Vic Balshaw
Major General
The attachments are not showing on my screen only the attachment number. 
5" 38 Mark 28 Twin Gun Secondary Battery from Iowa Class Battleships
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- Thread starter
- #182
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
I somehow didn't press POST REPLY yesterday. So today, you'll get a twofer...
Hmmm… That's strange…. I usually write my post on another forum to a different audience and cut and paste to this one. Today… cut and past ain't work'n. Don't know why. So I have to write it from scratch. Oh well...
I redrew the rear gun house hatches so they are fully open and not at 90 degrees. I then reprint them which just finished. This way I'll have more material to pin the hinges to the gun house and they will sit at a better angle to prevent further breakage when doing more assembly.
I then abraded all the old hinge material off the gun house back in prep for the new doors. I also ground off the old stubs from the broken ladder rungs.
Next I re-drew the gun house hoist hydraulics/gun captain's roost to include all the communications gear that's attached to poles. I did this with new photos from Ryan. The rear poles in the 1:1 ship are smaller diameter than the fronts, but I made them the same size for print and assembly success. I had to draw the assembly into the main gun house drawing to get the proper sizing. The poles sit directly under the roof beams.
I always print more than one of something since you never know what's going to happen. This was a perfect exampe. One printed perfectly, the other didn't print at all separating from the build plate somewhere in the print cycle.
The phone printed so nicely that you can fully see the entire dial including the finger stop. You can see it until I pick it out with white paint. Then you'll see. More work needs to be done on this part. Those lower tabs attaching to the poles are there just to provide good integrity during the printing.
After more detailed viewing of reference photos I determined the brass paint wasn't enough on the guns and too much on the lower hoists. I fixed both.
Still more detail work to be painted. I really like that part of the job since it's traditional model building, not all this high tech stuff. BTW: I'm thinking about writing a book on 3D Printing for Model Building. If you think this is a good idea, please let me know.
Tomorrow, my wife gets her last chemo treatment, so I may or may not get any shop time. She's doing pretty well, and we're hoping that she continues to weather the chemo challenge as well as she's done previously. I about a month, her systems will return to normal.
Hmmm… That's strange…. I usually write my post on another forum to a different audience and cut and paste to this one. Today… cut and past ain't work'n. Don't know why. So I have to write it from scratch. Oh well...
I redrew the rear gun house hatches so they are fully open and not at 90 degrees. I then reprint them which just finished. This way I'll have more material to pin the hinges to the gun house and they will sit at a better angle to prevent further breakage when doing more assembly.
I then abraded all the old hinge material off the gun house back in prep for the new doors. I also ground off the old stubs from the broken ladder rungs.
Next I re-drew the gun house hoist hydraulics/gun captain's roost to include all the communications gear that's attached to poles. I did this with new photos from Ryan. The rear poles in the 1:1 ship are smaller diameter than the fronts, but I made them the same size for print and assembly success. I had to draw the assembly into the main gun house drawing to get the proper sizing. The poles sit directly under the roof beams.
I always print more than one of something since you never know what's going to happen. This was a perfect exampe. One printed perfectly, the other didn't print at all separating from the build plate somewhere in the print cycle.
The phone printed so nicely that you can fully see the entire dial including the finger stop. You can see it until I pick it out with white paint. Then you'll see. More work needs to be done on this part. Those lower tabs attaching to the poles are there just to provide good integrity during the printing.
After more detailed viewing of reference photos I determined the brass paint wasn't enough on the guns and too much on the lower hoists. I fixed both.
Still more detail work to be painted. I really like that part of the job since it's traditional model building, not all this high tech stuff. BTW: I'm thinking about writing a book on 3D Printing for Model Building. If you think this is a good idea, please let me know.
Tomorrow, my wife gets her last chemo treatment, so I may or may not get any shop time. She's doing pretty well, and we're hoping that she continues to weather the chemo challenge as well as she's done previously. I about a month, her systems will return to normal.
- Thread starter
- #183
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
Try refreshing the screen. I think I've fixed it.The attachments are not showing on my screen only the attachment number.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Perfect, all have come out great and as usual, amazing detail. 
