Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Scifi and Fantasy => Topic started by: Frank3k on December 11, 2020, 01:47:49 PM
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These are a couple of renders for small (115mm/ 3.5" tall) 1/350 spaceships that I just finished drawing and will print soon. Actually, 4.5" isn't that small, print-wise.
The first is a late 21st or early 22nd century Mars or Titan lander, inspired by the artwork in this Hackaday article: (https://hackaday.com/2020/09/14/floating-spaceports-for-future-rockets/)
(https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Floating.jpg?w=800)
(https://i.imgur.com/ftlFnGP.jpg)
View of the aerospike-like engine:
(https://i.imgur.com/YPGw5Mc.jpg)
The landing gear struts are not part of the finished model and are just representative; I'll have to find something that works.
The second one is of a 21st century Pluto/Kuiper belt explorer. I actually dreamt of something like this... The round blobs on the side are observation domes for the crew:
(https://i.imgur.com/ronHz98.jpg)
This is a view of the docking/sensor/cargo bay area at the top. The smaller airlocks are about the height of a human:
(https://i.imgur.com/3rU5oxJ.jpg)
The engine section. The main, central engine uses advanced Handwavium Physics for propulsion, and it can get to 500AU in about a month. The engine should be familiar to anyone with a Leif Ericson kit. I just used it as an inspiration for this design (and "borrowed" some of the details from the 3D files I used to make the kit engines for Round2):
(https://i.imgur.com/kwanfdD.jpg)
I should have these printing by next week.
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Becoming quite the dab hand at this 3D stuff.. well done Frank
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Fantastic Frank, I look forward to seeing some plastic printed! 8)
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Very cool.
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"Handwavium!:" The Only Way To Fly!
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Thanks guys. The Pluto explorer alone will take about 14-15 hours to print (in three sessions). They are big.
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Really nice combinations of the classical "Space Age" imagery and the genuine hardware. I really like the faired landing leg pods, and yeah, the Leif 'Advanced Ion Engine' is the stuff. Can't wait to see what you do with the finish.
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Cool designs Frank, how many man hours did it take to produce them ?
Mog
>^-.-^<
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Cool designs Frank, how many man hours did it take to produce them ?
For both, about 4 hrs each in Rhino3D, which includes going back and redoing parts.
@Dr Yo - I knew you'd recognize the engine!
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Hey, pretty good it would take me weeks to achieve something like that !
Mog
>^-.-^<
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I have the Pluto/Kuiper belt explorer printed (mostly).
The first print is missing the middle ring:
(https://i.imgur.com/uYY9I3n.jpg)
I ran out of ABS-like resin, so I continued printing in Siraya Build, which is a strong, tappable resin. It's also smokey clear:
(https://i.imgur.com/l21CGZx.jpg)
The middle ring is re-printing right now. This copy has issues, so I taped it in place. The dust is sanding dust. The legs are round styrene tubes - the landing pads and other bits are printed, but they're small and delicate.
I designed both ships in sections, for easier painting and also to get better with 3D printing tolerances. Since the parts are designed to friction fit into each other, I added the gray upper section for a stretched or cargo explorer:
(https://i.imgur.com/MgLm8T9.jpg)
To get a sense of scale, here's a closeup of the two 1/350 scale astronauts at the top, from a long stalled build:
(https://i.imgur.com/Riu5OW6.jpg)
Here are Leif-like engines:
(https://i.imgur.com/4g3G2fP.jpg)
The metallic sheen is pretty cool. I may just leave the engine mostly clear and light it internally.
Back to the original design goal - getting to 500AU in a month would be too close to fantasy... let's make it 10A AU/month. Don't want to make the trip a vacation.
The Mars lander also had one section print poorly, so I'm reprinting it as well.