The Y-Wing "Green Leader" Project - NOW OPEN SOURCE!

After several frustrating attempts to get a decent 3D print of the Tail Shroud done in the U.S. the printers from Hong Kong sent me this photo. Very excited!

Shroud HK Print.jpg
 
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No, no, don't care, and no. Used a scan of a L'Egg, so it's every bit as accurate, will match perfectly with the 3D printed detail parts and much more robust for molding.
 
No, no, don't care, and no. Used a scan of a L'Egg, so it's every bit as accurate, will match perfectly with the 3D printed detail parts and much more robust for molding.

I ça n'y believe that you, an experienced modeler (should I say professional), would have not been able to build it in less time that you lost trying to find the right company and to wait for it to get it printed.

Not sure what you do when you mold parts, but instead you're using a hammer, I'm not sure how you could break a Leggs by pouring RTV on it ! :D

Regarding the accuracy, sorry I should not have mention that, I forgot we dont have the same standard, and that you don't care about accuracy. I forgot you were building a two seats Y. ;)
 
Doesn't a mold from an original kit part and a digital scan of an original kit part yield the same result? Not sure why it matters how Dave decided to do it.
 
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Who cares, as long as you are happy?

I guess studio scale modelers care and no studio scale modelers don't.

Why I asked DaveG that is that is seems to be an odd choice when :

- Your building a studio scale model (it's in the SS section)
- The original part is known
- The original part is easy to find
- The original part is cheap
- The original part is a faster way to get it done. No time spent looking at a company that will provide good result (3D printed parts need preping as good as they are though) and waiting for It to be printed and shipped. Time and money is something DaveG knows about since he's working in the FX industry.
- Nothing beats an original part
- DaveG used a Leggs for the front engine so that's why I was wondering why he did not do it for the rear.

If you think it is not legitimate to ask question related to studio scale accuracy then let's ask for read only threads...
 
Since the actual Plastruct .25-inch ABS tee for one Y-Wing will cost a bit more than a couple of real L'eggs egg containers, why not 3D scan, 3D print, lathe, CNC mill, re-3D scan and then have someone in Hong Kong re-3D print all of your ABS tee as well?

Then you can sell that for even more money than the actual Plastruct tee costs to folks who don't know any better, too.

Sounds more than a little ridiculous, right?
 
Since the actual Plastruct .25-inch ABS tee for one Y-Wing will cost a bit more than a couple of real L'eggs egg containers, why not 3D scan, 3D print, lathe, CNC mill, re-3D scan and then have someone in Hong Kong re-3D print all of your ABS tee as well?

Then you can sell that for even more money than the actual Plastruct tee costs to folks who don't know any better, too.

Sounds more than a little ridiculous, right?


Thanks for your input. As one of those guys who "don't know any better." I'm purchasing his products because he's offering them and I feel that what he's asking is fair. Comparing this to Plastruct tee is lame, they don't sell what Dave is offering......last time I checked but I "don't know any better."
 
Thing of beauty right there Dave! , just the way ILM would have preferred it as opposed to the wonkiness many strive for.
Yes sorry to be a studio scale modeler on a studio scale forum ! Haha

Seriously, you can get a nicest part by hand, the 3D print is quite rough, DaveG is going to spend on it to get it look nice, getting the plating printed with the leggs part is not a good idea regarding cleaning, here again will be wasted time cleaning around them, adding them later would have given a better result with less efforts, that's why I am wondering why he did it that way. 3D printed parts are very cool, use them myself, however I use them when I know it'll be easier that way and faster or because the parts are not available.
But while Im way much younger than DaveG I reckon Im probably much more oldschool than him, I love things made by hand ! :D
I disgress, back on topic, 3D printed Leggs, which is cool by the way !
 
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SS Modeler on a SS Forum. I forgot about that part.

As much as hate the debate, according to the stickie for this forum I'm not seeing an issue.

This is coming from my phone, expect errors.
 
So as I mentioned a while back, the 3D printed control vanes that Shapeways did came out really nice, but wind up costing about $84 to print for one model. I was trying to find a cheeper way to have them printed. The vertical vanes could be built up out of styrene sheet, as was done on the original, but unless you've got a couple of Sealab kits lying around for the crane parts, the horizontal vanes could be a bit of a problem.

RPF member Gus76 was kind enough to try printing the parts on his Form2 3D printer to see if that would be a viable way of producing the parts at a lower price point than Shapeways. Gus has a wealth of knowledge in this area and anyone that's seen his Falcon vents or X-Wing cockpit (wow!) know how good his Form 2 prints are. He printed the vanes both as three separate parts and as one single assembly. As nice as the surface quality is with the Form2, it just doesn't look like a viable way to go. The parts are way too fragile to ship safely and prone to warping if left on a hot doorstep in the heat. For now, going with donor parts (or castings) and/or Shapeways looks like the best way t o go.

Here's a shot of the version Gus printed as three separate parts, then primed and glued together. Again the surface quality is great but it's fragile. The scalloped leading edge on the vertical vane and t he little nubbins on the ring are artifacts of the printing supports and could be easily removed with a few swiped of a jewelers file.

IMG_1914.jpg

And here's the all-in-one vane assembly as it comes out of the printer with the supports still in place, and with the supports trimmed away. As with the first one, there would still be a bit of clean on the support nubbins, but again, super fragile. Just not practical.

IMG_1915.jpg IMG_1921.jpg

So once I've triple checked the fit of the 3D modeled parts against the cast tail shrouds I'll be posting STL files for people that want to have them printed at Shapeways (or want to try printing themselves) and 2D patterns for people that want to cut out styrene versions.
 
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Beautiful work! I've often admired this particular assembly of the Y. I'm so impressed with its beautiful yet fragile component despite the huge time constraints ILM was under.
 
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I would suggest to not 3D the kind of long bent rod and to not use casting either, would be too fragile. The only viable way is to used the original kitpart (fortunatly enough Y the kit can be found for less than $10, but you'll need two :)).
From my experience, even If it's quite protected, it's the most fragile piece of this assembly.
My sealab cranes are resin and never broke up despite some bad treatment.

However it's better to not get the parts of this assembly "locked" into some placement keys or whatever they're called inside the Leggs. This way the assembly could pops up in case of shock at the rear of the vertical stabilizer (the most commun damage comes from here) and the parts are not broken. Other ways, they would.
All that is not theory, I experimented it 100 times against my will. :)

The whole assembly is very strong once built. The two weak points are the bent rod at the front and the small wings glued to the sealab crane and that bent rod.

I would suggest to wait once the model is fully painted to glue this assembly on the model. Maybe just before the last weathering steps.
Once it's displayed, the parts should not be broken.
 
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Just got some pix from the 3D printers in Hong Kong of the fuselage shell prints. They look really nice! It looks tlike there might be a little bit of a warp on the top shell but that's not unexpected given it's size and thinness. I should have no problem bracing it up "square" before molding. You'll notice there's no extra little plating bits. As each model had different add on panels I decided to leave them off the castings so each person can customize with sytrene bits as desired. I think I said before that I was using the Alan Ladd Y wing (Gold 2?) as reference and the score pattern is based on that model. The scores also varied from ship to ship, especially on the sides.

Really looking forward to getting these molded soon!

Fuselage Top and Bottom Prints.jpg Fuselage Shells assembled.jpg
 
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