Sunday 12 February 2023

3d Printed Stukas

 

I just got hold of Roman Troyan's new 1:200 scale Ju87B Stuka model, and I've up-scaled it to 1:144 and printed it both on my Mars Pro resin printer (left) and my Ender 3 FDM printer (centre).

The results are shown here alongside a Zvezda 1:144 injection-moulded kit, on the right.

It's a nice model, though in 1:144 the wings are very thick and the panel lines are very prominent. That's not a big deal for me, as I'm producing it for use as a gaming piece, not a diorama model.

It prints at roughly the same speed on both printers, with the Ender 3 being just a little bit faster. The resin model from the Mars Pro has smoother surfaces, especially the underneath — the FDM model's supports left quite a bit of mess there. Again, that's not really a big deal, as on the tabletop the models will really only be seen from above.

What is a big deal is that the resin model is considerably distorted. The wing-tips are perceptibly narrower than they should be, and the wings and tailplanes have both warped. The nose is also considerably distorted. This is an issue I've been getting pretty regularly with my resin prints, but unfortunately I don't know enough about resin printing to be able to make a guess at what's causing it.

I've printed these two Stukas more out of curiosity than necessity; I have another Zvezda model assembled but unpainted, and yet another still in its box. Realistically I'm highly unlikely to need more than one at a time on the wargaming table so the surplus Stukas will probably stay unpainted for quite some time.

The resin print is probably going to go in the bin, because it's rubbish.

2 comments:

  1. I think it is an issue with supports, and inclination. I had similar issues in some of my first prints from Roman's planes with scallopped wings. It was my fault. I now print the planes vertical with the tails toward the plate, with plenty of supports on the wing trailing edge.

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  2. I think the problem with the resin one is in the orientation and supports. I had similar result when I printed my first planes with scallopped wings. I solved by printing them vertical, tail toward the build plate, plenty of supports on the trailing edge of the wings. Issues solved.

    Best,
    Arrigo

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