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #186
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
Chemo is finished! The first days afterwards she still pumped full of steroids to tamp down the reaction plus anti-nausea meds. It will be Saturday before we can determine how well she's doing with this last infusion. She's getting better at it.
Ergo, not much time in the shop, but did get good prints on the replacement doors. BTW: you know I've harped on making multiple copies whenever I print. Yesterday was a prime example. The comms unit had one perfect print, and one non-existent one. The failed one separated from the build plate at some point and ended up as a blob on the FEP. This new film forumula by Elegoo is very forgiving. This one's been on the machine for months, and it's getting a big tired looking. I popped the chunk off, cleaned it with IPA and a micro-fiber cloth and put it back in service. I also gave the spring plate a quick abrasive hit with 400 grit emery. Next print… perfect. No delamination.
I painted the details on the comms units and you can now see the very minute telephone dial. I draw in SU at 10
full size since it doesn't like drawing small circles and curves when the segments go below a certain threshhold. There's a trick. You first make the 1:1 part a component. In SU, when you copy a component, anything you do to one instantly gets done to the others. And it allows you to scale the object as long as you don't change it in any way. So you copy the 1:1 object when you first start to draw it. Up scale the copy some large amount. You don't need to worry about the actual scale you choose becasue after you do all the work on the giganitic one, you delete it leaving the 1:1 object with all the changes and work you did on the big one. Now this is a mystery… How does it let you make small curves on the original as a componet copy of the big one, but doesn't let you work with tiny curves on the origninal in the first place. No one has explained this to me. I don't really care. It works.
I did more detail painting on the lower hoists. With the copper piping added, it starts to look pretty good. Still need to go back and add some weathering to highlight the contours. Naval equipment wouldn't be alllowed to get too dirty. A chief petty officer wouldn't allow it.
Here's the original photo for comparison.
I told Ryan that, even with all the holes cut in the gun house shield, it would still be nearly impossible to see what's going on inside. There's just too many vision blocks. That's essenitally the reason that I will need to supplement the model with the electronic image dispaly showing the parts outside of of the model or in stages of completion with dialog and callouts to show what's what.
With the interior lighting it will help, but as you can see, you can barely see the comm equipment mounted on those poles in the rear.
Ergo, not much time in the shop, but did get good prints on the replacement doors. BTW: you know I've harped on making multiple copies whenever I print. Yesterday was a prime example. The comms unit had one perfect print, and one non-existent one. The failed one separated from the build plate at some point and ended up as a blob on the FEP. This new film forumula by Elegoo is very forgiving. This one's been on the machine for months, and it's getting a big tired looking. I popped the chunk off, cleaned it with IPA and a micro-fiber cloth and put it back in service. I also gave the spring plate a quick abrasive hit with 400 grit emery. Next print… perfect. No delamination.
I painted the details on the comms units and you can now see the very minute telephone dial. I draw in SU at 10
full size since it doesn't like drawing small circles and curves when the segments go below a certain threshhold. There's a trick. You first make the 1:1 part a component. In SU, when you copy a component, anything you do to one instantly gets done to the others. And it allows you to scale the object as long as you don't change it in any way. So you copy the 1:1 object when you first start to draw it. Up scale the copy some large amount. You don't need to worry about the actual scale you choose becasue after you do all the work on the giganitic one, you delete it leaving the 1:1 object with all the changes and work you did on the big one. Now this is a mystery… How does it let you make small curves on the original as a componet copy of the big one, but doesn't let you work with tiny curves on the origninal in the first place. No one has explained this to me. I don't really care. It works.I did more detail painting on the lower hoists. With the copper piping added, it starts to look pretty good. Still need to go back and add some weathering to highlight the contours. Naval equipment wouldn't be alllowed to get too dirty. A chief petty officer wouldn't allow it.
Here's the original photo for comparison.
I told Ryan that, even with all the holes cut in the gun house shield, it would still be nearly impossible to see what's going on inside. There's just too many vision blocks. That's essenitally the reason that I will need to supplement the model with the electronic image dispaly showing the parts outside of of the model or in stages of completion with dialog and callouts to show what's what.
