Author Topic: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing  (Read 8559 times)

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #15 on: July 16, 2023, 10:26:13 PM »
Meanwhile, work continues detailing the tub. I decided to divide and conquer, splitting the tub into three sections. This reduces material used and time between iterations.

This then is where I am currently with the forward section of the tub, which is the area ahead of the instrument panel where the fuel cells are located, comprising stations 5,6,7 & 8. Station 5 is the engine firewall and includes the stub spar for the front wing spars. The holes in the side of the tub are for the landing gear jacks.









Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #16 on: July 16, 2023, 10:36:14 PM »
Finally (for now) I've been working on the radiator. Spitfire Mk Is were fitted with radiators with the core divided into 4 cells.





You can see through the fins  ;D


here in place in the new tool Mk IXc wing -- not appropriate of course, but gives an idea...



Incidentally I have also scaled this down to 1/32 with the Kotare MkIa in mind, although it is anything but a drop in fit.


Offline pepperman42

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #17 on: July 17, 2023, 12:30:53 AM »
Nice to see you back with a project! If this is, by definition, the Airfix kit all that's left is the "ix" I suspect it will be down to just the x by the end. Amazing work!

Steve

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #18 on: July 17, 2023, 09:16:23 AM »
Nice to see you back with a project! If this is, by definition, the Airfix kit all that's left is the "ix" I suspect it will be down to just the x by the end. Amazing work!

Steve

Thanks Steve, nice to hear from you :)

Offline pepperman42

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #19 on: July 18, 2023, 10:51:37 AM »
Any chance you could show or list the tools in your arsenal? Resin 3D printer make etc and how do you create/cad the parts? I'm just venturing into the 3D printers.

Steve

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #20 on: July 18, 2023, 11:07:35 AM »
Bo.. err Uncle Tony  8) Not only is it great to see you back and participating in the Forum but I must say this is mind boggling. To me as I often say this is All Dark Magic or Voodoo. You said years ago that this was the future of modeling. I can't help thinking that you and I thought it was farther away than it was. Lovely and amazing work old Friend.
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #21 on: July 18, 2023, 12:39:35 PM »
Thanks buddy :-)

Speaking of Voodoo — somehow my username reverted to my original 2012 moniker and so far it has resisted all efforts to put it back. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so uncletony it is. Whatever, just don’t call me late for dinner.

I’m impressed that you remember my ramblings on the subject from way back when. To me it’s coming on about when I expected—it’s just that time flies, right?

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #22 on: July 18, 2023, 12:49:25 PM »
Any chance you could show or list the tools in your arsenal? Resin 3D printer make etc and how do you create/cad the parts? I'm just venturing into the 3D printers.

Steve

Sure Steve —For printer I have a humble Phrozen Mini 8K.  I’ll probably buy another — one for prototyping and the other for production. For cleaning and curing I likewise have the Phrozen system. I use 99% isopropyl for cleaning; the tank holds 8 liters, and I keep it full. I filter out the cleaning solution about once a month. As for resin, for production parts I use 90% Phrozen Aqua 8K, 10% Siraya Tenacious Obsidian. For rapid prototyping I like Siraya Fast Grey Metal. For CAD I use Rhino3D. I’m actually on a fairly ancient version (5.5) but it does just about everything I need. For slicing / supports I use the free version of Chitubox.

Regarding workflow creating parts, it’s a mostly a matter of careful measuring, finding good drawings, and setting up the project workspace with solid datums. Of course you need to be fluent in knowing what sort of tool to use to create a certain kind of shape or solid. That comes with practice. 90% of what I make starts out as some kind of extrusion. One pro tip: Chitubox doesn’t care if stl meshes are unioned — you can simply have overlapping solids and Cbox will happily treat them as a single watertight solid. Great for iterating…

I guess I should add that figuring out how to optimally orient parts for printing is a black art. You are juggling print speed, layer integrity, support cruft, and print artifacts among other things. Again, trial and error, iteration… there is guidance online but beware of dogma…
« Last Edit: July 18, 2023, 01:16:38 PM by uncletony »

Offline pepperman42

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #23 on: July 20, 2023, 04:38:24 AM »
Thanks for that. I follow most of what you describe. Chitubox looks to be a big help.

Steve

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #24 on: July 20, 2023, 06:46:06 AM »
Thanks for that. I follow most of what you describe. Chitubox looks to be a big help.

Steve

Well you definitely need something to create printer-ready sliced files from .stl and Chitubox is a free option. Supports and rafts are another matter. You can create your own supports in the source CAD file if you you wish, and sometimes you might actually want to. The auto support mode tends to create a jungle, and doing it manually in Chitubox is tedious and lacks precision. For the ladder & trestle I recently made I did the supports in CAD because I wanted greater control...


Offline lone modeller

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #25 on: July 20, 2023, 08:40:56 AM »
Wonderful to see you back re-engineering a kit! This is truly amazing work and takes me back to Gerry Scarborough's effort to improve the model via the book published shortly after the kit was released. Sadly I no longer have the book but it was almost at the limit of modelling at the time. Just how things have changed in the years since 1971!

I am really looking forward to seeing more of this, although I will stick to my (antique) methods of scratch building as I completely lack any computer skill.

Stephen.

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #26 on: July 20, 2023, 10:55:59 AM »
Thanks Stephen, nice to reconnect:-)

I’ve heard of the Scarborough book but have never seen it…

Offline uncletony

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #27 on: August 02, 2023, 10:46:05 AM »
1 step forward, 2 steps back dept:

Working on reengineering the tub / interior wall pieces so that a) they are printable without supports in awful places b) fit together and are relatively easy to assemble c) have seams that match the original panels wherever possible, and d) match the drawings and fit with the remaining kit parts.

I made a tool to trim the fuselage opening edges, this allows me to corroborate the kit parts with my CAD. trimmed areas will be replaced with new material. This includes the canopy channels and the door opening edges, both of which are slightly mislocated.


The complete tub enclosure will be comprised of 6 or 7 pieces. this is the mostly finished forward floor part (with the old frame 5 for fit test). I need to add the opening for the signal lamp fixture in the floor.



Compare to the Spitfire MKIXc (new tool Airfix 1/24)


and Kotare MkIa 1/32

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #28 on: August 02, 2023, 11:06:13 AM »
Although I am not qualified to comment on the process and accomplishment of making your parts, I can say they look Incredible to Me!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Dutch522

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Re: 1/24 Spitfire Mk Ia Airfix 1970 boxing
« Reply #29 on: August 02, 2023, 11:56:05 AM »
I need to go out to the shop and get the floor jack to raise my jaw back up from where it drops every time I look at this thread...

Dave V.