Green Pixel Projects / The Fourth Axis

Another Whitworth Snap

2012-02-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

Almost there... I just have to do some work on the joints.

Hopefully I can keep my eye on the ball for a bit longer. I got my hands on a 1/100th scale Phalanx/Longbow and there's a Cygnus (Disney's Black Hole) on the way. distractions, distractions...

Whitworth Update

2012-02-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Got a little bit of work done on the 3D Whitworth model this weekend. Give me til Christmas, I'm sure I can have one ready for auction by then! :-P

Battletech auctions

2011-11-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Just posted the first two Battletech auctions for this Christmas; a Flea and a Vulcan. In about a week I will be auctioning another Urbanmech and a Scorpion. Finally, the piece-de-la-resistance, sometime around the beginning of December, I will be auctioning a 1/100th scale Hatamoto Chi. To check out all of the auctions on ebay, click here.

2011 Christmas Auctions Starting This Weekend!!!

2011-11-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

I've just posted the first of our 2001: Space Odyssey Christmas Ornament auctions over on e-bay. I've got the EVA POD, RUSSIAN POD and the MOONBUS up so far. Once I've done a little stress testing on the new spines, I'll be putting the new and improved DISCOVERY up for auction as well. As I said, these are just the initial listings. We should be auctioning somewhere between 4 and 6 of each of these between now and Dec 11.

I should have a couple of BATTLETECH auctions running as well by the end of Sunday.

Click here to see all the auction action as it happens!

2001 Space Ornaments Coming Soon

2011-11-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

We got busy on the weekend and did the casting for about a half dozen EVA Pods and a few Discoveries. Assembling, sanding and priming is going on as I speak. Should have them up for auction on E-Bay in about another week or so.

The Discoveries now have steel reinforced spines. I'll do some stress testing vs the old design before I put them up for auction...

V-FLASH Users?

2011-11-02T18:28:00.001-07:00

Any other V-FLASH users out there?

1/60th Scale Vulcan

2011-08-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

I've been enlisted to produce a series of 1/60th versions of some of my mechs (Hi Scott!) and so we're starting with some of the smaller ones. This weekend I printed out the 1/60th scale Vulcan.

HAL did a good job with no noticeable deformation in the parts. Bigger models seem to be less susceptible to warpage during the build. The only fly in the ointment is a piece of support structure that it put into the bayonette mount for the torso - it'll take some finessing to remove.

Speaking of HAL, I'd had a word with the V-Flash tech about the build tray sensor (which we just defeated in software) and why certain models were dying in the middle of the print job. The tech ran some remote tests and couldn't determine why it shouldn't be able to complete a print job. My suspicion is that it is due to heat cuz he isn't doing it any more (I was trying to print those POMO animals in the dog days of summer and HAL probably wasn't liking that). Its not like the CPU is shutting down, but maybe just the imaging section. That's why the job keeps running and the gantry and resin feed keeps moving, but nothing is printing. Just my thoughts. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd stick some temperature sensors in there and log temperature... meh, later. He's working OK fer now.

The Auction That Wasn't and Creating the Whitworth

2011-08-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

So I've been meaning to auction some 1/100th scale Battletech models for awhile now... they've been printed and cured, but I still haven't gotten around to sanding and finishing the parts. The auction that was supposed to happen this past spring, then this summer, will in all likelihood, happen just before Christmas. Bleh.

In the meantime, I've started working on the Whitworth. Not much to show yet, but its a start. I've got some parts from the mechforce model in there for now, but it'll bear little resemblance to it by the time I'm through...

Painting the Flea - Part 1

2011-06-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Started painting a Flea tonight. Here's a look-see...

Hatamoto - Work in Progress 2

2011-06-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

So here's where I ended up with the Hatamoto this weekend. Kind of a rush job, but good enough to get some photos for the auction.

V-FLASH Chronicles - Part VI

2011-06-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

HAL (the V-FLASH) is being a problem child tonight. While I was printing some pickup parts for a Hatamoto and a Vulcan (kits that I plan on selling on E-Bay later this month), HAL coughed up:

Error: Cartridge Pump Failure (or some such)

I reseated the resin cartridge. No go.

I rebooted HAL. No go.

I finally broke down and changed out the resin cartridge, even though it still showed 46% resin left in the tank. The pump error went away, but I have to say it took quite a bit of futzing around to get it up and running again on the new cartridge.

