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Coming together nicely Slik !!

Just out of interest. Are the clear canopy pieces resin printed or done on the larger printer with PLA or ABS or something ?
 
Coming together nicely Slik !!

Just out of interest. Are the clear canopy pieces resin printed or done on the larger printer with PLA or ABS or something ?

The canopy and dashboard are cut and printed with clear resin in a resin printer. With sanding and gloss it?s clear, but would be better to have the canopy vacuum formed to avoid the thickness and seams. But I?ll see how it looks.
 
I'm amazed at how quickly this is happening. Seems like overnight Slik has a 1/6 Rancor with swap out heads, a Bantha, a moisture vaporator, now a fricken A-Wing, etc. Again excellent work!
 
Very nice Slikk!:clap:clap:clap I'm just about to do a deep dive into printed 3D vehicles - what an AMAZING time we live in that you can literally press a print button and have a 1/6 scale model ready to build/paint. A remarkable new era in customizing of all scales, and no more waiting for Hasbro or HT to do a character or ship. :horror:yess:

What is the overall length you have on your A-wing, and was it sculpted that scale or did you resize? One of the vehicles I'm looking at doing was the A-wing but the official size just seemed too big to me, as did some modeller forum analyses I saw online.

The size of the A-wing has been debated for years, partly due to that 1/72 Bandai kit having the very undersized pilot and also canon sizes ranging up as high as 9.5m length in the Essential Guide to Vehicles/Vessels. So I just went to the movie itself and did a super detailed look at every time the A-wing appears onscreen in ROTJ in relation to a human and came up with an overall length of about 5.5m and width of about 4m.

The human pilot in both ILM models looks huge inside the cockpit and FX wise onscreen the A-wing seems to present as a bit less than half the length and width of an X-wing - TINY for a fighter, so ideal for a 1/6 model! Fortunately there are some quite good and clear human-to-ship reference moments in ROTJ.

The overall dimensions I was looking at for ROTJ screen accurate 1/6 was around 90 cm length and 65-70cm width. Is that in the ballpark of what you have? That's also just within the limit of what I can display - about 3ft length. Also, are you sticking with the resin printed glass cockpit (which I assume is "kinda transparent") or getting something made that's really clear. And how much sanding of print lines did you have to do on the flat panels?

And do you know if the A-wing files you used were sculpted from scratch or hacked from a game or something? Seems like a number of ships/creatures I'm seeing as 3D files are actually hacked from stuff like Battlefront II.


I'm amazed at how quickly this is happening. Seems like overnight Slik has a 1/6 Rancor with swap out heads, a Bantha, a moisture vaporator, now a fricken A-Wing, etc. Again excellent work!

Get a 3D printer, learn the ropes - or have someone handle that side for you - and join the revolution!:yess: This idea of pretty much everything SW available sculpted for you and 3D printable hit me like a ton of bricks. It's the most exciting thing to come along in all the time I've been doing customs stuff. And while Marine Boy (and Scratchbuilder too) has INSANE styrene skills, 3D printing can enable people with very little customizing skill to generate often quite screen accurate 1/6 models for fairly affordable prices.
 
Very nice Slikk!:clap:clap:clap I'm just about to do a deep dive into printed 3D vehicles - what an AMAZING time we live in that you can literally press a print button and have a 1/6 scale model ready to build/paint. A remarkable new era in customizing of all scales, and no more waiting for Hasbro or HT to do a character or ship. :horror:yess:

What is the overall length you have on your A-wing, and was it sculpted that scale or did you resize? One of the vehicles I'm looking at doing was the A-wing but the official size just seemed too big to me, as did some modeller forum analyses I saw online.

The size of the A-wing has been debated for years, partly due to that 1/72 Bandai kit having the very undersized pilot and also canon sizes ranging up as high as 9.5m length in the Essential Guide to Vehicles/Vessels. So I just went to the movie itself and did a super detailed look at every time the A-wing appears onscreen in ROTJ in relation to a human and came up with an overall length of about 5.5m and width of about 4m.

