3D Parts Development for possible T-3 Tanker Project - 1/144

[Fliger747]

Hank:

With some malice aforethought one could size things such that you could insert the wire and have the boom shrink down around it? More elegant than gooping the rod with epoxy (my method). The local outdoors big box store has some inexpensive ($2.50) plastic boxes for flies and whatnot tying supplies. I need to get a couple more.

Hope you get your drawings soon! Tom

[BB62vet]

Hank:
With some malice aforethought one could size things such that you could insert the wire and have the boom shrink down around it? More elegant than gooping the rod with epoxy (my method). The local outdoors big box store has some inexpensive ($2.50) plastic boxes for flies and whatnot tying supplies. I need to get a couple more.
Hope you get your drawings soon! Tom

Tom,
That's exactly what happened - the booms did shrink (George Castanza KNOWS shrinkage.... ) 1mm in length and also (obviously) in diameter. So, later today I'm going to reslice and orient the booms at 45� after scaling up 105% which I did not do the 1st edition. A couple of the 4 booms shrunk to where the wire insert is not coming back out. So, I'll redo and also cut the insert to fit to allow the lower connector to be inserted which I had forgotten about last night when I cut off the insert wires - put them in from the upper end of the boom and leave about 1/8" open from the other end.

All in a day's 3D parts development. Before I reslice these booms I may pore over the closeups I do have and see if there are any eyelets or other small parts that need to be added to the booms. The two eyes I did add on either side came out very nice. Always looking for improvements .

Hank

[Fliger747]

In other applications the shaft is designed to shrink, allowing easy removal! For rigidity and straightness I would think the shrink fit would be optimal for your booms. I took a Dremel Tool and chamfered the end of the rod a little for easier insertion if the printed part was a close fit or not perfectly straight.

Cheers! T

[BB62vet]

Well, in spite of intending to get back to work on my other projects, this week so far has been solving a big printing dilemma and getting a few parts designed AND correctly printed.

When I downloaded a newer version of Chitubox (slicing software) I thought I had all my settings correct. NOT!!!! Several of my large superstructure parts were coming out backwards
After the 3rd time this happened, I got P.O'd and delved (another word the Brandon crowd will be unable to understand!!) into what was causing this. Since cohort Tom Terrific hasn't made the same software updates, he couldn't help me out. So, I went back to all the various places in Chitubox where you can make alterations (usually a pull-down menu w/choices) and started going thru them one by one. It had to be something concerning "mirror" command and I did find the culprit (or so I thought ) I had downloaded onto a flash drive the Chitu program files from this computer to the stand alone in my workshop shortly after I began this 3D involvement. So, this morning I cranked it up and sure enough that one setting was different from the program on this computer. Reset that option and ran a small winch print. WALLA!!! NIRVANA!!! It printed correctly so I ran several items that I had problems with - they all printed correctly, so I've eliminated that problem.

Tonight I primed & basic painted a few of the parts I printed today:

This is a raised platform for the FC rangefinder (2 parts printed), a small single drum winch, and the wind dodger & bulwark that locates fwd of the raised rangefinder platform. I've printed quite a few other larger parts but didn't have time to photograph them tonight, as they're drying on the turntable.

Today's print session was interrupted by a 2 second power outage which occured about 2 minutes before the printing would have finished. So, I had to clean out everything and reset the printer and wait another 3.5 hours for this to print a 2nd time completely thru. However, it gave me a chance to verify that the changes made above to the Settings file actually worked - they did!!!!

[Fliger747]

Hank:

As you know I generally have dim view of updates if it's working just fine currently! Their view is it's not a bug, it's a NEW Feature. Glad that it's sorted out!

Hopefully the Tanker plans, stolen from Iran by Mossad, will make their way to you soon as a microdot posing as a period at the end of an innocuous letter.

That's quite a solid wind dodger, perhaps a wave buster? Keep up the good work! Tom

[BB62vet]

Thanks, Tom!! I will admit that I took a bit of liberty with the wind dodger/bulwark - having only the side & top views of it made it a bit 'ify' as to what gusset support was actually behind it. Comparing the part to the drawings may require a 2nd edition as I'm not sure I sized it correctly - but an easy correction.