I'm scared. Scared that the estimates that the interface gives for resin left is every bit as accurate as the progress bar on a Windows copy operation (ie. "not very"). Its hard to tell just how much resin is still in the old cartridge because it's so compartmentalized. I tried sticking a dipstick in but I'm not sure that I'm poking anywhere near the main reservoir.

When I got HAL, I realized that he probably wasn't going to get the same kind of mileage that I would get out of an Objet. But I've got a feeling that he's costing me something north of the $9 per cubic inch that I had estimated. More research is needed...

Hatamoto - Work in Progress

2011-06-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to making a Hatamoto Chi for myself. Cleaned up a set of parts and started painting this afternoon. He doesn't look like much yet, but I've been practicing my drybrush skills on mini's lately, so I'm hoping I can do some of that.

In other news, Takara is rereleasing a bunch of the Dougram model kits -- I spotted them on HLJ this week. These ones are 1/144, but I'm pretty sure that I read elsewhere that there were 1/72 as well. I can't find the reference now, so I could be wrong.

Hatamoto Assembled

2011-03-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

I cleaned up the parts for Jon's Hatamoto last weekend and did a partial assemble. He's going to do the painting and final assembly (what is that thing on the front of the helmet called?). Once again, I'll probably do a little tweaking on the scale before I do one for myself.

Printed Hatamoto Parts

2011-02-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

I did a set of parts for the Hatamoto on thursday night. Just curing them now. Just a few problems... such as the perennial problem of building the bayonette mount in the waist 90 degrees off! The gat was a little warped and there was a little bit of delamination happening in the end of one of the leg parts as well. I may have to manually build some support structure into the model for the gat to keep it from wobbling during construction.

You may notice a few extra and non-standard parts in there. He's a specially modified Hatamoto that I'm doing for a commission. (Hatamoto Sobou) I'm hoping to do some cleanup on the parts and do a test fit tomorrow.

Yet Another Hatamoto Update

2011-02-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

I got around to adding a few more greebs to the Hatamoto today and finished up the knee joints...

<rant>

What is it with American online merchants and their love of UPS? Do they think Canadians are made of money!!?? What makes them think that I would want to pay UPS over $20 to ship me $17 worth of decal paper? (and probably charge me $20 to $30 worth of customs clearance charges?). Fortunately, I found someone on E-Bay stores that would sell me decal paper and send it by post. The paper was slightly more expensive, but I'll probably still save $40-50 dollars on 25 measly sheets.

No thanks decalpaper.com!!!! UPS sucks!!!

Thanks mynestegg!!!! Postal Service rulez!!!

</rant>

Hatamoto / Vulcan updates

2011-02-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

I've done about as much painting as I'm going to do on the Vulcan, so I thought I post a progress pic of that...

As usual, I coulda done some more sanding, better weathering and some decals, but I'm a lazy bum. That reminds me; I need to order some more white water-slide decal paper.

I tried doing a sheet of decals (on clear paper) in my cheapy Samsung CLP-315 laser printer. Although it didn't melt the decal paper as I feared it would, the feeder doesn't like the shiny thick paper so the placement is kind of hit or miss. So it looks like my ink jet is still the way to go. I need to chase down some good artwork of Battletech house and clan logos and print a bunch.

In the meantime, here's another shot of the in-progress 3DSMAX build of the Hatamoto Chi...

Hatamoto progress

2011-01-30T13:26:00.000-08:00

I've been picking away at this periodically. Here's what I've got so far...

Vulcan Progress

2011-01-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe how productive I was in December, and how unproductive I've been in January!

Now that I've got the Vulcan and the Flea the size that I want -- time to paint. Here's a work in progress picture of the Vulcan. Its a start.

The paint scheme is an homage to Ken and Paul, with whom I used to play Battletech...

On the 3DSMAX side, I've been working on some stuff for a friend at work. As a side effect, I'll end up with a Chaparrel and a Hatamoto Chi modeled... Also been working on a new Christmas Ornament. Stay tuned.

More Vulcan Pictures

2011-01-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

I put the Vulcan together today and it doesn't look too bad. I think the medium laser (left torso) could have been a bit beefier, some missing fine detail on the head and there's some fixing up to do on the left elbow. The rest seems to be OK.

I've been thinking about scale again. Here's a lineup with a 20 ton FLEA, 20 ton Locust, 40 ton Vulcan and 55 ton Griffin. I think I'm going to try and reprint the FLEA a little smaller (maybe 5%) and the VULCAN could be about as tall as the Griffin (align the tops of their heads).

