Helicopter - AH-64

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Helicopter - AH-64

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X1 Carbon
P1S
P1P
X1
X1E
A1

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Full Project
Designer
13.5 h
5 plates
4.9(34)

Windows Only
Windows Only
Designer
34 min
1 plate

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Description

SUMMARY:
This model was designed in shapr3d with the AH-64 Apache helicopter as reference. The model is designed to print and assemble easily, so there are minor modifications to the overall design in order to do that. I do have a few refinements and updates in mind for the future to increase the level of detail and improve the wheels a bit. If you come across any issues, please leave me some feedback.

 

I've included printing settings, post-processing tips, and assembly instructions with diagrams. Hopefully this makes it simple and fool-proof, but if anyone has confusion, don't hesitate to reach out.

 

Printing/Post-Processing:

Below are the slicer settings I used. Post-processing is fairly straight forward. There's a few brims that need to be removed, which I do with a deburring tool. The supports should all pop off fairly easily. The wheels will likely need a few drops of oil for lubrication, but once the supports are removed you will need to roll them a few times to free up any snags. The sensor turret may have a little stringing inside, but the other half drops into that socket anyway, so just drop in some super glue and smash it together. The windows are designed to be printed on a patterned plate for effects, so just make sure they're face down on the build plate.

 

Global Settings:

  • 0.12mm Standard Layer Height Profile
    • Infill Type: Gyroid
    • Infill Density: 10%
    • Wall Loops: 3

Cabin:

  • Enable Supports:
    • Normal (Manual) - Painted on under the wings only
    • Snug
    • On build plate only

Engines:

  • Enable Supports:
    • Normal (Auto)
    • Snug
    • On build plate only

Tail:

  • Enable Supports:
    • Tree (Manual) - Painted on under the stabilizers and the tail gearbox
    • Tree Strong
    • On build plate only

Turret:

  • Enable Supports:
    • Normal (Auto)
    • Snug
    • On build plate only
  • Wall Loops: 6

Tail Rotor:

  • Wall Loops: 6

Night Vision:

  • Enable Supports:
    • Normal (Auto)
    • Snug
    • On build plate only

Wheels:

  • Enable Supports:
    • Normal (Auto)
    • Snug
    • On build plate only

Primary Rotor:

  • Wall Loops: 8
  • Brim Type: Outer only
  • Brim Width: 7mm

 

Assembly:

The assembly primary requires no glue (the nose mounted gear needs glue), but I recommend using super glue if this is going to be played with. The fit is fairly snug for most components, so all you need to do is press them into place.

 

  1. Assemble the main body by inserting the alignment pins into the cabin body and pressing the pieces together. This consists of (3) pieces, the nose, cabin, and the tail.
  2. Insert the round pins for the engines and mount those by pressing them onto the pins.
  3. The wheels, once supports are cleaned up, should just press into place. The tail wheel is very tight, so you may either want to use a long bar clamp if you struggle to get it in, sand down the edges a touch, or print at 99% scale. I made it very tight as it holds the weight of the helicopter and is on the horizontal plane which makes it much more susceptible to bending at that joint.
  4. Next the rotors pop into place. The primary rotor is a bit tight, but will spin freely once pressed into place. Be careful to press in the center only so you don't bend the blades and snap the center pin.
  5. The windows also just press into place, but the top middle section is made of two pieces. Press the very top piece up into place just under the small lip, then place the adjacent piece on top and press it into place. The angle of the second piece is designed to hold the other piece in.
  6. The final piece is the nose mounted gear. Just glue the sensor turret pieces together and glue the two nose mounted pieces into position on the nose.

 

That's all there is to it. I tried to break it up into pieces that would likely be the same colors, but the raw files are also up. Follow my facebook page, RC3D, for giveaways and entry details as well as my latest models.

Comment & Rating (59)

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Came out great. Everything fit nicely. Printed at 100% I haven't even glued anything. Nice work, thanks for your efforts!!
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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
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Looks great! Had a little bit of a hard time with no supports on the pylons but otherwise had 0 other print defects. I wasn’t able to avoid needing glue, especially for the targeting system, but that’s likely due to my filament choice, and everything fit together very well. I’ll be making a second one as a Christmas gift, so thanks for the model!!! I’m printing the Cobra next…
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Thank you very much for the solid feedback. Is there any way you could show me a photo of the pylon where it was struggling? I'm planning a small update in the near future, so if I can include any printability improvements, I definitely will. Otherwise, beautiful paint job! Looks great!
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Replying to @RC3D :
Sorry for the late reply, still getting used to MarkerWorld's UI; As for the pylons I've included a couple of photos as requested where you can see some rough overhang printing. I also had a mishap and lost a tail print to a short drop (2-3 feet onto hardwood) so I would either reprint with a higher infill density, increased wall count, or both in the cross section of the tail boom.
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Replying to @Monkstrosity :
Outstanding, thank you! Looks like I could slope it up a bit more, and add built in supports. Probably come out cleaner. Anyhow, I really appreciate that. I wish more users were that helpful.
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mate any reason the body came out like this? unformed
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What filament are you using, have you changed any of the default settings (support and otherwise), and are you using all stock printer hardware?
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I had the same issue! In my case I forgot to open the front door of the P1S and there was to much heat in the chamber to cool down the filament fast enough after leaving the nozzle. The second thing was the filament, it wasn't completely dry ( about 30% humidity ) and I printed it 10°C to hot. These three things lead to this crumbled wing-fronts. A few things you could try: Leave the door open! Print it with additional supports in this areas or if you don't like that you can try and slow it down to a minimum speed for "sharp" overhangs. For the cannons: To reduce the impact of the nozzle to the not-so-perfect layers you could slow down the travel-speed while it's not printing... in germany it's called "Eilgang" ^^ This way the bed-adhesion doesn't have to be this good. Oh btw. maybe this was an issue? Have you used any sort of glue? If not, try this, it will prevent the cannons from beeing kicked off. EDIT: Due to the fact that I'm lazy, I haven't started a new print for this piece, but took a soldering iron and made it flat :-)
(Edited)
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came out perfect. really nice job. any chance you could make the large radar dome for the top of the main rotors? thanks for the great model.
(Edited)
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Check your engines ;-)
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love the model and printed fine. need to find some time to paint the model.
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Before painting... Check your engines ;-)
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Thank you! It´s a christmas gift for my friends son :-) I had a bit of a struggle to remove supports and brim, but overall it´s fine. I only needed to glue the connectors for cabin -> tail.
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printed up perfect, everything fit great and just an amazing model.
(Edited)
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Thanks so much! I'm so glad to see feedback like this.
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Perfekt! Vielen Dank!
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printed well slightly downscaled. this was the second time I printed this
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perfect profile
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