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Finally got my got my Shapeways MPC shuttle engine inserts this week which I've been waiting on for a month - and I almost caused the first instance of major damage right out of the gate.

The first image doesn't show it but the vents for these aren't hollow all the way through so I thought I would have to scribe out the holes or drill them myself - which I commenced doing. However, because they are 3D printed, the plastic turns out to be a lot more delicate than I'd anticipated and the first couple of holes really caused some damage to the material. I immediately stopped and I thought I'd ruined them. As I was assessing the damage with my phone's light, I realised the plastic material itself is quite transparent and the light passed through it quite well. So I made the decision to abandon drilling out the vents and I patched up the holes with some glue, then I matched the colour of the inserts as best I could and painted the area I damaged. I actually did a reasonable job - so much so, it would take an eagle eye to spot it.

I proceeded to painting them with the gun metal grey I've used for the main guns and landing gear and then fixed them in place. They fitted in really well and I lined them out with additional aluminium foil before glueing them in place.

In the course of doing this, I decided to move the light tubes and their backing mounts back and glue them directly to the backs of the engine inserts.

The result came out better than I anticipated. I will need to touch up areas on the finials to address some of the light bleed in between each one but I'm really happy with the engine glow effect. I would definitely recommend the tan version of these inserts (as opposed to the grey version) because the resultant yellow glow looks really cool!

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<blockquote data-quote="banistersmind" data-source="post: 233134" data-attributes="member: 21872">Finally got my got my Shapeways MPC shuttle engine inserts this week which I&#039;ve been waiting on for a month - and I almost caused the first instance of major damage right out of the gate. The first image doesn&#039;t show it but the vents for these aren&#039;t hollow all the way through so I thought I would have to scribe out the holes or drill them myself - which I commenced doing. However, because they are 3D printed, the plastic turns out to be a lot more delicate than I&#039;d anticipated and the first couple of holes really caused some damage to the material. I immediately stopped and I thought I&#039;d ruined them. As I was assessing the damage with my phone&#039;s light, I realised the plastic material itself is quite transparent and the light passed through it quite well. So I made the decision to abandon drilling out the vents and I patched up the holes with some glue, then I matched the colour of the inserts as best I could and painted the area I damaged. I actually did a reasonable job - so much so, it would take an eagle eye to spot it.I proceeded to painting them with the gun metal grey I&#039;ve used for the main guns and landing gear and then fixed them in place. They fitted in really well and I lined them out with additional aluminium foil before glueing them in place.In the course of doing this, I decided to move the light tubes and their backing mounts back and glue them directly to the backs of the engine inserts. The result came out better than I anticipated. I will need to touch up areas on the finials to address some of the light bleed in between each one but I&#039;m really happy with the engine glow effect. I would definitely recommend the tan version of these inserts (as opposed to the grey version) because the resultant yellow glow looks really cool! [ATTACH=full]120772[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120775[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120776[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120777[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120778[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120779[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120780[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120781[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]120782[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="banistersmind, post: 233134, member: 21872"] Finally got my got my Shapeways MPC shuttle engine inserts this week which I've been waiting on for a month - and I almost caused the first instance of major damage right out of the gate. The first image doesn't show it but the vents for these aren't hollow all the way through so I thought I would have to scribe out the holes or drill them myself - which I commenced doing. However, because they are 3D printed, the plastic turns out to be a lot more delicate than I'd anticipated and the first couple of holes really caused some damage to the material. I immediately stopped and I thought I'd ruined them. As I was assessing the damage with my phone's light, I realised the plastic material itself is quite transparent and the light passed through it quite well. So I made the decision to abandon drilling out the vents and I patched up the holes with some glue, then I matched the colour of the inserts as best I could and painted the area I damaged. I actually did a reasonable job - so much so, it would take an eagle eye to spot it. I proceeded to painting them with the gun metal grey I've used for the main guns and landing gear and then fixed them in place. They fitted in really well and I lined them out with additional aluminium foil before glueing them in place. In the course of doing this, I decided to move the light tubes and their backing mounts back and glue them directly to the backs of the engine inserts. The result came out better than I anticipated. I will need to touch up areas on the finials to address some of the light bleed in between each one but I'm really happy with the engine glow effect. I would definitely recommend the tan version of these inserts (as opposed to the grey version) because the resultant yellow glow looks really cool! [ATTACH type="full"]120772[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120775[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120776[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120777[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120778[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120779[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120780[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120781[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full"]120782[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

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