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Chronocidal

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  1. Chronocidal
    Do you think he would be willing to do a fandub of the movies? I'd pay so much money to see that.
  2. Chronocidal
    Oh, absolutely, I would hate having to do those from scratch. At the same time though, the quick motion of the print head around the panel lines is what causes the ripples in the print. Without those, the surfaces come out silky smooth. Agreed though, I'd love to get actual styrene. I've done a couple prints in PLA, but it seems a bit harder to sand. ABS just seems like the best option overall for model-like prints.
  3. Chronocidal
    There have probably been multiple "Starship Builder" games over the years, but I think they're all from long ago at this point, and nothing like you would find on a mobile device. Here's one at least, nice menu music, but that's probably the best part of program. It's really not much of a game, just something that lets you mess with a bunch of ship configuration and crew options, and then runs automated tests on the ship. Edit: Apparently, it even had a sequel, which the wiki article mentions did not review well. (Judging by the photos, I believe the video might be of the second one.)
  4. Chronocidal
    So, I know when I put one of my models up on Shapeways, I was able to offer the model for free download. Is there a way you could add a model to your shop that can be purchased without ordering a full printing? Or even if you can't order just the model file, could you setup a print for purchase that would give a reasonable price, and allow purchasers to download the model, even if the model itself wasn't really viable? It would be kind of an odd backdoor deal, but let's say you could offer the model in cruiser mode at something like 1 inch long... no one wants it that small, but if that gives you a reasonable price to sell it at, and gives the buyer the ability to download your original model to print themselves at their own preferred size, that could be a viable method. (This of course assumes Shapeways would even claim to be able to successfully print that 1 inch model, and allow people to order it.)
  5. Chronocidal
    The nice thing is, I'm not really printing to calibrate my printer, since it's doing just fine with everything I throw at it (though, it depends on which slicer software I use.. more on that in a minute). This is more calibrating my model-building, giving me targets to shoot for in terms of how detailed I can make things and still have it turn out well. Those calibration blocks were a 5-minute model I made just to help me choose what size lines to cut into my model. 3D Studio Max is probably not nearly the best software I could be using for CAD modeling, but it's the best software I have available, and I'm far more familiar with basic polygon modeling than any sort of precision CAD or NURBS software format. Where this becomes difficult is when I go to add what would be relatively simple feature additions in CAD software, like a uniform thickness to a surface, or a precise engraving. Since polygons have no thickness, I have to manually construct the inner walls to form solid parts, and engraving can become a geometric nightmare that results in thousands of segmented polygons that may or may not actually form a continuous surface once you begin cutting. Most of my work on this model in the past two weeks has been developing a consistent engraving workflow within my model. Most of that involves laying out profile splines along panel lines that have no inherent thickness to them. Once the profiles are set, I can add outlines to them in the width of my engravings, and extrude those into cutting surfaces, which can then be used to cut divisions into the model, which can then be extruded in either direction to make raised or engraved detail lines. The difficulty relative to actual CAD software is that where CAD software would keep the panel lines as an adjustable feature, cutting those lines into a polygon mesh is a destructive process, and can't easily be adjusted once done. If I want to change my engraving thickness, I have to go back to my original cutting profile curves, pick a new width, and then repeat the cutting process. Most of the setup in the model I have been doing has been to prepare a baseline set of model parts and panel lines, from which I can quickly generate a new copy with a desired panel line width. As far as slicer software goes, I've actually had more success with the default Cura-based software included with the printer than I have with Simplify3D, which has had me kicking myself a few times, but I believe what I really need to do is just go through the included software, and carefully replicate all of the advanced settings in S3D to try and tune it better. S3D's slicing logic is just visibly better, while the included software tends to add some really odd support structures that don't actually support anything, or stick tiny bits of unnecessary material in strange spots, that just have to be cleaned off later.
  6. Chronocidal
    They did do the F-4 in VF-84 markings, but I haven't seen any F-18s in the modern VF-103 version. What I'd really love is a VX-31 or VX-9 scheme.
