LUT 1/96 Command Module service arm - free download

[RichO]

HEY ALL,

So I thought I would take a little more time off the crawler build and give this test a try.

You guys know that I live in a town where the closest hobby shop is 40 miles away, and we only have one print shop in town. I don't have a printer that will print out this mini kit, so off to the only printer in town this mornning.

I really had no selection of paper stock at the printers, so I just sort of had to go with what they had, but I did manage to get the colors that Cyana asked for. The paper weight was a little thick for some parts and a little thin for others, but for this experiment I felt this would do fine without getting overly stressed.

That being said, off to Swing Arm #9 test build.

Photo #1, The sheets of the printout. Red's on red, white's on white and transparent foil. These are the U.S. Letter output size sheets. I also had two coppies made, just in case.

Photo #2, The parts of the Swing Arm Frame Hinge. Pay close attention to the screen in the background. Any questions at all, and I only had to rotate the screen to any angle that would show me a clear view of the instructions.

Photo #3, Sub assemblies glued together, and a diffrent view of the same instruction page.

Photo #4, I had a question about how the sub assemblies were supposed to mate up. I simply whent to a view that showed these parts assembled and rotated the picture untill I had a clear view of the mating surfaces. Problem solved!

Photo #5, Swng Arm #9 Hinge finished. No problems!

I can tell that this kit will be a little more demanding than the crawler kit. By the time I'm ready to start the LUT build I should have a really good grip on Mischas design technique and the handeling of the materials that were chosen for this kit.

Over all my first impression so far is that I'm totaly in love with the 3D pdf instructions. The best new idea for this hobby that I can think of .

Of course I'll follow up with more photos as the test build continues, and keep in mind that the original will be laser cut, so no micrscopic cutting to do by hand. YAAA!

Oh ya almost forgot, "flabberghastedness" RichO 114/499

[Bengt Fredén]

Hi Mischa,

This is definitely the higher school of paper modeling. The intricacy of the CM service arm is absolutely stunning! And at this small scale... unbelievable.

I have thankfully downloaded the files and I will keep them for the 'kitbashed' LUT and Saturn V - Apollo 11 model I am building, on and off. My hat is off to you, Mischa!

All the best from Stockholm,
Bengt

[NYC Irishman]

I design steel structures for a living and I have to admit your work is amazing, Just a wonderful piece of art.

What is the plan for the kit, Is it to be released like this or as a purchase kit?

Thanks again
John

[cyana]

Dear all,

thanks a lot for all your kind comments! I'm really overwhelmed! Also, thanks to all of you who looked into the instructions pdf and the kit. I really was hoping someone would pick up the challenge (thanks RichO!) and I'm really eager to hear your feedback.

To address all your questions in a structured way let me start with my intentions. This kit will be huge. Really. And a production like the crawler kit will be expensive. Really expensive. So, I'm honestly thinking of providing this kit as download. This would have a lot of advantages over the printed version:

The first is that you can update the model. Even though I did numerous test builds, had beta testers and revised the Crawler kit many times, errors slipped through the QC process. Once printed, things are not changeable anymore. And we are talking about only 11,000 parts - that's nothing compared to the LUT.

Second - to prepare the kit for printing will be another time consuming challenge. I have no company and doing this in my spare free time. Sitting at a finished design and knowing that you might be still one year away until publishing it can make you feel crazy.

Third - spare parts. This kit is not an easy one. The chances to spoil a part are endless. However when you know you can produce the kit over and over again just in case takes much from the pressure.

Fourth - pricing. No production costs means, this kit is affordable to everyone. No warehouse keeping, no shipping costs, no lost kits. These are things that get important when you doing this just as hobby with no professional background.

So, as pointed out, for me and also for a lot of modelers in principle a download version of the LUT kit would be great. This however only makes sense when the modeler can produce the kit at home. And here comes the main problem. Are you able to get the needed paper ware. Can you print oversized pages like A3 format. Can you get matching colors with your printer. All these things are addressed with the SA9 kit. It's a test to see if it works.

Next problem is laser cut. It's true, I had the possibility to have one page cut with an industrial laser cutter:



The quality simply was amazing. However, besides the basic frame it was not really helpful, actually only a few laser parts were used for my test build. The main reason is that laser cut consumes paper. So, specially tiny parts become too small.

