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Destructor!!!

Member Since 28 Nov 2010
Offline Last Active Mar 19 2024 07:07 AM
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#97360 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 08 September 2021 - 05:49 PM

3 weeks later, the wind stirs in the west and Destructor takes to the keyboard once more!

 

I had a break, but before I went away, I sucked it up and did the first bit of wiring - the Deflector, window, and formation beacon lights in the nose:

 

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What else? Well, it took a lot of wrestling with stupid anxiety, and a week off visiting friends on the other side of the country, but look!

 

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I finally have most of the lighting wired in - I forgot the plasma vents, but they'll be easy to solder in tonight. After this, I'll work on the sound-related lights that light up when you press the associated button (pulse phasers, photons, quantums, maybe even the phaser strip on the spine).

 

Here she is in bright light (phone camera flash plus room light):

 

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The lighting shows through well. Even in sunlight, it shows decently.

 

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In the dark, the effect is obviously much better.

 

The part I was most concerned about was the warp field grilles. The 2 LEDs per nacelle shine into their own little chambre between the two compartments behind the grille. I made the chambre walls very thin to leak as much light into the compartments as possible, and I was worried it might be too dim.

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But they came out great! I have the exposure lowered in this shot so you can begin to see the internal detail through the grilles, but they pop just as well as the rest of the lights.

 

Top down view:

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The red glows from the whatever holes in the front and the radiator troughs in the back of the spine are crazy-effective. I'll need to dull them a bit with paint, but that's great because they're supposed to be grey/black with a dull red glow.

 

Bottom view in natural daylight:

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Previous pictures haven't really shown off the windows in the ventral hull, but they work great too! Each side has a fore an aft warm white LED shining into a gully to channel the light along. I was worried the mid point would be a little dark, but just look! It's like the snow that lay round about when good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen!  (deep and crisp and even)

 

When I do start light blocking, I'll be laying silver layers in places to bounce the light internally, and then covering with primer. In some places I'll be layering more silver on top as appropriate to get the light where I need it and minimise waste. Obviously I'll be masking off areas that need to fully transmit.




#97343 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 18 August 2021 - 11:58 AM

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Top finished printing the day before yesterday. Feels good man!

 

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Another 8 hours had the battery cover and the nose cap printed, and I fitted them the next morning. The print hiccup in the printing of the lower nose caused some mating issues, but they were solved with an emory board and some UV-cured glue.

 

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Some of the same work revealed that the original battery cover/stand design wasn't as poor as I had thought. The new one is still better though, I think. That reminds me: I must print a test rig of that design.

 

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Oh, this photo reminds me to print new nacelle grilles in white!

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Anyway, 5 more hours had the vent buttons and their caddy printed. I put the as-yet un-wired momentary buttons in and assembled it all for a fit-check.

 

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The buttons are a little tight, but I think I just need to clear some more slag. Most do click though.

 

There is some gapping between the upper and lower hulls. On this one at least, I'll probably have to glue it, but I have already modelled an additional latch into the forward tips of the bow, either side of the "mandible" to hold them together. Additional cleaning and sanding of the grooves where the hulls meet should aid fitment too.

 

What's next? Well, I'm fearing the wiring most, so I think I'll tackle that next. Going to take a day or two before that though.




#97337 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 12 August 2021 - 06:00 PM

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Finished this part!
 
The nose slots in PERFECTLY. It's snug and seamless and totally solid. You can pick the whole ship up by the nose without anxiety. MASSIVE relief.
That seemingly validates the latch system I'm using all over the ship to connect the hull halves.
 
I will need to redesign the battery cover, though. The tolerances are way too tight, and I have the snap latch on the wrong end for the forces - it unsnapped and the ship pitched forward. I could also afford to lengthen the pylon on the stand - which will make it a MORE accurate representation of DS9, lol.
 
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I have fit-checked some of the electronic components.
Most of the chip mounts need adjusting, but the speaker and the blinker board fit snugly and securely.

 

The light-trough for the "windows" along the inner edge of the hollow in the bottom of the ship is a touch too close to the outer skin, it comes close to breaking through and will be a light-leak issue. I will need to remodel that.
 
