Some years back, I captured several dozen really good close-up images of the actual aluminum (appears to be) studio model of Flash Gordon’s famous and iconic Art Deco/Atomic Age designed space ship. Whether or not it was the original studio model is up for debate, but I found it beautiful.
Here are some of those images
I had always intended on modeling and 3D printing a replica for myself, and just recently I finally got around to it. Here are the results.
One thing I found is that my rivets printed with a bit too much support, so they get messy, a bit. I think I can adjust some printer settings and fix that.
This is also about 10 inches long, and printed at .2mm per layer. My printers can do a .15mm layer, so I will reprint this using that resolution later.
This version has doors that can open but only because they fit into the doorway by friction. This was a test print only to see what it would look like so I didn’t go to the trouble of adding a hinge to the door, yet.
I have since created a new version with a hinged door which I sent to a friend. (The hinges were not perfect, since the tolerances of my printer at this size were untested, the hinge covering areas were somewhat exposed. You could see the paper-clip hinge pin inside. But it did work.
So I moved the hinge pin a bit and have yet to reprint. My next print will be max resolution, with hopefully perfected hinges, and I will post those here when done.
Sean, this is a wonderful model! You have captured this beautiful design perfectly. I have always searched for a good model of this ship, even as a kid. After i’ve bought a 3D printer a few years ago i too had the idea to build and print it, soooo… is there the possibility that i can save some work? :)
Or do you plan a commercial use?
Thanks, Felix.
I did this for myself, for satisfaction, since I’ve always wanted a nice model of it as well. I’m not selling it or making it commercially available. I believe there exists currently a resin model of this ship that is better than mine, and a search on the web may reveal it for you. It’s one I may buy myself, since mine is ok, but not perfect.
Thanks for your fast reply.
I know the available models of this ship and they are all indeed beautiful, even with an acceptable price. The thing is: they are all way too small, at least for my taste. This streamlined Art Deco Design needs a certain size to function. To me it’s more like a piece of furniture rather than a toy.
So i would be really cool if you would send me the files. I promise of course to not use it commercially in any form, but if i were you i would make a few and sell them on ebay and/or etsy.