# 1/350 scale C-57D



## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

"Forbidden Planet" is my favorite SF movie, so as an exercise in learning how to use Rhino 3D and have the designs printed, I made a model of the C-57D, based on the construction drawings that appeared in the Starlog Photo Guidebook Special Effects Vol 1, screen caps and the chapter in "The Saucer Fleet", mainly for dimensions and stairway details. This is my second printed version. Here's the render for the second (latest) version:









The first version was made before the Saucer Fleet book came out, and is based on the saucer dimensions of the Polar Lights 1/72 C-57D (which really isn't 1/72), scaled down to 1/350. Comparing it to screen grabs, I thought that it looked too big, so I made it slightly smaller. I still felt it was too big when I had it printed.

Here's the latest version, in 1/350:








The saucer is printed on a FDM printer, and I'll have to primer and sand it many times before I get a smooth surface. It is a pretty strong plastic and was relatively inexpensive to print. The blue parts were printed on a much higher resolution Viper SLA printer. All three ramps have steps; I'll just fill in the steps for the other two ramps. The handrails will be made out of PE.

This is the lower half. The lower dome has a flattened surface that matches the landing pad. The pad's contact surface isn't flat, but slightly tapered:









Here's a comparison of the upper saucers between the two versions:









Both were printed via FDM. The larger one has been primed and sanded, although I still have a way to go before it's smooth. Since it's slightly larger than the C-57, I'll call it the Bellerophon, since it was a colonist ship.

Frank


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

very cool..


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

I like it, I really do. On the saucer set, the main gangplank, and the one to the left, both had stairs, the one on the right wasn't used as the set didn't reach all the way around to it, it just looked like it did from the angle it was filmed. As nobody really knows if the third gangplank had steps, or not, you could leave the steps there, or not.

Are you going to do an in-flight version? At that size, you could make one into a Christmas tree ornament.

David.


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## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

I hope your going to kit this, because I want one.


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## IEDBountyHunter (Oct 17, 2008)

Looks great, who does your 3D printing?

Al


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

It's so _cute_!


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments.



Krel said:


> Are you going to do an in-flight version? At that size, you could make one into a Christmas tree ornament.
> 
> David.


The stairs were probably the hardest part of the design, and while not 100% accurate (at that size, the deviations are almost invisible) they're good enough. 
The stairs fit into the openings quite snugly, but since they're made out of a brittle plastic, I didn't want to risk breaking them. The recesses in the lower saucer half aren't 100% accurate (at least not compared to the saucer fleet drawings, but again - good enough.

I'll probably make the larger version in-flight, since I never made stairs for it and the stair openings are larger than the 1/350's version.

The lower dome for the larger version was made on an Objet printer, so it's sooth and translucent; so is the 1/350 version...so you can guess where this is going.



IEDBountyHunter said:


> great, who does your 3D printing?


The saucer was printed at Redeye on demand (part of Stratasys). The lower dome, pad and stairs were printed at Printapart. I was going to try to do the whole thing at Shapeways (the larger version was printed by them) but I decided to reduce the volume (volume = $$), which put most of the parts under their minimum printing thicknesses. 

Now on to the PSR stage (putty - or primer - sand, repeat).

Frank


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## Larva (Jun 8, 2005)

Most impressive! Please get 'er done, make a coupla molds, and cast it in resin for the rest of us. Very, very nice work.


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## robiwon (Oct 20, 2006)

That is very cool indeed. A little Jupiter 2 that size would be cool as well.


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## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

Those would be a great size to do many things with!


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## idMonster (Jun 18, 2003)

Krel said:


> ...As nobody really knows if the third gangplank had steps, or not, you could leave the steps there, or not.
> David.


Best argument for at least one landing leg of the C-57D being a ramp? Would you really want to carry the parts for the tractor down and then back up that long flight of stairs? 

Gordon


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

Doesn't sound like you are kitting this but I would love one of these--between the Star Wars F-Toys and the little Space Ghost Phantom Cruiser Ravenstar put out as a premium a year ago I've managed to incorporate a number of "little" 1/350 ships to go along with my Master Replicas Enterprise, Refit, Sovereign K'Tinga and others...I love the mix of large and small vehicles.


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

I won't be kitting this, but it is a pretty simple model. I tried to interest Round2 into making it in this scale, but they weren't interested - not enough parts. 

