1/200 Tirpitz - 3D Design and Print

[DrPR]

It is mind blowing!

I know of a couple other modelers who made their stud-link anchor chains link by link, from wood or metal. It was very time consuming and tedious.

The 3D printed chains are so easy to make, and even at very small scales every link moves independently. It is almost too good to be true!

Phil

[Fliger747]

For his HMS Hood EJ Foeth hand built his chain from brass wire, Song carved his from wood. Fir my APA I charged it from styrene, 3D printing ever since! The 3D chain it's very satisfying when one lowers the model chain into a surface and it piles in a very prototypical way.

[MikeCampbell]

Still alive

150mm sk C-22

15cm sk C-32

15cm sk C-22

15cm sk C-22

[Fliger747]

Very nice secondary bodies! Perhaps it's photo distortion, but I certainly have had issues with barrel and boom curving. Two ways I had found worked for combating this is to (1) print the barrels vertical (2) especially with masts I make them hollow and then reinforce with piano wire of appropriate thickness. If I am just seeing an illusion pardon my comments.

An ambitious and finely executed project!

Regards: Tom

[MikeCampbell]

Thanks Tom,

You have a good eye.

Masts I found particularly problematic so I might give the "hollow with piano wire re-enforcing" a try. It would make it lest prone to Drydock Rash as well (Not sure about Drydock Rash, Is that the naval version of Hangar Rash?)

So I printed this banana:

Bent Mast

Soaked it in hot water (not boiling) for about 10 seconds and applied slight pressure, Le voila!

Not perfect and I might still re-work that a bit, but certainly displaying less bananaristic tendancies.

I found printing at angles makes parts a lot more square and uses far less supports. These hangars came out with distinctly non-flat bottom edges when printed flat but came out much better at 30 degrees.

Double Hangar

Single Hangar

[DrPR]

" bananaristic" ?

Is that in the Scrabble Dictionary?

Phil

[MikeCampbell]

Hi Phil,

Absolutely, got it off a most reliable source:

Origins of Bananarism

[Iceman 29]

Very good job!

[Fliger747]

Those anchor chains are delicious, especially if you have the supports just right and they zip off and then collapse in a pile just like real ones! I've tried the warm water trick but without the success that you had, they seem to resume their banana after drying. Maybe your resin is better than mine. As to the masts I have found them to be quite durable with the wire and also not being bent by the rigging. I did however have to run a wire up and down to keep the hollow open while washing and curing as bubbles tend to form and want to block off the passage.

Boats are very nice! Tom

[MikeCampbell]

Thanks Tom and Pascal,

Maybe print the masts in halves and glue them around the wire :/

More stuff to clean up and paint...

34cm Turret Bruno

34cm Bruno Turret 1

[Fliger747]

For my ARL and DE masts I printed them in halves as you describe. It also worked better to make the yards hollow and each end printed separately and also joined with a wire. For the DE the mast protruded through several decks and it worked well to print each section secretly and run a wire to locate all the sections. I'm sure whatever solutions you work out will be satisfactory. An advantage of 3D is if doesn't work one can make modifications.

Regards: Tom

[Iceman 29]

Nice turrets, better then the Trumpeter one's !

Yes, the piano wire is compulsory on the inside, otherwise it bends irreparably, idem for cannons.
That's what I started to do for periscopes.

Picture: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=346058&start=20

[MikeCampbell]

Nice turrets, better then the Trumpeter one's !

Yes, the piano wire is compulsory on the inside, otherwise it bends irreparably, idem for cannons.
That's what I started to do for periscopes.

Picture: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=346058&start=20

Thanks pascal,

Maybe better than the stock Tamiya turrets, but then I saw a video of some dude gluing the individual ladder rungs on the back of the turret from PE one rung at a time from the Upgrade kit. They are better, but I simply don't have that much time..

[Fliger747]

I did some printed ladder rungs and expedited the process by having just one line of holes, the rungs were just inserted into the hull on one side and the other side just adhered with a spot of adhesive to the surface. Only half as many holes, easier alignment etc.

[Fliger747]

Had very good luck printing hollow masts, in a vertical orientation, hollow. In some cases printing in several sections. The wire makes it very easy to locate the sections and retain strength. The biggest issue is keeping the central hole open during washing and curing. I would run a wire up and down while washing to prevent bubbles forming and blocking the passage. A way to do the yards is to have the cross piece stubbed with a hole to run the wire through both yards which are printed separately. Solid yards will bend and droop, especially under tension of rigging.

Keep up the great work! I can appreciate the work on the sea planes! Tom

[MikeCampbell]

Hi all,

I re-worked the main turrets and mast with hollowing and am very pleased with the results.

Love the great ideas that come up in this forum and appreciate your assistance.

[Fliger747]

Those look great!

Tom

[MikeCampbell]

Thanks Tom

Hi David,

The bows, the bows...

The hull was one of my first attempts at 3D design of this type. Promise I have improved and I should go back and fix this, but...

This is what it's supposed to look like (Source Wikipedia ) ):

Reality

This is what the 3D design looks like:

According to design file

I dislike it intensely, and have remodelled it slightly to look like this using plastic putty and whatever was lying around:

As is

Its sort of there, but still needs some work I think.

[DrPR]

Mike,

I had the same problem in my USS Oklahoma City CLG-5 CAD model (US Cleveland class hull). The bulbous bow was something new in the 1930s.

I couldn't get the CAD system to generate the correct sharply curved surface that faired into the smoother surfaces aft. So I drew the bulbous part as a separate entity, and then created the other hull surfaces using the edges of the bulbous part as templates for the other surfaces.

I actually created the hull with about a dozen separate surfaces. I did the tricky parts first and then filled in the gaps with simpler surfaces.

Phil

[MikeCampbell]

Hi Dave,

The cross sections came from a relatively low-res version I got some time ago from FreeShipPlans. I also have a set of the ShipArchive ones but these were not to hand when I was doing the hull design.

I was also not completely across converting hull line drawings to 3D models and struggled a bit with simple lofting between cross sections. The bulge on the nose was really beyond that.

If I was doing it again the results might be a bit closer.