The human pilot in both ILM models looks huge inside the cockpit and FX wise onscreen the A-wing seems to present as a bit less than half the length and width of an X-wing - TINY for a fighter, so ideal for a 1/6 model! Fortunately there are some quite good and clear human-to-ship reference moments in ROTJ.

The overall dimensions I was looking at for ROTJ screen accurate 1/6 was around 90 cm length and 65-70cm width. Is that in the ballpark of what you have? That's also just within the limit of what I can display - about 3ft length. Also, are you sticking with the resin printed glass cockpit (which I assume is "kinda transparent") or getting something made that's really clear. And how much sanding of print lines did you have to do on the flat panels?

And do you know if the A-wing files you used were sculpted from scratch or hacked from a game or something? Seems like a number of ships/creatures I'm seeing as 3D files are actually hacked from stuff like Battlefront II.




Get a 3D printer, learn the ropes - or have someone handle that side for you - and join the revolution!:yess: This idea of pretty much everything SW available sculpted for you and 3D printable hit me like a ton of bricks. It's the most exciting thing to come along in all the time I've been doing customs stuff. And while Marine Boy (and Scratchbuilder too) has INSANE styrene skills, 3D printing can enable people with very little customizing skill to generate often quite screen accurate 1/6 models for fairly affordable prices.

Thanks!
I?m going with the official canon length of 690cm, so 115cm in 1/6.
Seeing the a-wing from the outside in ROTJ simply doesn?t fit with what we see from the inside, so it?s a matter of choice. And I let canon choose for me.
I have to go so I?ll answer the rest of your questions later, but here?s a picture of the resin printed canopy:
504ce65bb3cd27da87c9d0e91b2b3a82.jpg
 
Very nice Slikk!:clap:clap:clap I'm just about to do a deep dive into printed 3D vehicles - what an AMAZING time we live in that you can literally press a print button and have a 1/6 scale model ready to build/paint. A remarkable new era in customizing of all scales, and no more waiting for Hasbro or HT to do a character or ship. :horror:yess:

What is the overall length you have on your A-wing, and was it sculpted that scale or did you resize? One of the vehicles I'm looking at doing was the A-wing but the official size just seemed too big to me, as did some modeller forum analyses I saw online.

The size of the A-wing has been debated for years, partly due to that 1/72 Bandai kit having the very undersized pilot and also canon sizes ranging up as high as 9.5m length in the Essential Guide to Vehicles/Vessels. So I just went to the movie itself and did a super detailed look at every time the A-wing appears onscreen in ROTJ in relation to a human and came up with an overall length of about 5.5m and width of about 4m.

The human pilot in both ILM models looks huge inside the cockpit and FX wise onscreen the A-wing seems to present as a bit less than half the length and width of an X-wing - TINY for a fighter, so ideal for a 1/6 model! Fortunately there are some quite good and clear human-to-ship reference moments in ROTJ.

The overall dimensions I was looking at for ROTJ screen accurate 1/6 was around 90 cm length and 65-70cm width. Is that in the ballpark of what you have? That's also just within the limit of what I can display - about 3ft length. Also, are you sticking with the resin printed glass cockpit (which I assume is "kinda transparent") or getting something made that's really clear. And how much sanding of print lines did you have to do on the flat panels?

And do you know if the A-wing files you used were sculpted from scratch or hacked from a game or something? Seems like a number of ships/creatures I'm seeing as 3D files are actually hacked from stuff like Battlefront II.




Get a 3D printer, learn the ropes - or have someone handle that side for you - and join the revolution!:yess: This idea of pretty much everything SW available sculpted for you and 3D printable hit me like a ton of bricks. It's the most exciting thing to come along in all the time I've been doing customs stuff. And while Marine Boy (and Scratchbuilder too) has INSANE styrene skills, 3D printing can enable people with very little customizing skill to generate often quite screen accurate 1/6 models for fairly affordable prices.

