3D PRINTING
In October 2017 I started my
journey into 3D printing.
Rockets
- Space Stations - Sci-Fi
Vehicles - USS Enterprise - Sci-Fi Robots - Sci-Fi
Weapons/Tools - Telescopes
- Shapes - Busts
- Asteroids/Comets - Frog
Rock Observatory - Aircraft
Doctor Who
Projects - Full size
The very first project I tackled
was a 1/60 scale Saturn V with its launch tower
and platform
and then a 1/60 scale Space
Shuttle on launch platform ,
both on commission for friends.
I also started expanded my own
1/72 scale collection of rockets.
My collection started off in
2014 with a plastic kit from Dragon Models of the Saturn V (at 1/72
scale is 5 feet tall), then the Apollo 17 diorama and Apollo-Soyuz
mission.
All the others I've made using
3D printed parts, some scratch built parts and various sized PVC pipes
(for the straight tubes).
I
soon ran out of cabinet space to display them properly, so in December
2019 I moved all the models into a new display room I call "Mission
Control".
As of 12th May 2023, Left to
Right:
V-2 in White Sands test colours, Vostok, Mercury Redstone, Mercury
Atlas, Gemini Titan, HARP gun, M2-F2 Lifting Body, Soyuz, Saturn 1B,
Saturn V, N-1, Space Shuttle, Buran-Energia, Long March CZ-F2, Blue
Origin New Shepard, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Tesla and Starman, Atlas V
and Boeing Starliner, Blue Origin New Glenn (not launched yet), SLS,
SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy.
Up high and hanging from roof :
X-20 Dyna-Soar, X-15, ISS (see below), Apollo-Soyuz, HST, Skylab (see
below), MIR (see below), Orion capsule and JWST.
Many of the models are finished
nicely with custom sticker sets made by our local print shop - Image Signs Mudgee.
Brass plaques made by Mr.
Dykes Trophies.
On
21st December 2019 I added the International Space Station (ISS). Model
is 1 x 1.5 metres in size.
23 September 2019 added Skylab.
21st
January 2020 added MIR Space Station.
Another project started in July
2018 was instigated after building a new case for my sci-fi DVD
collection, I envisaged a couple of small sci-fi models would have
looked good along the top.
Well, it very quickly snowballed
into a large collection of models from many different sci-fi genres.
They are at various scales, basically sized to fit on the shelf.
As of the 4th April 2023, there
are 154 vehicles, 58 robots and 24 weapons/tools.
I have re-arranged each group as best I can into alpha-numerical order
of the show they are from.
Sci-Fi Vehicles:
Moon Shuttle Aries 7 (2001), Discovery (2001), Moon Bus (2001), Orion
III Shuttle (2001), Discovery Pod (2001), Space Station V (2001), Alexei
Leonov (2010), Nautilus (20,000 Leagues under the sea), Alien Derelict
(Alien), Nostromo (Alien), Narcissus Shuttle (Alien), Drop Ship
(Aliens), USS Sulaco (Aliens), Babylon 5, Shadow Vessel (Babylon 5),
Starfury (Babylon 5), Vorchan Class Centauri Warship (Babylon 5),
Minbari White Star (Babylon 5), Delorean Time Machine (Back to the
Future)
Batmobile (Batman), Colonial Raptor (Battlestar Galactica), Cylon
Raider (Battlestar Galactica), Battlestar Galactica, Viper MkII
(Battlestar Galactica), USS Cygnus (The Black Hole), Police Spinner
(Blade Runner), Liberator (Blakes 7), Thunder Fighter (Buck Rogers),
Angel Interceptor (Captain Scarlet), SPV (Captain Scarlet), Spectrum
Cloudbase (Captain Scarlet), Mothership (Close Encounters of the Third
kind), Remulak Starcruiser (Coneheads), The Machine (Contact), Dark Star
(Dark Star), Flying Saucer (Day The Earth Stood Still), Mothership
(District 9)
TARDIS (Dr Who), Guild Transporter (Dune), Space Station (Enemy Mine),
Fighter (Enemy Mine), Event Horizon, Moya (Farscape), Hyper-space Plane
(Fifth Element), Corben's Taxi (Fifth Element), Fireball XL5, Serenity
(Firefly), Cosmostrator (First Spaceship on Venus), War Rocket AJAX
