OldNYJim

Look forward to seeing some more of your work!

The suspense is killing me… ?

Congrats…but where’s the pic of the build? I wanna see!

Thank you! Not my design, but I love how these look! Thanks buddy! I’ve been bad at posting updates on this one this past couple of weeks because I’m making SUCH slow progress…turns out if you don’t use a single part out of the box, unmodified, it’s a lot of work ?. Got the front end assembled though and started the engine… I needed a radiator so I printed one of those (this is a slightly shrunk-down 60s Mustang part, I believe): Printed some brake drums too…I think I’ll use the Revell 29/30 ones that are on there now for the front, but for some reason I wanted a regular drum on the back so that’ll be what goes there: And spent some time working on the tires today, improving my tire-painting skills. Used Createx Black sealer, airbrushed some dark gray over that, dry brushed some lighter gray on some of the high spots and then sealed in clear and gave them a wash with thinned black India ink before shooting satin clear and drybrushing again. Slow progress, not helped by the fact I’ve redone every part at least once to get it where I want it (or closer, anyway), but it’s coming together slowly but surely…

Not a very complicated kit either, so you’d definitely be looking at a lot more for something more involved…but yeah, I was pleasantly surprised at how little MATERIAL you need…but as you can see from my Post-It there, the machine takes a few hours to do it’s thing. Made some little bits of progress on this thing this week when I had a few minutes, mostly on fixing the flaws on the body that came from it sagging a little where I didn’t give it enough supports. Lesson learned for the next ones, but also I wouldn’t really say I had to put more effort into this ‘failed’ print than I would any standard kit body - it’s just instead of filling sink holes and sanding parting lines I had to get the surfaces perfectly flat. I know how to fix that for next time though now so that they’ll print a lot better. You can see some of the little fixes I had to do, and now this body is about ready for primer: More soon!

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone, and the tips on 3D printing. Very helpful - and I’m just messing with some parts at 0.3mm print resolution this weekend… I’m glad someone asked these questions, because I wondered about them myself when I started this project…so, as I was printing, I totaled up the volume of resin used for each set of parts so I could see: File one was TWO bodies, which cost $1.08 total, then all the subsequent files are everything else (plus some of the option parts, when I had a gap left on the machine’s plate to print them). Total came to $2.61 for the resin cost, and the kit was $12…so under $15 to print, assuming you get a good print first time around. Of course, the second version of this truck I make will cost me less than $3, seeing as I have the file already… (Edit, note: this is based on using standard Any Cubic gray resin, at $25 per 1kg bottle, delivered)

Good topic! This got me thinking… I think, for me, the enjoyment and excitement I get from seeing an inspiring build is very rarely because the subject matter is exactly the thing I like. I follow a bunch of inspiring builders on Instagram, for example, and most of them AREN’T building something I would consider building myself…but they do it SO well, it doesn’t matter to me. The craftsmanship is the thing I enjoy seeing, and learn from. I read something on a modeling site once, maybe here or maybe SA before it closed, that said it really doesn’t matter which kit you might choose to build for a contest - if you build it well enough, it doesn’t even matter. Same thing with seeing other people’s builds…seeing a job masterfully done is the interesting thing for me

Simple solution (to what I think is a great idea)…set up an account on Cults3D, which is free to do, and host your files there and link to them like this: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/vw-t3-bus That site is free to host 3D files on, allows the option to sell parts if you’re so inclined, and is already setup to do what we’re talking about here

I love these videos so much, and loved learning more about this build Anyone else peeking behind @TimKustomin the interview to see what he’s working on? ?

That's what I figured (but hadn't researched yet) - thanks Steve! Appreciate you replying!

