1/5 Scale Mercedes D.IIIa Flugmotor

[uncletony]

While working up my 1/32 and 1/16 scale offerings, I thought it might be fun to scale everything up by 640% and try to print the bits out on my FDM printer.  1/5 scale is the largest I can do on my current filament printer with the crankcase halves remaining more or less in one piece. (This is not a commercial project, just something I'm doing on a whim.)



The FDM results are admittedly pretty meh (shown with DLP 1/32 and 1/16 parts):



So the plan is to do the really large parts in FDM, with all the detail bits in 12k DLP. Stuff will be redesigned as necessary to allow scale threaded hardware, and of course anything oversimplified due to scaling up from 1/32 will be refactored.

[William Adair]

That’s a fantastic project. I wasn’t expecting the animated gif though. It gave me a proper jump-scare when the picture suddenly flew apart!

[uncletony]

That’s a fantastic project. I wasn’t expecting the animated gif though. It gave me a proper jump-scare when the picture suddenly flew apart!

  Oh! sorry... 

[Tim Mixon]

That is just fantastic!  You stated that this is not a commercial project. Are you just referring to the 1/5 scale or any scale?  I’ve been trying to source a 1/24th Mercedes to add to my Black Knight Albatross D Va vac kit. Any possibility of producing say two in 1/24 for purchase?

[Dubar]

Wonderful stuff!!!

I bought a Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro July 2023 and have printed a number of things, using STL files I got free or paid a small sum for, I have printed quite a number of WW1 aircraft in 1/72 scale for wargaming.

But there's things I want that there's no STL file to be found, so I'm trying to learn FreeCad.  So far I've made a few simple parts for my model railroad but I'm having a hard time learning the program to make more complicated parts.  Back in the early 70s I was a draftsman, but all we had was pencil and paper!!!  This CAD stuff is kicking my butt!

So kudos to you, that's some nice work!!!

[RAGIII]

That exploding engine is Exactly what happened to My Mind when I saw the engine! 
RAGIII

[uncletony]

That is just fantastic!  You stated that this is not a commercial project. Are you just referring to the 1/5 scale or any scale?  I’ve been trying to source a 1/24th Mercedes to add to my Black Knight Albatross D Va vac kit. Any possibility of producing say two in 1/24 for purchase?

Not commercial = 1/5; just too big and slow to make to be practical. 1/24 OTOH is definitely possible -- simply wasn't aware there might be any interest. I confess I am totally oblivious to the Black Knight kit. Would "true" 1/24 scale work or does it need to be massaged to fit?

[uncletony]

Wonderful stuff!!!

I bought a Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro July 2023 and have printed a number of things, using STL files I got free or paid a small sum for, I have printed quite a number of WW1 aircraft in 1/72 scale for wargaming.

But there's things I want that there's no STL file to be found, so I'm trying to learn FreeCad.  So far I've made a few simple parts for my model railroad but I'm having a hard time learning the program to make more complicated parts.  Back in the early 70s I was a draftsman, but all we had was pencil and paper!!!  This CAD stuff is kicking my butt!

So kudos to you, that's some nice work!!!

Thank you.

Alas it seems with CAD software, you get what you pay for. I am a Rhino guy and though it is not cheap, if you can imagine it, chances are you can model it in Rhino. Think about the investment you made in your printer and paying for the brains to drive it starts to make a little more sense. Not trying to sound like an ad here -- no vested interest -- I just gravitate to solutions "that just work" even if there is a bit of a premium on the front end. I used Rhino 5 since it was released in 2012 until just this summer when I finally upgraded to Rhino 8. So that was 12 years on the original license and thus pretty outstanding bang for the buck. (the license is perpetual, not SaaS). Again, sounds like an ad, not intentional, just advocating for a tool that I think is exceptional.

[Dubar]

Thanks, I'll take a look at Rhino, just bookmarked their website!!!