I sure hope my Brandon Gibberish Decoder Ring gets here in time to calculate which of the dots are actually the plans

Hank

[BB62vet]

Well, I've gotten a set of tanker plans (on loan) but turns out 1) I have the same Gen. Arrgt. and 2) the BoGP is for a different tanker than the one I'm concentrating on, so generally speaking some usable info, but not what I was hoping for. So, back to design/print of the known parts that may be applicable!!

As mentioned before, sometimes you need a couple or more versions to achieve a successful part - in this case the fwd. rangefinder which is located atop the pilot house in an open raised platform. My first attempt came out fine (platform, that is!) but the rangefinder having been printed horizontal did not really print 100%. This is a photo of that 1st version:

If you notice closely the center of the optical unit is flat or incomplete. So, I separated the parts into 2 files - rangefinder and base. This allows the rangefinder to be printed horizontally which gives a perfect item! -

And once assembled -

So, the completed unit will sit on the raised platform and here's a photo of the 1st edition of this assembly:

I will try to get the newer edition all painted and assembled in the next day or so.

I have the printer running thru the night with a load of various parts being printed for the 1st time and a couple being reprinted due to my inept handling of the initial printing and removal of supports

Those were some of my 1st edition/2nd edition parts printed earlier this week.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Nice rangefinder Hank! In theory we could print all these items as one piece, but the vagaries of printing and required support generally make these designs not work out.

Of course we are all anticipating the release in the supply chain bottlenecks to have the steel supply break loose to get a hull going, even if an Iowa or Montana has to be cancelled.

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Nice rangefinder Hank! In theory we could print all these items as one piece, but the vagaries of printing and required support generally make these designs not work out.
Of course we are all anticipating the release in the supply chain bottlenecks to have the steel supply break loose to get a hull going, even if an Iowa or Montana has to be cancelled.
Cheers: Tom

Thanks Tom!! Yes, making adjustments is the name of the game. Sadly, my overnight printing session was rather disappointing - more design work to do on several parts. Just another day at the shipyard, right???

Re. the supply chain, etc. - I'm sure that once some of that allocated steel for the BB's arrives at the "other" shipyards, that work on future garbage scows USS CLINTON, USS OBAMA, and USS BRANDON can continue without delay!!!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank:

Well yes, sometimes the computer design is the easy part, designing or revising to turn out an optimal part is a matter of some experience in adjusting part design such that they will produce a useable item. Not everything we design to scale will print! As individual printers perhaps we can design things a bit closer to the edge, accepting a failure rate or the inevitable disasters de platforming delicate items. Or even the small parts that fly of the tweezers to never be seen again.

By the way the range finder supporting structure looks ever so much like a LEGO characterization of a Moose!

Cheers: Tom

[Iceman 29]

It's the factory here!

[Fliger747]

Hank:

Bits and pieces coming along nicely. It took me a while to change from this interesting and satisfying in the completion of many mini models to wade in and build a hull! Though the BOGP has only a small numbers of vertical hull sections, there are also each deck profile available which can fill in much of the interim information. Have you checked with the FDD listings, I finally had to BUY their LST sections. Rather than small motor skills, big motor skills, big tools!

Hmmmm Checked FDD, lots to AO plans, but no hull lines!

Cheers: Tom

[Fliger747]

David:

Hank is the one building the tanker.

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

David: Hank is the one building the tanker. Cheers: Tom

There are no certainties in life - we may all go down with the ship!

[BB62vet]

sorry about that.
Hank, do you need those lines?

David - are these AO-22 drawings - #2068135 & #2068136 - I have these, but I'm not sure that they both would work for a PRE-jumboized T-3 hull. What drawings (# & ship) are you referring to?

