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3D Printed tail gunner position for Airfix B-17G
Topic Started: Apr 26 2017, 02:48 PM (485 Views)
Chuck1945
Hero
[ * ]
Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but I just got a 3D printed tail gunners position from Shapeways

From what has been posted elsewhere, all B-17Gs configured as the Airfix kit (staggered waist positions and Cheyenne tail position) built by Boeing, Vega, and Douglas were uncamouflaged except only about the first 100 Douglas built examples. This printed part allows more options especially if, like me, you would rather avoid doing a natural metal version. It is a replacement for the kit part and only requires white glue for the small windows.
Chuck
Eastern WA, USA
Finished 2018:
Eduard Spitfire IXc, VIII, Monogram/Starfighter BFC-2
On the active bench:
Eduard Bf 110C, Hasegawa B-24D, SH P-40E
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Jonathan
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Destroy All Monsters
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That looks cool!
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dixieflyer
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Hero
[ * ]
Awesome!

Warren
"History is the lie we all agree upon."
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jimmy brown
Beast
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So's the price Yorkies may need to be sat down reading this!
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erussell
C'est
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To put it in perspective, it's about 40% of the kit price. ($19.61 vs $44.29) It's an individual judgement whether it's a worthwhile expense.
If other things we have had done by Shapeways are a guide then it will need a lot of clean-up and filling.
3D printing is in its infancy as a modelling aid, despite what the pundits tell you.
Ed Russell at www.redroomodels.com
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Mark Schynert
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Yeast
[ * ]
erussell,Apr 27 2017
10:34 PM
To put it in perspective, it's about 40% of the kit price. ($19.61 vs $44.29) It's an individual judgement whether it's a worthwhile expense.
If other things we have had done by Shapeways are a guide then it will need a lot of clean-up and filling.
3D printing is in its infancy as a modelling aid, despite what the pundits tell you.

My personal take is that it would be right on the edge of what I'd be willing to pay. On the one hand, it does open up a massive number of marking schemes and is a much cleaner approach to conversion than hacking apart multiple kits to attain the same result. OTOH, looking at it. I can see some headaches, and as you say, it will likely need a fair amount of finishing. Add to that, another company that uses the 3D printing for master-making, and cleans up the master for conventional resin casting, might come along with this very conversion at any time. And this gets to the crux of what bothers me about something like this: There is no economy of scale once the CAD is put into the machine. The machine wear and tear and the cost of materials remain fixed in a linear relationship to the number of the products made. Taking the same process to make a base master, then cleaning it up is bound to be both better and cheaper, assuming reasonable casting skill.
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Chuck1945
Hero
[ * ]
Years (40?) ago I used the Haegawa B-17G kit to model 'Nine-O-Nine'. I had to unstagger the waist windows and convert the Cheyenne tail to the older version (I think I hacked up a Revell B-17F kit (1960s version)), don't particularly want to go that route again.

This 3D part is pretty much a drop in fit, yeah, it is pricy, and perhaps one of the resin producers will also do one. The surface finish isn't as smooth as an injection molded part, it will need a primer coat and sanding and the printing process makes the window frames rather thick but "bird in the hand" so to speak...
Chuck
Eastern WA, USA
Finished 2018:
Eduard Spitfire IXc, VIII, Monogram/Starfighter BFC-2
On the active bench:
Eduard Bf 110C, Hasegawa B-24D, SH P-40E
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occa
Beast
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To me it appears to be too tapered towards the end, should be halfway easy to correct that in the STP file
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