Unusual Project

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Many folks will know that due to circumstance my workshop is somewhat in limbo at the moment, so I've been leaning heavily on 3D printing to keep me sane.

My brother who collects Star Wars 'stuff' (I wouldn't dare call them toys) asked me to print a design for the spaceship 'Razor Crest' from 'The Mandalorian'.

It was a true marathon with well over a kg of flilament and far more than 100 hours of printing. About 18" long and almost as wide.

It made me fancy printing and painting a large spaceship model, but not one THAT big!

Instead, as a bit of fun I've come up a smaller design Atom3D. I've printed most of the parts, but I need to do the cockpit internals and come up with some sort of landing gear. Here's the current state of play (I haven't added the far wing as I'm just mirroring eh parts in Cura).

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I expect to see some nice weathering of all those panels now that you have got a half decent airbrush

Couple of small electric motors driving ducted fans and your'll soon have it going round and round suspended by fishing line from your bedroom ceiling

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

For god's sake do not hit the quantum drive button.

Steve.

[herbert punterParticipant @herbertpunter99795]

It’s Ok he’s in the AA…

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I'm worried about what this vehicle is for. Always suspicious of Neil's Skunk Works, nothing it what it seems.

Two enormous engines and no room for fuel in the wings. The streamlining and ducted fan mean it's meant to fly in an atmosphere, but the wings are too small to support it efficiently. The rear motor looks suitable for space travel, so perhaps the design is intended to fly in and out of a planet's atmosphere from outer space. However, I don't think the wings would stand up during entry and the massive fan engines would make it very difficult to achieve escape velocity. Must have a different purpose.

As there's no undercarriage, I suspect the beast is designed to look good for the purpose of persuading foolish young pilots to fly it. Only as the canopy is being welded shut do they notice there is only just enough fuel to reach the target and they've "volunteered" for a suicide mission.

The design makes most sense to me if the plane is catapulted off the ground with the pilot sat in a fuselage packed with explosives. At first he cruises with the wing engines at low-level to avoid radar before using them on full power to gain a lot of height. At the top the wings are jettisoned and the rear rocket propels the body in an accelerated power dive straight into the target, bang! It's a Kamikaze.

Rivet counters rule!

Dave

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Brilliant analysis, Dave

MichaelG.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 10/09/2020 09:27:40:

…bang! It's a Kamikaze.

Rivet counters rule!

Dave

In that case, what's it doing with that short-barelled nose armament, for which there appears to be little or no ammunition space?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Dave, don't assume they are fans, I only mentioned it as a way you Neil to get it moving, I suspect they are meant to be jets.

We may also not be able to see where the "jet" pivots on the end of the stubby winglets which would provide both lift and forward movement. Same system would work underwater.

Do laser beams need much amo space?

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

"Two enormous engines and no room for fuel in the wings."

So where's the fuel tanks on Anakins' pod racer???

Regards Ian.

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Everyone keeps mentioning 'wings'. Well, if we accept that whatever it is is a wing, then I see only one wing and one wing engine – which seems MUCH bigger than the tail engine,and if the 'wing' can tilt, then all this thing can do is the most spectacular sub-warp donut…

And this is a spacecraft, no atmosphere involved – the fans pulverise small asteroids to feed the Positron Warp Drive.

Have you been banned from the workshop Neil?

Joe

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Mick B1 on 10/09/2020 09:38:10:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 10/09/2020 09:27:40:

…bang! It's a Kamikaze.

Rivet counters rule!

Dave

In that case, what's it doing with that short-barelled nose armament, for which there appears to be little or no ammunition space?

Ah, that's part of the bling. The pilot believes they're real, but they were made on a 3D printer for show. Watching Sugg's the other day digging up a crashed Hurricane fitted with an anti-tank cannon, they recovered the gun, a very solid lump of metal, I'd guess about 4 metres long. In Neil's design, the pilot would be sat on it: most uncomfortable, especially when it ejects used cartridges.

