want a A4 Skyhawk in 1/18

[teebird]

Ok 1/18 Skyhawk thread recharged!!!

It is in progress!!!

Not sure if I will be producing kits or just full builds. TBD. Help has been solicited and this will hopefully be a multi person effort!

[teebird]

[teebird]

The 1/18 3D printed fuselage next to a 1/32 hasegawa fuselage

[teebird]

The fuselage is printed in ABS filament. It's really tough and takes a 60 grit paper to sand smooth. This process requires a lot of tired eyes staring at solid works and manually constructing the airplane in cad. There is zero surface detail and the ABS needs a lot of sanding to smooth out. If the shape is wrong in the CAD it's wrong in the ABS. I've had a lot of rejected parts. Getting the printer going is a whole other task too. The learning curve is steep but stay tuned for further efforts from this capability and technology combo.

[rschaap]

I am very much looking forward to this. Keep up the great work.

[teebird]

Will do!

My main limitation now is time. I'm working out the Basic structural setup for the spar carry thru for the wings. Once that is done I will go to the tail and work there. The vertical fin will be molded separately so that a few choices can be offered. The forward section will have a part line so the ECM hump can be added or removed depending on the version selected. I'll probably just offer one vertical fin so if people want different additions and versions they'll have to customize on their own. Right now it's pretty basic roughing in the model from the raw prints. Very tiring sanding this hard material. I am missing my basswood process a little right now. The ABS is hollow like a plastic model kit except that it has an internal "plus" keel and horizontal plane inside for alignment purposes. This allows tabs to be glued on so the model comes out straight as its assembled. The final product will be hollow inside for the most part allowing for some internal detail. Probably just a fan face and an engine exit area detailed. Plan to have an operable canopy and a cockpit that easily fits a articulated figure. Underwing stores will be very limited at first. The large symmetrical fuel tanks are in CAD but not printed yet. I'm experimenting with a unique way to make them right now. The Scooter carried soooooo many different stores and goodies that I think it will be up to the 1/18 community to flush out the drag penalty items!!

[teebird]

I meant to elaborate on something. This is a team build, I printed 3 prototypes so that I would have the first one to try my first guesses out on, a second to refine the ideas and a third as a backup. If the first attempt goes well then it will go out to another proven builder for more detailing and further development. There are some major areas yet to be figured out such as the gear and underwing fairings and doors. The air brakes and trailing edge flaps are still being worked out too. Ideally all of those items would be moveable but the gear may have to be made so that a "down" set of gear can be plugged in as desired and replaced with a set of "closed/up" fairings. TBD....

[A-10LOADER]

Any news worth reporting teebird ?

Steve

[pizzaguy]

The A4 is on it's way to me to work on. I will post updates as work progresses.

[A-10LOADER]

The A4 is on it's way to me to work on. I will post updates as work progresses.

Cool, great news, thanks for the update.

Steve