OldNYJim

Thanks buddy! Interesting! Didn’t know that - good tip!

I’ve been wanting one of these since the were announced - I actually ordered one on eBay soon as they were available but it never showed up and I had to claim from eBay. But second time around, from a different seller, I got a hold of one: I’ve never messed with opening doors too much, so this is a good chance to learn about aligning them nicely…I’m sure it won’t be a walk in the park…

That would be AMAZING ?

That’s good news! Thanks for letting me know - I should stop by mine and see what they’ve got!

Did they have them previously, and this is a restock? Or they just got these in? Curious if my local store will get some new kits too…

Oh nice - I wish I’d seen this earlier when I had my printer running! I’ll give it a test - thank you!!

We used to live on E 94th, and it was always pretty drama free there…but once you went north up to 112th to my favorite dive bar (in walking range anyway) it was always like a zoo with the ATVs racing and doing wheelies, and the Hondas with farty exhausts and the occasional crack of a gunshot and cops chasing people and general chaos I miss that part of town ?

Wow, that build is amazing - some great bedtime reading there! Thanks Bill!

This guy?

One of the better scores I’ve had lately…I was looking for a Revell Deuce roadster kit, and found this one that had just been listed at $30 buy it now. Nothing remarkable about that, except there was a BUNCH of extras in there…the entire Revell kit plus half of an AMT ‘Vickie’ Deuce kit, an extra Replicas and Miniatures body with a hardtop and a couple of Duvall windshields: Some cheesy old photoetch (and some little bits of good stuff mixed in there too): Some Arrowhead Aluminum stuff (guess someone got lucky and actually received their order…): A bunch of tires, including some resin re-pops of what look like the Testor’s Alumacoupe ones: Plus these cool shift knobs, from a company I hadn’t heard of before: And, to cap it all off a complete Curbside Dioramics metal Deuce frame kit: Best eBay find I’ve had for a while!

That lil' rail is a work of art...wow!

That’s a fine looking build! Great weathering - well deserving of recognition!

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...