"BarnStormer" (3D printed aircraft model)

[kapteenipirk]

Before i fully immerse myself in the Tu-16 build, i taught id show you a recent 3D modelling/printing project of mine that i think you'll be interested in.

 

The "BarnStormer" came to be as part of a series of agricultural machines i was modelling on my previous job (more of an extended trial period), we where looking for stuff for me to model, when my employer told me he'd like to have a 3D model of the aircraft hes flown with a bunch of times, at that point i threw in the idea of maby modelling a crop-duster plane of some sort. He said yes to the idea and then the ideas came thundering in my head.

I only really knew of one purpose built crop-duster aircraft, and didn't really find it too interesting, so i decided that "hey, why don't i design something airworthy in KSP and make a 3D model of that", and while im at it, and cause i really wanted to, why not 3D print it as-well.

 

I knew from the start that if im going to design a crop-duster plane, it needs to be a bi-plane, but it also needs to have some "modern" features as-well.

 

Here is the result of those ideas.

Don't really have a better pic of it.

 

Basically what i did to make it a little more modern looking, is include an enclosed cockpit, and a powerful engine.

 

I wanted the 3D printed version to be like the KSP one in overall shape and size with KSP like wing-profiles (also makes them easier to design and print).

And id say i nailed it pretty well.

I chose 1/28 as my scale, as i originally planned on adding some working control-surfaces that would have connected to the stick and pedals.

Turns out even that scale wasn't enough, so i just dropped the idea as i didn't want to make a model that is impossible to store and one that takes too long to print.

I achieved this scale by using the cockpit of the aircraft as a yard stick. I knew the cockpit that the BarnStormer uses is basically that of the Zero, so just scale a pick of the Zero, and then scale the BarnStormers cockpit canopy to match, and bingo.

 

The modelling process included quite a bit of stuff that was quite new to me...but, im a pretty quick learner, so i got that stuff figured out pretty quick without even having to resort to any tutorials of any kind.

But, compared to other stuff that i have modeled before and after it, it did still eat a lot of time. It was about 3 weeks before the plane was all modeled, printed, assembled and painted.

 

And here it is.

 

Here are some more picks

Spoiler

I did some assembly before the spray-painting. The propeller i attached to test if it would fit and spin freely, and noticed i couldn't take it off without braking things. The wings where composed of 4 parts each, and the spraying system was cut into 3 parts.

The elevators and rudder where supposed to be separate, but it made more sense to print the empennage all in one piece.

 

 

 

There is a small radial engine under the propeller spinner.

 

the canopy can slide open and closed. Other working features include an spinning propeller, spinning main wheels, and a steerable tail-gear.

 

Now, you may be asking, why air-force colors, it's a crop-duster. I think pretty much any aircraft can be a crop-duster if you just attach the right gear in the underbelly, so why not show some of that freedom in the paint-job...also, the aircraft just really looked like some early WWII fighter plane anyways, so why not reinforce that.

Actually i already reinforced that idea by leaving some MG access hatches on the wings and an MG-sight on the fuselage.

But, this particular paint-job is not actually my personal choise, i wanted to print and give one of these models to my employer as a present, so i asked him what kind of a paint-job he wanted, and he said he wanted some air-force colors on it.

 

So, i sent him an E-mail with this

He liked it, but he sent me a particular aircraft whose paint i should replicate, the Brewster Buffalo of Lt. Hans Wind (a true ace pilot with dozens of confirmed kills), who was related to him.

So i went ahead and searched for the best quality image of Hans Winds plane, so that i could make stickers of some of the logos.

For the purpose of the forums, i switched the blue swastikas to the modern roundel. I did also have stickers of the KF-511 on the side, but the base color was too dis-similar in shade and the numbers where too MS Paint'esque, so i dropped them...plus, they didn't want stick properly anyways. It's a miracle the roundels on the side haven't dropped of yet.

 

Right now the aircraft is sitting happily in one of the shelves in his workplace.

I have plans on doing some slight editing and then releasing this model on My Mini Factory or Thingiverse, but i don't know when that's gonna happen.

And that's pretty much it for this one, i hope you enjoyed taking a look at it .

[Kerbinchaser]

Wow! This thing is huge!

I've been looking around for a decent 3D Printer, but so far I've only found a nice resin one that can't print large parts. What printer do you use and do you recommend it? 

[kapteenipirk]

11 minutes ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

Wow! This thing is huge!

I've been looking around for a decent 3D Printer, but so far I've only found a nice resin one that can't print large parts. What printer do you use and do you recommend it? 

The printer i use is a "Flashforge Finder 2.0" that i got for 400€ from "clas ohlson" here in Pori Finland.

The print-area on it is 14x14x14cm in size, so it's also a bit small, but other that, it's been pretty fantastic, and has worked without any problems whatsoever.

The printer is a sort of easy-to-use starter printer, and the Flahprint slicing software is also pretty simplified as-well.

I use 0.6 kg spools of PLA with it, but i think you can use a few other material with it too, but im not sure. The spools are Flashforge branded, and go into a sort of "magazine" on the back, making them a little more low-profile, so i don't know about availability/compatibility.

 

All in all, i would recommend it if your looking for something simple to start with.

I would also highly recommend Fusion 360 (the program i used to design this) if your looking to design your own 3D models, It's professional, and it free if you meet the criteria (explained on the website, a bit tough to find).

 

[MartinLeo]

This is great, I liked the way you developed such great designs. Can you be little more specific like how you used the printer to design this great such stuff. Btw i really appreciate the efforts you tooked for designing such huge things using 3D printers.

Edited March 22, 2019 by MartinLeo