François

LaughingIndian, I must admit that I was very nervous even if I had seem what he does. What worried me most was when he told me 'I never did anything this big'. All in all I'm satisfied with what he did althougt I find there's too many trees, it deters a bit from the prime purpose of the build which is to showcase the harvester and the barge.

I printed the engine bloc. The first try was a partiel success (about 70% good). I printed this part in a vertical position (crank shaft axis vertical) thinking this was the best position, not so good after all. The top portion, where the head sits, wasn't totaly formed and the crank shaft support didn't print. All other features and mounting points/surfaces were ok. For the second try, I printed in a horizontal position (crank shaft axis horizontal) and I had about the same success rate. But on this one the top portion was perfect, the head sits nicely but it's the lower portion that didn't make it. The flange where the sump cover mates barely printed and the crank shaft support didn't print. For the third try, I still printed in a horizontal position but I redid the majority of the print supports. The print has just completed and is still dripping so it's hard to see but it looks promissing. First try With sump cover in place With the second try, hge head sits nicely but bottom flange is a mess Third try fresh off the printer, still dripping and full of supports but it looks good. Test print of 1 of 16 exhaust pipes, looks ok.

I printed a bunch of parts for the lower engine. Pistons, connecting rods, caps, crank shaft, bloc mounting brackets, distributer... the plate was almost full. Next print will be the bloc itself, oil pan and the covers for the head, all tall parts so the print will be very long.

By the blower as on the Bentley. The vertical pipe will be connected to the blower somehow. Mucho "modeler's leeway " on all this!! I did all 16 exhaust pipes, that was quite a job, space is very restricted at the front.

Pretty much done with the design of the engine. I incorporated some viewing windows in the block so the crank and pistons can be seen. I should start printing soon. I'll also make a base to mount it on once completed while I do the frame.

Thank you LaughingIndian, Here are a few pictures of the Tigercat and barge in the diorama (which I didn't do). It will all be coverded by a plexiglass case.

Did a bit more work on the motor's 3d model. Fan is in place, waterpump, cooling pipes and front motor mounts. Here are a few screen shots. Motor And motor in frame

Thank you everyone! I took a week off to at the beach but I'm back at it. With the head done, I'm turning my attention to all the engine peripherals, pumps, generator, fan, hoses...

So far, the plastic did not wear. The resin I use is very hard and the groove that you see on the lobes is the chrome paint being rubbed off, there's aslo a little bit of grease that adds to the wearing effect. Naturally, this thing is not meant to be run often so I'll have to control myself because it's really fun to see those little rockers move!!

After many hours of testing, modifying, reprinting and assembly, I finally have a fully working 1/12 scale V16 engine head!! 32 valves, 32 rockers, 16 push rods, 1 camshaft and some gearing. All working together. I'm really really happy with the result. I did have to make certain modifications and compromises. I redesigned and reprinted all rockers with a different contact face to8 the valves. I also redid all valve spring washers to better guide the springs and finally, I had to shorten all valve springs because there was too much combined pressure on the camshaft to easily rotate it. The drawback to this is that some valves have very little mouvement. Old rockers and valve on top New ones on bottom Some assembly pictures Pictures of completed head And my 3d model Video of valves moving, you have to watch very carefully to see the movement 20241124_200332.mp4 And video of valve train in action (accelarated x4) 20241124_195805~2.mp4

Today marks another step towards a fully working engine. I printed a small portion of the engine bloc, the clutch and the crank bevel gear. The reason fot this is to see if I can rotate the camshaft by rotating the clutch. Here's how the system work. A bevel gear is mounted on the crank shaft which is directly linked to the clutch. This bevel gear rotates a vertical shaft going up to another set of bevel gears mounted on the camshaft. This is exactly the same system as found on the Bentley blower but with a few differences. First, it's a lot bigger, about twice as big. Second and most important difference is that on my Bentley model, these bevel gears rotated a simple shaft acting as the camshaft. Nothing else happens. On the hydra engine, there's an actual camshaft that, if everything goes to plan, will actuate 32 valves. Now we've seen that the valves can be actuated via the camshaft, well at least one can as seen in this little video. 20241119_133449~3.mp4 But to have a fully working engine, I need to be able to turn the camshaft by turning the clutch. So here's the bloc I printed with 2 pistons in place and the clutch And here's the test I did where I was easily able to turn the camshaft by turning the clutch. 20241122_102948.mp4 And a final picture showing the know painted camshaft housing and head bolted on the bloc. So far so good! 20241122_102948.mp4

I made good progress on the head today. All 32 valves are made and in place, painted the head casting flat aluminium and added some engine grime in the concaved areas, assembled and painted the camshaft complete with simulated grounded lobe surfaces (I used a chrome pen for this) and installed the exhaust valve rockers. The black finish on the rockers is done with a permanent marker, easy to apply, close to zero thickness and dries very fast. I also made 16 aluminium push rods with spherical heads at both ends. These rods need to be exactly 1.000in long with both spheres in place, I was able to get them all within +- .002in. To make the valve stems, I used flat headed stainless steel needles that I had to cut to the correct lenght (.530in). The lenght has to be precise if I want the valves to seat correvtly. To do this, I made a simple jig using a piece of hardwood that was cut to .530in thick. I then drilled a series of .030in diaand inserted the needles. My dremel with a cutting disk made quick work of it. I also made a small jig to cut the valve springs to lenght. All valve components ready for assembly And assembled Painted camshaft head assembled Remember, this is not a kit !!