In junction with an online publishing, a new problem rises. You cannot offer laser parts without having samples from the paper the modeler uses. So, the laser option means you need to print the kit to ensure the laser parts use the same paper.

And the last thing is the building instruction. My impression from your reaction is, that at least this problem is solved - that's why I launch another test - this time for busy crawler modelers: I've uploaded a 3D PDF assembly procedure for the trucks. You can download it from here:

Support

Although mainly intended for the brave crawler constructors, of course everyone interested is invited.

best greetings and again thanks for all your comments!
Cyana

[obwand10]

This is great to hear. I still might have bought the printed version, but a downloadable version is so much better. I just wwant to thank you for all the time and cosideration put into this, it will probably one of the best paper models one can make/design/build.

[RichO]

CYANA,

What a quandary! I certanly am all about keeping the cost of production down. As you mentioned, all the individual costs of production with printing, storage, mailing ...ect.

CON...#1, I do have a concerne tho, as with myself, not all people have the ability of outputting this kit at home. We will have to find a pro printer to print out the sheets for us, and not all pro printers may have the grahm weights of paper that are needed for this build. I ran into this problem with the swing arm test. I'll admit that I don't live in the big city, perhaps I can order the spacial paper that is needed, if need be.

#2, Also if people whant to download this kit we have to realize that hand cutting these parts is very overwhelming. These parts are so small, I have been cutting for two days just to finish one part. And there are 9 swing arms.

Pro... #1, The cost. We all want to spend as little as possible for our kits, and this is really a great way to keep cost down.

#2, I like the idea of being able to print as many as I need to in case of messing up one of the parts. That's a great idea. Especialy since these parts are so very small.

#3, The new instruction idea is so cool that I'm still enthrawled with these totaly!

So the down side with the idea of a download is the model builder will have to do a bit more leg work to get the kit produced for building, and no laser cut parts will mean an extream amount of very small hand cutting.

The up side is, keeping the cost down and getting the kit to market much sooner. Also being able to reprint in the event of mistakes.

Because these part are so incredibly small a person would have the abbility of outputting to a larger size. This may sound really crazy, but I have been SERIOUSLY considering starting the crawler kit over just to get to a larger size, 1/72 to make things alot easer to work with.

Just my two cent worth. Each individual will make the right dession for themselves tho, and what ever you decide to do is what we will go with, because this whole thing is so very cool to work with. Your time and dedication to this project is incredable and we all want to do justice to this build.

Thank Cyana, RichO 114/499

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Hi Mischa,
I think that being able to download the LUT is a very big advantage that dwarves all the probable disadvantages.
RichO, you're up to a great start.

[SJPONeill]

I agree totally that the advantages of a downloadable model as stated above outweigh the disadvantages plus also enabling to other scales should it suit. I would probably be starter for the crawler as I could enlarge it to 1/72 to go with other models...

[gene1772]

Greetings Mischa, I just downloaded the Truck instruction and WOW! I think you have just revolutionized paper model building. This is an outstanding method of doing instructions! I may have to go out of order on my crawler and give it a try on a truck assembly. For your LUT is it possible to do a combination of both download and laser cut? Maybe being able to purchase the laser cut pieces and the pieces to large to print on a standard printer and then being able to download the bulk of the remaining items and print them on your own. I don't know the number of pieces involved and complexity but maybe you could offer this package in different sizes, 1/96 and 1/72, and for the really brave 1/48 (man that would be huge). Sort of like what they do for the laser cut frames for ships and airplane paper models. With these you have the option to either print your own or purchase the additional package separately. Just thinking out loud. As always, great work!

[nando]

Hi to all.
Huston, I have a problem ...
I installed the Acrobat Reader XI on my Windows 7 system but when I start it, after few seconds, it stops, apparently without errors. And this happens when you open a file or the program directly.

I tried to open the Cyana's instructions with other readers (like Foxit Reader, Nuance, etc.) but they don't work.

Can anyone help me, or solving the problem of Adobe, or suggesting to me another reader that works in general and with this particular pdf file format?

Thanks in advance
Nando