Without wanting to steal Slik's thunder I'll add a couple of points from my experience at least with resin printing.

3D printing looks sexy at first glance, but it's by no means just a "buy a printer and press the button" job.

Like you mentioned Talibane, you have to "learn the ropes" and that is considerable. Support placement, wall thickness, model repairs, failed prints, non-level beds, creation of your own models etc are all stuff which takes mastering of both hardware and often several different software packages.

Then if you choose resin say for the mega detail possible, it is a totally different animal to traditional PLA filament printer.

Scaling is easy though, just a matter of knowing what scale to go from the original model. However that said, typically the whole model will be scaled. In the end you've only got the 3D that you've got. Modifying pieces within that model is not something easy to do if you only have the .stl model.

Then when you get into the size Slikkerias is printing you need to be able to split the files up in a way that can be printed, are of good orientation for supports etc etc.

Don't get me wrong though, it's a game changer for sure. Getting into 3D modelling software to make your own greeblies or guns on whatever, then having it in your hand a few hours later is amazing. But you've got to be prepared to put in the work.

I do honestly think though that companies like Bandai sadly have got their work cut out for them. Especially for the smaller stuff. Things like the PG Falcon will take a while for 3D printing to be equal with, and it's a lot of work for something that size with all that crisp detail from a pressure injection moulding.

Anyway just my 2 cents worth.
 
Without wanting to steal Slik's thunder I'll add a couple of points from my experience at least with resin printing.

3D printing looks sexy at first glance, but it's by no means just a "buy a printer and press the button" job.

Like you mentioned Talibane, you have to "learn the ropes" and that is considerable. Support placement, wall thickness, model repairs, failed prints, non-level beds, creation of your own models etc are all stuff which takes mastering of both hardware and often several different software packages.

Then if you choose resin say for the mega detail possible, it is a totally different animal to traditional PLA filament printer.

Scaling is easy though, just a matter of knowing what scale to go from the original model. However that said, typically the whole model will be scaled. In the end you've only got the 3D that you've got. Modifying pieces within that model is not something easy to do if you only have the .stl model.

Then when you get into the size Slikkerias is printing you need to be able to split the files up in a way that can be printed, are of good orientation for supports etc etc.

Don't get me wrong though, it's a game changer for sure. Getting into 3D modelling software to make your own greeblies or guns on whatever, then having it in your hand a few hours later is amazing. But you've got to be prepared to put in the work.

I do honestly think though that companies like Bandai sadly have got their work cut out for them. Especially for the smaller stuff. Things like the PG Falcon will take a while for 3D printing to be equal with, and it's a lot of work for something that size with all that crisp detail from a pressure injection moulding.

Anyway just my 2 cents worth.

All very true, but still, it?s not rocket science. But especially all the work that comes after you?ve printed the thing - like, assembling, extra detail sculpting, rooting hair and paint - is not for everyone - depending on your success criteria of course. That said, it?s pretty awesome what this technology makes possible.

Very nice Slikk!:clap:clap:clap I'm just about to do a deep dive into printed 3D vehicles - what an AMAZING time we live in that you can literally press a print button and have a 1/6 scale model ready to build/paint. A remarkable new era in customizing of all scales, and no more waiting for Hasbro or HT to do a character or ship. :horror:yess:

What is the overall length you have on your A-wing, and was it sculpted that scale or did you resize? One of the vehicles I'm looking at doing was the A-wing but the official size just seemed too big to me, as did some modeller forum analyses I saw online.

The size of the A-wing has been debated for years, partly due to that 1/72 Bandai kit having the very undersized pilot and also canon sizes ranging up as high as 9.5m length in the Essential Guide to Vehicles/Vessels. So I just went to the movie itself and did a super detailed look at every time the A-wing appears onscreen in ROTJ in relation to a human and came up with an overall length of about 5.5m and width of about 4m.

