Work on the Fusion Drive Spaceship project has been moving along steadily this past week or so. Lots of parts to sand and re-sand to get them ready for paint. It's a long process but I know it will be all worth the effort once I can put the final assembly together and show it off at the next maker faire I attend. But before I show you this progress I also have some new images of the completed spaceship that I put together a couple of days ago using Blender 3D. So here you go.
I really like how Blender is able to get the finish and colors that are as accurate as what will be in the finished model. Also with the lighting and sky background it shows off the model rather nicely too. I did try and put the spaceship in a space background but I was not happy with my results so this will have to do for now.
Here's a couple of good photos of the nose section of the spaceship. The top photo is the part just after I 3D printed it. This was one of the largest and longest parts that I had ever printed as it is 12 inches long and roughly 6 inches in diameter at the base of the part. It also took 19 hours to 3D print. I am very happy with the finish of the part right off of the printer so there was not a terrible lot of sanding that needed to be done to get it ready for primer.
Here's what the nose section looks like sitting in my portable spray booth. I primed it this morning and over the next couple of days it should be ready for a nice glossy coat of white paint.
In this photo is the front windshield for the spaceship along with the windows, rear exhaust ports, and a small panel for the center exhaust port for the model. The windows look good in this shot but I still need to do a little work on the windshield to get it just right. Again just a little touch up will get that straightened out in short order.
These twelve red parts make up components that will be used in the six fusion canisters that are mounted on the mid section of the spaceship. As the parts are rounded on the top the bottoms needed to be painted first and then let set to dry before the top of the parts could be painted to complete the process. Time consuming but easy enough to accomplish in the long run.
Here the center mount for the fusion drive (large light bulb) has been painted and is ready to be installed into the model. This was probably the easiest part on the model to prep for paint as there was very little sanding to get it ready to be painted and even then very little of the part will actually be seen once it is installed into the model.
Here wing sections for the model have been primed for the second time and will still need some TLC to get them as smooth as I possibly can make them before I am happy with them. Again a slow process as only one side of the wings can be painted at a time. This actually makes it easy to paint them as runs would be a difficult thing to happen since they are laying flat to start with.
Here are a variety of parts that will be used in the model that have been primed and re-sanded to get them ready either for paint or another coat of primer. Starting in the upper left corner is the fusion canister mount, then the engine fronts and then the tail cowl that holds the ends of the wings along with the center exhaust for the model. In the lower left is the fusion canister cylinder mounts and finally the rings that hold the engine fronts on to the body of the engines. Again lots of sanding and prep work to get these parts ready for paint.
Hopefully in the next installment of this build I will have all of the parts painted and be ready to assemble the completed model. I am also planning on building a carrying case for this big project as I would shudder at the thought of having the model damaged in transport when I do take it somewhere to show it off. That build will be another project in itself so that should be interesting and challenging as well. So while I plug along on this build I hope your latest project is progressing nicely also. Have a good day in your shop!
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