  7. Chronocidal
    So, I went digging for more info on the Hachette Air Fighter Collection releases, and might have a fun little scoop for those wanting to plan out their purchases without going in blind. I've been doing my searches in Japanese, and translating the results, and they've turned up some interesting finds. http://www.books-ruhe.co.jp/cgi-bin/bms/list.cgi?ctg_id=airfighter This site lists all of the releases up to #37, which, if correct, I'm absolutely grabbing as soon as CD Japan lists it. Will probably grab the Hornet as well, while I'm at it. Here's hoping they keep digging backwards into history, and we get some more designs from the 50s-70s.
  8. Chronocidal
    NY operates on a "we'll get around to it" model of scheduling shipments. It's frustrating, but they just have a well-established reputation of taking their time to get shipments out, and not really paying any attention to who ordered or paid for their items first. On the positive side though, I don't think there have been any cases where they didn't eventually deliver. What'll happen is you'll eventually (probably within a week or two) get a "shipping preparation in progress" email, which is probably just to let you know that they've purchased the shipping label based on item weight. After another vaguely defined period of time, you'll get a shipping confirmation, and after that it's up to your chosen shipping method. Bottom line is, they aren't timely, but they are reliable. If you want or need something delivered quickly, they shouldn't be your first choice. Sadly, in many cases with high-demand Bandai releases, they might be your only choice if you can't get an order somewhere else.
  9. Chronocidal
    Hmm, I'm thinking the plain valk proportions on that one aren't as good as the 31. Legs look oversized, or the tails undersized, or both. Could be a lot worse, but I've already got plenty of the 1/100 VF-25 kits, so probably pass on this one.
  10. Chronocidal
    Oh, no, no worries at all, I'm not talking about this forum. The "General 3D Printer" discussion topic is in the "Anime and Science Fiction" forum, when it really should probably go under the "Workshop" forum, like this thread.
  11. Chronocidal
    I did seriously consider just printing everything clean, and then scribing the panel lines myself, since that would make the marks absolutely minimal. Finding the right temperature with a spool printer is the key though, and can make a huge difference. Personally, I just prefer having a material I can work with. Small parts I can just scratch build from styrene scrap, but large components are just nice to have ready-made. Little bit of a cross posting, but I'm hoping we can get the 3D printing topic switched over to the Workshop forum, rather than having it buried in other off-topic discussions. I did get a really nice tail and engine nozzle print done, but I'm still working on refining the support structure for the tail, and will probably make another test print. Tail is about 3 inches tall and wide, while the larger engine is about the size of a gamepad thumbstick. What I really do appreciate about this print type is how nicely ABS cleans up with a little elbow grease. Aside from a few molding flaws I'm going to try and correct on my next test print, I was able to sand and polish that tail to a nice semi-gloss finish.
  12. Chronocidal
    So I realized belatedly why I had so much trouble finding this old thread.. I was looking in the Workshop forum. Any chance we can get this shifted over there instead? Might get a little overlap with all of the individual printing projects that get posted, but I think it just has a tendency to get lost in the flood of variety in this section. Anyhow, think I'm going to rework that tail tonight, and try again for 0.3 panel lines. Turns out I left off at least one panel, and some of the smaller details I tried to add didn't turn out visible, so removing them might stabilize the print better. I'm also thinking of adding a thin support panel to the back edge of the tail, to help preserve the sharp edge. Always easier to leave myself with extra material to remove, rather than a jagged surface I need to fill in.