(Flash Gordon), United Planets Cruiser C57-D (Forbidden Planet), Moon
Train (Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon), NIMBUS (Futurama),
Planet Express (Futurama), NSEA Protector (Galaxy Quest), ECTO-1
GhostBusters, Milano (Guardians of the Galaxy), Golgafrinchums B Ark
(Hitchhikers)
Heart of Gold (Hitchhikers), Vogon Constructor Ship (Hitchhikers),
HMS Camden Lock (Hyperdrive), Alien Attacker (ID-4), City Destroyer
(ID-4), Mothership (ID-4), Endurance (Interstellar), Ranger 1
(Interstellar), Flying Car (Jetsons), Spindrift (Land of the Giants),
Gunstar 4 (Last Starfighter), Chariot (Lost in Space), The Derelict
(Lost in Space), Jupiter II (Lost in Space), Jupiter II pod (Lost in
Space), Hermes (The Martian), Mars Assent Vehicle (The Martian),
Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix), Space ship (My Favorite Martian),
Bubble-Coptor (Oblivion)
USS Orville (The Orville), Icarus (Planet of the Apes), Red Dwarf,
Starbug (Red Dwarf), SeaQuest DSV, Valley Forge (Silent Running), Eagle
One (Space 1999), Galasphere 347 (Planet Patrol), Deep Space Station K-7
(Star Trek), Doomsday Machine (Star Trek), USS Enterprise NCC 1701 (Star
Trek), Balok's Fesarius (Star Trek), Shuttlecraft Galileo (Star Trek),
Tholian Interceptor (Star Trek). Cardasian Galor Warship (Star Trek DS
9), Deep Space 9 (Star Trek DS 9), USS Defiant (Star Trek DS 9), USS
Discovery NCC 1031 (Star Trek Discovery), Enterprise NX-01 (Enterprise)
Pheonix (Star Trek First Contact), Borg Cube (Star Trek NG), USS
Enterprise NCC 1701-D (Star Trek NG), Ferengi D'Kora (Star Trek NG),
Klingon Battle Cruiser (Star Trek NG), Klingon Bird of Prey (Star Trek
NG), Romulan Warbird (Star Trek NG), Space Dock 1 (Star Trek NG), Vulcan
Cruiser D'Kyr (Star Trek NG), Voyager NCC 74656 (Star Trek Voyager),
Aratech 74-Z Speeder Bike (Star Wars), AT-AT Walker (Star Wars), Bounty
Hunter Slave1 (Star Wars), B-Wing Fighter (Star Wars), Corillian
Corvette (Star Wars), Tie Fighter - Darth Vader (Star Wars), Death Star
(Star Wars), Imperial Shuttle (Star Wars), Imperial Star Destroyer (Star
Wars)
Landspeeder X-34 (Star Wars), Millenium Falcon (Star Wars), Naboo
Royal Transport (Star Wars), Tie-Fighter (Star Wars), X-Wing Fighter
(Star Wars), Y-Wing Fighter (Star Wars), Stargate (Stargate), Asgard
Cruiser Beliskner (Stargate), Daedalus (Stargate), F-302 (Stargate),
Goa'uld Hatak (Stargate), USS Icarus (Stargate), O'Niell Class Asgard
Warship (Stargate), Ori Warship (Stargate), USS Prometheus (Stargate),
Replicator Mothership (Stargate), Atlantis (Stargate Atlantis)
Aurora (Stargate Atlantis), Puddle Jumper (Stargate Atlantis),
Destiny (Stargate Universe), Roger Young (Starship Troopers), Stingray,
SuperCar, Thunderbird 1, Thunderbird 2, Thunderbird 3, Thunderbird 4,
Thunderbird 5, H.G.Wells Time Machine, Time Tunnel, Light Cycle (TRON),
Recognizer (Tron), SHADO Interceptor (UFO), Transport Shuttle (V),
Seaview (Voyage to the bottom of the Sea), War of the Worlds, Archie
(Night Owl Ship, Watchmen), Space Ark 1 (When Worlds Collide)
- - -
USS Enterprise NCC-1701
In November 2022 I had an idea to 'boldly go big where no one (me) has
gone big before!' ;-)
Starting with some PVC tube I already had, for the nacelles, that set
the scale at 1/257th of the commonly accepted length for the
Enterprise... 289m. Overall length of the model is 1125mm. The saucer
section needed to be fairly light, so starting with a piece of 7mm
plywood, I glued polystyrene sheet to both sides and belt sanded the
edge to the appropriate angle. These were connected to the main hull
with 19mm plywood, 3D printed anchor joints and strengthened internally
with 2 part epoxy putty. I 3D printed the bridge, phasers pod, nacelle
ends and fins, the shuttle bay, deflector front and dish. The local
hardware shop mixed the correct "concrete" grey colour.