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The nacelle grilles snap in nicely too - I accidentally printed both sets as starboard grilles, so the port nacelle is currently ungrilled. I will be printing the next set in white PLA anyway - light bleed is encouraged for this component.
These photos all make it look smaller than it feels in the hand.
 
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Size comparison with the old Playmates/AMT Defiant (same mold).
The innacuracies in the proportions and angles of that old mold really stand out like this.




#97336 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 12 August 2021 - 08:17 AM

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The next day: The USS Defiant bursts out of the space-vines, cloaking as it emerges!

It is TANTALISINGLY close to done now - I mean, the bottom half of the ship is close to done. Then it'll be another 3 days or so of printing on the top half. Then another day or two for the buttons and battery cover.

 

And then obviously painting and wiring and blah blah blah.

 

But it's becoming real, and that's exciting. Every facet and corner and panel line of this thing was made by my hand, it never stops feeling amazing to 3D print something you crafted yourself.




#97335 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 11 August 2021 - 08:41 PM

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Godsdamn, it is so cool to watch this thing emerge s l o w l y from the printer.

 

It's like 5 days later and I'm still printing the lower hull due to a number of setbacks, but it's really looking good.

 

One of the setbacks was the box-out behind the deflector dish in the nose beginning printing in the far corner first, unconnected to the rest of the nose. There is support material under there, so it was cupped in place, but it broke free of the support material, wedged between the print head and the nose, and forced the head upwards, creating a gap. Then it happened each time the head came back over it, meaning all subsequent layers printed with an air-gap between them. This all happened while I was asleep.

 

When I got up, I found the issue, surmised what had happened, and pulled all the botched layers off it. Then I lowered the print head bit-by-bit onto the last "good" layer and edited the print file to start from that layer. The result is that little ridge you can see in the nose section, but I think I can sand and fill that away. The ridge is much less pronounced in the main hull from what I can tell - the support tree makes it hard to see.

 

I have already edited the source file so this shouldn't be an issue in future prints. This is why we prototype!

 

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Check out the detail on the forward end of the nacelle!

 

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And here's the "topside" view of the partially-printed lower hull. I know this is basically a jumble of white plastic, but if you compare this image to my previous images from the editor of the lower hull internals, it will start to make some sense.




#97331 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 07 August 2021 - 06:37 AM

I was going to sell them a few months ago, but Etsy was like "nah, you need to list more items than that", so I'm building up my range and will offer various SKUs at various price points.
 
In short, SOON™. Probably once I have the phaser and the Warbird prototyped... maybe sooner.

And holy cow, thanks for the praise!

 

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Slight design change to the grilles as the first print had parts that were still too thin - not on the preview, but in practice they fell apart. So I coned the inner side into the nacelle cavity a bit to strengthen them with minimal effect on light transmission.

I'm thinking printing these in black was not the best idea, I might reprint in white to transmit more blue light through the structure of the grilles.

Removing them from the lower hull has taken a whole DAY off the print time for it, despite these taking just a single hour to print themselves.

 

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I'm happy with the mesh structure.

 

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I have begun the lower-sections print. This structure of pipes under the nose was one of my biggest areas of concern - but aside from a few burrs and some slag, it's looking great!
Printing continues apace.
ETA 4 days for this part, then another 3 days for the upper part. Then another few hours for battery cover etc.

Then fit checks, sanding, more fit checks (and likely changes to the model files and reprints for stuff I didn't think of), wiring testing, painting, decaling, depression, questioning existence, printing new ones and hopefully sale.




#97329 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 03 August 2021 - 09:51 PM

I agree, I try to diffuse the lighting to mitigate flares like that. It's all in pursuit of screen-authenticity.

 

However, the windows were the only case where I actually had holes right through the model. After the painting was done, I smeared a thick clear epoxy glue along the interior of the windows with tape on the outside to provide a flat surface. So they're actually the only genuinely clear parts on the model. I did consciously position the LEDs to limit flares as much as possible, though.

