Pico

Regard3d: http://www.regard3d.org/ This home brew method makes a body with more unevenness' on it than a professional scan but costs nothing. I notice that you have produced a body from a video game download ( I thought I was the first to do that but you beat me by several years - see my Fiat 8V Supersonic) so you know how to modify a mesh for 3d printing. The mesh will have a very high poly count so you probably will have to reduce it using Meshlab. Preparing it for photos is not difficult but it's necessary to know how to do it correctly. I made a turntable marked in degrees, so that I would be shooting at a consistent angle. If you make too many photos on one side, the mesh will be weak on the other side. Make the background featureless. Use a broad, flat light. Use a small f-stop for greatest depth of field, try to keep the entire model in focus. Strip the model and paint with white primer - no highlights - and add plenty of texture to it so that there are many points for the algorithms to refer to, in making the mesh. I like the idea of a Ford Comete, very attractive little cars. Good luck!

Hiring a designer will cost you $$, so I suggest you download Fusion360 (it's free) and learn it. You can make anything you want with it and you'll understand why designers cost $$. https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

You can hire a designer through Shapeways to make what you want: https://www.shapeways.com/hire/designer

This will be my first printing project when I complete my printer. Took a 1/43 scale model, took 50 images of it, uploaded to a site that used the images to produce a mesh, which I downloaded and modified to make it printable. Then scaled it to 1/24th scale. I now have it in a program that makes the supports for printing (in yellow) and slices it for the printer. You can hire 3d printers with scanners to do this for you, so you can make in 1/24th anything that can be scanned. Of course, it can be output in 1:1, if you are really serious.

Yes it is.

Ace - You attending ACME meeting this Sunday?

Here is the first skiff bodied car. Labourdette built the body on a 1914 Panhard & Levasour chassis. This is a replica built in the 70's.

Thanks for the compliments, guys. "Moving across the arc of media" ? Darn, that's some mighty flighty prose there, Bernard. And I thought I was just doin' the best I could under the circumstances. Chris - excellent explanation about Shapeways quality. BTW, I thought I was the first, and only modeler to use a video game car to make a 3d printed model; but I see in another thread that you beat me by several years. The "Supersonic" was printed by Steven Furick, but I am building a DLP printer, so if I get a hot flash I can bang something out in the middle of the night.

Although prices have been dropping, it is still not economical to buy a high resolution printer for hobby use. For high resolution prints (engine parts, etc.) I suggest Shapeways or Randy Ditton ( randy@modelbuilderswh.com ) . See his work in the Desktop Manufacturing thread. For medium resolution prints (bodies) I use Steven Furick ( SF@Flywheelit.com ). See his work in my "Supersonic has landed" thread. Steven can scan , so he can take a 1/43rd model, scan it and print it at 1/24th. Free CAD programs: I've used Sketchup for 8 years; it's an advanced hobbyist program and will probably do everything you need. No need to pay for the Pro program. Get the 2017 Sketchup, if it is available. I think with the new versions they have been taking functionally out of the software, that you have to pay to acquire. But, to go first class, I suggest you get Fusion360. This is professional software that is highly capable. Check out the Autodesk site and Udemy.com for teaching videos. Both have learning curves that can be daunting, Sketchup is probably easier, Fusion will take you further.

Well, I'll be darned. I assumed that the drawing was redrawn from the Polish one and was the same, but it's not. There are slight differences, I'll compare it to photos and known dimensions. Thanks.

This is a copy of the Polish plans that I consider to be inaccurate.

What? Attending an ACME meeting? Are you feeling alright? I'm fairly certain the R&T has the profile drawing. Can anyone scan and send that drawing?

As Ace mentioned, I've been working of a Mangusta for quite a long time; however I'm hampered by a lack of good plans. The only one available are from a Polish magazine and it is incorrect. It is apparently are the source of the Turbosquid/Humster/Cgtrader digital models which might be alright for a third rate video game or toy, but not a 1/24th model. The SMP model seems to have the same source. I am work off of photos but i'm always fighting perspective distortion with them. I need factory drawings - does anyone have any books on the Mangusta, as Bella Mangusta, by Ruzzin or others ? Also, Road & Track, April 1969 had an article on the Mangusta - did it include a side drawing with that article. If so, I need it. Enclosed a pic of my progress so far.

Alright , I'll take a bow. Here's an image of the tire in Sketchup. It's the best 1920's tire but it almost the only one, too.

Highly detailed kits for the Alfa and Talbot Lago are available from the Indycals/MP2 Hobbies shop on Shapeways. If you want, buy soon as Shapeways will increase their prices on Feb. 1 and these kits will be deleted due to the increase. I haven't seen the kit but absmiami has one and he liked it. Link: https://www.shapeways.com/product/AURGTZLE8/alfa-romeo-158-update-kit?optionId=60111686 .

The Smer Alfa is identical to the Merit Alfa.

Superb.

As far as I know I did not replicate an existing car. Although it could have been.

Nice work!

Finally finished, and glad of it.

Final assembly begins.

Price is right , too.

The reason I suggested the 3d warehouse Iso is because it is well designed and should be fairly easy to modify for printing.

I haven't used any of Turbosquid's files but my66s55 on the 3d print discussion has; best to ask him. However, I don't think that it is printable as it is. I am fairly certain the body file is a membrane; it has no thickness. In order to print, the file has to have thickness, must not have any holes in it and no geometry inside it. Here's a good basic tutorial : https://all3dp.com/sketchup-3d-printing-tutorial/

Made some progress recently and going to push hard to get this done because I got the hots to roll on to another project.