The 88" filming model has what looks like a conveyor belt on one of the legs (seen to the left of the main stairway leg in the movie). See the pictures here:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2008/12/09/the-lost-saucer/

I don't know what's on the other leg.


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

They show crewmen descending down at least two of the landing legs after the ship lands.


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

jbond said:


> They show crewmen descending down at least two of the landing legs after the ship lands.


Which on the 88" model is the leg with the ramp/conveyor belt. Although they look like they're going down steps. They were probably steps on the full size; just safer for the actors.


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## Altair4 (Jan 31, 2009)

I would say that the movie 88" model and the full size set model were different when it comes to the ramps/stairs. I agree that the full size ship probably had steps for safety where the crew walked down a ramp but think the model has 2 conveyer ramps and 1 ramp with stairs. Look at the 88" model and you can see only one of the legs has hand rails and the other ramps do not. That's how I'm building mine anyway.


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## RMC (Aug 11, 2004)

*I really like the texturing of the hull .....it gives it character and plus its different than any other C-57D I have ever seen ! :thumbsup:*


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

The texturing is gone - it's a byproduct of the printing process.

I'm building mine with one stair leg and I'm blanking off the other two with a plastic strip to simulate a conveyor belt. Not only does it make more sense, it also means less work trying to add a fiddly PE handrail to all three legs!

I made three legs with stairs just to have spares.

Here's a closeup of the legs in Frosted Detail. It's hard to see the details, since they're printed in translucent resin, but the printing artifacts will disappear with either some light sanding or a coat of primer. I think the hardest part will be to glue the handrails to one of the legs. The stair sidewalls are only 0.36mm (0.014") wide:


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

The large saucer had a conveyor belt because they were originally going to use it in other effects scenes, that didn't get filmed. 

For cargo purposes, you really only need one conveyor belt. Really for simplicity, you would be better off using rollers and a winch on one leg. It would be not as complicated, less to break down, and easier to fix.

David.


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

Here's one of my 1/350 C-57Ds, about 1/2 way done. I photographed it in the Sun to bring out as many surface defects as possible.










There are some printing artifacts and scratches still visible; from experience, most will vanish with the matt coat. 










The legs are unprocessed (straight from the printer). I just wanted to see how bad they looked with a coat of paint. 










Bad, but not horrible. The center post needs some work; it too received just minimal processing.










This C-57D is made up of three parts - the upper dome, the saucer section and the lower dome. The upper dome and saucer were printed at Shapeways in Transparent Detail. 

The lower dome, central post and three legs was printed at Printapart (before they stopped offering the service).

I still need to finish the saucer, add the dark ring around the edge and work on the stairs and central post.

I'm working on a second C-57D that was printed using Shapeway's frosted detail (including the legs in my previous post). This one is proving a lot harder to work with; I printed it as a single unit (upper dome, saucer and lower dome). The wall thickness is only 1mm, which makes it lighter (and cheaper) but it also tends to flex when I put pressure on it while trying to sand. Not good, since this material is not flexible.


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## Mark Dorais (May 25, 2006)

I wish the larger scale Polar Lights or Round 2 offering had this correct hull shape. Just wonderful. Would love to have a casting of this.


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## Dave P (Jan 5, 2005)

That's Round 2, not Moebius.


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## liskorea317 (Mar 27, 2009)

Mark Dorais said:


> I wish the larger scale Moebius offering had this correct hull shape. Just wonderful. Would love to have a casting of this.


Wasn't that released by Polar Lights? A 12 inch version is due to be released soon!


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## Argonaut (Feb 11, 2007)

liskorea317 said:


> Wasn't that released by Polar Lights? A 12 inch version is due to be released soon!


Yes, a 1/144 scale kit is on the way. Just found out about it this week.
It's probably lost amid all the excitement over the Big E. I never had the room
to display the 1/72 C -57- D so I'm really looking forward to this smaller version.
Sounds like it has all we want: posable landing gear! Hopefully we'll have it before the end of the year. Should make for a sweet, quick build. 
Now, all we need is aftermarket rotating engine lights...:thumbsup:


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## Mark Dorais (May 25, 2006)

That is good news.....Hope the upcoming C57-D will have a profile like Frank 2056s.


