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HI All,

Just thought I'd share what I've been working on lately. I posted a really cool Viper for Minimates in the 3d files thread. I really want a Cylon raider to go with it so I started working on one. It still needs a lot of work but I thought posting some photos might help keep me motivated.  So here is my work in progress first 3d vehicle design. The Classic Cylon Raider for Minimates. In the pictures, there is a classic raider, then the classic raider scaled up in the Z axis for reference, and then my raider.

I'm hoping to fit 3 in the cockpit but have not carved it out  yet so we'll see. At least one pilot anyway.

 

raider-front

 

raider-2

 

 

raider-3

 

 

raider-4

 

 

raider-5

 

 

Edited by cylonchaney
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1 hour ago, THE_CRIPPLER said:

What program are you using to design these? I would love to give it a shot with making parts for minimates, and then down the line maybe vehicles.

This may not be your cup of tea but who knows. LOL I use a tool called https://openscad.org/. It's a great tool if you're a programmer. There is no mouse or tablet action here. You write code that describes how to create your model using primitive solid shapes. People have done some amazing stuff. It's a great tool for 3d printing because it starts with solid shapes.

I write code for a living so this is quite intuitive to me. Below is an example of how I started this. Basically there is a module to create the basic saucer shape. The next module cuts off the wings and makes another notch to create the main body shape. I'm at 482 lines to get to where I'm at in the last photo. That's including the amount of whitespace and comments you see below. I've designed all kinds of stuff with it but it's also kind of a "when all you have is a hammer" kind of things. :)

In the code below, difference is a subtraction / cutting function. It cuts object 2 out of object 1. Translate means move.

I keep meaning to learn Blender but anyway ...

 

module basic_ship_shape() {
    
scale([1.2,1.4,1.4])
    difference() {
        
        // main body is a sphere
        sphere(r=45);
        translate([0,0,-20])
        cube([100,100,60], center=true);
        
        // cut to sort of bevel - edge would be sharp without
        scale([.85,1,1])
        difference() {
            
            cylinder(r=50,h=70,center=true);
            cylinder(r=42,h=72,center=true);
        }
        
        // cut rounded underside of main body
        scale([1,1,1]) {
            translate([0,0,-60])
            rotate([0,90,0])
            cylinder(r=85,h=90,center=true);
        }
        

    }    
    
}

//basic_ship_shape();

module main_body_shape() {
    
    difference() {
        
        basic_ship_shape();
        
        // cut off wing
        translate([0,79,40])
        cube([100,100,60], center=true);
        
        // cut off other wing
        translate([0,-79,40])
        cube([100,100,60], center=true);
        
        // cut notch in front
        translate([45,0,40])
        cube([10,20,60], center=true);
        

        
    }
    
}

 

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great work! same as freaq as far as not knowing bsg, i’m just really liking how well you “minimated” a space ship!

and if you ever design a blackbird for the mutants i would prob have a heart attack 

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Thanks guys.

I have to re-work some stuff but I'm pretty happy so far. For example, the cockpit is too big / misplaced causing a small hole in the bottom, though not super-obvious.  I need to print the canopy hinge and see if it works. I don't mind a little critique if you have any ideas to improve. This is still the prototype. I was thinking I'd like to position the pilot more reclined like the mattel raider and see if I could shave some height. But it's probably too much work. Other than that, I think it's just fix the hole, get the canopy hinge working and add some more detail / greebling to the rear part of the canopy. Also the wing panel lines need to be innies instead of outies. :)

I don't know about a blackbird but never say never. Things I do hope to get around to:

  • Viper MK1 (Classic BSG)
  • I really like the idea of a super-mini APC that only holds one or two figures - and a drop ship that can actually deliver it! Might try to make this my next project because I'm super-psyched on the idea.
  • A-Team Van
  • General Lee - I know it's politically incorrect these days but I would love some custom Dukes mates and a General Lee

Who else needs a sweet ride and is probably never going to get one?

Edited by cylonchaney
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20221201_204203

 

It occurs to me that a Buck Rogers starfighter might be a good candidate. And Star Trek Shuttlecraft of various eras shrunk down to a single seater like this. I'm actually leaning towards the starfighter as my next one now as I already have some ideas.

Edited by cylonchaney
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Here's my next project. I still have a couple of finishing touches to put on the raider but I got motivated to start on this one. I was really struggling with how I would make the canopy in OpenSCAD. That kind of thing is tough when you're building from primitive shapes. Then it dawned on me that I have the Mego one. So I'm scaling it to fit and I'll make a slot for the hinge to lock into. This is one of the nice things about 3d printing sometimes.

starfighter

 

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these designs have been really solid so far, and i feel like with the single- and two-seaters you’ve been rendering we could prob get a quinjet from those shapes too!

can’t wait to see what else you come up with

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On 12/5/2022 at 2:29 PM, Mattallica said:

wow nice job

so when can we order them?

LOL How much you wanna pay?

I was toying with the idea of setting up an etsy shop or something. I'll probably put at least one up somewhere as a free download. There's a Peacemaker helmet up on my thingiverse page.

Right now I'm torn between a couple of projects but the Starfighter is coming along. The Raider is basically done. I just have to finish reworking the cockpit hinge.

starfighter1

starfighter2

 

Edited by cylonchaney
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  • 3 weeks later...

