kensar

Great looking model, Phil. The weathering smudges are a nice touch. Now for my Mini Cooper story. I worked as a volunteer corner worker at Road Atlanta for the SCCA runoffs one year. As a thank you to the volunteers, several drivers and teams gave us a lap around the track in the race cars after the races were over for the day. We lined up and were picked up one by one as the cars came through the line. When my turn came up, a red Mini Cooper pulled up, driven by an old lady (must have been in her 60s) wearing a huge floppy straw hat, big round sunglasses, and flip flops. My heart sank. I was hoping for one of the hot cars. Well, that old lady scared the hell out me and gave me a ride I won't forget. Didn't know a Mini could go that fast.

Ready for clearcoat.

Nice! Looks like a very clean build. Is it OOB? The first couple of closeup pics look heavily processed and distorted.

Q 1 - whats your current go-to printer ?? A1 - I am using an Anycubic Photon Mono M5s Pro printer at either 20 micron or 30 micron layer ht, depending on the level of detail needed. The higher layer ht reduces print time on non-critical parts. I am using Anycubic ABS-like Resin PRO2 resin. Q2 - are the belts incorporated into the seats? A2 - No, the webbing is off-white paper, which makes it look very flat, and the hardware is 3D printed belt hardware that Bill Cunningham developed. He has allowed free use of the design (Thanks again, Bill). Thanks for looking into this project.

Progress is moving along quickly. Here are the wheels and seats. getting ready to start painting the body, which will be blue with gold stripes planned.

Welcome to the world of model contests!

Thanks, Dave. I design all my projects in Fusion 360.

The first print of the body

My next project is the Bocar XP5. This was a racer made by Bob Carnes from Colorado in about 1959. He offered complete cars and kits for homebuilders. The XP5 was capable of almost 160 mph, which was quite fast for 1959. It was raced in Florida and came in second to a Jag D type. Bob made about 20 cars before his shop burned down, ending production of Bocars. It was powered by either a Corvette engine or a Pontiac engine. I am about to start printing, so I should be posting some building shots soon. This will be a quicky curbside model. Not all the parts are shown in the renderings above.

Nice work on the megaphones. 👍 All your scratchbuilding is defintely an upgrade.

Seems I forgot to include some interior pics. I wanted the interior to have a early 1970s look.

Smash molding is a simple way to mold a sheet of material into a 3D shape. Referring to the picture below, the gray mold was made in the design software and was printed as a part on the 3D printer. it fits up into the body where the interior is, and conforms to its interior shape. I have traced the window shapes with a marker for reference. I use a heat gun (chrome thingy in the picture) to heat a sheet of PETG to form the windows. Next I clamp a piece of PETG in some clamps to hold it and heat it over the heat gun. Watch those fingers - it gets hot! When the PETG sheet is soft and pliable, I 'smash' it over the mold where the window I want to make is. If the PETG gets too hot, it turns white and it's ruined. I make the windshield, side windows, and back window separately. Then cut them out and glue them into the body. In the picture above, the PETG is covered by a protective film and doesn't look clear, but after the film is peeled off, the PETG is VERY clear. The film must be removed before heating. Here I was just demonstrating the process. The PETG sheets are available on Amazon and are 0.015" thick. Hope this process is clear. Thanks for looking in on this project.

Thanks for commenting, everyone. I use the free version of Autodesk Fusion design software. I learned how to use it by watching YouTube videos. The terms of use dictate that I cannot use the software for commercial purposes. When I develop a design, I usually have an idea for only a part of the vehicle, typically based on some design feature of another vehicle. After I get started, I need to 'fill in' the rest of the design and this is usually not based on any particular vehicle.

Hi John. The one car that most influenced the design is the 1968 Dodge Charger, but the front end and the back end design were conceived first. The front end is reminiscent of a De Tomaso Mangusta.

This is the Concept 3, a custom design and 3D print. Named the Concept 3 because it is the third custom design I have done. It is envisioned as a mid sized car with seating for four and an automatic transmission, having a muscle car vibe. Paint is Splash Paints Anniversary Gold with Alclad chrome trim. All parts are original design and 3D printed except the glass, which are smash molded PETG, and the windshield wipers which are PE. Comments are welcome.

Great looking model. Looks like you overcame the decal issues.

Super cool!

Great scratchbuilding there.

A nice collection of Howmets and great work on them. Interesting subjects.

Great subject!

Thanks for the comments, Tommy and Rich. Since this thread has come up to the top again, I'll add a few more builds. Tamiya and Fujimi Alfas: A lot of unused race car numbers were collecting in my decal box, so - 'art car' Porsche 550 Carrera Panamericana Revell Porsche 914 converted into a race car. Gunze Daytona Cobra Tamiya Porsche Carrera GT converted into a 'targa' model - the glass top coupe. The clear top extends across the entire top. I hope you enjoyed the new additions. I added some of the more interesting subjects I have done over the last 30 years. Thanks for looking in! Ken

Very nice model, Rich. I, too, was struck by how visually stunning this car is and built the LeMans version of the Profil24 kit. It is one of my favorite models.

Very nice final result, Dave. The paint looks super smooth on this minimalist car.

Helmut - I see what you mean as the Mistral bears a striking resemblance to the Peugeot, which I had never seen before. Thanks for posting the pic.

Thank you for all the kind comments, everyone. The design of the Mistral is an amalgamation of design features of a number of cars that I worked into this original design. Ken Mouton