MrObsessive

This is my first "official" part(s) coming out of the printer I have. Last night, I showed this on the build plate on FB as it had just come out of the printer. Later, I put the engine stand and its associated parts in the UV box, and this helped a great deal in hardening up the parts. Some observations......the printer has a feature which comes in real handy in after printing cleanup. It's a "vat cleaning" button which turns on the UV light, and makes the thin layer of resin stiffen up for easier removal. What I do after that is totally soak the vat in 91% alcohol, which makes the thin residue peel up like a sheet of paper. I use just my fingernails.......no sharp tools----don't want to damage the FEP. After the resin residue is all washed out, I then run some water in the tray for some further cleaning. I'll then put the tray in my dehydrator at the lowest temp to evaporate any droplets, and I noticed that this makes the FEP crystal clear. I think that might have been part of my issue in getting bad prints before-------the FEP still had a slight haze on it the way I was trying to clean it before. Well, I partially mocked up the engine stand with some of the parts that I printed, and along with that I put on a 3D printed engine that I built back in '17 for board member @my66s55. This was a test shot for a 1956-'58 Polyhead Chryco 318 which for whatever reason has NEVER been kitted. If you'd like to catch the original build thread, it is below. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/.../124241-1958-plymouth-318.../ This would be my first introduction to anything 3d printed, and that's when I knew that this would be the coming wave, which we now certainly see. I have some pics below of how this turned out......I'm going to later on clean up and paint the stand, along with the other attendant parts that go with it. I might even enter the Scalespeedgarage.com contest which wants builders to print and build this dyno stand along with an engine of their choice. Should be interesting! Thanks for looking!

In RC2's case..........well----almost. They missed what might be an important proportion/styling cue on the 1:1, and that is the tailfin actually starts its very slight upward slope right behind the door. They made this a straight contour and then made top of the side trim sweep downwards at an awkward angle throwing off the entire appearance of the car among other things. Eric's correcting of the trim makes a very nice difference as your eye is drawn toward the better angled trim (should be an arrow straight line from nose to tail), as the flat contour of the fender is not as noticeable. It's funny.........I was at a Chrysler car show in Carlisle PA years ago, and there were several of these there. One of the owners I was talking to, this kit came up, and he noticed the bad bodywork immediately as soon as he saw the box art car. I don't have hope that Round 2 will ever fix this car, and Eric's build is certainly a MUCH needed improvement.

SUPER-DUPER EXCELLENT!! Your body work is super exceptional because if you told no one, they'd be none the wiser to see where you made the cuts! RC2 could've learned a thing or two from you in getting this right the first time! They did a 1:18 diecast before this came out that has the EXACT same flaws! They simply scaled it down with the same wrong proportions. We have to remember also this car was being tooled right around the time of the big takeover at AMT. Lots of good talent were shown the door, and replaced by those that were not necessarily car people sadly.

When I did my first test piece last week on my printer, it was initially for two hours. Nope........with the resolution I had it set at as I wanted it to be as smooth as possible, it was just over five hours for it to get done. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to try my first printing of a model part......a Dyno stand for engines. I can betcha that will take at least five hours or better for that to get done.

Lookin' Good Bruce!! ??? Oh.........I got Pack #20 for the Ford GT40 yesterday in the mail. FINALLY! Now if they can get #21 and #22 (that's on the site as a PDF now), we'll be in business! The very latest pack on the PDF shows a lot more of the bodywork that needs to be done. At least with the last few stages it'll start to look like an actual race car, instead of some sort of "mule".

Very interesting! Thanks for the link........I saved it for future reference. Yes...........I believe in the case of the wheels I posted, it looks like Mickey cleaned up the wheel, and then later on cast them. I see very little if any of the resolution layers.

To buttress what Chris said, there's no 3D printing of clear parts. Every 3D printer I've seen (I now have one), prints parts in some type of colored resin, whether it be gray, black, tan, etc. More than likely, you'd get a part that was first 3D printed, then cast in a clear resin such as these Shelby 10 spoke wheels I got from Mickey Gerace (aka @Superbird McMonte). That's pretty much the best that can be done at the moment.

Jim, it looks like your build plate was maybe a bit too "crowded" to print the tires? You may have to angle the parts up a bit more to make more room..........or just separate them out if things are a bit tight. As of now, I'm looking through files to see what I can print that's relatable to what I'm doing at the moment. We have a club meeting later this morning, but when I get home I may try to print one of the available .stl files I'm getting from this place.