  13. Chronocidal
    Decided to dig this old thread up due to recent renewed interest. Funny to see how much the printer market has changed since this topic started. I think I paid less for my giant enclosed Qidi X-Max than I did for the Up! Plus 2, and it's got nearly a cubic foot print volume. It stood out to me mostly because of the near 100% 5-star rating on Amazon. It's kind of a monster. I really love the magnetic build plate though. The texture makes prints stick very well, and it's flexible, so you can bend it to pop them free easily. I spent a little while setting it up, and did one of the default test prints, just a combination block with a hollow cylinder, and it came out very smoothly. After that, I went all in, and printed a full copy of my old Excalibur model, about 7 inches long. It went off mostly without a hitch, though I found out I needed to mess with the support structure settings to give me something less destructive, since the supports took a few chunks out of the back of the model. Nothing some putty/sanding won't fix though. All told, I was really impressed with how well it made the whole thing. The surface has a bit of corrugation to it, but all the panel lines printed visibly, so I'm planning on just giving the whole thing a coat of gray paint to see how it turns out. I did a few test prints to see what kind of resolution I can get with panel lines, before cutting new engravings in the model. Those cuts are marked in millimeter widths. I made one block with 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.5, and 1.0 cuts, then printed it at 1/2, and 1/4 size. Lines start to get fuzzy between the 0.375 and 0.25 mm range, so I'm aiming for that for the updated model. What really impressed me was how smoothly the printer produced a simple calibration block. The top surface especially is so smooth as to be almost reflective. After nailing down the engraving depth, I printed a couple of completed parts from the model, one tail, and one engine plate. Both turned out very well, though I might still tune the settings for them. The details on the nozzle are approaching the limits of thin-walled detail that the printer can handle, so I've thickened them up a tiny bit. All the gray is in ABS, and sands really nicely, so the tail should polish up into a nice smooth finish. I think the only down side to this printer has been the build times. It seems to take a very long time to finish larger objects. The full red ship model took about 31 hours to complete, while just that tail print took a little over 11 to finish up. The engines were a little less than an hour I think, being a lot shorter, but I think the biggest thing is just that I have the quality settings on maximum. Given how well things are working, I think the smoothness has been worth the wait.
  14. Chronocidal

    Bandai DX VF-31

    Chronocidal replied to UN Spacy's topic in Toys

    Might look interesting, but the shapes of the two valks are entirely different, so I doubt any of the parts will fit, short of anything that mounts on the wing hardpoints.
  15. Chronocidal
    I'd bump that to the 90s, since even if the whole "Renaissance" era wasn't necessarily original stories, they were at least original treatments with good writing and music. On the Star Wars front, I don't think they've actually had a single original good idea since Star Tours. The singularity-scale plot-holes in the new trilogy are partly due to them going the DLC route, and requiring extra purchases before you get the entire story, and partly a combination of terrible writing, and a galaxy of characters dumber than a sack of doorknobs. For all of the vastness of space, the new movies have managed to make the galaxy feel absolutely tiny. Aside from JJ's previously exemplified issues with scale, the entire situation between the Resistance and First Order feels like the rest of the universe just flat out does not care. Is the political backdrop of the new trilogy so utterly fragmented that when the capital of the New Republic is lens-flared out of existence, no one actually gives a flying bowel movement? It vaguely sounds like they're trying to imply that the Republic was setup with no actual power or authority to govern (more like the Articles of Confederation than the Constitution), but the idea that the entire governing body of the galaxy could be wiped out without any response from literally anyone is just bonkers. To be entirely fair though.. the lack of scale backs up the lack of logic. When you can blip yourself anywhere in the galaxy in under a minute, keeping the entirety of your armed forces stationed around a single planet suddenly makes an almost reasonable amount of sense.
  16. Chronocidal
    That's a pretty awesome little kit! I might dig out my Up! printer and set it up alongside my new one, just to compare later. What really killed that print was just purely that I was trying to replicate an injection molded part with a much smaller resolution than the printer, and a lot of very tightly-packed fine details. The only reason I attempted it in the first place was because the printer had managed to spit out the tiny wing cannons on my Excalibur model flawlessly, and they're of a very similar size/diameter. The big difference is that they are just simple cylinders, with no overhangs, and the only details are vertical strips at the base. The Tie Interceptor cannon was actually small enough that entire portions of the model were ignored. I'll post a couple better pics later of my test shots for the tail and exhaust nozzles, which turned out beautifully. I managed to confuse my cutting profiles, so the tail wound up with 0.375 mm panel lines when I intended 0.3, so I may run another, but it looks really clean regardless. I think the only pseudo-complaint I have with this printer is that it seems to take a really long time to produce a print, but I also think it's mostly my own fault for printing things on the finest quality setting. In the end, I think the results have been worth the wait.
  17. Chronocidal
    Hey, they could always just paint them red.
  18. Chronocidal
    I'd probably do that if it didn't mean dealing with liquid resin, and incompatibility with styrene. The accuracy and detail is amazing, but just not workable with what I'm using the printer for, for the most part.