Thanks

2011-01-02T14:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone that participated in the 2010 Fourth Axis Christmas Ornament EBAY auctions! And thanks to my good friend Darlene for doing all that gluing, sanding and painting! We'll be back next year with more 2001: A Space Odyssey ornaments for sure!

Battletech Vulcan

2010-12-29T12:57:00.000-08:00

After about a month of inactivity, HAL got a light workout yesterday. I banged out a 3dsmax model of a Battletech Vulcan and then printed it out while I was at TRON.

I put a lot of fine detail in that didn't print properly and I screwed up one of the elbow joints...

I'm having a hard time telling if the software update has done anything significant. There seems to be a whole lot less support structure. I would have expected it to do more on the body than it did. Although the update was supposed to keep it from generating supports that overlapped the edges of the parts, it put some pylons in some annoying places on the head and on the upper legs.

My New Shadowhawk is here!

2010-12-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

Mr. Postman delivered him while I wuz eatin supper...

He's leaner, meaner and way better articulated (except the hips, the hips could be better). Time to retire the old Shadowhawk...

Yeah. that's about the right size...

Miscellaneous updates

2010-12-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy with E-Bay auctions lately that I haven't had a chance to post. Space Odyssey Christmas Ornaments are selling really well so we'll probably have to do a few for next Christmas. The last of our auctions end Sunday evening.

Found a reasonably priced Revoltech Dougram for the collection. It was about $20... plus about $25 shipping... yeah... the $45 that I wasn't gonna pay... oh well... its still cheaper than Swarovski crystal animals.

I'm still trying to find time to paint the FLEA. Don't know if that's gonna happen before Christmas or even New Years. Between auctions and Christmas and getting back to work on The Magellan Affair, I probably won't be doing much building until the new year.

Additionally, I haven't had a chance to print anything lately. However, I DID finally get around to getting the software upgrade for HAL the V-FLASH. 3D Systems was very helpful. A tech logged on to my workstation and did the upgrade for me using GOTOMEETING and VNC. Turns out that HAL is a Windows XP machine at his heart. Funny... I was thinking he'd be Linux. I'm still not sure why the automatic updates aren't working, but if this upgrade works as advertised, I don't know that I'll be all that worried about getting any others...

I feel like I have to post a picture. And since I haven't printed anything new, how about a picture of the Armored Valkyrie that I started building? I'm hoping he'll be about the right size to play as a Battletech Crusader.

Disappointing though, the open missle bays shown on the box aren't part of the model. :-(

V-FLASH Chronicles - Part V

2010-11-28T19:04:00.000-08:00

I hung this piece of paper up beside the V-Flash because it had the cleaning instructions on it.

Hey! Look on the back! Its got all this information about parts placement!

I'm such an idiot!

Monday Stuff

2010-11-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

I didn't get a chance to call 3D Systems today and work through the software upgrade for HAL cuz I was doing too many other things. Like errands and creating packaging for the Christmas Ornament auctions.

My hats off to Cindy and her mum for doing the painting, packing and mailing for the ornaments way-back-when. Now that I'm doing it for myself, I really have a new appreciation for all that went into it. And they did HUNDREDS!

I managed to put the FLEA together today as well. Here's a couple of pictures. The scale could be better, but to be honest, I'm mixing so many different scales from Macross, Dougram and Crusher Joe already, that I'm just shooting for "close"...

Here's the FLEA with all his pals, waitin to stomp on ya! Yup, the Shadowhawk is too big, the Rifleman is too small, but what are ya gonna do? Anyone know where I can get a Revoltech Dougram (Shadowhawk) for cheap? (I ain't paying $45US for one inna box!) I figure that'd be about the right size...

V-FLASH Chronicles - Part IV

2010-11-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

HAL had a really bad night last night. I was trying to print some pickup parts for the FLEA, and he wasn't able to print anything but support structure... no parts! After a couple attempts, I realized that he was printing random, disconnected wafers of plastic and then dropping them on the carrier. These of course, ended up in the resin cartridge.

I'd been warned on one of the discussion groups that things like this could happen, so I didn't panic. I pulled out the resin cartridge and snapped the top off of it. Kinda like clearing a paper jam!

After about ten minutes of dredging the resin trap, I was ready to go again. I rebuilt the print job from scratch, rebooted the computer and the V-FLASH, and it seems to be printing correctly now. I'm guessing my woes are due to a software/firmware bug rather than a random hardware or network fault given that I got two identically flawed printouts...

In other news, I got a notification today that there is a software upgrade for V-FLASH's parts generation. It sounds like its going to generate a lot less support structure and will be a lot easier to clean up. Unfortunately, for some reason, HAL can't access the upgrade server at 3D SYSTEMS. I'll have to call on monday and see what's wrong -- probably something wrong on my router.

