Thursday, February 15, 2018
What's On Your Table: 3D Cargo Shuttle Project
What's On Your Table: To submit your work, please send up to 8 pics to natfka@live.com
You were kind enough to post about my little 3D projects on your site some time ago and I felt I should show the progress I have made on the Cargo shuttle
Link to the last article:
http://natfka.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/whats-on-your-table-3d-printing-and-mdf.html
So I have base painted both cargo shuttles now and just finished off the weathering on the first one.
As you can see I have added some extra details from my bit’s box and filled in some gaps. I had to paint the internals of the cockpit first as it was going to be fixed in place before I could base coat the body. I used a liquid masking fluid to avoid painting over the acetate windscreens when I sprayed it.
If you look at the link you will see the engines and cockpit where to be 3D printed.
The cockpit was 3D printed in resin and this turned out very well, better than I could have hopped (rather pricy mind you), the engine and landing gears have been done using PLA and that is a layered plastic (by far the cheapest option but not very good for detail)
I went to 3Dhubs.com to get them printed and they have a large selection of 3rd party printers and it is worth shopping about.
I have to say 3D printing is handy for odd little bits you want to get or prototypes to cast moulds but not very viable for mass production and the end result is not always that durable.
I wanted a generic sort of cargo craft but I did base it on a space marine rhino and while it could see military service my ones are painted up for civilian use, it is meant to be able to pick up or drop off supplies by winch or landing on the ground (I designed it to carry 3 GW cargo containers or those produced by other companies) the 3 arms along either side are meant to both protect and hold the cargo modules in place with a grave field, they are able to move out of the way to allow access when landed or to avoid damage when the cargo is winched.
I have plans to have the second cargo shuttle appear to be in mid-air dropping cargo off by winch.
Another plan is for a large module that can be carried underneath that function as a mobile, hab unit or medic centre ect in the event of setting up a new outpost or base.
While this might make a good objective for a game it has no rules and was really created for the fun of it and to add a bit more interest to my table top.
I hope it inspires you chaps to create some of your own bits for the fun of it.
Thanks
Alex