Spex84

Another way to explain it: 3D printing processes require that the 3D model be contiguous....for example, if the 3D model were filled with water, nothing would leak out. They'd be "water-tight". Video game models, especially the low-quality 3D meshes frequently available for free on the internet, don't have to be water-tight or contiguous. In fact, just the opposite is preferable: because a video game uses memory to display 3D objects, 3D modelers try to get away with using as little 3D geometry as possible to depict an object, in order to reduce the amount of memory required to display an object or scene. It's like a false-front building built as a film set, where there's no actual building behind the facade. In 3D model terms, this can mean things like deleting the underside of objects that rest on the ground--because no-one will ever see them. The end result--buildings, rocks, telephone poles, cars, you name it--that all have a "hole" in the bottom, are not water tight, and can't be 3D printed unless all the holes have been laboriously patched. 3D models touted as "Hi Res" are much more likely to be contiguous/water-tight, but not always. When I checked out that site, I recognized a number of 3D models that have been floating around the internet for at least a decade. Some are pulled from video games. I've downloaded a bunch in the past, and have found the models to be very poor in quality. I'm not at all convinced that the website is above-board.

Many of the kit parts in this T are so chunky that I'd tend to substitute Monogram or Revell parts that are more accurate or in-scale (that front axle is a prime example!). However the quickchange rearend and axle bells, Z'd T frame, headlights/stands, grille shell, wheels and tires are all good stuff. The engine block is not accurate for a Lincoln Y-block, but the air cleaners are darn nice compared to many other AMT/Monogram air cleaners of the time (no mold seam down the middle!) and the headers will fit a hemi engine. I didn't have much use for the stock model T buggy parts. That said, as has been pointed out already: this kit is perfect for 60s-nostalgia "survivor" style building....in the right hands, these old AMT hot rods can turn out beautifully (lookin' at your examples here Dave D!) I'm not sure I'd drop $45 (Canadian) on another T like this, when a more detailed kit would give me more kitbashing components for the money...but who knows, I bought the Vicky when it came 'round a few years ago, purely so I could leave my original '60s example unmolested. $20 would be much easier to swallow, haha. Here's my sole finished example (actually chopped down from the full-height body in the T-bucket double T kit).

Awesome work so far! The bodykit is dramatic and suits the car's lines well. I'm curious about the wheels and tires too...I have a Revell Supra kit on the shelf and if I build it, I'd like it to be similar to what you're building here!

I approve all of these neat styling studies. This fragmented dystopian look is being popularized by Ash Thorpe, Aaron Beck, and Khyzl Saleem. I can see the influences of their work in video games, films...and even real custom car builds at SEMA etc. Weird stuff sometimes, but I've always liked cyberpunk. I like the Ferrari F40 vibes I'm getting from it.

Haha, cheesy but kinda neat. I'd actually love to see a Mad Max version of that....real human skulls, maybe 3 in a row (or a pyramid), all rigged to move with the throttle. They sort of did it already, but not quite... ...and here's a skull air cleaner on a bike. Downright classy!

I'm enjoying this build! Just the right mix of period-correct parts, and nicely proportioned. I even like the unchopped windshield frame. Color-wise, while it would look good in gold, purple, ice blue, candy red....I actually quite like the mockup shots in white styrene. How about pearl white?

Haha, crazy! I love the idea...it looks like one of the retro-inspired custom hovercraft trucks Keith Weesner might draw.

If it's not a Falcon (and it probably is) I'm gonna go with ...'57 Ford Thunderbird:

I love that bike! Had forgotten about it, so it's fun to see it again. Impractical as anything, more of a rolling sculpture, but as sculptures go, it's absolutely fantastic. I like to imagine it embodies the concept sketches 100%, with nothing lost in translation or watered down. Every shape and proportion on the bike resonates in some fashion.

I am very curious to know how much of this is BS and how much is true. I suspect Mopar took a very slight advantage and exaggerated it as much as possible to make their cars look vastly superior to the competition. That said, I sure wouldn't want to be flinging an Olds around tight corners at speed after watching this video! Very entertaining regardless. Thanks for posting! *Edit* I agree that it would be great to have more kits of the various '57 Chrysler models. I prefer the New Yorker and Windsor/Saratoga grilles and side trim to the Chrysler 300 of the same year.

