Made some significant progress today:
Doing the straps and buckles, which are pretty annoying to CAD.
After those, mounting/attachment parts.
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The search light itself is done with straps and buckles. Next are the mounting/attachment parts to the mantlet.
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Looking really good! For being 1/72nd scale the detail you have provided on this subject just may out shine my entire M728. Lol.
Wasn’t too happy with the “wrinkles” on the AN/VSS-01 canvas cover so I redid it. I’ve noticed that they’re usually more subtle if it’s a tight fit. Not sure how well they will show up in 1/35 however. Not going to show up in 1/72 though.
Feedback welcomed.
Kind regards,
James
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You could toss it in to Blender and use the Fabric sculpting tool to pull the corners.
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@MikeyBugs , so I played around with the Blender’s cloth sculpting tool for a few hours yesterday, and it’s not working as well as I had anticipated. Do you have any tip on how to go from this in Blender file:
to a useable OBJ or STL file?
When I convert it to OBJ, the smoothness does not translate well…
The CAD file above becomes this with a coarse surface:
I mean it may still be useable for 1/35 scale but not the same quality as shown in Blender.
I’d appreciate your help.
Kind regards,
James
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I’m still very an amateur at Blender but what I would do is slice the entire canvas cover from the red of the model, import it whole into Blender, then subdivide it a couple times. I’m not exactly sure how the fabric sculpt tool works but if it works as I think it does, drag from the corners towards the center.
AN/VSS-1 searchlight mounting parts done! Took a while to do this because I had to guess some shapes based on photos. Need to test-fit it to the body. It was so time-consuming and frustrating at times… 3D printing soon.
Reference photo used:
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Now, the virtual “test-fit” CAD done! Really happy with the result.
I’ll post its 3D print photos soon.
Happy Friday all!
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That CAD looks outstanding. Great job, James. 
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Another great looking part. 
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Prints done. UV curing soon.
Luckily, the canvas cover texture is shown in 1/35:
One bad thing is that some print lines show up at certain angles. Some light sanding and primer may cover them but I will try different print angles to see if I can get rid of them.
@Chris_Kelm , the 1/72 AN/VSS-1s are printed:
M67 90mm RR ammo (HE):
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Sir,
Very nice. I can’t wait to see them in person and on my vehicle!
I think I finally found my go to guy for 3d printing.
Well done.
Chris
The AN/VSS-1 searchlight 3D print in 1/35 after UV curing:
As mentioned, some print lines are visible at certain angles. Some light sanding and primer may cover them but I will try different print angles this afternoon to eliminate them.
Kind regards,
James
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Still looks miles ahead of anything Tamiya or Academy offers on their M60A1 kits. Just needs some sanding with a small sanding stick.
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I’m pretty confident that my 3D print M60A1/3 steel wheels are better than any 1/35 offerings (resin or plastic) in the market but I wasn’t 100% satisfied with all the grooves and curves inside. Added a couple more details, too. So decided to perfect it based on some reference photos:
Making this available on my cults3d page: All the 3D models of petition2God・Cults soon.
Kind regards,
James
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Retry of the searchlight AN/VSS-1 turned out very nicely - should have printed it in an angle. No more visible print lines to a naked eye:
The subtle contour and folds of canvas cover turned out very nice:
Very happy with how the mounting parts turned out:
Revised steel type wheels printed nicely, too:
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What method do you use to determine the best orientation?
It has been trial and error. No real methods. Usually between 30-45 degrees but varies a lot… Haha
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