Fully 3D printing & Building a Ariel Atom Model kit

[Music] so ever since i first was introduced to resin 3d printing i wanted to print a full model kit now it has its limitations and it's not as easy as you might think so i'm just going to start off simple a couple months ago i was contacted by oliver he had made a full 3d model of an aerial atom and he had also scaled it down to 124th scale and printed it out tested it a couple of times himself until he was happy and then released the files online he sent them to me and i figured this would be the perfect first 3d kit that i would be printing as it doesn't have any clear or glass parts that need to be made or printed but simply just some pieces for the frame the wheels and all the other parts all around so easy enough to start off with if you kind of know what you're doing 3d printing wise so the files were downloaded i uploaded them into chidobox the slicer that i use for these lagoo 3d printers i angled the print slightly to have it at the best position for the printing and then also added some supports now you can just use some automated supports by pressing the button just be sure to check over the entire file as you can see here and make sure that all the parts that need to be supported are actually supported so just go over it check it a couple of times and add some more supports where they need to just to touch on the slicer here a little bit i'm using t2 box there is a free version which i am using and there is also a pro version you would need to buy that membership yearly i think it's a bit too expensive but the free version works perfectly fine there is also an alternative from lychee or lychee that is also a free and a paid version from that one again i just like to use the free version as that works perfectly well too so just use whichever one you want no need to pay for any of these slicers necessarily as far as settings and printers go i'm using the new elgu mars 3 and basically using the standard settings i'm only adjusting the layer height to set it at a 0.01 that is a super fine layer height just using the rest of the settings as standard and adjusting the exposure time per layer to one and a half seconds as that is more than enough for these mono screen printers to start properly printing you simply then press slice and export the file there is also a supposed time that this will take but as you can see that is completely off and in this case it took about five hours longer well no hurry i knew this beforehand so not a really big deal i just turned it on left it overnight and when i came back the next morning i was left with a perfectly printed frame i could then move on to do the same procedure to all of the other parts just slice them angle them at the supports move it into the printer and once the prints have completed gently remove it from the build plate or leave it on and start the cleaning procedure the resin i used was water washable resin from elegy but i am still deciding to wash it in isopropyl alcohol as that does a little bit better of a job cleaning it but as the name implies you can also just use water to clean the resin off of the parts as you can see right here all of the parts have been printed out and have been cleaned up so there should not be any resin left on these parts there can still be a little bit here and there but that should just easily wipe off or clean off with a little bit of water or isopropyl alcohol after their alcohol bath i set them aside to dry so there is no alcohol left on the parts and again no resin and then i could start gently looking over all of the parts checking if they are printed well or if they need to be reprinted in this case all of the parts printed pretty much fine there were a couple of layer lines and layer shifts here and there but nothing too bad so overall i'm really happy with how these parts came out first time around so as you can see there are not super many parts included in this kit and that is a pretty good thing as it is quite an overwhelming process and can take a lot of time to set up all the parts properly and afterwards of course all of them need to be cleaned up painted and built up into a full kit now like i mentioned at the beginning of this video this is a pretty simple kit to start off with as you don't need to make any clear parts now you can as you can see clearly here print clear parts on these resin 3d printers but i would only advise to do so for small parts like the lenses front and rear and smaller details all round the main glass parts for front side and rear will need to be made out of a different material yes you could print them but they would be super thin not really all that clear and basically not as easily used now they would need to be made out of a different material like a clear plastic lexan plexiglass or something like that some super thin stock material cut them out and bend them to shape or if you have the material and experience you could also print a buck or a shape that is the same size and shape of the window itself and then actually vacuum form the parts over it now that's not something i'm really looking into yet but maybe for a future project i could tackle it but that does require a lot of time spent into some research and development and for the moment i think this is a good base kit to start off with so the parts have been printed and not yet cured they are fully cleaned so i can then remove all of the supports or sprues better known if you're a model kit builder but in 3d printing they are called supports as they support the print on the print bed and keep the parts in place and support it like that now they can easily snap off as you can see right here they make a nice cracking sound and it is quite the job to do i personally recommend doing this before curing the actual print as that will harden the parts and make it a lot easier to snap and break pieces as you can see right here because some of the pieces are still quite fragile and if they are all completely cured the