  19. Chronocidal
    Using brand new Qidi X-Max, I was rather shocked at how solid the reviews (and example print photos) for it were on Amazon, and decided it sounded like a better (and bigger) deal than the other enclosed printer I'd been looking at. Honestly though, while I'm a little disappointed, I can't say I'm frustrated, or even upset. You have to keep in mind that the part I was trying to replicate is a 1/72 Bandai Tie Interceptor gun. I got the CAD model built just fine, but the details are nearly microscopic. I mean, that part I pictured is only 20 mm long, and the part has details on the 0.1 mm scale. I might try a few more temperature settings, since I think I was overcooking my ABS, but I think it's probably unreasonable to ask a 0.4 mm print head to duplicate something that tiny. I've done a few quick detail prints to gauge the printer's ability to print engraved panel lines, and I've gotten down between 0.5 mm and 0.25 mm before things lose definition. The printer has otherwise worked very well, and I'm in the process of refining that Wing Commander III Excalibur print I posted a few pages back. I'm sizing it up by 50% to give me a ship about a foot long, so I'm in the process of re-working the panel lines to print around 0.3 mm deep. Going to run a test print on a small part before I get too attached to one depth though, since the process of cutting panel lines with the software I have (3D Studio Max) is anything but trivial. I should go find the old 3D printer topic and dig it back up for more discussion. I'm hoping I can get the model all detailed and printed in the next month or so though.
  20. Chronocidal
    That looks soooo much better with the crappy weathering splotches stripped. She's a beauty! I am a little surprised they molded the intake ramps closed, but I guess that just means it's meant to be flying. I'm actually sad I didn't grab more of the 1/18 fighters when they were around, I had meant to grab the F-86 and MiG-15. I did wind up getting the USAF F-104 though, and that's a beauty. For the most part, I stuck with the 1/32 releases they did, since they were just a lot easier to store and display, but they never got past WWII aircraft in that series, that I know of. Far as pilot figures are concerned, I want to say some of the more recent GI Joe figures might work for at least a body, but you'd probably want to cast/print some better helmets.
  21. Chronocidal
    At this point, I've had enough of Poe to want to see him get mashed in the ANH trash compactor. Repeatedly. He is the Marty Stu here, so much more so than Rey that they felt the need to repeatedly call out how good he was at every turn. Then he managed to dodge a planet-sized karma-bomb in TLJ when he didn't wind up dying along with all the other people his actions screwed over. The teaser looks interesting at least, but can I just point out that, for all the money Disney seems to have dumped into this mess, they still apparently can't be arsed to hire concept artists to develop any new ship that isn't a hackjob of some old MacQuarrie art or otherwise OT design? Seriously people.. for all the "merchandising" focus this franchise has, they're failing miserably at coming up with anything even remotely original or compelling. It's like they're throwing everything they have at the nostalgia angle, and hoping it masks the lack of any original substance. If we start going down the clones and Katana Fleet path though.. I'm just throwing in the towel and calling the Zahn trilogy canon. On the other hand.. (wait for it..) Part of me is wondering if they're literally doing the Luuke story, but Rey is the clone. Seriously, at this point it's like a giant mashup of the EU. I can't believe the evil Rey is actually there though, the picture's fuzzy/blurry and warped enough to look like Rey took another trip into the hall of mirrors, or it's another Dagobah cave incident. It does make a bit of sense for Rey to use a double bladed saber though, considering she originally started off with a staff.
  22. Chronocidal
    I scrolled past the sack of potatoes too fast, and thought it was something else entirely. The first impression seems more accurate.
  23. Chronocidal
    I mean, I was seriously considering Disney+ just for the ability to have stuff like Chip & Dale, Darkwing Duck, Talespin, Ducktales, and Goof Troop at my fingertips. Good new content will just be the icing on that nostalgia cake.
  24. Chronocidal
    Quite a bit, it looks like. I'm not sure if the diver-mode heels are mistransformed, since they look pulled back too far, and exposing a ton of the ankle. Still.. this is going to be my first Legioss. I told myself I'd buy one if they ever fixed the legs in fighter mode, and by golly, this one looks like it nails it.
  25. Chronocidal
    Wishful thinking? I'd love to see it too though.
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