Egilman

Just a short update in the Dolly Progress.... Now comes the most difficult part of all, figuring out the motor mounts..... I'm not going to do the upper halves of the rings, They didn't use them in the field so I won't be using them either... Onwards...

Yep, nice work Chris... that 1/33rd scale does get a bit "Beastly" much like 1/32 scale does in plastic... Could you imagine doing that without laser cut formers?

Ok continuing on with the plan, The engine needs something to sit on when displayed next to the aircraft.... (and a note to the boat builders, the J-47 is the engine used to power the unlimited hydroplanes when the jet era started, if your doing a Miss Budweiser or a Miss Pay n Pak or an Atlas Van Lines in 1/32nd scale, this is your ticket... I got a private question on how this applies to boat and ship building... The J-47 was used in a LOT of applications boat racing was one of them) The only drawings I have of the M-2 Transportation Dolly comes from the J-47 Tech manual... Empty... Loaded.. The angle brackets you see in the unloaded image are the forward mounts... In the loaded image toy see them bolted to the engine and the circular frame and serve to hold the upper portion of the frame to the engine... The aft end of the Dolly uses the engines native motor mounts, A spherical roller bearing assembly used to slide the engine into the airframe once it is lined up... The dolly makes use of those mounts for quickly mounting to the dolly, drop the engine into the aft mount then line up the forward bolt holes with the forward frame and you can release the engine... (interesting to note that the J-47 in the F-86 only had three mounting points, two in the center of the engine on the sides at the aft compressor frame and one top mount at the forward compressor frame... Wasn't much holding it in there) Anyway real life images.... Museum... In the field... The upper brackets were designed to allow the engine to be spun around it's axis for maintenance access to the various sections of the engine, but as we can easily see were seldom installed in the field.... The Dolly was used to move the engine from the removal area to the packing area for shipping to Japan for IRAN where they would be returned to the forward field once done... (a lot cheaper than shipping them all the way back to the states) So those are the images I have to work with... With the engine intake diameter at 36.75 inches, I should be able to scale the image and take measurements... Onwards.... EG

Yes Lou, I'm going to add the details, but at 1/32 scale they will be integral to the model, they are just too small to be printed separately... If I do decide to build a bigger one, (1/16th scale) I will make them separate or design them to be added with wire and the like... At least that is the plan at this moment...

Thank you Mark.... It is much much appreciated... It does work well once you figure it out... I'm only at the basic stage right now but I can get it done, and it is going faster as I gain more experience both using SW and printing... Next up is the dolly to put the engine on when it is complete... I'll be using SW to design it, then scratchbuilding it conventionally... With the engine it was nice to have the tech manuals but this one will be done from nothing but images... A true scratchbuilding scenario.... Going to see how it works from that angle... The plan will be once the dolly is done, glue up the engine to check fit it in the dolly, then go back to the engine and combine it into a single model and add the details and see if the printer will do a complete engine in one print.... Yeah, ambitious I know, but we will see what the capabilities of this printer actually is... This is turning out to be quite the learning experience... {chuckle} EG

Thank you Alan, Yeah it was an enjoyable side trip, I learned a lot and refreshed how to go about doing scale.... It's a tool and a very useful one I might add... Although I can already see some areas where it wouldn't be the best tool for the job... It does replicate fine detail well, something once understood anyone can do if they are willing to learn it... It's not hard... The transportation dolly is something better made from plastic rather than resin, but I will be designing it in SW so I can get the parts correct before I start cutting plastic... SW will save a lot of mis-cutting and recalculations in creating the scratchbuilt scaled version... Just about finished with the research on it, will be posting some of it in a while... All I have is some fuzzy images and a couple of TM illustrations of what one looks like... (and a lot of variations when in actual field use) so I have a bit of license in designing it to fit the engine... Anyway will post what I have soon and maybe give my friends an idea of how we go from a few fuzzy images to an accurately scaled model that fits what and where it is supposed to... I'm finding that I'm actually enjoying this part.... It gets easier as we go, don't know why I didn't start using software for design years ago... EG

Thank you very much Lou, it does get faster the more you get into it... The first five pieces took five revisions over five weeks, the last four pieces took one revision over three days... (including time to learn to actually print something correctly on the first five) It's a lot easier than scratchbuilding I can vouch for that... In scratchbuilding you have to build to scale which adds to the complexity... Also I'm not without some experience brother having graduated from machine school where they extensively taught us to draw and read blueprints that's a big help in understanding what's going on... (but not really needed) I'm sure given time you could do it as well as anyone... It's the perfect medium for turning your "mind's eye" into reality within scale/printer limitations..

Glad to be here.. Yep, Tamiya, WWII version... And yeah the Hasegawa is kinda passe... {chuckle}

Back when the kit was manufactured it was the only way to get close to accurate colors... Today you can buy them pre-mixed and very accurate from several sources both acryl or enamel....

I'm here brother... I don't have this specific kit, but I do have the Missouri in my stash.... Will be following.... Easy chair placed,,, now where's that darned popcorn....

