1/16 Long Tom Project

[Bogeyman]

Nice work Rob, coming along nicely.

John

[wibblywobbly]

I decided to get some discipline in my builds and went back to the Kodiak today, I need to design an awkward linkage system to get the dozer blade operating from way back up the hull.

Mind you, my discipline didn't last long, I got curious about how quickly I could print a 1/16 55ltr fuel drum, and got it down to 30 mins and excellent quality, almost a smooth gloss finish.

Oh well...back to the boring linkage....

[Woz]

I decided to get some discipline in my builds and went back to the Kodiak today, I need to design an awkward linkage system to get the dozer blade operating from way back up the hull.

Mind you, my discipline didn't last long, I got curious about how quickly I could print a 1/16 55ltr fuel drum, and got it down to 30 mins and excellent quality, almost a smooth gloss finish.

Oh well...back to the boring linkage....

Thats a problem I have, too many things on the go. When I get to a boring part of a build I find excuses to do something else.

[jackalope]

Hey I found the gun your building here.... http://www.ww2toys.net/main.sc in 1/32 scale for $10.00! Thought maybe it would come in handy to have it to work off of.

[wibblywobbly]

Looking at the pics that they have on there, I reckon mine is going to be in the ballpark for scale etc. I saw one of the 1/18 scale ones at a meet once, but it's interesting how much bigger a 1/16th is in comparison.

Meanwhile mine sits on the side of the kitchen table, whilst I work on other things that I have on the go. Once I have those completed I can give it my full attention, I hate doing more than one thing at a time as I never apply my full attention to each of them.

[wibblywobbly]

Seeing as the Kodiak is nearing completion I have been looking at the Long Tom again.

I designed the undercarraige for one end, and printed it in one piece. There is a limit to how much detail I can print so went with the main structure and leaf springs. It was simply plastic welded onto the existing structure.

The wheels are the next thing, Lego do some that could be modified, but they are under scale.
I can now design wheels, but can't print tyres.
So I may go Heng Long style and have solid plastic one piece wheels and tyres, and paint the tyres with Tamiya rubber paint. At least this way I get wheels that look like the originals and they will be to scale.

[wibblywobbly]

I did some work on the design to get it a bit more like the real thing, and did a test print. Always a worthwhile exercise, I soon discovered that the wheel nut that I had to put down into the recess weren't actually attached to the wheel....

The basic design is there though, so a few adjustments,too many hollows it should be six, and I left too little material in the flat part of the hub centre, and then I need to mould tyres and tread, and print eight of them at over an hour each, plus a different style for the towing dolly.

[wibblywobbly]

A few tweaks to the hub, designed a tyre, and added some tread (attempted to copy the original tread but the time it was taking to render on screen was ridiculous).

This looks ok, so when I am not using the printer for anything else I will print the remaining seven. They take a couple of hours each at least.

These were taken with the wheel still on the print bed, eg as printed, I haven't touched it at all.

[Woz]

Looks great, won't be long before you're printing out entire tanks.

[wibblywobbly]

Someone has already put a totally ridiculous idea into my head....but my problem is that ridiculous has a certain appeal...