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## ffejG (Aug 27, 2008)

Mark Dorais said:


> That is good news.....Hope the upcoming C57-D will have a profile like Frank 2056s.


Check out the pre-order page at Cult TV's hobby shop. It has a drawing at 1/144 scale from Polar Lights. If it is representative of what they are actually making then we should be very happy.


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## Mark Dorais (May 25, 2006)

ffejG said:


> Check out the pre-order page at Cult TV's hobby shop. It has a drawing at 1/144 scale from Polar Lights. If it is representative of what they are actually making then we should be very happy.


Thank you.....I did and it looks really good:thumbsup:


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## Argonaut (Feb 11, 2007)

Frank2056 said:


> I won't be kitting this, but it is a pretty simple model. I tried to interest Round2 into making it in this scale, but they weren't interested - not enough parts.
> 
> The 88" filming model has what looks like a conveyor belt on one of the legs (seen to the left of the main stairway leg in the movie). See the pictures here:
> 
> ...


Your 1/350 scale ship is a stunner! Even though R2 wasn't interested did they at least consult with you regarding their upcoming 1/144 release?


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

Argonaut said:


> Your 1/350 scale ship is a stunner! Even though R2 wasn't interested did they at least consult with you regarding their upcoming 1/144 release?


No not on this one, but if the model is based on the cross section shown in the CultTV man store, it closely matches the drawings by Jon Rogers in
"The Saucer Fleet" by Jack Hagerty and Jon Rogers. Those drawings really match the shape. I used the drawings from that book as well as a partial cross section construction drawing of the 88" model.

One thing that looks odd - the R2 models is listed as 12" in diameter, which is too small for 1/144; based on "The Saucer Fleet" dimensions, it should be a little over 13" in diameter at 1/144 (13.4"). For reference, the 1/72 version is 28" in diameter. A 12" model would be around 1/160 scale.


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

Frank2056 said:


> No not on this one, but if the model is based on the cross section shown in the CultTV man store, it closely matches the drawings by Jon Rogers in
> "The Saucer Fleet" by Jack Hagerty and Jon Rogers. Those drawings really match the shape. I used the drawings from that book as well as a partial cross section construction drawing of the 88" model.


The drawings in the book are based off of an MGM side profile reference blueprint from Bill Malone, that was printed in an old Starlog spfx book.

David.


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## Frank2056 (Mar 23, 2007)

Krel said:


> The drawings in the book are based off of an MGM side profile reference blueprint from Bill Malone, that was printed in an old Starlog spfx book.
> 
> David.


That's the one I used; Starlog photo guidebook Special Effects vol. 1


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

https://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html

Hi Frank, Love the work you've done, what file format are your 3D files in ???
I ask because I have a 3D printer coming and should have it before the Thanksgiving weekend and if you'd be willing to share your work, I'd be happy to send you a copy. The printer I'm getting is the Makerbot Replicator2 and the software that comes with it understands .stl, .obj or .thing. I'm going to try their "PLA Filament" first, if I don't like it I'll order some ABS Filament. Here are it's resolution specs,
Layer Resolution Settings: 
Fine	100 microns [0.0039 in]
Medium	270 microns [0.0106 in]
Fast	340 microns [0.0133 in]
I thought this was a good starter printer, just to see if I like the output, can always get better later...... If you have any interest please send a PM......:wave:


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

The kit is suppose to be out by the end of 2012, yet the only thing they have to show it the box cover? Not really good news to me, plus they are still getting the saucer's designation wrong. It is C-57-D in the book and the script.

Here's hoping it turns out to be a great kit.

David.


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## ffejG (Aug 27, 2008)

Krel said:


> The kit is suppose to be out by the end of 2012, yet the only thing they have to show it the box cover?


Maybe not. I think we have all been going from Cult's iHobby postings. He only posted a picture of the Box but if you look way down toward the bottom of that page you will find pictures of the light kit for the 1/350 TOS E and on the shelf below is what appears to be the actual C-57-D kit. Don't know if it is a mock up or test shot but it sure looks like the ship.


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## Argonaut (Feb 11, 2007)

I'd like to see a better shot of it. I wonder if it's still on track for a 2012
release?


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## Krel (Jun 7, 2000)

I have read that it has been pushed back to 2013. March, or April I believe.

David.


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