3D Printer!

 I been working on my mini but it's slow going as there were some issues with the bodywork paint and I have paint and wait but it's coming along.

In the meantime: I purchased a 3d Printer and a wash & cure machine not so long ago and I took this opportunity to get it going. So here is a few pictures of my 3D Printer working on the test print. 

 Here we see the printer just set up and ready to print. It's a UV resin printer. This means it has a 4K black and white UV screen facing upwards in the base. Then the transparent bottomed resin vat is held firmly above the screen and the build platform lowers into the resin. Then the screen flashes for 3 seconds each slice of the 3d print and as the platform raises, the build slowly appears. 

 Here we can see the test print slowly emerging like the terminator from the resin vat, sticking to the build platform. 

Here is the finished print, upside down on the build platform. I have to let it drip dry for a while so excess resin can be removed but once that is done, I can scrape the print from the platform and head it into the wash.

The wash machine (not pictured) contains a container full of cleaning alcohol and it sits on the wash platform. It runs for a time set by the user and a fan spins the fluid around using a magnetic fan inside the container, washing off the excess, uncured resin. Once dry the container is removed from the machine and it is converted over to cure. A plastic table and reflective plate is added once the fluid container is removed, the light lamp directed and the print set on the platform. It then spins slowly for a set time bathing in UV light to cure hard. You can then bath the print in hot water to easily remove the stabilisation pegs, printed in the printer.

Now the printer is set up, what shall I build with it? Well, it just so happens there are plenty of websites online the offer 3D print files to download, many for free. While looking for what to print I found one I just had to print!

 

Here we can see the print being made, along with the stabilization pegs....

Some of you may notice this looks a lot like a saddle for a horse and a horse's ass. Well you would be correct, So I'm printing a horse? Yes, but it belongs to this guy!!

That's right, it's Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2. An amazing western game from Rock Star with the best and most loveable story I have ever seen in a video game...

 

These are some reference pictures I will be using when printing my (no so) mini. After a few prints and multiple hours the prints were finished! The first print I done, the saddle and backside of the horse took 8 hours to print! The horse's head took 11! This is because no matter the detail or how much resin it uses, the time taken to print is all balanced on the number of slices, so the taller the print, the more slices, the longer it takes. 

Once all the pieces were cleaned up, I set about gluing them together. I havent glued them all together as it will be easier to paint in pieces but I did glue the horse together and Arthur's legs. I had to file down some areas so it would fit perfectly and there are still many gaps between pieces that will need to be filled and smoothed off before priming. Not a problem for a model maker. 

Once the pieces I wanted to glue were set, I placed the rest together to get a look at the finished print.

and just for scale..

Keep your eyes open for more posts regarding this model and others because there will be others. My 3d Printer is awesome! So easy to use and super easy to clean. I love using it.

Recent Activity On My Mini

 Busy busy busy! I have been working hard on my Mini. I finished putting together the chassis and wheels. Not a lot to say about these. The chassis and wheels are often the easiest part of the model. Be that as it may, here is a picture of the Chassis and wheels for my Mini Mayfair. 

Next I painted the main bodywork. This was going to be a new thing for me as I wanted to paint a Union Jack on the roof. The mini was well known for being user modified and many owners had a Union Flag painted on the roof, seeing as the old mini was a British Icon. So sure, this isnt what my Mayfair looked like but it was how I would of liked it to look. 

So once the primer was painted I laid down a base coat of white paint on the roof. To paint multiple colours, always start with the lightest colour as the base, so white it is. Once that was painted, I masked up the roof again to allow for the red to be painted on top. Once dry, masked up the red and opened up ready for the blue. The red was Tartan Red and the Blue, Racing Blue. 

Once it was painted I had to gloss it. Trouble is, paint has a thickness. Running my finger over the painted roof, I could feel the edges of the paint. If I glossed this as a finisher coat, the edges would be easily seen when hit by light. So the roof had to be exceptionally smooth. So firstly I applied a 'levelling' coat of gloss. I sprayed mostly over the white areas of the roof as these were the lowest point and would fill the gap, then, after painting over the entire roof and leaving to dry for 24 hours, it was time to sand. 

I sanded down the roof so the ridges were smoothed out and the gaps were filled in. Although there was still a slight ridge to the white areas. I then masked up the roof and painted the rest of the car with the Tartan red. After applying the decals, I then applied a full finishing gloss coat over the whole car. Once sanded and polished, the roof was perfectly smooth, as was the rest of the car body. The diagram below will help visualize the problem I had with the roof. 

 So now the body work was painted, decaled and glossed. 

There are a few areas that need touching up after polishing but those will be handled later. Over all, I am pleased with the result. 

The Mini had metal work visible on the inside as well, so I had to paint and gloss those with body colour. The seats painted with textured charcoal paint and the floor and parcel shelf  coated with black carpet flock. Once put together, the result was very pleasing. 

I also used my new Chrome / Mirror paint I got from Culture Hustle This was fairly expensive but I have been looking for a good chrome paint for a while and thought it was worth a try and so far, I am pretty Impressed but I will wait and see how the main chromed parts turn out before giving a better review but so far, it looks amazing. 

Once my main body was sanded, polished and dry, I masked it up ready to receive the black paint for window rubbers and the chrome trim. It takes so long to mask up the details but in the end, this is the result. 

Next up, painting the rubbers and chroming the trim. The work is going well so far. Look out for the next update.