Hank

[BB62vet]

Over the last couple weeks I've been working on various parts - design/printing and have a photo of three of these parts:

Boat Davit out of Printer
Boat Davit primed
Raft Rack primed
Flag Box primed

Just a sample - many more parts now filling the lay down yard at the shipyard

Also getting hull section drawings made up for use as templates to make the hull bulkheads located at various frame locations - a slow process but that goes with the territory. Lack of definite hull body plans
making things slow and difficult - actually using the known sections from the USS TALUGA MARAD drawings as a start and will fill in with modified work ups of the fore/aft body plans from my USS CIMERRON drawings.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank:

The unusual davits came out very well! You are accumulating a great number of items to clutter the shipyard awaiting the keel laying of your new ship. Hopefully we get a little better with each model, so we expect great things. During WWII the pace of ship construction was astounding with great subcontracting and transportation of standardized sub components. I have always wondered if a model could be made by many people producing sub items such that (as a stunt) a model could be made without generally taking longer for construction than the original ship. I suppose some of the excellent models, produced by the builders workshop were made by somewhat production line methods.

Somewhere out there are hull lines for your ship, but they will come to light only after you complete your hull!

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Hank:
The unusual davits came out very well! You are accumulating a great number of items to clutter the shipyard awaiting the keel laying of your new ship. Hopefully we get a little better with each model, so we expect great things. During WWII the pace of ship construction was astounding with great subcontracting and transportation of standardized sub components. I have always wondered if a model could be made by many people producing sub items such that (as a stunt) a model could be made without generally taking longer for construction than the original ship. I suppose some of the excellent models, produced by the builders workshop were made by somewhat production line methods.
Somewhere out there are hull lines for your ship, but they will come to light only after you complete your hull!
Cheers: Tom

Tom,
Thanks! The "unusual" davits are actually the same as IOWA class BB whaleboat davits from the 1940s. I guess the angle of the photo makes them look a bit like R2Dbag!!

You have ended by mentioning Murphy's Law for Ship Modelers - the appearance of 1) missing parts 2) missing instructions 3) research results need for design & construction - only come to light after the fact. This is known as the Murpheticular Effect - and afflicts any/all modelers at some point in their life.

One of the other Piedmont NC ship modelers is in what you could have called the "production" mode for his coastal fishing boat models. He does quite a nice business with the local tourist trap owners on the NC Coast and his basement reflects a small "factory" of boats in various stages of construction. However, not exactly my cup of tea.

Working on getting the last of the 6 T-3 Sections drawn up in MicroStation today; then on to the AO-22 Body Plans, etc.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Hank:

I am sure that you will do a good job merging the two two dimension plans into one 3D. Too bad that we aren't conversant with something like the (expensive) Fusion 360 where you could check for fairness and make as many other sections as necessary.

Cheers: Tom

[BB62vet]

Hank:
I am sure that you will do a good job merging the two two dimension plans into one 3D. Too bad that we aren't conversant with something like the (expensive) Fusion 360 where you could check for fairness and make as many other sections as necessary. Cheers: Tom

Well, haven't quite gotten there yet. More than likely this (hull bulkhead) issue will be simply printed out 2D CAD drawings pasted to the plywood sheets and then cut to shape by hand.

In the meantime, more parts being designed & printed:
Borrowing from Tom's initial design, I made a slight modification on the base unit and then rescaled to 144 and printed the single Mk. 22 3"/50 gun mount -

144 scaled 3"/50 sgl. open mount - 2 part assy.

A couple other parts (out of probably 6-8 I've recently finished) - assembled and basic painting done -

Raised Mk. 52 GFCS house w/FC unit in place;
3"/50 sgl mount; Sky Loockout Tubs w/Deck Binoculars mtd.

While assembling the 3"/50 parts (barrel assy & carriage assy) I realized that I was a "bumbling Brandon" - so, went back into DSM and created a new file - combining the two parts into one - much as I did with the dual R.F. 3"/50 mounts for USS STODDARD. I have set up a print file for tomorrow a.m. and, barring any Admiralty Inspections unannounced, I should have a couple of these items to clean up and see if they print out as well as the separate parts printed.

Hank