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3D printing ships?


eydryan

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Hi Squad!

I just got a Jebediah from Shapeways and was thinking how awesome it would be to be able to print my own ships in 3D. Also, how awesome it would be to print them locally.

So I was thinking whether there was any way of exporting our ships into 3D objects, ready to go into the nearest 3D printer! I'm imagining it can't be that hard, since the parts are 3D anyway and the craft files define the exact positioning.

Of course, if you could whip something up that would be awesome, and I wouldn't mind paying for it honestly. I just want a living room full of my mad creations :D

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I think in one of the latest streams the staff said that it may be an option if this first round of merchandise proves successful. I also got Jeb and will get the other two kerbals if I like how he turns out. I would like to see some Kerbal Papercrafts at least, or models that can be made into papercrafts by other users.

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Ah, I thought you wanted a part to 3D print ships in orbit (which would be cool watching them extrude).

I would so have my Kethane Miner on my desk or maybe my retro looking interplanetary shuttle.

nice idea, I like it.

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What would be really good is if you had rocket parts (all to scale) separately, and they had little magnets so you could attach them.

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Ah, I thought you wanted a part to 3D print ships in orbit (which would be cool watching them extrude).

I would so have my Kethane Miner on my desk or maybe my retro looking interplanetary shuttle.

nice idea, I like it.

Someday. Someday...:cool: Heck, i would gladly settle for ground facility creating spaceships on demand :D

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I just got a Jebediah from Shapeways and was thinking how awesome it would be to be able to print my own ships in 3D. Also, how awesome it would be to print them locally. I just want a living room full of my mad creations :D

That my good man is a great idea!!!

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What would be really good is if you had rocket parts (all to scale) separately, and they had little magnets so you could attach them.

maaaaaan, you got my vote. I could spend hours assembling little rocket models if I had a bucket of KSP parts.

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maaaaaan, you got my vote. I could spend hours assembling little rocket models if I had a bucket of KSP parts.

This. We'd also need EVA kerbal minifigures.

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES! :D

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This. We'd also need EVA kerbal minifigures.

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES! :D

And little dioramas of all of the bodies of the solar system!

Tell Squad, they'll make millions!

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While I guess this is a topic on 3D printing, I don't think it would hurt to talk about 2D printing as well. I mean, if you have access to a 3D printer then great. Others can and will also get the services from a 3D printing company, and other will probably eventually buy models from Squad. But, one more direct accessible way to turn your favorite KSP spacecraft into a model is by 2D colored printing, something like this:

Dawn spacecraft:

spacecraft2.jpg

All you need is a colored printer and thick gauge paper, and of course, patience, maybe skill, of assembling the parts. Considering that aside from the tiny components, most of the parts you will actually work with are cylindrical, then it's just a matter of rolling up paper tubes and stacking/gluing them together.

Years ago, I made some for a school exhibit, including Hubble, Spitzer and the MER rovers:

merpapermodel.jpg

It's a bit shabby, but we were concentrating on getting the Martian terrain right more, rather than detailing the rover.

Edited by rodion_herrera
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There actually is a program that allows converting 3D models to 2D paper designs.

http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/

Some years ago i exported a battlecruiser from homeworld 2 game and made a paper model, it worked pretty well. Not sure how difficult would be to import KSP models but at least they would be pretty easy to assemble as most of the parts are cylinders :)

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There actually is a program that allows converting 3D models to 2D paper designs.

http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/

Some years ago i exported a battlecruiser from homeworld 2 game and made a paper model, it worked pretty well. Not sure how difficult would be to import KSP models but at least they would be pretty easy to assemble as most of the parts are cylinders :)

Thanks for the link! Great stuff!

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I haven't done any modeling in ksp so I'm not familiar with the files used. However if you can get the files back into blender you can 3d print them. If you have cad skills you could design them to hold magnets to hold the pieces together like lego or just piece your rocket together in blender. I think cubeX offers cloud 3D printing. Of course I'm certain squad reserves the rights to their models so without their permission I don't suggest this.

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  • 4 years later...
On ‎28‎-‎5‎-‎2013 at 1:20 AM, RawChicken said:

Step 1:

Get your hands on a buvket full of modular KSP parts

Step 2:

Assemble your own real life design.

Step 3:

Add model-rocket engines

Step 4:

Launch!

Legit man! I wish that was true... :0.0:

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This is an ancient thread from four years ago-- all the people involved have presumably long since moved on to other topics, and in any case there have been various closures of 3D printed Kerbal ship producers lately, rendering this discussion largely moot.

Locking the thread to prevent further confusion.  If anyone has current questions / ideas about 3D-printed kerbal stuff, feel free to spin up a new thread.  :)

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