3D Printed 1:400 Soviet N1 Moon Rocket

[OneSmallStep1966]

I thought I would post this build in the hope that it offers some useful pointers to anyone else who is thinking about the possibilities of 3D printing.

I did own a FDM 3D printer for a short period of time, but I was never happy with it's layer line resolution (required too much cleanup) and it wasn't accurate enough to print the very small details I wanted in a model.

Resin 3D printers offer a solution to this problem and they have now become very affordable, so out went my FDM printer and in came a new Creality LD-002R.

Creality LD-002R 3D Printer

After unpacking and printing the obligatory test files (which were incredibly impressive) I decided that my first proper project would be to make a 1:400 Soviet N1 Moon Rocket to stand alongside my commercially produced Dragon Models USA equivalents.

I somewhat naively thought that making this model would be as simple as downloading the 3D file, put it on a USB stick and hitting print - Oh how wrong was I

The first thing that struck me was the lack of detail in the downloaded 3D file, but hey ho, lets give it a go, and in fairness, this first attempt didn't come out too bad...

Printer Build Plate



Prototype 1

At this point I had found two other 3D models of the N1, neither perfect, but each offering something (details) that the others didn't, so I thought "can I amalgamate the best bits in each file in to one usable file" ?

I used Microsoft 3D Builder to learn how to edit/alter/combine the various components of the original 3D .stl files, and eventually come up with a half decent N1...

Microsoft 3D Builder NOTE: This picture shows the final version with options

The first attempt to print the revised model was a failure. So many things went wrong, but I discovered that the primary cause of my printing failures was due to it being too cold! Between printing the first model and this one, the weather had gotten a lot colder and I found out that resin printers need the ambient temperature to be at least 25c to work well, so I had no choice but to relocate my printer from the garage to my home-office.

I was now at least able to print prototype 2, but it had many errors with scaling, details and damage caused by 3D printing supports.

Protype 2

Prototype 2 printing support damage and mistakes

By this point I better understood what was required to support this particular model and it required me to come up with solutions to strategically break it into parts and print it vertically off the build plate (which is generally considered a BIG NO in the world of 3D printing), but it was the only way I could avoid using standard supports as much as possible to minimise damage.

Parts on Build Plat shown in Chitubox Slicer NOTE: This configuration didn't work well

Finally, I printed prototype 3, the first one that came out more-or-less right and painted all three prototypes to see if the colours where right.

The business end of Block A now prints with sharp undamaged details

All 3 Prototypes together with Coke can to show scale

Prototype 3 or Maybe The Finished Model?

It's fair to say that this little model has been my toughest build ever. It's forced me to better understand 3D printing technology and to learn new software to build it.
It's cost a lot too. I have probably wasted around 1 litre of resin in failed prints (that's about £50.00) and I can't deny its been very frustrating at times, but looking at prototype 3 I'm thinking "that'll do" and that's giving me immense satisfaction

I can take this N1 model further because I've since added Grid Fins to Block A, but I now want to move on to a new project and started learning Autodesk Fusion 360 that I think will be essential for it, so I've decided that N1 prototype 3 will be the final version (at least for now) and placed it on display with my other 1:400 rockets...

My 1:400 Rocket Collection

[Kevthemodeller]

Great result

3D printing is something I know very little about, are the other rockets in your collection made the same way?

[ForeverPlasticKits]

Very great job, this russian "soviet" rocket is awesome!

[digger303]

Terrific result it looks as good as it can be shot off into space as a working rocket. :

[TommyJ]

Wow! It's great when a person is passionate. Sometimes these hobbies develop into something else. Although you are more like a professional. Now real rocket engines are printed on 3D printers. And even whole rockets.

[Engine95]

Tag for later viewing (Flic.kr is blocked from work). Can't wait to see the results as I've been looking at 3D printers lately to hopefully print small armor details (pioneering tool straps, etc.) that don't come with the kits.

Edit: Now that I've seen this . . . that's amazing. As someone who has had a lifelong fascination with spaceflight and now luckily lives close enough to see launches at Cape Canaveral, I'm truly impressed with your rocket collection! Is that the Apollo 7 launch vehicle on the left?

[aur0ra145]

That is really cool!