Bushnell’s Turtle. Revolutionary war submersible. 1:35 3D design and print

[Mousemuffins]

Sigh.

This is the last bit. I promise.

Bellows to push out stale air. (used in conjunction with air inlet valves in the hatch)





next: Depth pressure gauge.

 

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seat temporarily removed for complexity.

 

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Double sigh.

Depth gauge and fix up the compass next. Pinky swear.

 

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Depth gauge.

…aaaaaand cupholder.

 

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Woot. Free from Pinky swear related obligations.



I feel some details will need a -bit- of thickening up for printability/ buildability in the 1:32 version.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Yay! 1:32 is a thing. I’ve ordered some photo etch for the cogs though.









It will be possible to leave the starboard side unglued so you can show off the detail.

It has to be said I have the 'Professor Fate" music from the Great Race going pretty constantly through my head at this point…

 

[Mousemuffins]

So, While I wait VERY PATIENTLY for my new printer to arrive, I’ve be mucking about with a more traditional, barrel-shaped torpedo and bracket.



...I feel like that's working....

 

[Mousemuffins]

Question: Do you think the inside would have been painted white? I know that ships from the Napoleonic era were painted white below decks to help spread the light around, how far back does this practice go historically?

I'm thinking three possible options.

Natural wood with blackened iron and grease and grime.

White. As above, but with a layer of chipped white paint.

...or full steampunk with polished brass and varnished wood.

Also: A bit more detail



and some rendering, for when I get to doing instructions:

 

[Mousemuffins]

Lol.

 

[Uwek]

Nobody knows historical correct how the inside of the "hull" was treated, me personally I would go for the light white painting - with this you also see the interior mechanics better - more contrast.

 

[Mousemuffins]

I think I'll go with white inside the dome casting.

Torpedo ready for a test print…

 

[Mousemuffins]

Yus! I kan Haz Printerz!



Queue Unboxing Montage!





Mystery Box of IMPORTANT THINGS!



Final Reveal!



I did say Unboxing. Unwrapping costs extra.

 

[Mousemuffins]

test print satisfactory.

let's give it the torture test.....

 

[Jimsky]

How you do it, beyond my understanding, but...I have followed your posts, and you are doing a great job! Waiting for the printouts.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Looks like the port and starboard shells fit okay with the inner frame. Just a tiny bit of fettling on the files and they should be good to go.



It’s important to me that the main parts fit as nicely as reasonably possible. I don’t want people having to fight with my kits more than absolutely necessary.

 

[Mousemuffins]

playing with instructions.



I'm Going to provide these as a download, rather than go to the expense and extra effort of including them with the kit. They would be mailed out at time of purchase.

 

[Mousemuffins]

First reasonably successful print of Mister bubbles!



These parts are approximately 125mm (15 barleycorns) tall. I haven’t cleaned anything up for fit yet. There are a few facets from the CAD process, but they will sand off very easily.

Next effort will entail final test build, efficiently laying out parts for printing and a final price estimate.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Arrrrgh. This little guy is kicking my ar$e. I’m trying so hard to make this as pleasant an experience as possible for prospective builders, but that means being WAY more fussy than if I’m just building it for myself.

Tiny changes to details, parts fit and printing alignment, sometimes (often) repeatedly until I’m happy.

With a normal, do-it-myself model, most of this doesn’t matter, as I can file things down and add bits 'till it works.

Perhaps I’m working to hard.

Anyhoo, NEARLY there now. Here’s a bunch o’ bits that will make up the interior. there are about 15 more parts for the outside, and I completely forgot to print the cranks (printing now…). These are the parts for the 1:32 version. The 1:16 is pretty much the same, just bigger.

First parts for the first subassembly.



In other news, I’m going to go with putting the instructions on a USB to be included in each kit. I’ll also make them downloadable. Sure, it’s not as classy as a nicely printed booklet, but that would be challenging to fit in the box unless it’s kinda tiny.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Huzzah! exciting paint happened!







The cogs are temporary until the photo-etch turns up. The resin ones are just too difficult to remove from the supports without damage. The 1:16 version is okay though.

 

[Mousemuffins]

A little more Progress...





Why is there no camera setting for " make my model look as good as I thought it did"? Gah.

internals just sitting in there for the moment.