I should add in the case where there is a large family, leaving NO will at all can lead to SERIOUS issues within a family. I look no further than what happened with my Grandmother (mother's side) when she passed away over 20 years ago. There were EIGHT of them, with my Mom being the oldest, and you might as well have gotten a boxing ring together as they fought so badly about her "things". My Grandmother died Intestate, and I've never seen folks get so vicious over mere things. ?

Noel, those are all very good points! For someone like myself that's never been married or had any kids, I should be thinking about this as I'm "over the hill" (60) now. I do have nieces and nephews, but I know of none of them that are into building anything at all. My oldest niece does handle Power of Attorney in her line of work, so in the not too distant future, I should be talking to her about that. It's not just the models, it's what to do with the house, cars, pets, and other tangible assets. Not a pleasant thought, and I can see the reasons people put it off, but an inevitability just the same.

Ooooh! I'll definitely be following you Bruce on this one! That red will be stunning! PLEEEEEAAASSSEE let this be a Shelby Daytona Coupe!! I'd break the bank for sure for that one!! ?

RESULTS! After working out the kinks to get this printer to cooperate, I got my first test piece done! I'm pretty impressed as there's some subtle things it picked up, like a spiral staircase INSIDE this object. Also, the embossed printing on the object is a nice touch. A VERY HUGE THANK YOU to @my66s55 for giving me the tips and tricks to get this to work. ? Here are a few pics.......... One of the first things model related I want to print, is the front and rear suspension for the 1961 Volvo P1800. I'm leaning heavily towards that one to build for the Community Birth Year Build. It's the Airtrax kit and while it's not bad at all, Tapani didn't include the front and rear suspension. It's suggested to use the Hasegawa (?) MGB kits, but those are not exactly cheap to buy just for parts, and they can be hard to come by. So.............hopefully in the near future, that will be one hurdle out of the way.

???

A number of years ago when I first heard of 3D printing, I knew right away that it would be the next BIG wave in our hobby. I could see our hobby was changing with the likes of some big names in the aftermarket either no longer with us (on the earth plane) or were retiring..........Don and Carol Holthaus come to mind. Some poo-pooed the idea of 3D printing, but one need look no further than what I mentioned above, as there's been a definite "shift in the winds". Well, I took the plunge the other day, and I bought a 3D printer thanks to the very good suggestion of @my66s55. He recommended this model to me which I got from Amazon, and I have a video below which I made this morning and posted on FB. There's some bugs to be worked out as I messed up on a few parameters to get it to print correctly, but hopefully in the not too distant future, I can get some parts made that I'll need for some future projects. Take a look below............... Sonic Mini 3D printer first run.mp4

Hi Bruce, I got packs 16-19 a while back. It's 20 and 21 I'm still waiting for. One day about a week ago, I called someone at DeAgostini and a nice lady (Sophie) had told me that they were told those parts should be going out in the next couple weeks. The PDF instructions are on the site, so it should stand to reason that the parts should be out and about not long after. BTW, I asked her about the K.I.T.T 1/8 scale model from Fanhome. She told me that they are getting a LOT of calls about that model! She said that DeAgostini owns Fanhome (I didn't know that), and to keep checking on their site as it will be in the US market in the not too distant future. Right now, only Europe seems to have it which is interesting. I did come across the 1/8 Ferrari 250 GTO you were talking about...............WOW!! I have to think about that one as I already have MFH's 1/12 one which I have yet to touch.

I've been wondering that too. ? I like the '60 Impala kit as I have several of those. One other issue I do have with it besides the incorrect rear floorpan is the incorrect wheelcovers. They're carried over from the '59 kit, while the '60 style is a bit different. To the casual observer, they might not notice, but purists out there will see the difference.

Stance to my view is very important. IMO, that can make or break a good model. When I'm doing replica stock, I'll do mock ups many times during a WIP to make sure the model is not sitting too high or too low. Here's a couple.........the 'Vette I've since finished, and the Shelby is still ongoing. I also consider wheel/tire placement to go hand in hand with stance. Wheels and tires that stick out waaaay too far is a huge turnoff, while ones that sit too inboard don't appear correct to me in certain cars.