The human pilot in both ILM models looks huge inside the cockpit and FX wise onscreen the A-wing seems to present as a bit less than half the length and width of an X-wing - TINY for a fighter, so ideal for a 1/6 model! Fortunately there are some quite good and clear human-to-ship reference moments in ROTJ.

The overall dimensions I was looking at for ROTJ screen accurate 1/6 was around 90 cm length and 65-70cm width. Is that in the ballpark of what you have? That's also just within the limit of what I can display - about 3ft length. Also, are you sticking with the resin printed glass cockpit (which I assume is "kinda transparent") or getting something made that's really clear. And how much sanding of print lines did you have to do on the flat panels?

And do you know if the A-wing files you used were sculpted from scratch or hacked from a game or something? Seems like a number of ships/creatures I'm seeing as 3D files are actually hacked from stuff like Battlefront II.




Get a 3D printer, learn the ropes - or have someone handle that side for you - and join the revolution!:yess: This idea of pretty much everything SW available sculpted for you and 3D printable hit me like a ton of bricks. It's the most exciting thing to come along in all the time I've been doing customs stuff. And while Marine Boy (and Scratchbuilder too) has INSANE styrene skills, 3D printing can enable people with very little customizing skill to generate often quite screen accurate 1/6 models for fairly affordable prices.

The model I bought was 1/16, but was oversized, so it was more like 1/13. It?s clearly based on the Bandai 1/72 model which is fine because it has more or less all the details. I had to mod the cockpit to fit the pilot though, since the Bandai model is oversized. I?m also having the original cannons designed because it came with the new ones.
 
Without wanting to steal Slik's thunder I'll add a couple of points from my experience at least with resin printing.

3D printing looks sexy at first glance, but it's by no means just a "buy a printer and press the button" job.

Like you mentioned Talibane, you have to "learn the ropes" and that is considerable. Support placement, wall thickness, model repairs, failed prints, non-level beds, creation of your own models etc are all stuff which takes mastering of both hardware and often several different software packages.

Then if you choose resin say for the mega detail possible, it is a totally different animal to traditional PLA filament printer.

Scaling is easy though, just a matter of knowing what scale to go from the original model. However that said, typically the whole model will be scaled. In the end you've only got the 3D that you've got. Modifying pieces within that model is not something easy to do if you only have the .stl model.

Then when you get into the size Slikkerias is printing you need to be able to split the files up in a way that can be printed, are of good orientation for supports etc etc.

Don't get me wrong though, it's a game changer for sure. Getting into 3D modelling software to make your own greeblies or guns on whatever, then having it in your hand a few hours later is amazing. But you've got to be prepared to put in the work.

I do honestly think though that companies like Bandai sadly have got their work cut out for them. Especially for the smaller stuff. Things like the PG Falcon will take a while for 3D printing to be equal with, and it's a lot of work for something that size with all that crisp detail from a pressure injection moulding.

Anyway just my 2 cents worth.

Yeah, I've watched several in-depth resin printer reviews and between the fumes and the areas that sometimes don't fully cure it certainly seems to be some significant downsides to balance up the smoothness and quality resin seems to deliver vs traditional.

Thanks!
I?m going with the official canon length of 690cm, so 115cm in 1/6.
Seeing the a-wing from the outside in ROTJ simply doesn?t fit with what we see from the inside, so it?s a matter of choice. And I let canon choose for me.
I have to go so I?ll answer the rest of your questions later, but here?s a picture of the resin printed canopy:
504ce65bb3cd27da87c9d0e91b2b3a82.jpg

It's just a really giddy idea that you could even have a 1/6 a-wing in your hands - so cool to see yours coming together!:hi5:

Almost seems like there might be a somewhat easier found object to get a clearer cockpit bubble. Maybe the right shaped plastic bottle, cut in half, might work? It's a pretty basic and non-specific shape.