supports will be made into one piece with the main part so to speak and therefore can break and snap damage or just ruin the entire part so for me i like to do it before curing now i've heard of others also putting the parts into some hot or warm water and that supposedly helps the supports break off even easier i haven't tried it yet but i will certainly do that in the future all of the supports have now been removed i can move them into the actual uv curing chamber that is the legume mercury machine this comes with a washing station as you saw earlier and also a uv curing light box with a rotating bottom plate and also uv light from all sides i set it at five minutes as that is pretty much enough for all of these parts to properly cure but you could also just turn them over and put them back in for another five minutes but the longer you cure the harder the actual parts will become and also the more brittle they will become so that is all up to you but after five minutes it should roughly be enough in most cases now the part that i snapped earlier is simply just fixed with a little bit of super glue all of the parts are right here and ready to start the cleaning procedure with some actual sandpaper as far as cleanup goes there are a couple of things you need to take into consideration these parts are made out of resin so be sure to be in a well ventilated area don't breathe in the dust and keep it clean now some of the parts have some of these uh small dimples left over from where the actual supports were and ripped off these can simply be sanded out with a 600 grit sandpaper in this case i'd like to use some sanding sponges it takes a couple of seconds for them to be removed sometimes a little bit longer but generally speaking they can quite easily be sanded off and besides those small dimples from the supports there might also be some layer lines or some weird things left over from the actual files in this case in the thread pattern of the tire and again those will easily send off with the 600 grit in a matter of seconds now in this case i'm pretty sure that they are not actual layer lines but they were something that is done in the slicing i think anti-aliasing will help this out but i'm not entirely sure what the problem is nonetheless easily stand it out and you can move on to the next step and on to the next part most cases on this main interior piece on the back side there were also a couple of support pieces left still on there that i ripped off but some pieces just stuck to the main part so i simply use a hobby knife with a sharp blade and gently cut it off and sand it smooth [Music] all of the other parts were also sanded down with the same 600 bit to give it a nice clean look also remove any of the imperfections and to give it a nice bite for the primer to stick to it as far as primer goes i like to use tamiya gray liquid surface primer or just their gray primer from the spray cans as that is suitable for either metal plastic and also resin it works really well covers super good and leaves a nice smooth finish so i applied a couple coats to all of the parts i let the primer sit and dry for about 30 minutes to an hour and could then move on to the actual color application for all the colors or most of the colors i will be using splash they sent out a bunch of their colors for me to test out and i figured this would be a really cool project to use and test them for the main body color i decided to go with was cerulean blue this is a mclaren color that has been made famous by shmee 150 and i kind of thought it suited the style of this car and most of it will be covered up with black later on so there won't be really all that many panels left in that color some of the other smaller details for on the interior like the fire extinguisher and also on the exterior side like the springs were painted with a red in this case just ferrari red and also the main frame itself was painted with aluminum i wanted to have a nice contrast between the wheels tires and also frame and exterior color so i decided to go with a gunmetal for the wheels themselves i painted them with a black first to get a nice uh dark base and then the gunmetal on top of it to easily cover and also give a nice reflection on the gloss black that was underneath it so far i'm really happy with the way that these colors are spraying they are pre-thinned and work straight away after pouring them into the airbrush cover super quickly and all of the metallic flake that i've seen and used so far in these paints is really nice and fine and seems to be well scaled to the 124th scale that these kits are most of the parts i will just leave in their bare painted color but some of the parts like the cerulean blue pieces and the wheels will be covered with the gloss clear coat from splash as well it is a three to one mixture meaning you would need to use for example three milliliters of clear and then one milliliter of hardener mix it together shake it up stir it around pour it into the airbrush and you're good to go now normally you would want to add a thinner to this as well with a lot of other brands but in this case with the splash you don't need to add any thinners as it flows right through the airbrush and doesn't require any more thinner so the first coat was applied on the cerulean blue back piece and also on the nose cone as well i set it secure for about five minutes and then applied a second coat to make it even smoother and glossier it applies really really well super easy to use and also gives a super smooth finish now i set those parts aside to cure for a couple of days and could then start carefully masking off all of the parts that i wanted to remain in the blue and add the black plastic pieces to the side and also all round just giving it a super nice finish and cleaned up look now i have yet to test these paints on plastic kits but i have heard that they can be a bit hot so you do need to be careful specifically with these resin and or metal bodies you don't have to be as careful as