Earth vs. The Flying Saucers in 1/350 scale

[Frank3k]

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers is one of my favorite 50's films:

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers trailer

Skyhook Models makes several resin kits from the movie; I have two - the 3" saucer (which scales to about 1/288) and the mini diorama of a saucer crashing into the Washington Monument.

So why make a 1/350 version? It would match my other 1/350 scale models and I would gain yet more experience in dealing with the materials available at Shapeways.
I used The Saucer Fleet as a source of the dimensioned drawings of the flying saucer. The drawings are in 1/250 scale, so I scaled them down to 1/350 and used them as a background in Rhino:



This was a quick project, so I didn't use layers or proper drawing guides; a more complicated design would require a more disciplined approach. I used the side views to generate a cross section of the saucer, then offset the curve to make it both printable and sturdy enough to allow rough handling/sanding if necessary. The saucer is 1.5mm thick; this is thick enough to prevent warping.



Unfortunately, a saucer this thick will be quite expensive; so after cutting the slots in the upper and lower sections, I cut out sectors in the areas between the slots. The material here is only 0.5mm thick. This reduces the volume while still providing structural support.

I also made a landing leg/post and a plug that has the death ray dish. The lower saucer has stops to keep the leg or dish disk from going in too far. Here's the exploded view:



You can see one of the cut out segments to the left.

As almost always happens with Shapeways (especially when you're close to their very conservative printing limits), the lower disk with the death ray had problems and wouldn't print. I went ahead and printed the rest.

This is what came back from Shapeways after about a week:



Upper and lower saucer parts. I could have easily made the saucer a single unit, but I wanted to see how good the printing tolerances were:



The fit is very tight; I had to scrape out the hole for the landing leg before it fit. It's pretty delicate and I didn't want to crack it:





And with a 1/350 scale figure. I had take the saucer apart ad didn't do a very good job of squeezing it together, hence the lip on the right:



Even though I had the saucer printed in their highest resolution material ("Frosted Ultra Detail") the surface still has visible printer marks:



Hopefully, most of the surface "noise" will go away after some primer and sanding.

I also resubmitted a slightly fatter version of the death ray disk. Maybe it'll print this time:



And I added these guys, which may not print:



Stay tuned...

[Cliffy B]

Yes, yes, YES!!!!  Please continue sir 

[Brian da Basher]

You're a Professor of Engineering, aren't you? The thought just going into the design itself is beyond me.

Ahh yes! Another Frank3k build! I'm just gonna settle back and enjoy this one!

Brian da Basher

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Tiny but damned impressive Frank.  What was the cost per complete saucer from Shapeways? 

[Dr. YoKai]

 Frank's no mere engineer... He's a Scientist!!!

 First class, Frank, as always. The Harryhausen Saucer is one of the truly classic designs, and your works look perfect.
 Although the the Saucers in the film were depicted as individual space craft, I have long thought a 'Mother ship' for them
 ( along the lines of handful of sighting reports from the '50s ) would make an interesting compliment. I look forward to
 seeing the next installment.

[father ennis]

Very impressive and a fantastic execution of a classic.  I can't wait to see what comes next .....

[elmayerle]

Beautiful execution, sir!  And from an enjoyable movie form the 50's that I remember fondly.

[Frank3k]

Thanks guys!

Brian - Making these 3D models really isn't hard to do; no harder than scratchbuilding. It's different (easier!) than making a 3D (or 2D) model with textures and lighting.
As with everything, it's important to have the right tools for the job (same as scratchbuilding...) and for me, it's Rhino3D. Most of the effort goes into making sure the model will get past the Shapeways guardians.
Even though they list the minimum dimensions for each material, there always seems to be one part that's just a tiny bit too thin. I'd say 20% of the effort is in the design (which is easy) and 80% is in the dimension checks, which is about as enjoyable as having an IRS audit, or trying to schedule an appointment with the cable or phone company. The only requirement here is patience...

Craig - I was thinking that the Pegasus Area 51 saucer might make a good mothership. I'll see what it looks like once the primer is fully dry.

Jeff - this little beast wasn't cheap: $56.37 for the parts I had printed, in their best material ("Frosted Ultra Detail"). The death ray plug is $6.78 and the spacemen figures are $5.16. 
A slightly cheaper material/process ("Transparent Detail") brings it down to $42.97, but it would require quite a bit of PSR (PRIMER, sand, repeat). The results with the high detail material (basically the same stuff, but they run the printer a bit slower) is worth the premium. This is where the details get annoying; the original design, without lightening, was close to $80! I could have shaved a few more dollars off, but I didn't want to get the parts so thin that they would warp or crack (this plastic material is about as brittle as resin).

They have a sintered nylon material that would bring the price down to $21.09, but you'd spend almost as much on primer - the nylon material can't be sanded (sanding just removes nylon particles) so you have to spray on primer until it saturates the nylon. Then it can be sanded. My first 3D project was printed in this material and I went through a full sized spray can of primer before it was smooth. The primer had soaked through to the other side in some spots.

The pictures below show the saucer with two layers of primer (with two sanding passes). I think it looks good to go for the final paint coat. If this had been their "Transparent Detail" material, I would be looking at maybe 4 more cycles of PSR before it looked this good.



Th blue spots are reflections from the blue power LED on my computer:



The pedestal may need another round of primer, but it's only had one so far.

Evan, parts of the movie were filmed at the then new UCLA Hospital. My office is in the same building and I've been able to find and photograph some of the locations. Others have been completely obliterated by new construction or remodeling.