Fleas and Pods

2010-11-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

I'm currently curing the Flea parts. I modelled him from the 3050TRO book and I figured if I made him a little shorter than my Locust and my Urbanmech, he'd be about the right size... Unfortunately, he looks like he's about 60 tons, instead of the 20 that he's supposed to be. I don't really want to change the overall scale or some of the detailing on the legs will disappear, so I'm going to see what happens if I just scale down the body a bit.

In other news, I listed a couple of 2001: A Space Odyssey EVA Pod Christmas Ornaments on E-Bay tonight.

New Auction - Battletech Scorpion

2010-11-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

I finished decalling one of the Scorpions so I could take a picture and list the kit on E-Bay. So we'll see how it goes...

Darlene and I spent today painting Christmas ornaments, so I might be putting some of those up on E-Bay as well this week...

Flea! Flea for your lives!

2010-11-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

I spent about 7 hours (between Saturday and today) designing a model of a Battletech FLEA. He's going to be slightly shorter than the Locust and the Urbanmech. I'm going to try and print one tonight...

I added a rear toe to the feet for stability even though its not shown in the original 3050 artwork. It could easily be removed if one wanted to mount this puppy to a base. I'll eventually get around to making the weapons loadouts for the FLE-15 as well, but for now I'll just go with the FLE-17 loadout.

Painted Scorpions - WIP

2010-11-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a work in progress shot of the Scorpions. They're chasing down a set of Lightcycle Christmas ornaments waiting to be primed. I'm starting to run out of steam so I don't know if the Scorpions will get decalled and final weathering tonight...

In case you're wondering, I'm using some vacation time and spending every monday in November playing with HAL (that's what I'm calling the V-FLASH... he needs an eye!)

The V-FLASH Chronicles - Part III

2010-11-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Before I forget, extra-special thanks with cheese goes out to Joshua and Jon who helped get the V-FLASH into my basement. Josh, virtually single handedly, navigated the basement stairs while carrying 140 lbs of V-FLASH. Yay Josh! (That's him and me in the picture, which Jon is taking.)

The V-FLASH Chronicles - Part II

2010-11-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

I was getting a little worried because some of the parts that I've been printing have been a tad... wonky and warped. Some have postulated that this is due to temperature and humidity variation, but I'm inclined to believe my particular problem is due to mechanical causes.

It would seem that with careful placement of parts (and the addition of a couple of rubber bands for good measure), pristine parts CAN be had. (I printed two pretty clean Battletech Scorpions this morning.) The V-FLASH seems to make wonky parts when (1) you mix bulky and detailed parts in the same build and (2) when larger parts are placed towards the outside of the build platform. The build process seems to work best when you group the parts with the largest cross-sections towards the center of the platform and arrange the rest in a roughly symmetrical pattern.

OK, so I could have just asked 3D Systems what was up, but I like to figure these things out for myself - all part of the fun of getting a new toy. Plus, I wanted to share some of the V-FLASH experience with others that may be thinking about getting one, but do not have access to the 3D Systems forums.

Painted Urby

2010-11-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a coat of paint and some leftover decals from the spares box on the urbanmech last weekend. Thought I'd post a couple of pictures...

I'm working out some small bugs in the design, but hope to have one of these up for auction in the next couple of weeks.

The V-FLASH Chronicles

2010-11-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've been saving my pennies for what seems forever, and three weeks ago, I finally acquired a V-FLASH 3D printer. I remember seeing my first 3D printer at Siggraph circa 1992. At the time, the price of admission was around $45,000US for an entry level machine.

They've gotten cheaper.

I've been playing Battletech for almost 20 years now. Sometimes I roll out my giant hex board in the living room and play with Macross/Dougram/Gundam figures of varying scales. A lot of fun to be sure, but I wish there were more Battletech canon mechs available in a 4"-5" figure. So what am I printing on the V-FLASH? There's going to be tons and tons of 1/100 scale Battletech figures, among other things...

Below: 1/100 Urbanmech and Scorpion with 1/100 ARII Spartan and Revoltech Soltic

Welcome

2010-11-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Green Pixel Projects / Fourth Axis blog! This blog should be of interest to science fiction fans, sci fi model builders, Battletech fans and amateur rapid prototypers everywhere. I plan on yakking about models I'm building, projects I'm doing and short run kits that I will be auctioning...

so stay tuned... more to come!