 

The deflector, engines, and nacelles are all achieved with strategic use of thin white PLA (which is coloured using a combo of decals and coloured clothing paint-markers).

 

To my astonishment, the brightness stood up to the DST Enterprise-D:

 

 

 

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Defiant Status: Test-print of the full scale prototype has been delayed by 3D printer maintenance issues.




#97324 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 30 July 2021 - 11:56 AM

Interesting, MisterPL, the person who played that character also had the initials PL in their name... whoever that was must be a pretty cool guy!

I've had to do a full refit on my printer as the DIY prints kicked the shit out of it. I'm awaiting a fresh nozzle before printing the Defiant.

 

As for the grilles, actually no - I don't have the capability to print properly clear parts. I'd need a resin printer for that. Mine is an FDM filament melter - resin printers are smelly and not great in enclosed environments like my bedroom.

 

The grilles are designed as literal grilles, chainlink fence type things, as they were on the studio model. Due to the tiny diameter of the "wire" in the chainlinks, they only print right at a certain angle. I'm printing all translucent parts in white PLA and using the design and paint masking to define the borders of the light. I have had great success with this method on the Cerritos model - it turned out much better than I expected:

 

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The only actually clear parts there are the windows, which are holes filled with clear epoxy glue.




#97313 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 22 July 2021 - 08:42 AM

It was never clearly defined in canon, but in the design process for the ship, the nose was referred to as "The Warhead" and was imagined to be a detachable last-ditch weapon with impulse engines and a high-yield antimatter warhead in it. Kind of like self-destructing the ship at the enemy, but using the main body as the escape pod.

 

I agree, it could be a cool play feature, but with the lighting in the nose, it's too tall an order. I'd need to rig a separate battery compartment and on-off switch, and put a second blinker chip into the nose somehow. It would get very cramped and it's just way more work than I want to dive into at this point for a very obscure and unconfirmed feature. It'd be a bit like the bizarre articulating nose on the Playmates version.

 

 

This is the printer's time estimate for the top half of the hull and the nose cap.

 

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And this is the bottom half, which has much more of the sides, the bulk of the nacelle, the battery case, and nearly all of the light-tubes and mounting points inside:

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You might look at the previous picture and this one and think "294g + 469g?! This thing will weigh almost a kilogram when it's assembled, wired and powered!!", but a good two-fifths of that weight is likely in the support material holding the parts up.
I had to cant them over and swivel them to fit them inside the printer's build volume (the blue box), but the angle also means the fine details will come out better on faces that might otherwise have been pointing "down" during printing- and therefore be subject to gravity. However, it does mean a LOT more support material is required.




#97308 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 21 July 2021 - 08:57 AM

Right. The nose wouldn't fit in the print volume. Huge shocker. Further cuts may be needed as I am seemingly afraid to check the fit as I go...
Anyway, I have designed a slot-snap mechanism for the nose to connect. The top half of the hull, which has considerably less material, will take over 3 days to print, so this part might take the guts of a week. We'll see.
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You can see I now have the LED holes carved.
The extra greebles in the "Floor" are chip-mounts, for the blinker and sound electronics, as well as the button-mount for the bridge on/off button. They are not new, I just forgot to make them visible in the previous shot.
 
 
This is how the nose will connect:
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The little notches on the sides of the... tongue?... should snap into the prongs I designed into the receptacle in the main hull bottom. The groove down the middle is for wires to go to the lights in the nose.

Ever wonder what a nose-less Defiant looked like?

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Wonder no more.


#97305 Here we go again... Playmates is back in the Trek business!

Posted by Destructor!!! on 19 July 2021 - 02:02 PM

You guys were quick off the mark! I just spotted this today.

Great detective work Morgan! I really thought that was just a Photoshop job, or at best pictures of old school figures intentionally obscured. I did not expect them to already have prototypes.

As for the scale, the hand shapes and proportions really do hark back to the '90s figures to me. Hopefully they do the sensible thing and continue in that scale. It's cheap enough to produce, very "toyetic" and will really get the collectors onboard.

