Merriman's Submarine Modelling Masterclass

Scott Kenny said:
Some shapes just cannot be made any other way.

And some shapes need to be made better, like those 3d printed props you had to correct.

Says the guy with a pretty large pile of 3d printed miniatures on his to-paint pile.
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It's time for me to be clear as to my problem with robots:

As our lazy society drops all its ability to work without electricity, the day will come when the electrons stop flowing and no one will have the skills to 'make things' with their own brain and hands. We will all die. The traditions -- now quickly fading away -- of Craft must be maintained or we eventually die off as a species. Remember shop class in school? Bring it back... in Spades!

I acknowledge that 3D printing does what I do faster, better, and cheaper than me. It's my selfish sense of pride that forces me to reject that kind of tool.

David
Luddite
 
merriman said:
It's time for me to be clear as to my problem with robots:

As our lazy society drops all its ability to work without electricity, the day will come when the electrons stop flowing and no one will have the skills to 'make things' with their own brain and hands. We will all die. The traditions -- now quickly fading away -- of Craft must be maintained or we eventually die off as a species. Remember shop class in school? Bring it back... in Spades!

I acknowledge that 3D printing does what I do faster, better, and cheaper than me. It's my selfish sense of pride that forces me to reject that kind of tool.
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Oh, I agree that some problems exist.

My thing is that I greatly struggle to get an idea out of my head and into a 3d model I can show other people. If I can get a 3d model out of my head, I can get that made. It's a different skill set than working with my hands.

And I would not generally trust a 3d printed hull or car body to survive the typical abuses RC drivers do to their stuff. So, just like you just did here, 3d model acts as a master to make survivable uboat hulls.

Because there are people who really enjoy the 3d modeling part of that process, and other people who really enjoy the 3d printing part of it. And freaking klutzes like me can get a model of the Rocinante to print out in 8" cubical volumes from a filament printer and then print the details on resin, and then start using my kit building skills to end up with a model I like.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Oh, I agree that some problems exist.

My thing is that I greatly struggle to get an idea out of my head and into a 3d model I can show other people. If I can get a 3d model out of my head, I can get that made. It's a different skill set than working with my hands.

And I would not generally trust a 3d printed hull or car body to survive the typical abuses RC drivers do to their stuff. So, just like you just did here, 3d model acts as a master to make survivable uboat hulls.

Because there are people who really enjoy the 3d modeling part of that process, and other people who really enjoy the 3d printing part of it. And freaking klutzes like me can get a model of the Rocinante to print out in 8" cubical volumes from a filament printer and then print the details on resin, and then start using my kit building skills to end up with a model I like.
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You like the result. I like the process.
 
I'm of the same mind. Part of the art of model making is crafting the parts yourself, not manufacturing them on a printer.
 
merriman said:
Very kind. Thank you. I have the advantage of knowing from age five what I was going to do with my life. No time wasted on pursuit of dead-end career paths -- I started on this one early and have not wavered from it for over seventy years.
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I understand completely - the first time I watched a Gemini Titan launch on German black and white public TV when I was maybe 4 years old at most was when I got addicted to space exploration...
 
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Scott Kenny said:
Deck division report to the basin for hull scrub!!! :D

Any sailor can smell that picture! o_O
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LOL. Indeed. You ain't lived till you had to grease fitting within the superstructure on a hot August day. and spent many an hour in port scraping off 'sea grass' with a broken piece of acrylic sheet. Yuck. One of the joys of being one of the two boat divers.
 
Done with the majority of the camera barge structure. Only remaining task is to glue on the top, work out the access deck hatches, install the running gear and skegs, glass the entire exterior and we're off to the races.













This is Jake's big Type-9. I've helped with a few little things, but he's doing the heavy lifting on this massive restoration job. He plans to have it ready for the upcoming SubFest event at Cohutta, Georgia. He's gone nuts on the sail, as you can see



















 
Scott Kenny said:
That sail is amazing!!!
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Ineed. Jake is a first-class detail nut. I've know this idiot for decades and there is no hobby, or home-improvement job he does half-ass; every task he does, he goes in balls deep! Armor, classic cars, submarines -- not a bit of it is below show-room ready in function as well as looks. And... he's a fellow Torpedoman as well.



I hate his living guts! If we were ever assigned the same crew one of us would be dead before the boat got to the break-water.

David
 
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I made this big-ass sanding block/board to level off the tops of the bulkheads and frames to the top of the hull proper. The anvil (Acme, of course) provides the weight so I get plenty of abrasive action when pulling and pushing the sanding block across the top of the egg-crate structure. I needed my other hand to hold the hull against sliding over the table.

















I'm helping Tom Harris assemble his big 1/48 Type-7 plastic model kit, which we're converting to r/c operation.















 
The first picture in the post above certainly invokes visions of a visit to the dentist...
 
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