with plastic as it doesn't really have anything to ruin or any weird things to do like that so i will be testing these paints further in the future on some plastic builds too but for now i'm really happy with the way that they turned out and super easy to use last week i also received a care package from dispay they have a range of tools also paints glues and other materials for around the workbench and have a super high quality standard they sent out a couple of their products for me to use test and try out on my builds and one of the first things i got my hands on were some of their chrome paint markers so i used that for a couple details on the wheels also for some of the chrome reflective finishes in the lights and all other stuff around the build 2. for some more detailing on the interior side of things i already painted the fire extinguisher in a nice red and still needed to add a couple of chrome details around it and for that i'm just using some mirror foil from hasagawa other parts all around were painted in their base color as you can see right here the springs and the engine and simply just needed a little bit more detail to finish it off with secondary colors on the main frame piece itself you can already see that a couple of the parts were completely included like the over fenders the brakes some of the suspension and drivetrain pieces and also the transmission but just to give them a little bit of a difference between the parts i decided to coat the transmission in a bit of to me a panel line accent color just to give it a bit more shade a bit more dirt and not have it looking exactly the same as the main frame now along with some of the tools they sent out they also send out their paint mixer it is a magnetic mixer you simply just insert one of the metal rods that is included in the package into the paint bottle and put it onto the machine itself turn it on and with the magnetic forces inside it will start spinning and swirling the paint around and is a lot easier than having to shake it up so pretty much all the additional detailing has now been completed and the paint has cured so i can move on to the assembly a couple things to keep in mind with these 3d printed kits usually they don't come with any form of instructions so you'll simply have to do with some common sense trying and testing now first i inserted the main base plate for the interior that has the seats on it too then added the shifter and could then start on the engine itself now the engine is mainly one big piece and then of course the exhaust is a separate piece those two need to be glued together prior to installing them into the actual skeleton or frame of the exterior otherwise you will not be able to fit the exhaust on now it is a bit of a push and pull you might need to squeeze a little bit here and there more than you feel comfortable with but in the end after you've put it in it will slide into place really easily [Music] for gluing all of these parts together since it is a resin kit now i'm using some super glue as well normally i would just use my bob smith industries super gold or maxi cure formulas but in this case since display sent out a couple of their glues for me to test as well i figured why not use them they have a non-whitening and also a low whitening solution they are super strong and also still a bit movable after you've installed the parts so they don't stick in place instantly and have a little bit of wiggle room afterwards [Music] just a couple more parts to go and this one is finished again if you are interested in any of the parts or tools that i used in this video itself i will be leaving links down in the description so feel free to check those out along with the 3d files that i used for the actual kit i will be leaving those links there too the side mirror is on and that almost completes the build now it is a resin printed kit so it doesn't come with a standard sheet of decals so i had to scramble from the parts box stole some gauges from a honda decal sheet and also a nice license plate to put on and that finishes off this build overall it was a really quick build took about two to three days to completely finish the printing itself took a little bit longer about a week to have it all finished a couple of overnighters for the printers and that's about it now there are a couple of imperfections here and there on the underside as i didn't really want to spend hours sanding the bottom of a kit which will never be seen again and fixing some parts here and there but overall you could decide to do that of course completely clean it up and have a super nice finish all around now for me from the top side it looks really good and that is what i'm going for so i'm really happy that i did tackle this project it was again not really all that hard to do it just required a bit of setup and knowledge on the printing side of things and besides that it's really easy to build it up it doesn't have instructions but with these uh this amount of parts it should be quite easy to figure it all out now i could have spent an extra couple of days on the cleanup again but for me this was good enough and a nice step into 3d printing a kit for the first time and i'll probably tackle this again in the future if i find some 3d files or kits that are suitable for 3d printing itself and actually challenge myself a little bit more but just take it one step at a time

Channel: The Scalemodeling Channel

Views: 77,970

Keywords: scale modeling, miniature plastic, model kit, tamiya, fujimi, hasegawa, revell, AMT, monogram, moebius, heller, italeri, aoshima, gunze, model building, scaleproduction, plamoz, hobby design, zero paints, gravity color, scale modeling tutorial, scale motorsport, decals, vallejo, 1/24, 1/25, airbrush, harder & steenbeck, evo 2 in 1, eurotech, sparmax, badger, iwata, 3m, styreen, exacto, BMF, 3d printing, resin 3d printing, ariel atom, elegoo mars, mars 3

Id: Ao7Aqh48hMw

Length: 19min 41sec (1181 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021