The size of the a-wing is really curious if you dig into modeller circles, and because it's been SO debated over the years, it's worth a closer look (I know, not worth that much however!) I've posted the images below, but will remove them in a couple of days once you've had a look - don't want to clutter your thread.
 
Yeah, I've watched several in-depth resin printer reviews and between the fumes and the areas that sometimes don't fully cure it certainly seems to be some significant downsides to balance up the smoothness and quality resin seems to deliver vs traditional.



It's just a really giddy idea that you could even have a 1/6 a-wing in your hands - so cool to see yours coming together!:hi5:

Almost seems like there might be a somewhat easier found object to get a clearer cockpit bubble. Maybe the right shaped plastic bottle, cut in half, might work? It's a pretty basic and non-specific shape.



The size of the a-wing is really curious if you dig into modeller circles, and because it's been SO debated over the years, it's worth a closer look (I know, not worth that much however!) I've posted the images below, but will remove them in a couple of days once you've had a look - don't want to clutter your thread.



I think the size debate has to do with the fact that everyone from LFL all the way to an individual modeller WANTS SW fighters to be all closer to one rough size range (and don't want a single much smaller fighter that sticks out like a sore thumb:lol), so you can have a b-wing and a-wing product at roughly the same price, and also for the modeller so the a-wing doesn't look "is that too small?" next to X-wings and B-wings etc.

But even the argument that the interior full-size proportions differ from the model exterior I found to be less than people say - and part of it is the inherent disconnect between full size and models - even something as accurate as the speeder bike has noticeable 1:1 vs model differences (like detailing differences etc.)

It's not exactly scientific I know, but here are the images I assembled to nail down the a-wing size:

1. Many canon sites' sizing doesn't really quite compare to what you actually see onscreen (Wookiepedia vs ROTJ 4K, both fighters in same plane):

uQqhVxA.png


2. How the matted-in human figures in the docking bay clearly show a very small fighter, and when a roughly scaled human figure (scaled to both matted figures and the cockpit scale of model) is inserted, it shows the a-wing is very small; red line shows roughly six feet, green lines align model and matte painting cockpit for size ref:

igyDMLq.jpg


3. How the pilot is clearly visible onscreen in ROTJ - this is pre-crash into Star Destroyer screen cap vs one of the two ILM A-wings, both of which have same pilot figure:

dqOaTFc.jpg


4. How despite being shot from different angles and with very different lenses, the cockpit's backing panel (which determines basic size/profile of cockpit bubble) size behind the pilot does roughly match up between full size and model, and the larger cockpit strut "loop" visible in the movie (cropped in my pic below) is somewhat "ballooned"/distorted larger due to lens choice:

NuzRuQO.jpg

42KagaP.jpg


Again, I'll delete these pics once you've had a look so it doesn't hijack your thread.

I believe that Hoody was mostly referring to PLA printing which is a very different process. You should only use resin for small objects that need to be very precise.

Yes, there are a few ways to interpret the size of the A-wing. The earlier canon 9.5m was quite ridiculous compared to on screen and the Bandai 8.5m is way too big as well. But the 6.9m in full length that is now canon is a nice middle ground, so that?s what I went for. But if you have less room to display it or you just find the smaller size more compelling, there?s certainly reasons for choosing to make it smaller.
I printed the canopy in clear resin, but the best way would be to vacuum form it. I IG ht do that some time, but this works pretty good visually.
But in that case you shouldn?t choose this model as you wouldn?t be able to fit the pilot in there, no matter how much you mod the cockpit area. It would be way too small.
Btw, when you say that everything is out there to print it?s sort of a relative statement... there?s certainly a lot out there, but there?s also a pretty significant lack of accuracy and I?m sure that would frustrate you. But, not far in the future everything will be there I imagine.
 
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