Yeah, that's still the case. However...
However, i am pouring a whole bunch of time, effort and resin into the new army's Strike Cruiser.
My old Templar army had an 'upscale' BFG ship as its generic/token space craft (could represent a strike cruiser or a battle barge... whatever).
This is based on the same model with...some substantial changes.
Looks weird, and you have some weird extra axes.
If only...
So now the the ship is split into two main pieces with a hollow in the centre that holds a frickin' laser.
This is used to mark the SC bombardment zone or drop site for drop pods etc.
"you mad man."
yeah.
To be fair, i did sketchup the model and take dimensions and make sure i could get magnets and all that kind of background research before printing a single damn thing. And generally thing are going to the big-picture plan - even if the fine details are requiring some percussive maintenance.
There are/were several issues that make the project... effectively non-reproducable. By this i mean i can't just crank our prints and they fit together (ha, haha, hahahaaaaahahahaaaha... funny guy).
There's a bunch of sculpting, fitting, scraping, cursing, gluing (resin and fingers), sanding, eye-rolling and general 'hobbying' involved.
- the switch part is not right. it work on the sketchup model but in real life, nope. i'm going to need to either redesign the switch and carve out a bunch of the internal wall of the recess... or extend the button so it reached through... or something (tba).
- The entire flat surface was out (missing from the print *) by about 1-2mm on both pieces. This means i needed to print a 2mm 'gasket' which has been glued to one of the pieces.
* whenever i'm thinking i've got a handle on the print process a little electronic gremlin pops out and screams 'that's what you think !!'
i've added rafts to all of the pieces to help adhesion to the build plate, but this is somehow being incorporated into the height of the model... i just don't understand what the software thinks it's doing. frustrating.
you'd expect it to print what you've modelled... what's on the screen... and what the slicer says it's going to print... [shakes head]
anyway, i like puzzles and this one is well underway. it's engineering and crafting and generally frustrating but fun. but never again :)
While the sides both have magnets set flush to the surface (more or less, needs to be fixed) this is just to stop it fall apart in your hands. it will be secured fore and aft with tiny nuts and bolts as the 'permanent connection'... once all the switching stuff is resolved.
This bolt holes are then covered by some guns at the front and the engines at the rear. All of which are magnetised too.
The ship (once completed) with be mounted using some of the acrylic rod i've not (same stuff as for the BT fliers) and a 60mm acrylic disk i had leftover from BSF.
[update 20191024]
soooo, all the bits are now in place. magnets are set and working all the assembly is pretty much done.
the (manually) re-engineered laser switch works fine and consistently. everything comes apart and back together in a controlled (non-fall apart in your hands) way.
the only bits missing are 2x 2mm nut and bolt and the mirror for the laser. will pick up a cheap mirror this evening (game sess and top ryde). bunnings... apparently don't have anything in 2mm (not surprising) will try jaycar...
settled for this magnet configuration for the rear covers. could have printed another piece. still could and glue to this one... couldn't be bothered for now.
the front covers work fine. not a precision fit but good enough.
really want to get some paint on this to make it look less crappy.
[update 20191029]
This is the original version of the ship i use for Epic...
This is the new version...
So this is about as much as i ended up being bothered with the painting. Probably could do some more... but this works for now.
laser off...
laser on...
here you can see the little port on the underside where the laser comes out.
the laser doesn't 'spill' through the model like it did when unpainted - kinda glowed in that mirror section. as expected. also there not too many gaps at the major connection facing so it doesn't spill out there either.
not that the connections or join is perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
so couldn't find a super-small bolt-nut combination in my spares but did managed to find just some suitable bolts. heated them up a little and cut them into the resin. works well enough.
the stands are just glued in place. seems strong enough. treat with due respect and they shouldn't need reinforcement.
i reseated the mirror to get a slightly better beam. it's not super crisp (though it's far better) but that wasn't really expected, and probably not possible given the size of things in there - it's actually reflecting though the side of the glass not the face so not ideal but there's no room to move in there.
i also dropped some super-glue onto the laser casing to ensure it doesn't move. was causing issues with the switch as it rotated sometimes. not too much glue so should be able to crack it loose if needs batteries or whatever.
just letting the paint harden up a bit but basically it's done... reminds me i should put some clear finish on it as well. almost done.
Until next time...
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