Hey everyone, new user here, just signed up to share my love of skyscrapers/architecture and thank the community for all the help they've been (whether they know it or not) during my process. Essentially, I'm planning to 3d print a bunch of models of blocks in Philadelphia and the information I found on this forum/site (primarily building heights and the image gallery for scale reference) was invaluable. Google Earth is also an amazing resource for this project, as I can fly around the buildings in 3d or jump down to street level for finer details. I'm trying to include as much as I can from signage to window frames but I'm building the details into the faces of the model rather than using texture mapping, so between that time consuming process and the small scale, I've omitted some details that may not show up anyway.
Here is the first block I've printed thus far - Liberty Place:
Sorry for image quality, I was experimenting with a telephoto lens for my iPhone. Here are some close detail shots with the macro lens I also got :-)
Some of you may wonder why 1:3048 scale and not something more regulated like 1:1000 - it seems so arbitrary, I know. Well since I'm designing the models to be 3d-printed and the full color sandstone material I'm printing them in lays down 100 micron thin layers at a time, .1mm is the smallest unit that will print from bottom to top (z axis), so I broke it down to 1foot = .1mm to make it easier while building to scale and to print best. This means that the tallest building in the model (the currently-being-built Comcast Innovation & Technology Center) is 11.21 centimeters (about 4 11/16 inches) high!
I've posted digital renders of all of the blocks I've finished thus far (15 full blocks in total, some are broken down into separate sections where smaller streets cut through) on the Facebook page I created for what I've dubbed "
3D Printedelphia".
Each block sits on a 4mm thick base (originally, they were 2mm thick but that proved to be too thin, structurally) and in time, I plan to design/print a base for them as well, with the road details - I'll create that base once I know how much of the city I'm building, or when it gets to a size that warrants printing a section of what will be the full base in the case that it gets so big that the whole base can't be printed in a single print tray (larger than 250x380mm). I'm going for a more uniform structure for the roads, with 4mm wide 'main' roads between full blocks and 2mm wide side streets that cut between sections of full blocks broken up by those streets, but those roads will have all of the appropriate details on them, including cross walks, painted lines, etc. The base will have recesses just shy of 4mm deep so the sidewalks of each block will poke up every so slightly (roughly .5mm).
I'll leave you with a few renderings of other blocks.
Comcast Center & BNY Mellon:
One Penn Center & Love Park:
Two & Three Logan Square:
