Spex84

I just navigated here from the '32 thread, looking for pics of the red-primered custom. Found it! Wow, what a beast. I'm loving the 'vette hood on the shoebox. I have eyed that combo many times myself but never pulled the trigger, so it's cool to see how close the fit is once the hole is actually cut.

This is really cool so far! Love that asymmetrical styling. Also...what's that slinky red-primered Kustom in the first photo? '55 Chevy wheel covers, looks like maybe a '40 Ford? Willys?? Got any more photos of that thing?

New on the store are an Olds 303 front saddle-style mount intended to fit Revell '32 Fords (say, if you want to drop the Revell '50 Olds in, but the kit-stock mounting nub just isn't doin' it for ya) and an 8-pack of '40 Ford brake master cylinders.

I wasn't a fan of the exhaust port detail on the Rat Roaster but I'm a big fan of them in this application!! Killer stuff!

Over on the left you'll find the shop sections, which are divided according to scale and content. Nearly everything in the shop is in "1/25 Hot Rod Parts", with a few engine combo packs in "1/25 Engine Combo Packs". I wish there was a better way to sort and display the items. I've even considered creating my own website as a landing page to direct people to the products in a more streamlined way, but the cost and labor involved is prohibitive right now.

Agreed, they're missing, but check out how damaged the fenders are...I bet someone removed the strips because they were toast. And if the headlight rings are painted black, that suggests to me that the whole lower half of the car was repainted at some point, possibly covering the door emblem. I still think it's the exact car! Of course, if I'm wrong, that means there were at least 2 examples of this magnificent beast and that would be awesome!

I'd say Al nailed it...I counted the snaps along the side of the roof for the canvas top; 22 in each photo. The only difference I can see is the mirror on the survivor car, and the missing trim rings and hubcaps. Everything else is the same. The hood-side emblem is obscured in the survivor shots (it's behind the fender marker light). The fender-top indicator lights seem like they're missing in the vintage photo, but they're actually there, just drowned in glare from the sun. Someone painted the headlight rings black at some point. What a cool rig! I can also imagine it on a stretched modern frame with a diesel and a lift, something kind of like the Red Bull Sugga:

Thanks for the kind words Craig. I bet you can make those parts shine! At your suggestion, I have created a version of the quickchange rear with crossmember to fit Revell '32 Fords. All it required was widening the crossmember to 38mm from the previous 34. Both versions are now in the shop, so to future shoppers: please pay attention to the title and description of the product, it will tell you whether the parts fit Revell '29/30 or Revell '32! https://www.shapeways.com/product/2C9MDJHN5/quickchange-rear-with-crossmember-fits-revell-32 I've also added a 3-pack of plain rear crossmembers in the same 38mm width to fit Revell '32 frames: https://www.shapeways.com/product/T3HQUKQ66/3pack-model-t-crossmembers-fits-revell-32-ford

I'm very excited by this release and delighted with the changes made to the Rat Roaster tool. Like everyone else, I kinda wish they'd gone further towards making it 100% traditional but I understand the limitations the kit designers were working with. I could definitely be convinced to offer a 3D printed QC that fits the Revell frame, but in the meantime, Craig, you inspired me to stab the 3D printed QC setup into a Revell frame...and it works out pretty much as you described! I removed the kit crossmember by scoring with the back of a knife blade and dropped in the 3D printed QC and crossmember combo. Once the upper shock mounts are resting against the floor, kit-stock ride height is achieved! Easy peasy. Two small problems: the crossmember was designed for the narrower Revell '29/30 frames (so there's a gap on each side) and placing the axle in exactly the right location pushes the QC right up against the gas tank, so if it were a real car there'd be no room for suspension articulation. Solutions: just add 2mm spacers to each side, and if you really want to be trad, notch the gas tank for the quick-change. *Edit: I should mention, this is for a '32 roadster build inspired by the Kessler roadster. I was going to just put the Revell 9-inch in it, but...now it will get a QC! https://public.fotki.com/LOUD-PEDAL/1932-fords/famous-1932-fords/75-years-of-the-32-ford-/gary-kesslers-roadster/gary-kesslers-clone-10.html

Glad to hear it, Larry! Thanks for choosing MLM...and be sure to post some pics if you use the parts in a project. I love seeing the stuff actually getting built. Hmm, it's been a while since I posted in this thread. Here's a mockup of the QC setup that I printed at home...it's packaged differently from the Shapeways version (that version has bigger sprues) but I've had a couple Shapeways customers report successful results so far, so I'm pretty excited about it. This was posted to Instagram a while back and I still haven't painted the parts. I'd better get in gear!!

Loving this build so far, it's so cool to see 3D printed traditional hot rod parts in use!

Nicely done! The end result is very convincing. I can just imagine that van hauling painting supplies in Mexico or something. Ditto Mike's comments above!

I agree that hand-drawn or painted art tends to have imperfections that make it feel richer than digital art. That said, some digital artists have become SO good at mimicking traditional art media and techniques that you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference through a computer screen! It's crazy what's possible these days. Gimp has a variety of tools, including ones that allow you to draw from scratch. RE: digital drawing/painting apps that are free, I should also mention Krita. It features some awesome digital drawing and painting tools and is set up a lot like photoshop. I downloaded it fairly recently but haven't dug into it yet, so looking forward to that!

Love the color, and that interior is looking super classy!

Beautiful work! Love that fade job and the modifications...you've kept all of the cool features of the car and ironed out the weirdness that it suffers from in stock form. I particularly like the bladed bumpers.

Now that's eye-catching! Very nicely sorted. I'd love to get my hands on another AMT '63 vette at some point. I've always loved the design.

Looking fantastic! Nice oxygen tank, btw.

The effort going into this bellypan...wow!

Glad to see the updates on this one, it's been a while since I checked in! That chromed grille is going to look absolutely wild once it's in place. This car has that perfect 1940s pulp magazine "Automobiles of the Future" vibe. I'm truly impressed that you have followed through and it's so close to completion!

Fantastic work! The paint is luscious. Nice job getting all the grille components straight and level...that's always a tough challenge for people building replicas of this car. El Matador is one of my all-time faves and you've certainly done it justice!

Mmm, nope. I just checked the instructions and some online auction listings that show the kit components and I was incorrect. The '57 Ford seats are different; more pronounced bolsters and a different upholstery pattern. But I DO have a couple sets of those seats in my stash! Hmm...what the heck are they from? I'll keep looking.

Cool project! That seat looks like it's from the '90s issues of the AMT '57 Ford, which featured a selection of 2-n-1 features. I think this version has those seats?:

Sounds like that body must be a super-high detail mesh. Good luck. There are a couple ways to optimize or re-mesh objects in Blender, but it does tend to result in undesirable changes to the mesh. I look forward to seeing what technique does the trick!

Meshmixer might do what you need. If I was going to split that body in Blender, I'd make 3 copies of the body and use Boolean modifiers with a large cube to remove the rear 2/3 of the first body, the nose and tail of the second body, and the front 2/3 of the third body. The result, once the modifiers were applied, would be 3 chunks: nose, center, and tail. The body probably needs to be a contiguous "watertight" mesh in order for the Boolean modifier to work well.

I dig all the ways you're deleting some of the toy-like features and making the model look more like a 1:1, namely the floor tab removal and door panel modifications. Mockup looks tuff!!