Chief Joseph

Bill, the $2200 printer you referenced in your original post, the MakerBot Replicator 2, is a great leap forward in desktop printing, but it still isn't there when it comes to fine details. From the article on the Replicator 2: "So how about quality? The Replicator 2 has a layer resolution of 100µ (0.0039 in) and the images I’ve seen of objects created with the new system don’t show signs of obvious layer strata. MakerBot’s new machine also offers a build envelope of 11.2 x 6.0 x 6.1 in. (28.5 x 15.3 x 15.5 cm). Both layer thickness and build envelope are comparable or superior to professional desktop 3D printers." 0.0039" layer resolution is fantastic for a $2200 printer, but it is not sufficient to reproduce fine details like emblems in 1/24 or 1/25 scale. However, the build envelope of this printer is perfect for a car body and the resolution is more than sufficient for a typical body shell without fine details like door handles and emblems. There are other desktop printers that are capable of finer resolution, and better parts, but their build envelopes are very small and the material is more fragile. To get very fine resolutions with large parts, i.e. typical of a modern injection-molded styrene body, requires an industrial printer and a print would cost hundreds of dollars. I'm curious as to what printer can do a very detailed car body for $30 from a model produced in Sketchup. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I want to know what printer can do that because I want one! EDIT: okay, I went back and re-read the topic; I think I understand better what you're trying to relate, which is basically that quality and affordability is constantly getting better. There's no perfect personal printer YET, but they are certainly coming in the near future. Am I right?

I have a whole bunch of sets made up now, mostly the white resin. They will be packaged in sets of two, so that you may get two sets of the 235's or a set of 235's for fronts and 295's for rears. Here are some photos of a painted production rubber 295 on the rear of my perpetual project Buick GN: You can monkey around with the backspacing on the wheels to get the look you want. I painted the white letters on the rubber version by hand with an 00 brush and Liquitex acrylic white: Since these tires are real rubber, the paint doesn't want to stick. There are some urethane adhesion promoters available, and just cleaning the part with acetone will help a lot. For this tire, I didn't do anything other than wash it with dishwashing liquid, just because I wanted to see how well it holds up over time. This is the hard white resin version, painted with Wicked Colors Smoke Black and the white letters revealed by gently sanding: With these white resin tires, it's WAY easier to get the white letters practically perfect. I did not prime this tire casting, but I would suggest priming it them with Tamiya Fine White Surface primer to help with paint adhesion. I actually always suggest priming resin parts, so this case is no different. Here's how it breaks down: Rubber Tires PRO: flexible, so they will accommodate different wheels without a lot of hassle. CON: flexible, so paint doesn't stick too well and since they are very abrasion-resistant, the tread is sort of hard to scuff. Resin Tires PRO: easy to paint, and a wide range of painting techniques and products may be used. CON: somewhat fiddly to get some wheels to fit perfectly and some sanding of the wheel or the inner diameter of the tire may be required. Well, I hope this answers questions some of you may have. I expect to put ordering information on my website next Thursday, October 18. Thanks for your interest, Joseph

Makerbot has really stepped it up with this new machine! The DLP resin printers have some real competition now. The build envelope is fantastic for the new Replicator 2, and I can see it easily handling a scale car body for much cheaper than has previously been possible. For very fine details, though, it's still not quite there.

It took me a few uses to get the hang of my TNF. I tried to use the squirt bottle but had no luck at all. When I started just letting the cement draw up into the tube and drain out of the tube with just natural air pressure I have no trouble.

I have started production on these tires, both in hard white resin and flexible black rubber: I want to build up a good stock before I start selling them, so please bear with me. The rubber version is very slow to produce due to the cure time of the material. Thanks, Joseph

I have an iPad and I have used it once to look at reference photos as I painted a model. It works okay, but I usually just have a mental list of things I'm painting and how I want them to look. I would guess that since you already have a Droid phone, you would get better use from a Droid tablet. Although they aren't in the same league as a Samsung tablet, the new Kindle and Nexus tablets are fantastic tools for a very decent price.

Progress is looking good, Mike! The wheels look great. If I were you, I'd do redlines on the tires. That combo is not usually seen:

I've added it to my signature.

There's a guy in NY named Fred Hultberg who might be able to help you. He sells etched parts under the name Fotocut and his email address is oletcherfred@yahoo.com.

I finished the fat version of the BFG T/A this afternoon. Waiting on a shipment of Smooth-On items to start the molds, and I anticipate getting things into production early next week. But I'll be out of town for a whole week right in the middle of the month, so my production will be sort of slow. When I figure out the pricing and packaging options, I'll post all the information on my website. Thanks for your continued interest in this project!

Makeup sponges work great for this technique, too. They are dirt cheap and a bag will likely last you forever.

The fat 295 tire is almost done. Been busy with stock orders this week and getting another little project for my GTO models out of the way. One of these days after I finish making all these parts for my project, I might actually build the models.

