Spex84

Same here, I only just saw it now! Some very cool stuff going on; the turbos look good. I'm impressed that all the little fillets behaved on that differential; I always seem to run into fillet problems.

Doug, that Desoto model looks enticing! There are some very good 3D models out there. I'm picky. So many of them have proportion problems, made by artists who know the software but not the subject matter. //A major downside of video game models is they're like false-front buildings--a series of hollow shells designed to make the models load quickly in 3D software. They are not enclosed volumes and have to be laboriously "capped" to be eligible for printing. In addition, they tend to be low-resolution, low-polygon, faceted instead of smooth. In contrast, the 3D cars sold as "solid models" are terrible for video games (way too many unnecessary polygons) but excellent starting points for 3D printing. The '31 Ford coupe I have on Shapeways was a video game model I created in 2010/11. As an amateur, it took probably hundreds of hours for me to get it working in-game...and then almost as many to "fix" it and make it printable! Kind of a nightmare, really. But the point is--I had the interest, put in the time (holy smokes, SO much time) and made it happen. Others will do the same!! It's going to take a while before the tech for creating 3D objects becomes as accessible as it needs to be for widespread adoption.

I noticed the carb issue too--I think they're Weber DCOEs (sidedraft), which are featured in the correctly horizontal position in at least one other kit. But in the 'vette they're mounted vertically, as far as I know incorrectly. You'd want Weber IDAs for that. //Other than that, I thought the kit was pretty sweet! Lots of extra optional parts, big block, Webers, mags, etc. I only have one though, and I'm doing some wacky stuff with it so far:

https://industriamechanika.com/shop/ Industria Mechanika is a small-scale shop that produces kits in collaboration with a bunch of awesome concept artists and illustrators. From what I understand it's an extremely tough business to be in, so I'm always happy to see people buying and building their kits!! //Jurva, beautiful job on the boat. The color treatment perfectly captures the vibrance and variety of Ian McQue's illustrations. It will make a fantastic conversation piece!

Drag City Casting is still in business! Ed makes awesome resin...but the menu shifts with time, as molds wear out and demand for old products wanes. Every so often he'll bring a retired product back, like the '34 Ford body etc, so definitely keep an eye out as he brings new parts online. There is also a Drag City Casting Facebook page now, and it will have more up-to-date information on that stuff.

This is all fascinating stuff, thanks for adding these video links to standalone posts. The 3D printer you mentioned in part 1 is the first printer to really make me sit up and say "wow, this could be the one I actually buy!". Acceptable detail at an acceptable price, perfect! As for 3D printing molds for a desktop injection molding machine, when I look at the whole process, the bottleneck is the slight texture imparted to the parts by the 3D printed tooling. If they could be printed perfectly smooth, then it wouldn't be an issue. Metal molds can be polished--witness the complaints that arose when Moebius kit bodies had a slightly pebbly texture, but they allegedly went back and smoothed things out some more (I wouldn't know, I don't have firsthand experience of that issue). Fix that, and everything becomes possible, including 3D scanning and rapidly producing shoddy ripoffs of production kits, haha. Exciting to see what the possibilities could be for scale model production in the very near future!

So last year I got back from vacation and Chevy had announced a spectacularly ugly truck. I drew a little spoof image satirizing Chevy's current design direction and posted it here. Now it's a year later, and here we go again, except this time I'm not even gonna bother with satire. I mean...wow. WOOF!

Wow, what a serendipitous post--I have the exact same part sitting on my workbench; it was loose in a box of random parts and I was wondering what it was from. Now I know!

MAN, this thing is nice. I'm very impressed by the opening windshield--that's a detail I considered adding to my bare-metal '30 but it seemed too darn finicky to be worth it. Fantastic detailing!

These are awesome!! Thanks for posting I like the square-body Chevy versions.

Nicely done, and from a Lindberg too! I like the color and decal choice and period-correct detailing. My only critique would be that the headers look dangerously close to the ground if the car bounces at all Looks tough as nails though!

Love it! I think I learned a thing or two about derby car prep just from observing the details in this model. I like how it's built in a very clear style with parts called out in contrasting colors, almost like a technical diagram. One thing that jumps out at me--I've been to a couple derbies and the cars were never reinforced quite THIS much! Must be a different rule set

Beautiful! This truck has a certain flair that seems contemporary despite the pro-street stylings. I enjoy how the narrow "T" bed and tall '29 cab could potentially look ill-proportioned, but the fat tires and full fenders add visual mass and bring everything together again. I dig those single-rib Radir wheels too. Thanks for sharing these pics!

I can probably join in the new year. Easy...considering that 17 of my current WIPs are "dead" right now!! The oldest is about 18 or 19 years old.

Love this model--I went out and bought the mag off the newsstand because of it, then started a '34 project inspired it. But then it evolved rapidly into full east-coast territory with a low tail end and molded fenders, and I never finished it. Gotta get back on it! The stance and color combo are probably the things that grab me most with this '34, but there are many other details that keep me coming back.

Beautiful! Just yesterday I was admiring a photo of a '40 in red, almost exactly like this one in terms of style in stance, but with blackwalls...thinking maybe I should build a model of it. You beat me to it

Excellent stuff! Those are very cleanly executed models. I think my faves are the yellow and white RPUs. The 80s era isn't my favorite in terms of colors, graphics, and wheels, but when it all comes together the results are impressive. I had a bagful of those centerline-style wheels that I considered junk, but recently I was admiring photos of Lil John's '32 3-window (with the rectangular headlights) thinking that someday, I should build a genuine 80s-mid 90s street rod with all the bells and whistles....and finally put those wheels to good use! I'd like to have some hot rods from every major period, '40s through 2010s, on the shelf eventually.

I was unaware of the original "Mr Speed" rear-engine kit. That's darned cool. Looking forward to seeing this come together! I love that one-coat emerald and the molded-in taillights/headlights for the fiberglass body look.

Nice save! Looks much better with the new tires. It's still one ball short, though Gives it character!

Beautiful flow on that chop!!

Beautifully done! I've seen the "warbird" theme done many times before, but this version is so clean, with some excellent detailing (love the seat belts). The air scoops are appropriate and dramatic, and the paint scheme is well balanced. Very cool

From here, it looks like the engines are so tall they'll fill the body from top to bottom, making a chop impossible without the engines protruding. But that could be the angle... Very curious to see where this goes

I've been loving this build so far. Did you use Uni Posca pens for the blue stripes on the tires? They look really good. Nothing I've tried is the right color or sufficiently opaque.

This is demented, I love it

Oh son of a gun...the parts stash I acquired had some other Enterprise parts. These little bits just looked SO much like '60s customizing accessories that I never even considered the possibility that they might be spacecraft components. Wow. Nice detective work, that's a pretty bizarre and niche discovery, haha! Thanks Chris