With the interior lighting it will help, but as you can see, you can barely see the comm equipment mounted on those poles in the rear.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Glad to hear that your better half is coping okay and I have to say your coping very well with this model manufacturing and making malarkey.
brilliant 
- Thread starter
- #190
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
Thanks everyone!
Another short session, but I did get the modified gun house hatches printed and installed. They are now fully opened, pinned with newly acquired 0.015" phos-bronze rod. They should survive a bit longer now that they're not sticking out so far to constantly getting whacked while I'm doing something else. I also reprinted more foot rungs to replace the last broken ones. I printed nut plates to replace the crude ones I had previously installed. I have to add just two more rungs, barring breaking any more. So it's now ready for paint.
I'm starting work on writing a book entitled 3D Design and Printing for Model Makers. After four years and thousands of parts produced with lots of success and solving lots of problems, I have a lot to write about.
While there are copious ammounts of articles, books and videos on 3D printing, I'm finding a gap in instructional material for model makers. When you look at what's currently available, much of it covers printing monsters and characters in the fantasy realm. Printing characters can teach about machine setup and supports placement, but lacks consideration for designing parts that must conform to rigid design and printing regarding scale and assembly of parts that form precise assemblies.
I intend to close that gap. My latest Apple version of Pages includes book writing templates. Apple also provides free uploading of books to Apple eBooks. They take a cut of the sale proceeds. I can live with that. They don't provide free marketing. For that, I'm going to need some help.
I also will need feedback for folks regarding the soundness of this endeavor.
Another short session, but I did get the modified gun house hatches printed and installed. They are now fully opened, pinned with newly acquired 0.015" phos-bronze rod. They should survive a bit longer now that they're not sticking out so far to constantly getting whacked while I'm doing something else. I also reprinted more foot rungs to replace the last broken ones. I printed nut plates to replace the crude ones I had previously installed. I have to add just two more rungs, barring breaking any more. So it's now ready for paint.
I'm starting work on writing a book entitled 3D Design and Printing for Model Makers. After four years and thousands of parts produced with lots of success and solving lots of problems, I have a lot to write about.
While there are copious ammounts of articles, books and videos on 3D printing, I'm finding a gap in instructional material for model makers. When you look at what's currently available, much of it covers printing monsters and characters in the fantasy realm. Printing characters can teach about machine setup and supports placement, but lacks consideration for designing parts that must conform to rigid design and printing regarding scale and assembly of parts that form precise assemblies.
I intend to close that gap. My latest Apple version of Pages includes book writing templates. Apple also provides free uploading of books to Apple eBooks. They take a cut of the sale proceeds. I can live with that. They don't provide free marketing. For that, I'm going to need some help.
I also will need feedback for folks regarding the soundness of this endeavor.
syscom3
Pacific Historian
Youre kind of like a pioneer in these types of projects.
- Thread starter
- #193
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
I feel like a trailblazer with machete in hand cutting through the vines to get to the treasure. The worst part is once I finish one of these one-off projects, I can't apply all the lessons since I'm not making another one. If I did this one again, I'd print the ladder rung mounting lugs and use bent wire for the steps. Then I wait until just before painting to install them. 20/20 hindsight at work again.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
From what you have produced and shown us on this forum, I think your idea of a book is great. As for reference, you certainly have a lot of reference material posted here and I'm sure you will have a lot more within your own systems.
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Great work so far!
- Thread starter
- #196
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm also thinking about modeling one of the Iowa Class engine rooms. These, like the turrets, generally are not visited much and a good model would help explain what's going on there. When I proposed this to Ryan, his response was, "WOW!" So I'm assuming he's okay with it. I would need to get a powerful broad-range 3D scanner to grab some of the shapes of the machinery. I don't know what reference material is available out there. Meanwhile, I have to still figure out how to do the lower deck work for this project. Right now I have the compartments drawn, but don't have the cutaway access so you can see inside.
The projectile and powder trunks wend their way up from the magazine into the upper handling room. They cut through the splinter and 2nd decks and not in a straight line.
