yvesvidal

Very well summarized, Craig. Yes, very few CAD drawings can be converted to 3D Printing candidates. And then, you have to cut them in small pieces suitable for your printer. Not an easy task. Yves

Mike, You will find most answers to your questions in the previous posts. The license depicts a typical Corvette (after retrofitting = long Forecastle). The designer also created another type of Corvette: The Castle Corvette (see picture below). No, I am not planning to show any inside. My goal is just to finish the hull. Yves

Kevin, this is a superb model and a very nice coffin. Yves

Thank you Mike for the compliments. Yes, this technology opens the door to incredible horizons and should allow us to embrace unusual and rare model, and build them in a fraction of the time it takes for traditional wood models. I also like the fact that you can re-print parts if you damage them or that you can build a flotilla of ships, once you have acquired the license for a specific model. Also, and of prime importance is the cost. Once you have a printer of decent size (mine is 220 x 220 x 250 mm), you can apparently build model for a very low price. In this case, I have printed ALL the parts for the hull and decks, as well as a plethora of smaller parts and the engine room, with only two spools of filament !!! That amounts to about $45 plus the glue (You use a lot and that is why MEK is the way to go). In contrast, the small strip of wood that I am using for planking the decks, are costing me more than the filament spools !!! I suspect that this Corvette can be built with 4 spools of filament and perhaps less, if you are careful and use a filling ratio of 20%. Another incredible feature of these 3D printed model is that you can change the scale of the model, before printing. For instance, I can increase the size of parts by two and turn it into a 1/24th scale or I can reduce them and build a 1/200 scale mini Corvette. You can do what you want.... Now, regarding your question about the size, it is large, massive and will be relatively heavy: So far 2 kilogrammes of plastic. To give you an idea, here are a couple of pictures from a Spanish modeler that builds these Corvettes on commission. The front model is the Matchbox/Revell in 1/72nd scale, and the model next to him is in 1/32th scale. The model I am building will be somewhat in between. 1/32th makes for a giant model..... In 1/48th, the hull is 1.25 meter long. Yves

These parts are definitely pimping up the original Italeri model. Yves

A quick update on the hull and decks: Hull has been puttied and primed. There will be more sanding, before the first coat of paint. Also working on the printing of the deck sections. Following are a few excerpts from the instructions manual: And the printed parts: Yves

Unusual ship. I will follow your build log. Yves

Very sweet. Precise and beautiful assembly, Kevin. Yves

Incredible work Greg and such a brutal comparison. Yves

Some good progress. I think I solved the deck issues, at least in the stern area. Hopefully, this method may help future builders of this virtual kit. The set of decks, out of the printer looks like this: The stern railing is glued to a frame that help connect the following deck, and holds the platform with the depth charges. These parts are glued with the MEK, resulting in an unbreakable and very solid part. That MEK is just perfect as it flows by capillarity between the parts and weld them. Do not forget to "cut the corners", as they will conflict with the hull stern. I am cutting the U shaped deck and using the two short legs with the side decks of the engine room. This is done to provide a base that will be planked with wood. The Matchbox/Revell models are only specifying a very short section of wood planking, but that does not make sense as we will see. The side deck and short piece are glued together and planking can start. Do not forget to leave un-planked, a small edge that will fit on the side of the engine room walls. To finalize the installation of the rear decks, you will need to assemble the four walls of the engine room: The engine room will be positioned into the hull and locked with two small pieces of styrene: It was necessary to shim the front wall of the engine room, to make the top of the planking, flush with the culpers. The front bulkhead rest on the white coupling part and on the shim. The side decks are now correctly positioned and fitting perfectly. We need to work on the stern decks. The stern decks (metallic) must be flush with the planking and will need to be raised a tad. Raising these decks, will make them a little bit too small in the width dimension. We correct all this, by gluing a 1.5 x 1.5 mm square styrene strip (raising) and a 1 x 3.2 mm strip to fill up on the side: At this point, the rear deck fits perfectly and no gaps are visible: Putting everything together, we now have a smooth transition between the decks and a perfect match with the culpers, to evacuate the water: The same recipe will be used on the bow and the rest of the decks. Yves

Very nice model. I am looking forward to watching your base with water. If you ever get tired of 1/700, a similar model is available in 1/72nd. Ten times bigger: Yves

So, you are depicting the Snowberry towards the end of its life, all rusty and beaten up. Yves

WOW !!! That is an impressive assembly. Yves

I am now working (at least planning) on the decks. This is a delicate part of this kit for the reason that the model has been designed for Radio Control. The designer is suggesting caulking the deck to the hull, if a possible access to the inside of the hull was required, in the future. In most place the deck sits too low and we will need to come up with a solution. Let's look at the stern, for instance: You can clearly see that the deck level of the stern is not at the same level than the rest of the decks. In fact, the stern deck sits at the right height and everything else is way too low. One of the problems is that the deck pieces are not wide enough, if you raise them. Also, the scuppers must be flush with the deck, to fulfill their role. One solution would be to slightly increase the width of the deck (X-Axis) when slicing the model. An increase of 2% may do the trick but may also result in an opening for the engine room, which no longer fits. You still have to raise and support the decks, from underneath.... The other solution is to raise the hull side/support and to use a thin styrene strip to fill up the gaps. This is the solution I will be using. Another thing to take into account is the use of wood planking, while keeping a constant height for the deck. I will be presenting a solution in the coming days, that may work to my satisfaction. In the meantime, let's enjoy some pictures of the recently glued stern. And yes, the hull received a first coat of primer. Yves

Maybe something like this ? The tail sits on a trolley, near by. Yves