Dehler 34 Model Boat (1:330)

This is a fairly realistic model boat of a Dehler 34 sailing yacht (Van de Stadt, 1984). I owned and raced it for 5 years. It was fantastic. In order of adjusting its rating performance I created a 3D model for running naval technical calculations (hydrostatics, stability, VPP), from lines plans and a laser scan I performed. The hull is quite accurate, while the deck is not. Although it is more that sufficient for very large angles stability and water ingress calculations.

I decided to give a try at 3D printing the whole boat in three parts, so that it could easily be printed in most 3D printers, at least 12x12x12 cm of printing volume. I designed the hull and desk using jSDN Designer (a CAD software I develop over the years), including most of the parts. Then, I used Sketchup for some spall parts. Finally, I used Meshmixers for cutting the boat into three pieces.

I must recognize that the quality of the STL for the deck is not very good. It is related to the way I modeled it a long time ago. I tried to repair the mesh, but after some time, I decided that it is way easier for me to solve it in post processing (finishing putty, sanding paper, patience). Ba advised that because of this reason, your slicer can produce some gaps in the stern part of the hull (these I filled with putty).

Most parts at a scale, except those that cannot be printed with FDM (for example, the winches which ara a bit oversized). I believe that the final looking is quite acceptable. I printed my model in a Da Vinci Jr using white PLA for all the parts but the stand, which I printed in orange-translucid PLA.

I include STL parts for all the pieces except the mast and stanchions. I have used a 49 cm metal tube of 6mm diameter as the mast (passes through the deck and sits on the keel). I have used 15 mm metal nails of 1mm diameter as stanchions.

WARNING: this model is not suitable for RC use without some modifications. The first and most important one is that for appendages to be functional they must not be to scale. You would need much larger ones.