yvesvidal

A bird's eye view of the decks system: Yves

All the decks are fitting perfectly, where I want them to be, and this is what it takes in terms of styrene strips to get to the expected results: With this "calibration", the transition from planked wood decks and metal decks is smooth and nobody will stumble, during some action. Yves

A little change of pace with some wood planking. It is always nice to go back to the softness and smoothness of basswood wood. The planking is done with Model Shipways 1/32 x 1/8 strips, carefully cut and fit around the bow breaker. The second deck (Deck #B) is painted with Tamiya Dark Grey. The "wave shield" is painted with Tamiya Flat White with 60 drops of light gray and 20 drops of IJN gray. Strange recipe, but I like it.... From the color of the breakwater, one can derive easily which Corvette I will be trying to model.... Yves

Alan, I had no software issues importing whichever file. Note that I am using the CURA program that came with the Creality machine, not the base CURA that you can download for free: Not sure if it makes any differences. Also, the Profile is set for ENDER-3, but I am sure you have that already. Yves

Alan, I am pleased to see that you started this Build Log and went full ahead with the building of this 3D printed model. I am also sad that you ran into so many frustrations with this printer. My first attempt was with the QIDI IMate S printer which was a pure disaster at $500. It printed for exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes and stopped forever, feeding the filament. This unit was quickly returned to Amazon and I went with the Creality Ender-3 V2. After the initial debacle (QIDI), the little Ender-3 was a breath of fresh air. I suspect, I may have been lucky as I have not touched the levelling since day one. Have you tried printing a piece of deck? That should stick very well to your bed. Yves

Super skeleton. Great job. Yves

Very nice results. One done, 8 more to go ..... 🙂 Yves

This is incredible. This diorama is going to be huge. Yves

Impressive of details. Beautifully made. Yves

Alan, Please, do the following: 1-To prevent the spaghetti ball, I would look at the leveling of the glass bed. Again, use the small flyer (with a QR code printed on it) provided in the plastic bag with the documentation. Do that on all four corners, and make sure that there is a slight resistance when pulling on the sheet of paper. Once happy, go around all four corners one more time. And do it a third time.... 2-Clean your glass bed with isopropyl alcohol. There may be finger grease on it and that will prevent adhesion of the PLA. 3-Make sure the bed is at 60 degrees and the nozzle at 200 C. 4-Use good quality and new filament. I am happy with Overture and the spool costs $23 from Amazon. 5-Unwind the spool slightly to help with the feeding of the PLA filament. During a long print, you may want to monitor the spool and make sure that the filament comes out freely, by spinning and unwinding the filament from time to time. 6-Watch Just-Vlad video again on how to set up your printer. 7-Wait for the parts to cool down before attempting to remove it from the glass bed. In my case, large parts (i.e. decks) are so stuck, I just cannot remove them until it is perfectly cold. Once you get the leveling right, there won't be any spaghetti balls. Also, for large parts. make sure you remove the cleaning track/string (on the left side) by pulling the string from the back of the printer, before it starts printing. You have to be quick but it helps. Good luck. Yves

You are resourceful when it comes to build parts.... I like the funnels made with wood sticks. Yves

Beautiful Syren in the background. Yves

More progress on the decks: I still have to raise and position Decks C, D-E (now glued together) in the hull. Deck F is the vertical wall of the engine room. The goal is to have a perfect fit for each of these decks, and be able to work on them as separate module, paint them independently and minimize the masking of such a large model. Then it will be time to pull out the airbrush, with the large nozzle.... Yves

Incredible work: patience and precision are at their summit. Yves

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 "Generic" 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