3D Printed Airline Seats?

[AirLandSea76891]

First time posting here in a very long time, and this time with another question. Is there a source for 3D printing of 1/100 airline seats?

When I search on Shapeways for 1/100 airplane seats, I get thousands of results, 99% of which are not relevant to my very specific search (wrong scale, not even aviation related, etc.). The 1% that are relevant, are always military fighter seats. I’m sure that I could search 30 pages a day for a month and maybe I’ll find something.

I may have mentioned this before, but one of the models that I will eventually get to is a 1/100 scale L-1011 and do a larger cutaway version of the Revell 1/144 kit, which I also have. I don’t know that much about 3D printing, so I thought it would be easy just to have all of the 1/144 cabin interior parts scanned and enlarged to 1/100 at a 3D printing service, but that’s not the case. Everything is based off whatever one designs themselves on a 3D program and then sends to a printer. I’m not going to buy a 3D printer or a 3D design program.

I’m looking at my last resort of using the 1/96 cabin seat sets from the Lindberg Caravelle. I already have one so I’ll just buy a couple of more for the seats. Yes, those 1960s era type airline seats are not the same as used in the 1970s on the Tri Star, but only I amongst my family and visitors to the house would know the difference.

FYI - I have not built a model since I completed the USS Marias for my father-in-law in Christmas 2019. One figures that I would have built something last year when everyone was quarantined, but alas.

[keavdog]

The caravelle seats seem like a good plan. I build airliners but never any interiors. Maybe the die cast world has interiors you could use? lots of stuff in this scale.

[gregbale]

I typically use bulk HO scale model RR coach seats as ‘seat shapes’ for model airliners…more than sufficient seen through model windows, and a few can be more accurately detailed if they’re visible through an open hatch.

Though nominally too large for 1/100, I used them recently on the Glencoe (ex-Hawk) 1/96 Viscount and they looked just fine.

[GMorrison]

The Caravelle was a 2+2 aircraft, later squeezed to a 3+2. The seats are narrow and curved backs.

The tristar was a 1+4+1, later a 1+4+2 and a 1+5+1. But a wide body and the seats even in coach are square.

I looked at Heller on ebay. 1/125 and expensive.

I looked at DC-10 Nitto. 1/100 and really expensive.

It would be really easy to make them. The tool you need is a Northwest Shortline Chopper. And some Evergreen styrene rectangular strips.

A 24" wide cushion 4" thick is 0.24"wide and 0.04" thick.

Chop-chop three or four hundred of those and make a positive form of the passenger side of the seat. Glue three pieces together, let sit 10 minutes and bend to shape over your form. Maybe make a form that can do five at a time side by side…

[Pawel]

Hello!

If you give me a drawing (you can sketch it and post a photo of the sketch here) with basic dimensions (preferably in milimeters) for the seats you want, I can draw up the seats for you in 3D and put them on my Shapeways shop for you to order.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

[GMorrison]

That’s cool, Kevin. What model did you use for Marias?

Bill

[AirLandSea76891]

Good morning and thanks for all your responses.

I also do model trains (O, HO, and just stopped doing N) so I’ve looked into that also. If I was not going to cut open one side of the plane, I would certainly consider the 1/87 train coach seats as the size difference wouldn’t be noticed through the windows. I have a set of PikeStuff coach seats right now that I’m planning on placing inside a resin Long Island Railroad M7 commuter train coach (yet another project that I’m working on).[:D]

The L-1011 model that I want to do is the 2+4+2 set up. Thankfully the Revell model is that form too.

I have to run some errands but when I get back I will post some images.

[AirLandSea76891]

That’s cool, Kevin. What model did you use for Marias?

Bill

Bill, I used a 1:525 Lindberg Kennebec Class Fleet Oiler (the build thread is here
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/7/t/180715.aspx

Looks like you gave me some good help there. But I post very little on FSM and you are very active so probably don’t recall - no problem at all. [Y] I just noticed that I never did post that picture of the finished model with my father-in-law to wrap up that thread. I’ll have to go back and bump that thread just for that purpose [:$]

[AirLandSea76891]

Okay, here are some photos of the Revell Cutaway next to my professionally built resin 1/100 Pan Am/TWA 707 and a 1/144 Air Force One cutaway and a picture of an Eastern Airlines L-1011 magazine ad that I have in my “remote office” in the dining room at home.

Yes, the Entex/Doyusha kits are expensive (and have inaccuracies) but I feel that the larger 1/100 version will make the cabin interior stand out more. Reference the interior of the 1/144 Air Force One in the photo. Bear in mind that this won’t be the next model that I build, but it’s always in the back of my head. I see that since I returned to model kits after decades that LED lighting is a big thing in modeling. As such, I want to have this L-1011 when I build it have interior lighting along with navigational lights, etc., stuff that I’m still researching and learning how to do. The intent is to do the model in PSA livery as they were the airline that did use the L-1011 Lower Deck Lounge option. This is easier to be done in 1/100 scale and will also display better. When everything is said and done, this model will cost me a few hundred dollars, but it’s something I want to do. Basically, my goal is to get a more manageable version of the 1/35 display at the TWA Museum so I can have my own cutaway like I saw in travel agent offices growing up in the 70s without spending thousands to get one whenever one shows up for sale.

Some more internet images:

Looking at the 2-4-2 seating on the 1/144 scale kit, you can see that they are box shaped with a very straight vertical back with no curve.

Here is photo I retrieved on the internet of the 1/144 L-1011 seating that a modeler used for his custom cutaway model of a KLM DC-10. Once the seats are painted and detailed, the vertical back isn’t as pronounced.

At the 1/144 scale it won’t be noticeable and I’m willing to forgive it at the 1/100 scale where it will be more evident, but that’s why I’ve been tempted at the curved seats of the 1/96 Caravelle that I bought. They don’t match the 1970’s seating but hmmmm…

I purchased the Caravelle to build outright, but as I mentioned earlier, am thinking of buying a few more and using it to populate the seats for the L-1011 cabin. As it comes in a 3+2 format, what would be an easy adaption for me to cut a seating deck in two lengthwise and have the 2-seat pods adjacent to each other. Here is another internet photo.

Pawel, what I might do is get scale measurements from the 1/35 TWA model seats, scale them down to 1/100 and send you something that way. If I don’t go with that route, I’m sure that if you do put them on your Shapeways store as 3D 2-pods and 3-pods that they will be snapped up.