1/18 scale Wallis WA-116 Agile autogyro scratchbuild model

[flyjoe180]

Another absolutely fantastic build Nick. Great to see the modern 3D stuff in action. Nothing to add about the build other than it is top work worthy of any award. Your wife, is she a model or something like that because she seems to be very photogenic. Wait until I show my missus these threads. I demand help in displaying my completed kits!

[Guest]

I can't really tell from the photos - the 3D parts, when they're printed to they follow the diagram exactly, or does the printer understand that what curves are implied by the polyhedrals in the plan?

The 3D printed part, becomes exactly as designed/ What you see, is what you print.

Also - what material does the printer use?

The injecting matterial might be different each time, depending the detail level or the type of scale model part we like to print. Could be:

• PolyCarbonate,
  
• LASER sintered nylon plastic,
  
• Acrylic-based photopolymer,
  
• UV cured acrylic polymer etc
  

Industrial printers are able to print objects by injecting more sophisticated stuff such as plastic filled with aluminum dust, or even have 3D printed results made by rubber or stainless steel.

how thin can you get individual pieces?

This might vary by the printer. The printe I use, can print minimum thickness 0.7 mm

[Guest]

Absolutely fantastic, it was fascinating to watch this model develop.

The 3D printing technique is interesting, could this be the beginning of the end of resin aftermarket parts?

Surely if the average modeller can "print out" his or her parts (e.g. detailed seats etc), then this would surely be the way forward for doing detailing work to our models. Sure, the 3D printers would need to come down in price, but as with most new technologies, in time they will.