I do this kind of thing, to a lesser degree. I have a pile of paints that I have not used, ever. I bought them with future projects in mind, but it takes me so long to get a project paint-worthy that some of the paints have gone bad, just sitting there waiting. At a certain point, I have to look at my current stock of paint/kits/tools/whatever and ask myself "Did I use the last thing I purchased? Or did it just get added to the pile, and sit unused for months or years? What will I do with the new thing if I buy it?" And if the honest answer is "It will sit on the shelf, gather dust, age until it's unusable because I'm afraid to use it"....then I try not to buy it in the first place. Saves me the self-recrimination later :D

Dang, that's nice!! Thanks for all the detail pics. I don't build in this style but I can learn a ton from observing the various design and engineering choices.

Beautiful so far Thanks for going into detail on the vent window modifications. That's an area that frequently looks "wrong" on model cars, but I've never really put much time into figuring out why.

Cool fade job!

Well done! None of those are easy kits to build, and yours look very well-sorted. I've only ever used them as parts donors for hot rod projects, never had the fortitude to try and build one box-stock!

One of the cars I posted above is the "Brubaker Box", a kit car body designed for a VW chassis. Pretty neat. Well, it has been pointed out that Brubaker produced other designs, and hey, one of them looks a heck of a lot like the Cybertruck! I'd be keen to see artist Khyzl Saleem's take on the Cybertruck. His aesthetic is informed by cyberpunk and a variety of car-culture styles, and it's feeding back into car culture in the form of SEMA builds and video game cars inspired by his work. The Tesla truck is so monolithic; it could use some more fragmented areas of detail or color to relieve the severity of the design. The Brubaker concept above achieves this with a black 2-toned front panel. But then I guess we're getting back into gratuitous styling.

And one more comment, relating to Richard's observation that cyberpunk themes often warned of the consequences of modern technologies....the Cybertruck does NOT look like it's designed for a future (or a present) that we're comfortable with. It looks like it's fortified against an unfriendly world. Timely, maybe...but the world is what we make it!

I was flabbergasted by the Cybertruck reveal. After so many years of retro-mod re-interpretations of old car designs, I expected their version to be a fairly generic crossover-looking truck with some token "cyber" details, similar to the way the new Ford Mach-E is just a generic crossover wearing the stretched-out pelt of some poor Mustang. For years I've been grumbling "what about a truck that is utilitarian, bare-bones, functional instead of hewing to current fashion trends?". And I'm a fan of 1970s sci-fi and industrial design. Welp...I can't say Tesla's new truck design strikes me as functional, but man, did they ever call my bluff. The truck looks like a video game LOD model. Like somebody said "hey, I've been learning Google Sketchup over the weekend; I'm getting pretty good, we should fire the design team!" It breaks many of the aesthetic rules for making a good-looking 3D object. The wheel arches are particularly egregious. It looks like a low-budget '70s sci fi background vehicle made from plywood. Who knows...it might actually work! I'm picturing the Tesla team as soccer players sprinting towards the open net, hoping to score while everyone else is standing there with their jaws hanging open. Here are some cars that were probably part of the design DNA of the Cybertruck. And at risk of being a spoilsport, every single one of them is better looking. Lol!!

Classy! With a nose like that, I almost expected to see a Jag or Ferrari engine or something similar. This model is a great example of how good the late 80s/90s street-rod style can look!

10 years already?? Whoa. Yep, I'm good with it too. Really enjoyed building the one I purchased last time it was released.

If future spacecraft look like SpaceX's Starship (seen below at left as compared with "Destination Moon" (1950), then there's hope! Maybe we'll get those sleek retro wedge cars we're hoping for. Of course, maybe by then, we'll all be commuting by Hyper-Camel.

Wasn't the last issue of the Double-T kit exactly the same as this, just with different box art? Not complaining, just wondering if they changed anything for this version.

That's what my bench looks like too.

Several of my faves are already listed here...Syd Mead, Thom Taylor, Steve Stanford. For modern concept artists, I also enjoy Gary Campesi's concepts! In the past...I always thought Harry Bradley's pencil lines were the sweetest around, and I love the Da Vinci-like cutaways, sections, diagrams, and notes that would frequently accompany the car designs. And Darrel Mayabb's artistry is (was??) spectacular. http://www.automotivegraffiti.com/galery_main_page.html I've posted some images I like, but he also did more concept-y designs. I'm not sure if I'd call Jeff Norwell a "concept artist" as he seems to mostly draw cars inspired by real-life examples, but his style has a lot of the liveliness that I admire in Mayabb's cartoons. Oh, and of course, the fabulous kandy-koated kreations of Keith Weesner:

Cool mods and parts choices so far! I'm looking forward to watching this one develop.