DFW T.28 Floh - WIP

Damn Ebay, shipping costs are ridiculous. 50 USD to send a box? I rather print my own kit. 

I am new to this 3D print stuff, so I printed a fuselage piece with the largest surface at the bottom. 

Looks OK, but I realised that the curves in XY-axis will always be better than in Z-axis, where they will always be "pixelated". I just learnt that orienting the pieces is kind of important. 

I am printing two "port" fuselages, one is the mirror of the other one, because the model came with wrong exhaust pipes. This is when I was not even considering editing the model, as I had zero experience in it.  

Printing now the fuselage on upright position, so we can have a better curve. 

Much better pieces, a little filing and it should be smooth and curvy. The engine holes turned out much better than expected. At least they are real holes. 

Comparing both pieces, yup printing it standing up was a better orientation. 

Printing all pieces at once, plus one wing flat, just to check. I was unsure if the printer could print it vertically. 

Turns out, printing wings vertically is perfectly fine. Thin enough (maybe too much), and still has the airfoil curve. Print lines are along the cord, so the wing is strong. The only problem is no spar indents. 

Comparing wings, yup, vertical is the way. 

the wings are really thin, around 0.6mm, going to be hard to add metal pins. 

I am using a sprue sheet to make the tail for the second prototype. 

Not a very busy interior, but I am not planning on doing fine detail in this kit, this is just an experiment with PLA printing. 

Base Tamiya yellow. Propeller was kindly donated by a Eduard Fokker D VII. 

Tamiya X-26 Clear orange brushed with a wide brush. the 3d print layers helped with the wood grains. 

Adding decals from a Fokker D VII, because they fit. Made a control stick with leftover 3D print plastic.  

the 3D print of the seat looked like vickers seat, so I went along with it, and added brown and clear orange while enhancing those reliefs.  

Seatbelt from the Sopwith triplane. Probably not the best choice for a german airplane, but it does the work. 

Puttying the wings to soften the layers. Plastic putty works great. 

Adding 0.4mm brass tube. The wings are very thin, this was not easy. If I was editing model pieces, I would have thicken the wings. 

Measuring the panel lines for the radiator and tanks. 

This plastic is way harder and more difficult to work with, but I hope with a layer of primer, it gets smoother. 

Closing the fuselage with sprue glue. I think sprue glue works great, as it fills out gaps, creates a very strong bond, and leaves no seams.  

Final touches on scribing, wings are done.  

Relocated vents by gluing some rectangles with sprue glue, and filing it to get a smaller width 

doing a better radiator by using leftovers from a 3D print base. 

Not perfect, hoping that a primer layer smooths the rough edges. 

Adding first primer layer, to see how rough the surface is. 

second primer layer, to really hide the print. 

Wheels in XF-1 black and olive drab. They are darker than they should (gray-green would be a better choice) but now it's done. 

Just using a simple circle template. Some black panel liner to add some dirt and to mark the edge will come soon. 

Good that the masking tape had exactly the targeted thickness between ribs, half the work. 

XF-1 black 1:1 with X-20A for the ribs pre-shading. 

Unmasking, need another masking across for the main spars. 

Note how I made it thicker on the ailerons. The 3D model had smaller ailerons than the real model, so the spar placement is not great, but it works for now. 

Using sprue glue to make a basic cockpit coaming. 

Stretchable mask tape, cutting tiny slices, for the prop layers. 

I try to give some slack to the tape next to the prop center, but the masks always rise up. It is damn annoying. 

Made triple stripes to look like the real prop. 

Adding 1 mm steel pipe as prop cube, some leftover decals from a Fokker E III as prop logos, and I don't remember what is that photo etch part coming from, but it works as a prop hub. 

Glued the prop hub with sprue glue, all ready for a little aluminium colour 

Vinyl masks from a vinyl cutter, using it as a pre-shading to mimic the shadow over translucent fabric. 

Yup, I will regret this later. 

Attaching undercarriage with sprue glue. Too late to make a proper hole and attachment, this is something I should be aware on next 3D projects - to plan properly the pin and holes. Now it's a blob of sprue glue. 

Shading going well, at least. 

Coated with XF-2 white and XF-23 light blue, in a 10:1 to 5:1 -ish ratio, the mix is thinned 1:1 with X-20A.. I aimed for a real subtle shade. 

Now for the main crosses. 

The vinyl used is too strong and peeled the paint away. I have to do this all over again. I ordered some Oramask 810, as I don't trust this vinyl anymore. Oramask is way nicer with the bottom paint (but not completely problem-free). 

Redoing the ribs shade. 

Ready for the main coat... again.  

Oramask for the wing borders. This is FAR from the ideal process. The correct way would be to cut the masks in a vinyl cutter, if I want them to be really perfect. Like this, it will just look meh. 

Yup, this was not great. Peeling off the masks, and there were places to fix. I just used a brush, didn't bother.  

With a coat of a local acrylic wax I am testing as a Future replacement.
Far from perfect, but at least I am moving on. I need this out of my bench for other stuff.  

Next time I make a better padding. These crosses are hard to align if they have a thin margin. 

Coated with a local version of acrylic wax. It is ok-ish, for not perfect projects.
A lot of corrections made with brush, due to bad masking and still some paint peeling. I am not caring anymore. I trusted the primer would work great, but looks like PLA is just not a very sticky surface.