So as predicted in my last post I had to rip my model apart, well not all of it. After gluing the upper and lower sections together I found that the lower front was not centred, 4mm out might as well be 10mm. So I carefully cut it out and made a new one, seen here with the old behind.
The new one is much better.
A rubber mold was made of the engine and many casts poured. I have a bunch of resin to use up so I now have engines for future projects.
I wasn't happy with the PLA 3D printed afterburner, mostly because I could not glue greebles to it. So I went old school and turned a new one on my lathe from acrylic rod. The end parts are 3D prints that I designed, those will be ok.
Styrene and acrylic being a similar material makes gluing parts together with the same solvent easy.
The engine mounts and intake vents were also molded and cast.
I had to securely attach the engines, which are a bit heavy, to the mounts. These screws will fit into holes in the now hollow engines (because I drilled them out on a drill press)
You can see the ends of the screws in the engine.
Using some wood blocks, tongue depressors and rubber bands I lined up the two engines with the mount.
Then held in a vice so I could dribble some 5 minute epoxy over the wood screws. This held them in place quite well.
I had to build this jig to ensure the afterburners were perfectly aligned and centred with the engines.
Some greebles were added to finish off the front grill.
As you can see the engines and a few other parts were pre-painted. I used acrylic paints and then a method of wetting a section of the model with odourless paint thinner, then adding small dabs of artists oils and then brushed to blend. A bit tricky to explain but there are some videos online that explain various methods. After that it's a matter of assembly.
And the finished model.