Speaking of toyetism, I don't think the Eaglemoss XL's fill that market at all - they're super expensive and have no play features. I miss lights and sounds, and I miss being able to trigger specific lights and sounds when I want to (hence the approach I'm taking on the Defiant I'm making).


#97279 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 06 July 2021 - 08:55 PM


That's RIDICULOUSLY brilliant.

I love those buttons. Obtrusive buttons on toys have been a nitpick of mine since I was wee. This is really taking shape!

 

Thanks man! Feedback from you folks really makes it worthwhile.

This project gets overwhelming at times - I have to stop looking at the big picture and just focus on "what needs doing now" to not just get mentally gridlocked. I have a renewed appreciation for the product designers at Playmates, DST, Aoshima, Eaglemoss, etc... this shit ain't easy!

 

I agree about the buttons thing. I found a working way to do capacitive-touch buttons during my currently-shelved Tricorder project (that and a phaser - 2373 models both - are on my plate) and thought about using that... it might have actually been easier than this, but this is more satisfying. When I return to the Warbird, I'll probably use capacitive panels for the sounds. IIRC, Art Asylum considered doing the same with their ships in the early days.

 

I've done more refinement to the lower section - rethought some of the light paths in terms of "does this part attach to the top or the bottom?" and caught some running lights on the nacelles I had neglected to path lighting to. The interior of the top is still in roughed-out form, but I'm hoping all I'll have to do is copy-paste the places where they touch and fill in the gaps. I'll be integrating the relocated light paths in the next few days. Then I just design latches to keep the halves together and cut the LED mounts by subtracting LED models from the bulkheads.

Then I print!

I haven't thought about how to paint/decal it, but as I type, I'm thinking I might just mask-and-spray for much of the blocky hull colouring, and then decal some subtle plating texture over that, with decals for more intricate parts. I should be able to match the colours closely enough between paint and decal.




#97275 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 05 July 2021 - 08:47 PM

I continue to make progress on the interior:

 

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Here you can see new light-pipes for the subtler glows here and there on the ship, some circuit-board-holders for the blinkies (I'm still waiting on the sound chip delivery), and new button mounts. I have decided to go the whole-hog and do a Playmates-style button bank. I'm using the 8 circular vent/hatches either side of the deck 1 strongback. I've come up with a pretty clever (if I do say so myself) way to light them too.

 

I have printed a few test-rigs of the buttons.

 

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These are very satisfying to click. I have momentary buttons under them.

 

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The bridge button with a section of hull capping it. This could travel more freely, but I'm sure all it will take is a bit of sanding.




#97262 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 17 June 2021 - 02:40 PM

I'm using Blender - it's free, easy and powerful and there are shed-loads of tutorials on Youtube to help you learn the features.
Thank you Alteran! It is close enough to DS9 in terms of accuracy that I have a great jumping-off point for making the station itself later. Astonishingly, I built it in less than four days!
 
Stand modelling is complete (More or less... I am tempted to add detail here and there, but I will call it complete for now). Here's how the ship will sit on it:
 
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I printed it off - I never thought the stand would be the first part of the full size Defiant to get printed! There were some minor warping issues on the base, causing a hull breach in the habitat ring, but emergency forcefields are in place and holding.
 
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Check out how much detail I was able to get on the weapons sails - these are only about a centimetre tall:
 
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And panel lines that I was dubious about when I made them (thought I was wasting my time) are nice and subtle, but visible:
 
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I hasten to add that this is fresh off the printer, no post-processing aside from removing the support material. All those little burrs and fibres will be sanded off.


#97253 WIP USS Defiant 3D-print build.

Posted by Destructor!!! on 14 June 2021 - 11:30 AM

Battery bay is in place, as is the lid. This nailed down the scale of the ship. Hoping I don't regret that, as it's pushing the dimensions my printer can work with. Might end up with more work on my plate snapping nacelles off or making the nose fully modular...

 

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Designed a stand - took inspiration from Playmates' DS9 stand and AMT/ERTL's Defiant stand and went with a DS9-esque structure. I went much more direct than their versions though. The stand is still WIP. I'll have a slot to snap the regular battery cover into on the bottom too.

 

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