[Alvis 3.1]

Gosh! I really need to get to speed with the 21st century! That's awesome stuff there.

Alvis 3,1

[Brian da Basher]

Your Primer-Sand-Repeat looks like a rousing success, Frank!

I'm having a blast following along!

Brian da Basher

[Buzzbomb]

Gorgeous !!!
Great work from a terrific movie (of its day)

No thoughts of it accidentaly falling into some RTV rubber before completion ??

[GTX_Admin]

Nice work.

I have been investigating 3D printing for some time, especially in a work context with metal for real aircraft parts.  Nice to see you taking the leap with our hobby. :)

[Frank3k]

Greg - Shapeways does metal printing, but it's probably closer to cast metal than the 3D metal printing used in aviation and rocketry; NASA recently test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.

I think this one is finished. The original ships were in gray primer, so that's what I did with my reproduction. Most of the ship has a coat of clear satin finish, except for the top dome, which is polished to add a slight change in color. I added some black wash in the upper and lower slots on the body.





"Won't you come in, Dr. Marvin. We have cookies!"


The landing foot/central post and lower dome are in Testor's Dark Anodonic Gray Metalizer. Some frames in the movie show these areas as being darker in color.
The lower outer ring (with the balls) is also slightly darker. The central post bottom cracked (it's only 0.5mm thick) but I put it back together with superglue and sanded it flat. Good as new.


This is the flying saucer on top of the Pegasus Area 51 UFO. It may work as a mothership...

Brian, I won't cast this version, but maybe another. A resin copy of this model would be very delicate. The walls (or interior) would have to be bulked up or solid.

[elmayerle]

Sitting on top of the other one looks so right.  Perhaps emphasize the mothership aspect with some of just the top section attached to the Area 51 UFO?

[Brian da Basher]

"Won't you come in, Dr. Marvin. We have cookies!"

Mmm cookies! Gets me every time.

That sure finished up a treat, Frank! Looks very much like The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Brian da Basher

[GTX_Admin]

Greg - Shapeways does metal printing, but it's probably closer to cast metal than the 3D metal printing used in aviation and rocketry; NASA recently test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.

The stuff I was looking at was down to at least 5 micron resolution and in metals such as Titanium and Inconel amongst others...  These would be either machined afterwards or potentially ready for use immediately.

Anyway, back to your regular programming.

[elmayerle]

Greg - Shapeways does metal printing, but it's probably closer to cast metal than the 3D metal printing used in aviation and rocketry; NASA recently test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.

The stuff I was looking at was down to at least 5 micron resolution and in metals such as Titanium and Inconel amongst others...  These would be either machined afterwards or potentially ready for use immediately.

Damn!  We could definitely use something like that at work.  GTX, ,could you please PM me with details.

Having said that, Frank, this is definitely looking gorgeous.  Along the lines of saucers, thinking of doing the C-57D?

[Volkodav]

Greg - Shapeways does metal printing, but it's probably closer to cast metal than the 3D metal printing used in aviation and rocketry; NASA recently test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.

The stuff I was looking at was down to at least 5 micron resolution and in metals such as Titanium and Inconel amongst others...  These would be either machined afterwards or potentially ready for use immediately.

Anyway, back to your regular programming.

I read something recently on LM using 3D printing as a cost and time saving measure for complex components, i.e. 3D printing is expensive to set up for but for some items the time saving verses complex machining from stock or a casting is well worth it.

Used to play with a 3D printer in a previous role, it was slow and clunky but produced testable prototypes which sped up development cycles significantly.

[father ennis]

That is just way too Kool !   What you need to do is build one on a base with motors that would spin the top and bottom of the saucer in opposite directions while it sits on the pylon. I remember how Kool that looked in the movie and it's what I always think of when I think about it. Well,that and the one hitting the Washington monument.

[Frank3k]

Having said that, Frank, this is definitely looking gorgeous.  Along the lines of saucers, thinking of doing the C-57D?

The C-57D was my first 3D project. I think I posted one of my 1/350 C-57s here. If not, I'll post it tomorrow.

[Buzzbomb]

Super dooper..

Great job from Classic Sci Fi

[Frank3k]

Evan, here's the C-57D thread: http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=1248.0

Here are some recent pictures:



Doctor Marvin finds himself on a different planet and different movie - "Where the human woman at?"




This version was a bear to finish; it was done at a lower resolution, so it took a lot more PSR. In the process, I dropped it and shattered the upper dome, which still has a slightly visible scar.
I have another version done at a higher resolution, but with much thinner walls. It was cheaper, but the edge of the disk is slightly warped upwards. Luckily it's a uniform warp and isn't obvious. i should finish that one at some point.

[Frank3k]

I got my "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers" aliens from Shapeways:



At 5mm they're a little short, but they seem short in the movie, so that's how I made them.





There's some flash and the aliens aren't 100% accurate (I had to make their limbs thicker to meet Shapeways minimum size requirements) but they're good enough at 1/350. They're also very delicate and I managed to snap the arms off one of the aliens.

[Dr. YoKai]

 Well, in that material they're a little more convincing as solidified electricity....

[Frank3k]

They painted up nicely. I decided to print two more sets, but the fine folks at Shapeways decided that the arms were too thin to print correctly, so I'm having two sets printed with the aliens with their arms at their sides. It may be possible - with a very sharp blade - to separate the arms and give them the Frankenstein-from-another-planet pose.