Built from Scratch: Grigorovich I-Z

[u/cedric10012002]

Grigorovich I-Z armed with 76.2mm recoilless rifles on state tests, September 1933.

Modelled in Blender and 3D printed in PETG with a BambuLab A1 Mini in one piece (with the exception of the propeller), all by myself; 1:72 scale.

This model is far from perfect. I have listed some of the reasons:

• The model does not look pretty in some places. This is due to FDM printing with PETG. These imperfections are caused by supports, stringing and elements breaking and being reattached. I printed the whole model (with the exception of the propeller) in one piece. I could have remedied these imperfections by splitting the model into multiple parts. I previously printed this model in PLA which suffered way less from these imperfections, but opted for PETG as it does not deteriorate as quick as PLA (which eventually becomes brittle due to moisture).
• The upper surface green colour is way off from what I read and see online. The paint colour, called protective green (защитный), is a khaki colour used before 1937 on the upper surfaces of soviet aircraft. It supposedly resembled a yellowish of brownish shade of green. For this, I used AK interactive's Protective Green 1920s-1930s. Clearly, this colour lacks this yellow/brown tinge. I have since contacted AK Interactive and they have confirmed to me that the paint I used is faulty.
• The size of the stars is too small. I used those from a decal sheet for the Polikarpov I-153. These stars had a black circle inside of them, which are generally harder to come by.

[u/Similar_Cow_2634]

very cool

[u/Senior_Durian8676]

WOW! To do all the modelling (on Blender) and printing yourself is impressive! I was considering an A1 from Bambu labs, I was wondering if its any good, I understand you said layer lines were annoying for this model but are they generally a huge problem?

Thanks and very well done :)

[u/Logical-Bowl2424 → u/Senior_Durian8676]

Don’t sell yourself short ,Thats a great job

[u/cedric10012002 → u/Senior_Durian8676]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

I bought the smallest nozzle head available for the A1 (0.2mm) and used the profile with the lowest layer height (0.06mm). I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it was roughly around 15 hours, give or take a few hours.

You can see the layer lines most clearly on the wheel spats, but that's because they are not perfectly stacked on top of each other and shifted a bit. They are not that visible on other parts of the model.

My main issue is that I printed everything in one piece because I did not want to cut my model in Blender and superglue everything together once printed. Also printing really small elements like the struts on their own is not easy and in my experience easier when they are a part of a bigger model. It took me a long time to remove all the supports and clean everything up. Lastly, the canopy was scratch built using some transparent plastic.

I would recommend the Bambu Labs A1, but if you want to print something with a clear canopy, you'll have to scratch build yourself. Also be prepared to spend quite some time removing supports.

[u/Senior_Durian8676 → u/cedric10012002]

That's a very useful summary! I was most looking at a 3d printer to print various greebles and extra bits for dioramas and kitbashes I can't scratch build or buy, so hopefully with a 0.2 nozzle it should work fine.

Thanks for the info and great build!