Sci-Fi Robots:
HAL-9000 (2001), Bi-Centennial Man , Maxamillian (The Black Hole),
Cylon (Battlestar Galactica), Crichton (Buck Rogers) Twiki and Dr
Theopolis (Buck Rogers), GORT (Day the Earth Stood Still), Cyberman (Dr
Who), Dalek (Dr Who), K-9 (Dr. Who), Ava (Ex_Machina), Mondoshowen (5th
Element), Robert the Robot (Firball XL-5), Robby (Forbidden Planet),
Bender (Futurama), Clamps (Futurama)
Nixons Back (Futurama), Robot Santa (Fututama), Hymie (Get Smart), New
Marvin (Hitchhikers Movie), Old Marvin (Hitchhikers Guide), TARS
(Interstellar), NS-5 (I Robot), Iron Giant, Iron Man, Rosie the maid
(Jetsons), Box The Ice Robot (Logan's Run), B9 (Lost in Space), Martian
Stomper (Mars Attacks), Maria (Metropolis)
Defender Drone (Oblivion), Isaac (The Orville), Jeager Gipsy Danger
(Pacific Rim), Kryten (Red Dwarf), Scutter (Red Dwarf), Officer Murphy
(Robocop), ED-209 (Robocop), Robotica Fembot, No:5 (Short Circuit), Huey
(Silent Running), Borg Drone (Star Trek), Mr Data (STNG), Battle Droid
(Star Wars 1), BB8 (Star Wars VII)
C3P0 (Star Wars), Imperial Probe Droid (Star Wars V), K2S0 (Star Wars
Rogue One), R2D2 (Star Wars), Replicator (Stargate), T-600 (Terminator),
T-800 Arnie (Terminator 2),Asgard Destroyer (Thor), Braman
(Thunderbirds), Optimus Prime (Transformers), Wall-E, Dog Killer-robot
(New War of the Worlds), Tripod (War of the Worlds)
Sci-Fi Weapons/Tools:
M41A Pulse Rifle (Aliens),
Shark with frikin Laser (Austin Powers), Hand Laser (Blakes 7), XZ-31
Rocket Gun (Buck Rogers), Pistol (Captain Scarlet), Sonic Screwdriver
(Dr. Who), Police Blaster (Fifth Element), Stones and Fifth Element,
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth's Smell'o'Scope (Futurama), Proton Pack
(Ghost Busters), Noisy Cricket (Men in Black)
Communicator (Star
Trek), Comm Badge (STNG), HypoSpray (Star Trek), Type 1 and 2 Phaser
(Star Trek), Type 3 Phaser (STNG), Sword of Kahless (Star Trek),
Tricorder (STNG), Han Solo Blaster (Star Wars), Luke's Light Saber
(Star Wars), Goa'uld Staff Weapon (StarGate), Goa'uld Zatnikatel
(StarGate), Naquadah Generator (StarGate), Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer)
- - -
Most of these 3D printable files
were freely available from Thingiverse
but several (about 20%) I have created using Autodesk 123D Design.
Thanks a lot Windows 10 for no
longer supporting the Autodesk 123D Design software causing it to not
run anymore. After a number
of years learning to use this software and to have it all of a sudden
not work on my most powerful computer was extremely annoying to say
the least. Thankfully my trusty old XP machine still runs it but lacks
the grunt of the W10 pc.
%$$#&^%&^%$
you microsoft!
Okay, calm blue ocean...
The
next project I set out on started in September 2018, was famous
telescopes.
Surprisingly, I could only find
2 printable files online... the 200" Hale telescope and Sofia... a
telescope in a 747 Jumbo Jet. I resized these to 1/144 scale which
printed quite well. I then started designing from scratch, a model of
the Anglo-Australian Telescope which is located on Siding Spring
Mountain in NSW and it turned out quite well too.
Then it got crazy. The theme was
"Significant telescopes from the past to the future" and I designed
reasonably good likenesses of 21 other telescopes all at the same scale.
So at 1/144 scale, 1 meter = 6.94 mm.
Researching the designs for
these scopes was very interesting indeed.
The "real" large new telescopes
currently under construction are just crazy big.
Version 1 telescope models in
custom display case.
During
the "lockdown", I made another set of the telescopes, all with
improvements and much better segmented mirrors in the big scopes. These
have been displayed in the Coonabarabran
Space Art Gallery, Coonabarabran
visitors centre and then Coolah
visitors centre (2 Oct 2020 - 30 Apr 2021). Version 2 models are
all now on display at Mudgee
Observatory. The original set were brought home and brought up to
date with the new modifications, Version 1.2 image below.
