1964 Thunderbird (no not that one).

[Moparfiend]

Not sure where to put this one. Members projects might make some hard core Mopar guys upset lol. I suppose Chrysler could have produced these here in the states if things got real bad here in the 60’s. Welp here it lay”s until a moderator decides otherwise.

As a kid I used to watch as much sci-fi as I could. When not doing that it was model trains, slot cars, GI Joe my green Schwinn 3 speed Stingray plastic models and trains and starting fires in and around my home. This was the late sixties and early seventies ie the good old days. Don’t get me wrong we had our challenges and hardships as well but they were real life experiences.

Gerry Andersons creations really captivated me. Never being able to own a Thunderbird 2 was always something that stuck with me in the dark recesses of my childhood.

So now was the time to scratch that itch. I would need to get into 3D modeling and printing though.

Here is a taste test to see how things go here.

 

[eldubb440]

Who Likes Aircraft ?

 

[Moparfiend]

Who Likes Aircraft ?

Me! Saw her at Oshkosh!

 

[70 SUPERBIRD]

Very cool project

 

[JonR]

The Thunderbirds was a fantastic show. The sets, equipment, and puppets were wonderful. It's on TV every Sunday morning at 6am ET on MeTV.

 

[David Womby]

Not sure where to put this one. Members projects might make some hard core Mopar guys upset lol. I suppose Chrysler could have produced these here in the states if things got real bad here in the 60’s. Welp here it lay”s until a moderator decides otherwise.

As a kid I used to watch as much sci-fi as I could. When not doing that it was model trains, slot cars, GI Joe my green Schwinn 3 speed Stingray plastic models and trains and starting fires in and around my home. This was the late sixties and early seventies ie the good old days. Don’t get me wrong we had our challenges and hardships as well but they were real life experiences.

Gerry Andersons creations really captivated me. Never being able to own a Thunderbird 2 was always something that stuck with me in the dark recesses of my childhood.

So now was the time to scratch that itch. I would need to get into 3D modeling and printing though.

Here is a taste test to see how things go here.

View attachment 1614979

Huge GA fan here. TB2 is my favourite and that looks amazing. Can you yell us how you got it to this point?

David

 

[Moparfiend]

Huge GA fan here. TB2 is my favourite and that looks amazing. Can you yell us how you got it to this point?

David

Glad you asked David! Glad there are other Gerry Anderson fans here as well. So the desire on how this started was laid out in my first post. Since posting my current state I will go back to the beginning of the build and also forward from here.
I started physically with an Elgoo 3 Plus printer. I was planning on using this for printing some parts for my satellite as well so there was a justification for buying that. It also started with 27 3-D model files. I purchased them online the picture below shows what the model looks like. The process was new to me and quite interesting. On the next post I’ll share more on the printer itself and then on the files that I used to build it and the process.

 

[Moparfiend]

After purchasing the SLA files you need to convert the files for a printer. The printers use a machine code (G-code) to creat the parts from the design files (SLA). Not only do you have to translate the data of the design you also have to tell the 3D printer how you want to print it. Let’s just say there are almost an infinite amount of ways to do that with hundreds of variables. How fast how thick what type of fill etc. I printed a very very large ship. Its just over 3 ft long. As I mentioned, there were 27 separate files/parts. Each file took an average 15 hours to print my printer. Ran 24 seven for over a week! I burned through at least four rolls of SLA filament.

 

[ct71rr]

Thunderbirds are go!! That is really cool!

 

[Moparfiend]

The painting has begun. Primary green first then panelizing with different tones then a wash or two. The main bod needs to be done at the same time after primary painting in order to match. Windows are taped up and the LED lighting are masked with rubber cement. H e used rubber cement as a mask with my Satellite emblem's successfully before!

 

[David Womby]

What paint are you using for the green?

David

 

[Moparfiend]

Hi David. I have tested multiple greens with not so much luck including Tamiya xf-5 which seemed too dark. This is almost the same and it’s from a can Rustoleum Seaweed green satin. Again this is the base and I plan to use lighter shades as I try and panelize it. That one is very light and also is a Rustoleum satin moss green.

 

[Moparfiend]

Base coat completed. Not sure how I will start the over-layering yet.