Today I got the haze gray painted on the parts with exterior-facing surfaces. I fixed the ladder rungs I broke last time, and proceeded to break another one. I found an error in the drawing that could have led to the apparent weakness of the part. I've corrected the drawing and with reprint one more time to have to fix any more that broke. The broken one is obvious in this picture.
The masking worked well and no haze gray got inside. I pulled the masks of the LEDs so they are now ready for use.
And then I continued to add painted details.
I have more detail painting to do, but gun house assembly is just days away. I need to get some fresh backdrop paper to take really good photos. These will be used in the AV presentation that will accompany the model on display. I have to find out what these digital picture framws need regarding formating. This way, folks will be able to see all the parts even when they're obscured on the finished model.
The projectile and powder trunks wend their way up from the magazine into the upper handling room. They cut through the splinter and 2nd decks and not in a straight line.
Today I got the haze gray painted on the parts with exterior-facing surfaces. I fixed the ladder rungs I broke last time, and proceeded to break another one. I found an error in the drawing that could have led to the apparent weakness of the part. I've corrected the drawing and with reprint one more time to have to fix any more that broke. The broken one is obvious in this picture.
The masking worked well and no haze gray got inside. I pulled the masks of the LEDs so they are now ready for use.
And then I continued to add painted details.
I have more detail painting to do, but gun house assembly is just days away. I need to get some fresh backdrop paper to take really good photos. These will be used in the AV presentation that will accompany the model on display. I have to find out what these digital picture framws need regarding formating. This way, folks will be able to see all the parts even when they're obscured on the finished model.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Some of that detail painting your doing must be very small.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
"Wow" is right!
- Thread starter
- #200
Builder 2010
Staff Sergeant
Another short session.
I redrew the ladder rungs to fix yet another slightly gimpy engineering aspect. I print them on their own little bases instead of on a long stick. This reduced print time from 6 hours to a little over an hour. I only post-cured them for four minutes, which could still be too long. I wanted to reduce their tendency to become brittle.
They worked okay. And then I noticed another broken one on the other side. I'll fix that one tomorrow. These things are turning out to be the most annoying aspect of this entire project (so far).
I also prepared the trunnion caps. I wanted to wire them and I really couldn't wait until more work was done on the base for fear of breaking something. I'm using the 0.015" rod and drills. This is a new size for me. I'd been focusing on .010, .020 and .032. I've now added .015 and .025. These intermediate sizes can be useful. And I drilled 16 holes and DIDN'T BREAK A DRILL. I think that's a record for me.
Since each cap was a custom drilling job, I had to mark the caps so they would go back in the proper place. I drilled some more holes to mark their place. This should help. Not shown is the coat of white paint I added to them. I will have to remove the paint on the pin extensions or they won't fit back through the holes when I take them off to install the guns.
My wife has her last post-infusion bloodwork tomorrow morning, and if the weather's nice, we'll take a walk, but I should have some more time to work too.
I redrew the ladder rungs to fix yet another slightly gimpy engineering aspect. I print them on their own little bases instead of on a long stick. This reduced print time from 6 hours to a little over an hour. I only post-cured them for four minutes, which could still be too long. I wanted to reduce their tendency to become brittle.
They worked okay. And then I noticed another broken one on the other side. I'll fix that one tomorrow. These things are turning out to be the most annoying aspect of this entire project (so far).
I also prepared the trunnion caps. I wanted to wire them and I really couldn't wait until more work was done on the base for fear of breaking something. I'm using the 0.015" rod and drills. This is a new size for me. I'd been focusing on .010, .020 and .032. I've now added .015 and .025. These intermediate sizes can be useful. And I drilled 16 holes and DIDN'T BREAK A DRILL. I think that's a record for me.
Since each cap was a custom drilling job, I had to mark the caps so they would go back in the proper place. I drilled some more holes to mark their place. This should help. Not shown is the coat of white paint I added to them. I will have to remove the paint on the pin extensions or they won't fit back through the holes when I take them off to install the guns.
My wife has her last post-infusion bloodwork tomorrow morning, and if the weather's nice, we'll take a walk, but I should have some more time to work too.