One of my vivid childhood memories is seeing a torpedo in a museum in Valletta. Based on reading comics, I expected something about a foot in diameter and as tall as my dad. The real one was gigantic! Not trusted artists since! Mona Lisa's smile is clearly due to wind.

Dave

[clogsParticipant @clogs]

Neil and others …..

we def need more of this kinda thing…..

to infinity and beyond…….hahaha…..

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by JasonB on 10/09/2020 10:41:28:

…

Do laser beams need much amo space?

If that's what they are they'd need big cooling systems to stop them melting themselves and the fantasy bubblecar they're mounted in. You can't generally transact very powerful energies under precision control without bulky equipment.

I think the retreat into fictional fantasy universes that our culture seems to be preoccupied with might reflect a reality that's becoming too fearsome to confront – like mediaeval storytellers imprisoned by plague, or soldiers trapped on a doomed campaign imagining a world where they've escaped their horrors.

By 'eck, I'm the cheery one today, eh?

[GaunlessParticipant @gaunless]

After reading my great Grandfather's previously forgotten 102 year old letter from the trenches of WW1 yesterday, I think I will gladly stay with the current reality, fearsome as it may be, than swap it for his reality, or any other. Happy to play the cards I'm dealt.

He didn't make it.

Very much enjoying the Mandalorian, but I accepted the glaring aerodynamic issues of vehicles from the Star Wars universe once I saw my first X-wing bank into a turn, in space…

It's great escapism!

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, well if it makes it to a blockbuster movie, it sure to fly, off the toys shelves at Christmas.

OK, I'll go now.

Regards Nick.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 10/09/2020 11:14:19:

[…]

Watching Sugg's the other day digging up a crashed Hurricane fitted with an anti-tank cannon, they recovered the gun, a very solid lump of metal, I'd guess about 4 metres long. In Neil's design, the pilot would be sat on it: most uncomfortable, especially when it ejects used cartridges.

.

Check out the A10

MichaelG.

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Some reckoned it was impossible for Bumble Bees to fly but they fly anyway.

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Well i think Neil may be an Alien. His ship has broken down & he's trying to fix it with a 3D printer. .

Steve.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Steviegtr on 10/09/2020 19:40:54:

Well i think Neil may be an Alien. His ship has broken down & he's trying to fix it with a 3D printer. .

Steve.

Like trying to fix a Ferrari with a flint axe.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

This is the Razor Crest which was my inspiration, if you like. Photo from Thingiverse of the original of tht model I've printed for my brother (which he's going to paint).

I trust you folks are aware that science fiction is very picky when it chooses which laws of physics 'ye

cannae break'…

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

And who says the wings are too small…

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

And who says the wings are too small…

Fit a big enough engine & wings are not so important ?

I wonder if the designers used the torque recation to aid in following the course. The Reno Air Racing Association motto sums up pylon racing quite succinctly : Fly fast, fly low – turn left !

Nigel B

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb35596]

Posted by mgnbuk on 11/09/2020 16:55:22:

And who says the wings are too small…

Fit a big enough engine & wings are not so important ?

A classic example? F104 starfighter…more like a manned missile than an aircraft! One of my favourites when the Italians used to come over for the airshow.

Edited By ChrisB on 11/09/2020 17:18:52

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posted by Gaunless on 10/09/2020 11:35:36:

X-wing bank into a turn, in space…

This is still necessary in space for driver comfort. Centrifugal force still needed.

What gets me about space movies is the way the tail gun still has to be manually operatd like radar and computers haven't been invented but they can't sell the gaming rights without that. Then there is the super pilot guiding the ship down a narrow trench when Tornados already had and used an automatic system in the first Gulf war, again essential for games sales. I've not heard of a game simulating the geek hammering at a keyboard to jam the approaching missle just in time – no market for a game that doesn't feature killing people.

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