2 added 20210811... Uppsala
Schmidt and VISTA. Another on 20211108... McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope.
Another on 20211116 DKIST.
Another on 20220814 GTC. Added Gemini on 20220824.
In order of aperture: Galileo 44 mm, My Dobby 455 mm, Uppsala Schmidt
0.5 m, Yerkes 1 m, UK Schmidt 1.2 m, Herschel 1.2 m, Great Melbourne 1.2
m, McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope 1.6 m, Rosse 1.8 m, Hubble 2.4 m,
Hooker 2.5 m, SOFIA 2.7 m, AAT 3.9 m, DKIST 4 m, VISTA 4.1 m, MMT 4.5 m,
Hale 5 m, BTA 6 m, Whipple 6.5 m, JWST 6.5 m, Gemini 8.1 m, VLT 8.2 m
LSST 8.4 m, Keck 10 m, GTC 10.4 m, LBT 11.8 m, GMT 24.5 m, TMT 30 m,
ELT 39 m.
Along
the journey I have also printed several interesting shapes
Back Row: 3D Star, Hyper Cube, Isometric Square, Klein Flask (1/2),
Nested Twisted Cubes, Square/Circle Illusion, Square Trefoil, Turner's
Cube, Unending Stairs.
Front Row: Complex Knot, Hilbert Square, Interlocked Squares,
Morbius Strip, Nested Dodecahedrons, Penrose Triangle, Shark Clip,
Trefoil, Tremmel of Archimedes, Triangle Torus.
and
some famous busts.
Another
project completed in May 2020 is asteroids and comets visited by
spacecraft... and the spacecraft.
The asteroids and comets are all
at various scales as the smallest, 101955 Bennu is only a few hundred
meters up to 1 Ceres, almost 1000 kilometers across. The spacecraft are
all roughly the same at around 1/20 - 1/30 scale.
Giotto - fly by Halley's Comet, Galileo (en route to Jupiter) - fly by
951 Gaspra and fly by 243 Ida, NEAR-Shoemaker - fly by 253 Mathilde and
landed 433 Eros, Deep Space 1 - fly by 9969 Braille and 19/p Borrelly,
Stardust - fly by 5535 Annefrank and fly by 81/p Wilde 2 and fly by 9/p
Temple 1, Deep Impact - EPOXI fly by and impactor 9/p Temple 1 and fly
by 103/p Hartley 2, Hyabusa - landed 25143 Itokawa.
Rosetta - fly by 2867 Steins and fly by 21 Lutetia and obited/landed
Philae 67/p Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Chang'e 2 - fly by 4179 Toutatis,
Dawn - orbited 4 Vesta and orbited 1 Ceres. Hyabusa 2 - landed 162173
Ryugu, New Horizons - fly by 486958 Arrokoth, OSIRIS-Rex - orbited and
landed 101955 Bennu.
June 2022, I made a 1/33
scale model of my observatory with a cutaway section to show the
interior.
My nephew, Nick, suggested this idea a couple of years
ago... hey mate, I finally got around to it.
10 July added 1/33 scale models of my other 2 Dobsonian
telescopes 31cm and 45.5cm.
27 July made scale model of 20 cm binoculars I built in
Oct 2007.
October-November 2022,
series of aircraft. These are all at 1/120th scale. In order of year
introduced.
1: Wright Flyer, 1903. 2: D-1 Fokker, 1917. 3: Gypsy
Moth, 1925. 4: Spitfire, 1938. 5: B-17 Flying Fortress, 1938. 6: Bristol
Beaufort Bomber, 1939. 7: P-51 Mustang, 1942. 8: B-29 Super Fortress,
1944. 9: Bell X-1, 1948. 10: F-86 Sabre, 1949. 11: U-2, 1955. 12: B-52
Stratofortress, 1955. 13: F-104 Starfighter, 1958. 14: X-15, 1959. 15:
B-58 Hustler, 1960. 16: XB-70 Valkyrie, 1964. 17: SR-71 Blackbird, 1966.
18: F-111 Aardvark, 1967. 19: Harrier Jump Jet, 1969. 20: F-14 Tomcat,
1974. 21: F-15 Eagle, 1976. 22: A-10 Thunderbolt, 1977. 23: UH-60
Blackhawk, 1979. 24: F-18 Hornet, 1983. 25: F-117 Nighthawk, 1983. 26:
X-29, 1984. 27: AH-64 Apache, 1986. 28: B-1b Lancer, 1986. 29: B-2
Spirit, 1997. 30: F-22 Raptor, 2005. 31: V-22 Osprey, 2007. 32: F-35
Lightning, 2015.