I was sad to see @StevenGuthmiller move away from posting his builds on the board and I’d be equally sad if we lost @Ace-Garageguy’s insightful and valuable posts on all things automotive. Both are incredibly knowledgable and talented builders. Also, the mods have a tough job, and I appreciate the work they do keeping this place running smoothly, and I’m sure they’re between a rock and a hard place more often than we realize (not referencing any particular person or thread; just generally I mean). Here ends my unsolicited opinion (really a general plea for peace and harmony, for my own selfish reasons of getting to see talented and knowledgable people that I admire continue to post here ?)

I’ve been meaning to stop by there and see what they’ve got in stock compared to the Valpo store - did you happen to notice any of the hot rod kits that they’ve got in stock right now?

Disagree. What are you gonna do with a lump of dirt or cat hair or something in your color coat? Just clear over it? How are you going to fix that with polishing? Here's a video from a much better painter than me demonstrating how to fix boo-boos in metallic and pearl paintjobs: To answer OP's question, I would try a different clear and see what happens...that would at least pin down what's doing it...

There's no shortage of misc. sponsor decal sheets available out there - I don't blame Atlantis for not including 100 other logos that they'd have to license (and then EVERY kit would cost more, and everyone would be complaining that there's a bunch of licensed decals included that they wish they didn't have to pay for...like we already see with the Coke decals in the AMT kits)

Same as here then - my local store is adding a bunch of gundam and Star Wars stuff but I’ve not seen a new car kit for a while now. Keep hoping they’ll get the Revell 30 Fords, but nothing yet…

Was it ALL of the Evergreen and K&S on clearance or just certain lines? Interested to see if they DO drop those from their line-up… Today’s mail-call (excuse the big white sticker on the box) I want to build this thing, listed in the manual: I was wondering if the parts to build this were also in the recently-ish reissued two-in-one kit with the chopped T coupe on the box, but I think that’s an entirely different kit…pity, because I have 4 of those on my shelf already and none of the 23 T Roadster…

That’s my own creation! It was pretty easy to draw that flat panel so this was a good opportunity to test whether the theory worked! I’ll try something more complex next - some Deuce hood sides or an actual hood maybe… @Kit Karson - thank you sir! I had been following that build by Martin Aveyard on Instagram - he’s a really inspiring builder! Very very good at what he does! Havent posted an update on this in a few days - have been prepping and painting a bunch of stuff…but I’ll be starting some ‘real’ assembly soon! Thanks for all the nice comments so far!

Exactly! The printing is the slow part right now (definitely slower than a trip to the hobby shop, unless your shop is a few hours round trip) but it certainly beats ordering online and waiting a week… You’re absolutely right - angling the bodies gives better results. In this case though, I could JUST squeeze two bodies on one build plate if I didn’t angle them…so I took a shot and let the machine do two at once, seeing as it was going to take a few hours. I’ve got the little Anycubic 4k printer - largest print size is about 6” X 5.5” I think. This kit came from a seller on Instagram: https://instagram.com/blackboxstl?utm_medium=copy_link @Jhedir6 - good insight, thank you! I’m printing at 0.05mm layer height right now, which was the default in Lychee for my particular printer. Question - do you notice a large increase in printing times at that higher resolution? Although the layers LOOK really noticeable in that pic where I’d been sanding on the body, it’s really not bad at all - just a few minutes work to clean up. Thanks too for the links to those Cults3D sellers…some GREAT stuff in there! I think I found my next couple of projects ? Tiny bit of progress this evening…printed the interior pieces and the last couple of little parts that I needed: This kit is really well thought out - the parts almost just snap together! I had been trying to figure out the best way to print the bed, which was modeled as one piece and looked somewhat tricky to print. Challenges were that it had underhangs (rear fenders, primarily) various underside detail, and details on the outer sides and back that I didn’t want to ruin or obscure with supports. The most obvious solution would be to invert it and put all the supports on the inside with braces so it printed square and true, but that would make cleanup of the inside of the bed harder; and also printing something taller takes a lot longer than something flatter. So, I just split the part into five pieces and printed it like so…took 30 minutes to print this way rather than the 3 hours the bed would’ve taken as one piece. Just gotta glue those five parts together and we’re golden! (I know there’s only 4 pieces here…I’d already printed the other part on another layout I had done) And that’s about my progress for this evening…I would’ve done more but a 20 minute nap after work got out of control and I lost a couple of hours there. Quick mock-up of what we’ve got so far…more soon!