More work done on the engine head, I printed a boat load of small parts. I actually have 2 head castings printed, one is perfect and one has a few flaws. I'm using the flawed one as a test bench to make sure my fits are good and that what needs to move move's correctly. So I fitted a partial camshaft along with the bevel gear setup and one rocker/valve and hooked it up to my dremel and let her rip. It ran like clockwork. Here's a little video showing the rocker mouvement. I had to slow the video by 50% in order to see it move. 20241119_133449~3.mp4 And here are some pictures of the different parts printed Valves Rockers The cam shaft (not final yet) And the bevel gear housing (I borrowed the turret idea from the bentley blower)

After a month off, I'm back on the hydra coupe. Althougt the design is not 100% done, I started printing some parts. Back on october, I printed a test engine head with a few valve and rockers. I learned a lot from it and made a few design changes. So I reprinted the full head and after a first fail, I think I have something that should be good. I'm still aiming on having a working valve train and this adds to the precision and level of detail I need to but in. I'm always impressed by what comes out of the printer. This is really a case of 'garbage in, garbage out' so I must be feeding the printer good stuff because the results are very nice!!

Thank you everyone, I'm going back to the project I was on prior to this one. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the link.

So, my part in this project is done. Tomorrow, I'll be tranfering it to the diorama guy. Here are some pictures showing a bit how everything came together. The inner plexiglass with laser cut openings mounted in a temporary frame Bottom half screwed in place Anchor deflector installed Both bunks in place Top half screwed from underneath thru bottom and plexiglass thus locking the bunks in place Tigercat glued onto the top surface Firts chain ratchet binder installed Both binder and cross braking cable installed at one end (same was installed at other end of Tigercat) Tool boxes, front vent and front buoy installed Anchor chain glued in place Mast glued in place And 3 retaining cables attached Triton arm inserted thru plexiglass and glued in place (all pivots were also glued to eliminate any movement and rigidity the assembly) And finally, the harvesting hand was installed after passing the cab lights wires thru A few shots of the completed models And a video 20241114_154217.mp4 Hope you enjoyed following this build half as much as l enjoyed making it.

Both models are done, next step is to install then on their respective plexiglass lake surface and finish installing all the accessories. And some last minutes details Chain ratchet binders Bunks anchor cable

Thank you everyone ! They will both be displayed in a separate case. The display case is two fold. There's an inner plexiglass boxe with the top surface being the lake water with the barge sitting on it and the bottom surface representing the lake bed. There will be a bunch of trees, the ones in front of the barge will be full length (still uncut) and the trees behind and under the barge will be cut (tree stumps). The harvester hand will be grapping a tree in front as if it is about to cut it. Over all of this, there will be a full display case to protect everything. My job will end once the barge is installed on the lake surface and all accessories including the Tigercat are glued in place. I will then pass the 'baton' to a diorama specialist to complete the setup (trees, lake bed...)

I 3d modeled printed and assembled the harvester head, that's the part that goes underwater and cuts the trees. Again, not much info, a few pictures, the owners manual and 1 dimension. I think it came out good.

Did some assembly today. I think it will look pretty good!!

Yep, 2 full models. I have the first barge all painted and ready for detailing and final assembly. I've also made 2 bunks (2 per barge). These are submerged steel structures that receive the trees once they are cut. From what I can see on the pictures I have, the bunks are just painted with red oxyde primer ( or something that looks like it) and are very rusty. So I primed mine with a red primer and will try to rust them up a bit. Here are some pictures of the barge fabrication. Painted bottom section My version of the engine And the real thing Top deck accessories painted and ready for assembly engines ready for assembly A chain ratchet binder (that's a toothpick holding it) Top deck painted, ready for detailing with black panel edger And a few details Top and bottom test fitted (the gap between the 2 is for the plexiglass more details The bunks fab first pair primed and ready for rusting Test fit of bunks and barge A speaking peek at the end result

Now that the 2 Tigercats are done, I started printing 1 of the 2 barges. It's a fairly complex print. The barge measures 15 3/4 LG x 8 wide so printing in 1 piece is naturally out of the question. The plaform itself is made of 8 parts, 4 top deck and 4 bottom deck. The reason to separate top and bottom is that there will be a 1/8 thick plexiglass sheet between the 2 to simulate the water surface. There is also a ton of add on parts such as cleats, tool boxes, propeller assemblies, communication mast, anchor, a bunch of chain binders, buoys with buoy brackets, tire bumpers... Here are some pictures of what has been printed so far. and here's what it will look like

So both harvester are done. Just need to make the cutting heads to go at the end of each arms. I also added some led lights on 1 of the 2.

I'm still waiting on some info for the barge so in the meantime, I'm making good progress on the assembly of the harvester. It's a first for me to design, fabricate and assemble 2 of the same model at the same time. It's quite fun!

I'm almost done with the 3d modeling of the barge on which sits the harvester. The Tigercat is being painted and assy will start soon. Here's what I have to reproduce. And here my 3d model so far. Everything was 3d modeled from just a few pictures here are the telescopic boom parts, they are very intricate but came out of the printer looking very nice And here are some pictures of the painted parts