempted to buy an italeri 1/72 flight deck to trim to fit, then detail based on the artwork.). From there I can detail the hangar deck at my leisure.

First up, some sources:

Then the rough design study:

Yeah. A01 is glued. I can get everything unscrewed enough to start separating A08 and A09, but A01 is the "keystone", and there's no disassembling A02 and A04 to get 8 and 9 loose. Maybe I'll get lucky and find someone who only needs the back half of their unassembled kit

I'd like to get the thing apart and print a more exact SDFM cockpit for it, but I'm afraid of breaking parts just prying stuff out.

Any pointers would be helpful. (My worst-case is just sawing/drilling the tops off of everything and just modeling the visible portions, but I'd prefer to have it all accessible.)

Price $30 + shipping, CONUS

The box isn't shrinkwrapped, but the bags are unopened. The two canopies have popped off their sprue and are loose in the clear-parts bag.

Painted the figure. I couldn't find a good reference for the "cannon fodder" pilot, so I went with "hero colors in brown". (I need to paint the sleeve/pants stripes)

So I've been playing with Inventor Fusion, which I'm liking much better than SketchUp and 123D Design (and especially Blender), and I'm going to see if the stuff I want to make is "too small".

Firstly I need to do something about the broken missile rack (unfortunately the peg came off inside a missile)

And I'd like to have a clip-on Oleo Strut for the front landing gear.

they should arrive in February, and if they're any good, I'll let you know!

Testors ModelMaster Acrylic "Dark Tan" is a very very close match. It's maybe a few degrees warmer than the moulded plastic color. The white (semi-gloss white acrylic primer) is too "pure white"--and gloss--so I'm going to probably do a wash or tint a flat coat a bit and spray. I may also go with black.

I jacked up the joinery: I put it down for a second and the glue started to set and I had to try squeezing the head together with pliers. I'm going to probably do some filling. Also I don't like the way the lens came out; hopefully I can pull it out. I actually have some clear acrylic paint, but I want the back to be white or silvered.

Also, I've broken one of the armament racks, so I'm going to see if I can 3d print replacements:

So here's the difference between the TV and DYRL heads.

Does shapeways have anything that's approximately as strong as the original ABS?

On #6: I've got an assembly kit, and I'm not hugely fond of the tv pilot. Would you want to trade?

The same could go for the head, if you wanted a tv style 1A...

I'm interested. PM sent

So I've decided that I want to TV-ify my DYRL cannon-fodder valk as much as possible, which involves (in order of easiest-to-hardest)

1. modifying the missile pods to be TV-style with IR domes and red tails (drill out front and rear, and repaint)
2. apply a select number of decals (the ibuyxyz versions; I mainly need the gunpod warning decals, and I want to cut-up a pilot name; something "lucky" to explain why this particular pilot is Going to Make it Through to the End of the Show )
3. repainting the intake/exhaust to be "Brown" (I'm going to take artistic license and do a burnt-metal treatment on them--even if the intakes shouldn't "burn"; maybe I'll skip those) as well as the battloid "obliques" vents)
4. add TV-style HUDs (ideally also add TV-style display)
5. Convert gunpod to "vented" barrel (I recall the TV barrel being vented, not gatling; I need to go back and source this--I'm probably just going to model and print the whole gunpod statically for "Fighter" mode
6. source a TV-style pilot figure (either borrow and cast a Roy from someone [hint hint], or sculpy my own TV figure)
7. (optionally) add a hinged rear strut to the front landing gear (I'm thinking a 3d-modeled clip-on affair in case folding it flat won't stow)
8. (optionally) add a non-canon red stripe to the legs. It bugs me that there's no frag warning stripe: there's a warning LABEL which usually explains the stripe. Evidently one of the games has a VF-1R colorway with the 3-gun head and the stripe [a sort of 'brown Max/Milia scheme] but I'm otherwising going TV-style.

Back to my question: I've started on #1, but since putting in the IR sensor is going to show through the missile body (since the ABS is slightly translucent) I'm going to have to paint the missiles. I'm hoping there's a single color I can use, but if not I'm up for hints of other colors / ratios for mixing.