Newbie needs help

[adder]

I would like to know if its possible and not too expensive to use a 3D printer to make scale pilots for my RC aircraft that have mine or one of my friends features. The pilots would only have to be a head or preferably a torso if not too big and would range in scale from say 1/5 scale to 1/3 scale. If this is a realistic possibility could you recommend a printer, and more importantly the software needed to transfer photos of head to 3D. I suppose it would need several photos from different positions round the head.

[richardphat]

Can you get the picture of the RC aircraft in question?
Depending on the design, it can be really easy, or just not possible.

By scale, can you get some rough dimension? It doesn't have to be exact, just to get an idea.

EDIT:
Hmm, I tried the photo to 3D. You're not going to like it.... Dimensions are just off. Too much holes in the mesh. Professional service scanning is a viable solution, but they are going to charge you a lot!

[3dkarma]

Here's an instructable for doing what you need using a Kinect. Once you've got a mesh, you could try 3dhubs.com to find someone to print it for you at a decent price. This will not be in colour, though.

Alternatively, take a look at 123D Catch for android or ios.

[awerby]

There are printers that could do these parts in color. But whether the parts would be too expensive for you is something you'd have to decide. If you come up with good watertight PLY or OBJ files, you could look on the Shapeways site to see what they'd charge to print them in colored "sandstone". http://www.shapeways.com/materials/full-color-sandstone It's not the most durable material in the world, so be careful not to crash those planes...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[Marm]

If you're making RC planes, then I'm pretty sure you're quite familiar with this substance called paint? ;D

I'd 3d scan the person, then make a print of it (either your own printer, or through a printing service), scaled down to the appropriate dimensions, using an appropriately colored filament. Then using model paint, paint the busts to what you want.

[3DPBuser]

Sandstone might vibrate itself into sand. Not sure, have not used it. Probably better to use white ABS or PET, and paint it.

[awerby]

It's just called "sandstone" because of how it looks. No actual sand is harmed in the process...

Andrew Werby
Juxtamorph.com

[hedning]

EDIT: Posted in wrong forum section......

[Drone]

adder- I'm an RC pilot also, and you can absolutely print out a pilot to put in your cockpit. The hard part is getting the 3D image capture of an actual person that is prepared properly for printing. You might want to checkout Thingiverse and do a search on "bust" to see a large amount of premade busts you can print out and use (no you won't get a bunch of models of boobies), then as you get good with using the 3D printer and how to get it working well for stock well designed free models that are available you can start to add the 3D capture part of your plans. But think bigger and think of all the useful RC things you can print like complete custom cockpits, scale detail items like guns and pylons, mounts, aerials, wheel pants, etc. What you can print will only be limited by your imagination really. And a lot of this stuff is already available for free to download and print through online sources. Since as an RCer you are already a maker, you would probably really enjoy adding this obsession to a hobby you already enjoy. And a reasonable 3D printer would be quite a bit cheaper than a quarter scale RC model, so I'm sure the cost would not be a significant factor for you.