Got some time on the CAD to design some new 6mm scale gaming terrain / scatter terrain. A couple of storage receiver / chemical tank type things and a small terraforming building with a nice big fan on the roof.

Available on my Shapeways but I will get going on my B9Creator.

The Crawler Tie Tank has progressed in CAD; all of these have been printed on the B9Creator.

Lifting some blue prints / plans from Wookieepedia again. Another unusual Tie variant from the wider Star Wars universe; the Tie Crawler or, The Century Tank.

The weather is getting better; soon I will be back on the big Eagle (it needs paint) but this Star Wars stuff has been a nice distraction this spring. Good fun; it is also helping me to learn Autodesk Fusion 360, also good fun and a change from my usual industry software Solidworks.

My finished CAD file as a short animation. Really happy with the way this worked out and it looks ok with an initial coat of primer. I haven't taken any wet or dry to it yet; just a wash in soapy water.

3d Print Project in between the larger projects.
Star Wars Tie Scimitar Assault Bomber.
CAD and 3d printing is WIP for sure; still a little bit to do.
Can not make my mind up; to tool the wings or not.
I like the idea of the ship landing on its wings (with the body at an angle) I might look at inventing a landing skid to fit to the underside of the front body section (hex cone shape). I think that would be quite smart and look neat.
​The model is 1/72 scale

To help me get this project moving I am offering the STL files for personal use through Kickstarter. If you are interested please check the Kickstarter page out. Funding closes on the 1st Feb 2017.

If you want any extra info or details; give me a shout here or there.

Thanks
Julian

Additional tiles for the Death Star 3d wall art. The Primary Weapon, is a 3x3 / 9 tile layout and I will need to make some resin copies of those to make the full set.

The full set built so far is about 35 individual tiles. I will aim to design and build a few more just to cut down on the repetition with the finish piece. I can now start to see how the tiles can be group in sets of 4 (where I have built mirrored tiles) and I can see how the curved tiles can be arranged in a range of layouts for interest.

The shadows from the sunlight today are great and hopefully, the layout when finished in the correct lighting will have the give the same effect.

Next up for design and print is the trench. This I have decided will be inline with the edge of the tile (as per studio). I quite fancied the idea that the tile would be angled on the wall earmarked for the art but it just doesn't look right. 

About half of the required master tiles are assembled. Styrene and ABS 50mm squares and 3d Printed Greeblies.

Spot Alpha in there?

The exhaust port is printed but I need to think about the trench; I want this at 45 degrees to the main layout of the tiles - that will be a pain. I will also have a circular edge to the piece, that will also be a pain but all can be achieved.

So.................
I have at art project on the go; after thinking about it for an age I am going to make a huge section of the Death Star on a wall under the stairs in our living room.

I have a good collection of greeblies produced on my B9Creator and some base panels 50mm by 50mm at a range of thicknesses on My CNC router. A collection of shaped panels and edging panels have been cut from styrene ready to build up.

I will need a whole load of tiles; the area to cover is quite large and I have gone for fairly small tiles; hope fully this will make the work look nice and busy.  I will need to make rubber tools for production in resin. These small tiles allow me to make fairly flat tiles with out too many "sticky out" bits and shouldn't be overly intrusive in the room; my clothes shouldn't get snagged when walking past etc.

Because I have chosen a small size of tile; I have needed to produce bespoke greeblies. I have tried to replicate the correct feel of the Death Star but have introduced some of my own ideas. have even managed to get a small nod to Moon Base Alpha in there.

Some 3d Printed parts for the engine section; the test fitting to the painted brass frame in the first photo.

Two cylinders are required; one (used twice) needs the grooves to clear the frame tubes. I will produce silicone tools for these.

The engine bell has been tooled and split (see my fun stop motion); good resins have been produced. The one image shows the tool in production after degassing in my vacuum tank.

3d Printed Engine Bells. Main engine bell for the 44" Eagle Transporter is about 3" diameter; seen primed without any rubbing down yet.
Machine Used - B9Creator

Designed and printed the ork trash styled game table scenery using Solidworks (my usual mechanical CAD software). They look good but a little small (to fit the B9Creator platform).

Trying to learn Sculptris; a clay modelling software package (free) and designed the Alien egg pod. The software will take some getting used to after years on the mechanical software. The pods are printed at about 15mm tall and did need a bit of carving where my detailing in the software wasn't as sharp as I thought.

Take a look at Sculptris
http://pixologic.com/sculptris/

.....well almost, it has some partial legs designed now.

The B9 printer is great but the setting up of the part takes some skill or at least recognition of importance. I needed two attempts to build my radar model. This part is thin walled and my first build wasn't so good, the build must have wobbled or move during the layer process, the edges were not great and the layer stepping exaggerated. A change of orientation and design of the supporting structure resulted in a much improved build and in fact one of the better builds I have produced.

Large moon base / communications base.
So big it will need to be built in two parts on the B9Creator.
The data sheet is attached below.
This one will be good when in resin.

Started the print run for my version of the Battletech Longbow model; 1/60th scale will stand about 200/250mm tall. Getting the prints done before tooling to replicate. The images are the missile launcher "arms".

Finally managed to get round to my first attempt at printing with the B9. It seems I am unusual in that I intend to print at 70micron with the build platform size of 105 x 76mm; most users are in at 30micron with much smaller build size for hi-res printing of jewellery.
My first print - big fail (twice!)
My second attempt, much better. No supports just building directly from the platform and at least I got something from it. The resin has warped slightly and almost released from the platform. I think this is the reason for the "step" towards the end of the build.
Some more learning needed but fairly happy to see the progress.

The B9 is at the end of the third stage in the process. Hope to get the machine built over the weekend; the next part of the build is to ensure the alignment between the three major sub-assemblies is correct. Any misalignment here will directly effect the quality of the items being printed. I wonder if I can get a test build in this weekend......but don't want to rush this.