I’m having fun getting the FormLabs Form 1 printer dialed in. Funny how every printer and printing technology has it’s idiosyncrasies. But here are the first prints!
The Nav Seat is about 1 ¾” tall at 1/35 scale so these are pretty tiny. The detail help up and the stair stepping isn’t too bad. I’m curious what they will look like with a coat of paint on them.
While the goal of my project is to eventually build a whole scale model of the Falcon, I’m currently in a little cul de sac of building that includes documenting some of the full scale elements (at full scale in CAD) – specifically the cockpit. I’ll be 3D printing much of these full scale part at miniature scale (about 1/35) for my final model, but will need to run tests of parts as I go.
Here is a 1/6th scale (suitable for a 12″ action figure) of the nav come seat. It’s a fairly low res FDM print, but does it’s job to verify the geometry and help me to understand what details will hold at the miniature scale.
Hey all – so after much fussing here’s where I’m at with the Nav seats. I think I’m pretty much done and the files have been uploaded to grabCad. There is still a bit of work to be done to get them to a printable state, but that will happen in due time. All the major elements are there and the exterior surfaces are represented as accurately as I think I’m going to get – so I’ll call it done for now.
I might do some more renderings, but since my goal is to print these, I probably won’t spend the time texturing and weathering them. Never say never though…
I still have some more work to do on the parts that aren’t part of the Martin Baker frame (ahem, Tupperware lid), but I think I’m about as close to the MB Mk4 frame as I’m gonna get without one sitting in front of me.
The catapult tube and top cap have been updated. All the fiddly lever and linkage bits on the sides have been updated. The drogue gun has been resized to be more accurate. Most of the underlaying structure has been adjusted. I’ve recanted on my thoughts about the rubber banding on the seat pads – what I show seems to fit better against photo reference – a 1-inch band coupled with a 1/2″ tube binding the seat frame.
Here is a 4k high res image of the chair so far…
… and I’ve had a few people ask for orthographic projections of my seat in progress.
My daughter refers to the edge pattern on the the seat pads as the “Butterfly”; it’s an artifact of the modeling technique I use to create soft pillowed forms, not unlike the natural surfacing techniques I’ve done on watches for Nike.
Been reworking the Nav Comm seats based on some new dimensions I got from forum members. I think it’s getting pretty close. There are some little lever and push rod things on the rear seat frame that aren’t quite right yet, but getting there.
The Nav-Comm seats seen directly behind Han and Chewie, are based on Martin-Baker Mk IV ejection seats. Specifically the weight reduced variant found in the English RAF’s Sea Venom FAW.22 – the MB 4AV1-2. It seems to be very rare.
Here’s my current CAD model of the seat. It’s a work in progress since everytime I add something new, I realize how much is wrong with what I’ve build. I think I’ve rebuilt that head-piece about a dozen times.
On the upper left is the ejection seat’s Time Release Mechanism and on the upper right is the Drogue Gun – both of which remained in tact on the Falcon’s seats.
I’m pretty sure the seat back and seat pan pads are from folding chairs and the ribbed sections are 1″ foam rubber (weather stripping) laid in pattern. I think there is also a bit of pipe insulation used around the ejection seat frame. and then there is a lay-up of 1/4″ milky white plexiglas strapped to the back that covers-up most of the catapult tube.
