Thanks guys. Sorry to hear about the move wrecking the project.
I re-designed the scissors print. Instead of printing them all directly on the build plate, i drew a plank below them and supported each print sufficiently so no part of the link would attempt to print in free space. My reasons for this change are due to the nature of starting layers. The first 8 layers printed are exposed for 60 seconds per layer (as compared to 10 secs/layer on the rest) to ensure that they are well hardened and adhered to the build plate. If not, when the plate lifts to allow fresh resin to backfill for the next layer, the previous layer could adhere to the teflon barrier at the resin vat bottom, and not lift with the build plate thus creating a failed print job. This long exposure has a negative side effect. It causes the first layers to spread out beyond the part's boundaries creating what's know as an "elephant foot". For large parts, the elephant foot's no big deal, but on small parts it can distort the shape pretty badly as it did on my first attempt.
By elevating the parts off the plate and supporting them, the elephant foot is on the plank, not the parts, and the parts come out true size. Notice that the print was actually starting to faill on the right side of the image with the plank lifting off the build plate, but enough of the plank was still attached to produce a bunch of good parts. That's why I ALWAYS print a lot more parts than I actually need. The resin is cheap for tiny parts, and the print time is the same since it's the number of vertical layers that determines print time (along with exposure times and print layer thickness).
I post-hardened the bars before drilling the holes and separating them from the bar.
I tried to drill one and did have success. THEY WILL WORK! Notice the one in the background has a broken leg. Again, that's why I print so many. They're fragile and drilling is a bit abusive to tiny parts.
Work continued adding fuselage details. There were three antenna that went onto the tail boom. I had pre-opened holes for two of them, but had missed opening the square hole for the middle one. Rather than just drillng anywhere, I came up with a scheme to shine my iPhone light down the boom and lo and behold, the thinner plastic where the location was on the inside glowed just enough so I could poke the hole from the outside and produce the square hole in its correct location.
The crew door is supposed to be installed now, but I want it in the open position to pose a mechanic sitting on the sill. That means the fuselage must be painted before the door goes on since you can see the fuze wall through the glazing. I also drilled and pinned the delicate door handle. I have the Eduard transparent parts mask set for this model. I use the Testor's Canopy Glue for all the transparent parts.
Up next was the torpedo rack on the strb. side. It's a 3-piece affair where you have to sandwich a part inside before gluing the two halves together. It was confusing to me just how this part was to be installed so I spent a lot of time studying it and ultimately got it right.
Onto it when four, very tiny sway braces. These suckers were really, really tiny. I used a 'parts catcher' apron (a la watchmakers) stapled to the underside of my work bench that catches about 80% of the crap that I drop (as long as I remember to clothes pin it to my shirt). One of these parts dropped into it. Here's what it looks like. Imagine seaching the floor for that!
In case you think I'm being hyperbolic, he's a cropped closeup showing it's actually a molded part.
And here they are glued in position on the underside of the torpedo rack.
Last thing I did was assemble the co-pilot's door. Again, I have to hold off on the full assembly since the inside of the door is black, like the interior, but there's a inner frame that goes on over the glazing, making painting and masking more complicated. I'm going to mask the glazing inside and out, paint the inner wall, then assemble and paint the outer frame. I looked to see if it was possible to open the door, but it's not going to be very straight forward since half of the hinge is molded into the fuze wall. I it could be cut out and glued to the door part it might work. I think about it.
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Until next time...