The geese arrived back in our yard this weekend…spring is springing!

Great start, and beautiful work so far! I’ll be following!

Stunning work, and admirable attention to detail!

Great start! Love that flaky paint you chose. Question: what are the extra ‘goodies’ that come with this kit? I don’t recall seeing mention of option parts for this specific kit (and mine didn’t arrive yet…) Good start, I’ll be following!

Wasn’t aware of this kit…I want one just for that cool box art! I could presumably achieve a better actual BUILD of one of these if I used the Joker/Gotham City or whatever it was kit plus some aftermarket decals though. Still…that box ?

I’ve been 3D printing parts for a few weeks now and have KINDA got a handle on the basics, but I’ve been wanting to try one of the many 3D printable kits that are available online and see what challenges this new avenue of the hobby has in store. This cute little Japanese micro-truck (known as a ‘kei’ truck in their terminology) caught my eye, so I sent my order thru and had the files sent to my inbox like magic ? This is a curbside kit (the 1:1 is a cab-over with a tiny little 3 cylinder engine hidden under there) with probably 60-70 parts all in, allowing a couple of different building options. Everything’s nicely designed, has good attachment points for gluing just like a ‘real’ kit and it even came with an instruction manual (admittedly, only a couple of pages long, but that’s all AMT gave you with a lot of kits too ?) So, this project isn’t REALLY on my bench as such, but I’ve been printing parts over the last few evenings and started messing with them so I figured it was time for a WIP… I’m building a stock rendition of the Suzuki Carry, which looks like this: Toughest part of the printing process for this kit is the body, just because of the height and size, so I set the printer running this morning and let it roll for a few hours. I haven’t really printed much in the way of whole bodies yet, so this is a learning experience… A view of how it looks in the software, with the internal supports to hold it all together whilst the resin prints: And a couple of them fresh off the machine: As you can see, I needed some more supports in the very top of that windshield at the front there, but it’s so quick and easy to fix that I’ll make use of these couple of bodies and tweak my print file for future examples (I’ve got SO MANY ideas for these…) The frame, and the stock tires printed and ready for clean-up and primer: As you can see, there’s plenty of opportunity to replace some of the ‘moulded in’ detail, but I’m going to TRY and at least build one of these as the designer intended. Tiny steelie wheel! And some of the option parts, that will end up on a future build… One of the criticisms I see of 3D printed parts is the printing lines, which aren’t super visible on these little pieces, but become more visible on parts with larger gently-curved areas, like hoods and doors. What I’ve discovered though is that 3D printing resin, at least the AnyCubic stuff I use, responds to light sanding really nicely…it’s more like sanding a coat of filler primer than styrene, and you can clean up parts in a snap and get a nice ready-to-paint surface: Compare the prepped body on the right to the untouched one on the left and you’ll see that sanding revealed where those lines are pretty clearly, but all the surfaces are smooth to the touch now and ready for primer (once I’ve fixed that windshield, anyway…) Still finishing up printing all the parts, got a few more to do tomorrow, and I’d like to tweak the design of the bed a little to make it easier to print (it’s all one piece currently, which makes it more awkward than if it was a separate bed, sides and tailgate), but soon as I print the interior pieces I can start on step one of the build manual! Here’s a lil’ center console in the meantime… Thanks for looking, hope y’all find this interesting…more soon!

Yep - actually, I got a scratch ‘n’ dent special Mooneyes dragster from one of the sites for only a couple of bucks more. That said, I’ve been collecting these parts packs by Gopher just to have them, so I can see myself ending up with one anyway…