Do X - The Resurrection Of A Legend in Real Life, VR and 3D-print

I will not do much more else during the next months or probably years. So I decided to make a seperate thread about this very special issue.



At July 12th 1929 the Do X took off at the first time. At that time she was the biggest airplain worldwide for more than 20 years. Additional she was build completely from metal wich was new. Only three were build and no exemplar survived. Even the blueprints are lost except some drawings and a lot of photos. We are a few enthusiasts who want to make a 1:1 scale model of this masterpiece of engineering. We collaborate with Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen and with some universities in Baden-Wuertemberg/Germany. Currently more than 30 students work at this project.

I stumbled about this project by accident. I loved this airplane since I was 8 or 10 years old (1962/1964). So I searched the internet for some drawings or contacts to build my own model of it for VR. Immediately I found Peter Kielhorn, who is the spiritus rector of the project. And TAHHHDAHH! he got pretty good 3D-models already. He planned to make a VR-version as well. So we quickly came together and decided to combine our activities.

 

Thanks to all the data I could make some high-resolution pictures for a photo book, a few raw VR-presentations and some early parts for a 1:43-scale model of the forecastle. This is our first waypoint. Something like this:

Fortunately my old WANHAO printer died and I bought a new ENDER 3 pro for 250 Euro. This baby is way better. So I could print the first parts:

 

Tomorrow an editorial journalist of our local news paper will visit me to talk about the project. Especially about VR. But I can show him the ongoing of the 3D-printed model as well.
In early April we will be at the AERO in Fridrichshafen. We will be part of the presentation of Dornier Museum. I hope to finish the 1:43 model until than. We will be able to offer two Oculus Quest and my Oculus Rift. No clue if we have enough room for such a blast ;-)
And I hope to meet David Dornier, director of Dornier Museum.

Printing lots of parts:

 

Well, my first attempt to make a model kit, everyone can print and build. That's a big chellange! I had low success so far. I have to rethink what I really want to publish. For now I'm working at a model of the forecastle of the Do X at 1:43 for our presentation at the AERO in Fridrichshafen in early April.

 

Well, long silence ...
I canceled this 1:43-project. We think about a 1:10 scaled model meanwhile. But that's not our main focus.

Next week Peter Kielhorn and I will ride down to Hungaria to visit Sophia Borbely. She owns a replica workshop and will build our 1:1 scaled model of the Do X. That's a huge project and will take several years. Especially because we need the money to pay her. During last summer I reworked rib 44, wich is one of the biggest, from former students work:

6 meters tall and 4,6 meters wide. The guy standing in the door at passenger's deck is a 3D-scan of me. Above is the bridge. We got photos of the first parts already and hope to see much more during our visit.

Sophia is a professional. She engineered Amundsen's Dornier Wal for the Dornier Museum already and her husband Karl Birczak manufactured it:


I hope to learn a lot about manufacturing such 1mm aluminium films. Chocolate paper even. I come from heavy machines like excavators, dragline diggers and bulldozers. 20mm thickness is still metal sheet. But 1mm? That's thin film! And rivets? Not much clue of that yet.

We hope to exhibit rib 44 in Dornier Museum at the end of this year. Currently we discuss the requiered space for it with the staff ;-)

 

Parallel we talk to Joerg Neumann from Microsoft. I flew the Do X already in Flight Simulator. She is not available as addon yet because it's a WIP. But hey, its fun!


Screenshots taken from MS Flight Simulator

 

Sophia uses different rivets for different purposes. Our visit at her workshop was very interesting and helpful. I learned a lot about manufactoring special parts! The 44 is on its way:

Hopefully we will see it in Friedrichshafen at the end of October! This would be the start of our presence in Dornier Museum.

Parallel I run first tests of printing a rough 1:10 scaled model:

Its the nose with first bulkhead 58. Pretty rough so far. But its really the first test. And it just give an idea of how impressive the whole model would be. Just two parts of the very first front section:

 

Yes, the printed parts are upside down at the photo. The 3rd part is printed already:

Its huge already although its such a small part of the whole model. Would be a very large coffee table: length 4 meters, wing span 4,8 meters, hight 0,9 meters . So it is closer to your airplane than to a coffee table I think. ;-) But currently I will make the forecastle only because this is our construction stage "A" in real:

From bulkhead 44 straight in front of the wings to 58. The numbers are just numbers, beginning with 1 at the stern and ending with 58 at the bow, containing the most important part from my view: the smoking room between 50 and 53. Usually with a distance of 0,6-0,7 meters. I started my model at the opposite side (58) than Sophia the real one (44).

 

Tomorrow I will talk to Schuco. That's a company that offers diecast toys and models. They planned to continue with their 1:72 model of the Do X this year:

Picture by Schuco

But you know ... Corona ... the delivery was postponed.
The model isn't very accurate but impressive. 0,55 meters long, 5 kg of weight. I want to check what we can do together. And I want one of them for myself.
https://schucoshop.com/de/schuco-edition/schuco-edition-aviation-1-72/5261/dornier-do-x-1929

 

That's really for sure ;-)

Result of the call to Schuco is: we will get the models for a very, very good price :-)
Start of delivery will be January 2022.

 

Here is another view of my first tests to print a 1:10 model:

It's such a small part of the model. But nearly twice in hight of a beer can already. Slowly I become anxious of what I plan to do.

 

Well, the printer causes more and more problems. I stop the work with it. I will try to repair the ELEGOO Saturn next days. That's a Resin-printer. Probably I can manage it.
In real life our bulkhead 44 is on the home straight:

We hope to see it soon in Friedrichshafen.

 

Here it is:

Unfortunately we have some issues with the museum. So it'll stay in Hungaria for the next months. Too sad! I hoped to welcome it during December in Friedrichshafen/Germany. On top these few idiots who won't get vaccinated mess up with our whole country and hurt us in so many ways. We have to go into lockdown again during Christmas because of these morons. The dictatorship of a minority of non-vaccinated. What a mess!

Even the hungarian company who built this masterpiece went in big troubles lately. They should do another big job in Germany these days. Now the job is canceled because of the non-vaccinated fools and this will hurt the small company essentially. Currently we don't know if it will survive. And unfortunately we actually can't fill the gap with more orders for Do X-parts because we can't present our project at fairs and shows for advertise and collect some money. Same reason.