Wartburg Castle Kitset

thingiverse

Wartburg Castle 1:500 scale 123 parts Difficulty level - HARD Approx. 150x430x115mm All parts drawn and printed by Marco Bergman (m_bergman@xtra.co.nz) Baseplate was laser-cut black acrylic sheet (ABS will glue to this with acetone.) A base is not necessary, but makes keeping the model flat and untwisted much easier to achieve. Printed on UP! Plus using standard pp3dp white filament. 0.2mm, normal, loose. Perfboard (screwed to plate) with thin smear of liquid ABS before each print for larger items. All parts drawn in Solidworks 2012 from scratch, referencing Schreiber-Bogen paper model for basic dimensions, details from internet photos. The paper model is not only incorrect in many places, but is out of date, since the castle courtyards (amongst other things) have been thoroughly reworked to make them tourist friendly. I don't claim it's perfect, but it is certainly a closer representation of the castle in its current form. Also, I thought I could outdo the paper model for detail, and I think I have. I chose 1:500 after identifying the single largest part (Greathouse outside wall) and comparing that to the printer table size. 1:500 worked out nicely, and as a bonus was half-size to the paper model which made dimension checking simple. Parts assembled with acetone, wicked between parts with a syringe. Hold together / clamp until dry (about 5 minutes.) All fine details had a wicking of acetone to strengthen them. Blow on the surface of the part after applying acetone to ensure there are no pools or puddles and the excess is spread out and can evaporate. If you leave a puddle the ABS goes gooey and can take a day or more to cure. Surface prep - remove strings, raft. That's it. Paint job is quick and nasty, mainly to highlight the details. Most parts were painted before assembly, and touched up as required. Painted using mostly Citadel Acrylics (Acrylics best choice for ABS. I like the Citadel ones for brushwork, as they are thicker, especially the new formulation base colours which cover really well with one coat. Enamels work well, but you have the long drying time, and the solvent smell, to contend with.) Details brought out by one or two passes of dry-brushing. Citadel washes are good for weathering once items are assembled. Slowly put together in bursts of enthusiasm across approx. a year. I have no idea concerning total printing time or amount of material used. Progress was limited by design time, not construction. Design pretty much followed the sequence shown in the assembly. I started with a 2D floor plan that I made as accurate as possible, then began at one end and started modelling the 3D parts. All parts were designed to be printed flat if possible, because the UP was producing detail best in that orientation back then. Once I had a default orientation, I kept to it so that the parts all looked similar. The parts were designed as subassemblies of one building at a time. Each building was broken down into flat faces, which were modelled with an accurate floor-plan profile but limited detail, until the various keys and tabs were added. Once the location features were in place, fit was checked in the assembly, and only then was detail modelled. Everything from the inner gatehouse forwards was rough-modelled all at once, because getting the interlocks and fits of the angled buildings was a bit of a challenge. This approach worked well, because when I reached the gatehouse there were no gaps requiring filling, and no parts had to be trimmed to fit. Obviously the UP produces very consistently sized parts. Tree trunks were deliberately designed to use up some of the filament left-overs you always seem to end up with changing rolls. The contoured, faceted trees were a design compromise between speed of 3D modelling and appearance. I printed a few prototypes and painted them and chose settings that looked ok when painted. In theory, the model is unfinished, because I intend to place a scenic border (and more trees!) around the walls similar to that now around the earth-ramp. But for now, other interests are taking my time, so I shall hopefully go back to this at a later date.