Another update.... SUCCESS!!! One complete printing! Yay team! Now I get to create the M-2 Transportation Dolly for it so I have a place to put it once assembled... This test piece is a good example for testing the Dolly... One builds the other.... Onwards!!!

Well, she's printed, washed and dried.... And I broke her... the Turbine Housing and Exhaust Cone was too thin to handle the clearing away of the supports.. but they did print very nice... There you go, a 1/32nd scale J-47GE-27.... This is where she broke.... I don't think I need to redesign, just be more careful when removing the supports.... Two steps forward and one step back... {chuckle} So 3D printing will work for this scale.... As long as your careful in cleaning them.... I may have to thicken the aft end walls a bit but that is ok, I have proof of concept... More later, right now I need some sleep.... Onwards... EG

Ok Brothers, the general design is done, still a lot of details to do but the basic engine components are completed.... Will be setting them up for printing tonight.... Final part is the Exhaust Cone, it comes in two parts, the casing and thrust cone and a little tail point that glues onto the end... I had to make it in two pieces to allow a hole for the resin to drain when it prints... Front... Rear... And the tail piece... All assembled, it looks like this.... (compared to a real one) I think it fits the bill, at least it looks the part way better than the kit parts did... Anyway I'm now doing the configuration for printing the aft portions... I'm hoping I didn't screw it up and it goes smoothly... Update on the printing in a bit.... EG

Well, Thank you my friend... It makes me very happy that you are enjoying the trip... Tail cone is finished, about to post an update.... Stay Tuned...

Thank you brother... Superb? I'm still a newbie practicing my friend, a lot to learn about this software package....

Another update... Turbine section complete.... Front... And the rear... I had to do a double loft on this one to reduce the cross section area to give it a better chance of printing successfully.... And coming up, the Exhaust Cone... Onwards brothers.... EG

Sketchup is good, I just found it a bit slanted towards the art/animation crowd rather than the engineering crowd... Very useable though and free for the most part... Anyway welcome aboard...

Thanks Ken, the turbine section comes next, it's fairly simple basically a can with a flange on the end.... Then a tapered cone for the exhaust... It shouldn't be too much longer before I'm printing again... Nothing inside will be seen... Finally got the details done on the combustor assembly, cross fire tubes are in the Alcohol/Water injection rings are on and the bolts installed... it getting easier as I get closer to the end... Making progress....

Thanks Doc, You have the same skills, probably better skills than me... All it takes is practice... Of course I'm using SW, F360 just became too buggy for me.... and I got a deal on it and there's a ton of tuts online to teach one how to use it... For this type of modeling it can't be beat in my humble opinion... Thanks for commenting and following, it's greatly appreciated... EG

Thanks Gary, Craig... Everything turned out ok on the medical front still doing a bit of recovery but it's all good... I moved the engine over to another thread (J-47GE-27 thread) in the 3D CAD/modeling/printing section... it seemed more appropriate there... This is a sample of where it is right now, just finished the Combustion Section and starting on the Turbine section then the Exhaust cone and the basic form will be done... You can follow it here... J-47GE-27.... Planning on getting it done and glued up soon... Brain is telling me that it would be a good subject to do as a stand alone model, but I do want to get back to the F-86F-30 and F-104C so once it's printed, I'll probably come back here... The Silverbirds are awaiting patiently... Thank you for following this side trip into phantasy.... EG

I wish I was that un-perfect..... That is beautiful work....

Latest update Brothers.. I spent the day tweaking the Combustion Section Design for fit and appearance, there is still one question to decide, do I print it as one piece or as nine separate pieces... I think I'm going to try one piece first and see how it goes... Complete section... Still lacking some of the details, tweaking it really took all day... The cans were initially 3/8th too large leaving a gap between them of only 1/4 inch, that had to be at least an inch apart to accommodate the crossfire tubes... They now are.... The Combustion Section Frame... Making the cans a bit smaller allowed me to maintain the indexing/attachment rings on both ends, (male/female) so they are consistent on each section from front to back... But it is clear I did have to reduce the diameter of the middle section to accommodate the burner can size... This gave it a unique ribbed look once the ring holes were punched thru... So I went ahead and filleted them to eliminate all the sharp corners and it came out with that corrugated look, it works for me, reduces the resin amount and adds strength exactly where it is needed... Back Side... The back flange is going to remain plain, there is nothing there which will be seen aside from the bolt pattern... Burner Cans,, I gave them the polished steel look which is more representative of real life.... (a nice contrast to the rest of the colors) Back Side.... Just a couple of details to add and it will be complete.... Thanks for following and all the complements... It's greatly appreciated... More updates later... Onwards! EG

Thank you very much Lou, I'm a trying to do a decent job... It's really, really appreciated... The whiny part is finished, now for the roar... {chuckle}

Thanks Brother... I think it came out fairly well... I'm going to need to tweak the burner cans a bit, I think they are a bit too fat right now, but they do look the part...

I know, I know, several holes as well... {chuckle} Thank you, it's appreciated....