I think my Raider design is done. It can be a bit fiddly to properly close the canopy but good enough for me.

20221231_112446

 

Engineering Pro Tip: If you are designing a vehicle for a Cylon, don't use a blank or Kor as your test fit. Can you hear the "Doh!" echoing across the world right now? LOL

20221231_112454

 

Yes. Because of his helmet, he's taller than others and the canopy will not close!

Luckily, it's trivial to scale up 10%

20221231_112544 20221231_112647

And now we can close the canopy.

 

But Cylonchaney, you detail-oriented 70s scifi fanboy nerd, I hear you say, "Isn't the Cylon Raider a 3-man ship? And shouldn't an in-scale Cylon Raider be larger than a Viper and actually hold 3 Cylons?"

 

 

 

 

 

Well, since we are upscaling anyway ...

 

 

20221231_112857

 

For scale, this is the 3-man version with the too small version, a factory Viper, and the thingiverse Viper I posted in the 3d files thread. 

20221231_113034

 

Please bear in mind that close up photography of FDM 3d prints is never flattering. These things look way cooler in person. Also, photography is not one of my strong suits.

 

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My designs, so far, have been super-deformed with an eye to fitting in with factory DST mini-flyers. You can see the Viper MK II I printed above. (to be clear, I did not design this one) That design is still quite deformed but less so than the DST style. Below is my in-progress Viper MK I, DST style. 

Is it better if my Viper matches the DST style or is less deformed like the MK II? 

 

mini-viper-4

 

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On 12/5/2022 at 9:51 AM, minifigvig said:

these designs have been really solid so far, and i feel like with the single- and two-seaters you’ve been rendering we could prob get a quinjet from those shapes too!

can’t wait to see what else you come up with

This looks like it could stand in decently for a quinjet.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1422363

 

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On 12/31/2022 at 1:53 PM, cylonchaney said:

I think my Raider design is done. It can be a bit fiddly to properly close the canopy but good enough for me.

20221231_112446

 

Engineering Pro Tip: If you are designing a vehicle for a Cylon, don't use a blank or Kor as your test fit. Can you hear the "Doh!" echoing across the world right now? LOL

20221231_112454

 

Yes. Because of his helmet, he's taller than others and the canopy will not close!

Luckily, it's trivial to scale up 10%

20221231_112544 20221231_112647

And now we can close the canopy.

 

But Cylonchaney, you detail-oriented 70s scifi fanboy nerd, I hear you say, "Isn't the Cylon Raider a 3-man ship? And shouldn't an in-scale Cylon Raider be larger than a Viper and actually hold 3 Cylons?"

 

 

 

 

 

Well, since we are upscaling anyway ...

 

 

20221231_112857

 

For scale, this is the 3-man version with the too small version, a factory Viper, and the thingiverse Viper I posted in the 3d files thread. 

20221231_113034

 

Please bear in mind that close up photography of FDM 3d prints is never flattering. These things look way cooler in person. Also, photography is not one of my strong suits.

 

That is amazing! What size printer bed to you have? Or are the parts printed individually and assembled? I would love to print the 3-man ship, if you were so kind to share the design

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18 hours ago, Onyx_6 said:

That is amazing! What size printer bed to you have? Or are the parts printed individually and assembled? I would love to print the 3-man ship, if you were so kind to share the design

The Raider was printed on a 220 X 220 mm bed. It was designed for 3d printing and I think could be printed on a 150 mm bed actually. Let me know how it goes. 

Just uploaded to thingiverse.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5766423

And now the single-seat one.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5767185

Edited by cylonchaney
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  • 2 weeks later...

The Raiders have spiked up to become the most popular downloads on my thingiverse profile this week. Just wondering if any of those downloads was one of you guys? I'm psyched at the thought of somebody else printing one.

I really gotta get back to the Viper and Starfighter. They are so close to finished. Since I started the Raider, I keep getting more and more ideas. I started on a "choppa" for Arnie to "get to". :)  I want to do a Draconian Marauder to go with the Starfigher. Ecto 1 is now on my radar as well but just the idea of it so far.

So, how about it? Any board members among my Raider download stats?

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I find numbers interesting sometimes.

The final Raider.scad file, the instructions to render all the raider parts comes in at 1450 lines of code and takes 33.2 kb of drive space. Yes. That's kb. One could fit roughly 50 such files on an old school floppy disk! And that includes lots of blank lines and formatting to make it easy to read, as well as unused versions of some parts. If I zip it, the file is 5.6 kb.

I didn't track it but I have dozens of hours into it.  A labour of love. 

Using OpenSCAD to output the stl files (this is the input format for 3d printing), results in 33.7 MB of files.

We end up with 13 or 14 files to make a Raider depending on canopy style. For the 3 pilot version, it took about 10 hours to print the main body piece. It's probably about 22 hours of print time in total. The smaller one prints a fair bit faster.

Just because of the print time involved, I don't know if I'll be able to sell prints at a reasonable price. If you look at the prices charged for 3.75" scale vehicles of this type, it's ridiculous. But then the guy making them has a lot of hours into each one.

For the Raider at least, you can download the plans for free and print one yourself (or get a friend to). I wonder what it would cost to print one on shapeways.com.

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