You're welcome Bruce! If it were mine, and this was a raw (not prepainted) kit, I'd paint it red. In that scale, red will definitely be the standout no matter where it is! I do like how Agora packs their parts. One of the beefs I had with DeAgostini is they put such few parts in such a big box with no packing cushioning whatsoever. Parts are flopping around, and I've had a few crushed boxes come to me. No damaged parts, but it looks trifling to get a box like that. BTW, speaking of DeAgostini, I spoke to someone the other day to inquire about a couple packs that I haven't gotten yet for the Ford GT40. She told me that indeed things were held up but they're back on track, and I should be getting the missing pack #'s hopefully within the next week or two. Something else I didn't know..............DeAgostini owns Fanhome which right now in the UK has K.I.T.T. (Knight Rider) as a partwork build. She said that they're getting LOTS OF CALLS about that car and it'll be on the Fanhome US site shortly. As if I need any more kits, but I GOT to get that one! One of my all time favorite TV cars!

EXCELLENT!! ??

Thanks for posting that John! I downloaded the video for safe keeping just in case BMF becomes unobtainium someday.......you never know!

Noel, it was a partwork kit. When I first saw this early last year, Agora had an offer (I think they still do) where you could get four months worth of parts at once, then for the next eight months afterward, I would get one box of parts per month until the sub was done. I got the last of the parts I believe sometime this past September, and had it finished up a bit later. Agora has been pretty good at keeping things moving as far as customers receiving their parts on time, despite the hangups in the world with the supply chain issue. I can't say the same for Eaglemoss (I had to cancel my sub with them), and DeAgostini as they're totally screwed up right now and I'm seeing the complaints on other message boards. Right now, I'm getting parts (on time) for Agora's 1/8 1961 Jaguar E-Type convertible, as I just got new parts yesterday. This will probably be the last of the partwork large scale kits I'll get for awhile. With the issues I've had with Eaglemoss, and now DeAgostini, it's put a rather bad taste in my mouth as far as wanting to deal with either missing parts, late deliveries, or no deliveries at all.

Another one of my Ferrari Favorites! This is looking great and especially the windshield you vac-formed looks really good! ? My vacuformer has been a lifesaver from rescuing what might have been stalled projects. There are those types of windshields that simply bending clear stencil sheet won't do. Your engine is looking very nice as well, and those carbs that Norm made make a huge difference. I was able to get one of the last complete V-12 engines he made as I wanted one for my 250 GT..........one of the nicest made engine kits ever done, and certainly require a LOT of patience to build. Keep up the great work!

I've had this very kit for many years, but have never attempted to start it. I'll definitely be following this thread! I really like what I see, and all of it looks great! You mentioned about a 3D printer, I'm looking to get one in the not too distant future, and I can believe there's a bit of a learning curve to get halfway decent results out of 'em. Your parts came out very good, and I'm going to try small parts such you did before I even attempt the more complex things. BTW, I've got three cats and none of them bother anything in my model room. One of them came upon the table once (knocked over the paint jar), but the sound of the jar hitting the wood floor probably startled him and he's not attempted it since! ?

It is terrific to see that indeed these two cars are still with us! I actually thought about doing 'Lil Red years ago before I decided on doing another Green Hornet, but at the time there just wasn't enough info on that car as opposed to today. I'm not crazy though about the repaint on the restoration of the Green Hornet. While it's not bad at all, the green looks too "electric" to my eyes and I like the older hue better. Just the same, mine will be more of a tribute car and not an inch by inch repro of the 1:1.

You all have seen my Shelby Green Hornet here on the board, so right now that's got priority. After the Shelby, I've had this one on my mind for a looooong time. The pic is courtesy of Pat W as he posted this one here. I'm going to have a different take on this Buggy as I want mine to be "streetable"..........sort of. There's the BYCB (Birth Year Community Build) here on the board and I want to get something going for that. In the lead is this car............. I want my Ventura to be this same color with like interior. Last on the list for this year (subject to change) is this car...........takes me back to my High School days as it was my Driver's Ed car................ I have a 3D printed (and then cast in resin) body coming from Robert Burns (Too Many Projects on FB) very shortly. Rob showed a '76 on his FB page, but he mentioned a '77. It could be he'll offer grilles for both years as they're slightly different. I have all the other bits and pieces to get this car done including scripts, tailights, wheels, tires, interior.........etc. Full detail with engine and chassis. This is the car I'd like to take to GSL next year along with a couple others. Hopefully, it'll be done by then, or very far along at the most. I have a couple 1/8 partwork models still coming to my house. The DeAgostini Ford GT40 which has been held up with lack of parts for awhile. I also have Agora's 1/8 Jaguar XKE convertible which I've been getting parts for that regularly for several months now. At the moment, I'm going to shelve the 1/8 projects and focus more on the smaller stuff, namely because of GSL coming during the middle of next year. Barring any hangups, that's a MUST GET TO show for me since that's going to be the last one, and I want to make definite sure I've got something to take along.