Photoetch is how I do it. The letters are raised 0005" off the surface of the sidewall, which translates into about 0.12" in model car scale. That's about double the thickness of actual white letters, but it works well for painting. 0.005" is about as thick as I like to go to preserve fine detail, and I use a relief-etch technique that keeps all my letters together with the proper spacing and arc. Photoetching is single best skill I've ever learned for scale modeling.

No, you have to put the carb back the way you had it; the fuel inlet and the linkages are now backwards, plus the air cleaner won't be centered over the card. The incorrect primaries & secondaries are just something you have to live with due to the way Monogram designed the part. The only way to fix it is to rework the top of the carb and devise a new way to mount the air cleaner. The light metallic blue is the correct version of Pontiac Engine Blue for a 69, and you even have the intake manifold in aluminum, which is correct for a Ram Air IV engine with its aluminum intake. Unfortunately, the exhaust manifolds don't look like RAIV pieces, but they'll be hidden when the motor is in the chassis.

More like the details of the carb piece are backwards; the secondaries are on the front! The air cleaner has a little slot that allows it to sit on the primaries, which are incorrectly positioned in the rear. Typical Monogram. The build looks like it's going well! The wheels are way too big for stock, but the model looks okay with them. I won't even tell you about the rear bumper's problems, though-- I don't think I've ever seen anyone complain about it so maybe it's no big deal to anyone but me

I print custom decal sheets all the time for customers who submit their own artwork. Decals for museum models, limited-run kits, personal projects, guitar headstocks, and so on. Details are on my website at www.fireballmodels.info.

You probably got some overspray that settled onto the paint as you were moving the body around and painting it. I have this kit also and I am trying to decide what colors to use on it. My 1:1 Ford Bronco is dark blue with a silver two-tone accents, but it's a later model that what's represented in the kit. I look forward to seeing your green, as it's one of my favorite colors for a Bronco.

Speaking of the 1/24 scale Preiser Eve figures, here's the one I've been working on for a little vignette: I added a CGI bikini to make the photo SFW The final figure will actually be wearing a hoodie with a "Power 6" logo on the back. These figures are very hard to find now, by the way.

I'd say that's a little high for that model Sherline mill, but I suppose it's Canadian dollars so I guess it's not too far out of line. I question why the seller didn't take better photos of the mill, though. I would go with factory-new tools because then you won't have any nasty surprises. I have a Taig lathe and love it. Sherline makes great tools and you will pay for the quality. CNC is cool, but it adds a tremendous amount of money and complication to the setup. I'd suggest you get the manual machines (possibly with CNC motor mounts) and learn how they work before taking the next step up to CNC. You'll probably find you can do most everything manually.

Good luck with the new venture, but do not stop building because it's too easy to get burned out when you're just designing parts and doing production work. Trust me, I know this first hand!!

You beat me to that link, Jim. These 1/24 Zombie Apocalypse figures are produced for Dark World by my friend Michael at www.industriamechanika.com. If you look at the price of those figures, you might get sticker shock-- in US dollars they are about $52 EACH! Michael also sells some 1/24 figures right now that very detailed but seem a little cartoonish to me. If I knew how to use Zbrush at the same level as the artists who design these figures, I'd be doing "normal" people for car models!

Easy, just drybrush the tread. I have also airbrushed a lighter shade across the tread, then applied a wash to the tread to make the pattern pop. Military modelers have these techniques down to a science.

Thank you for the feedback. I think I'll do the wider tire to supplement this one. I honestly do not like tires made in urethane rubber, but I'll make them since others do like them and want them The cost will be somewhat higher for rubber tires, though. And for hand-painting the white letters, you are on your own. I like just sanding off the black paint to get white letters, myself. These tires are nominally sized to fit the wheels in Monogram/Revell included kits with the "Goodyear GT Radial" vinyl tires. Not all of those wheels are made the same, though. I've found that some of those different wheel faces need to be trimmed a little around their circumference to fit properly. 1/25 scale wheels can also be used by wrapping a layer or two of tape around the wheel circumference to make up for the small gap. Rubber tires will be a little more forgiving with different wheels. My favorite tire paint is Wicked Colors Detail Smoke, which is almost black, dark bluish-gray. It's available at Hobby Lobby. NATO Black or Aircraft Interior Black are both good choices, too. It will take another week or two to get the wider tire made and start the molding. Prices and such will be available on my website at www.fireballmodels.info. I will also sell sets through emodelcars.com, too. Here's something else I have been working on: These are 20" wheels for the 1/25 AMT Challenger RT. The kit wheels were 18" (duh) so I remade the kit's Heritage wheel to the correct size and while I was at it, I scratchbuilt the Envy wheel that is on the 2011-up RT cars. I am still working on the proper 20" Goodyear F1 tire to go with these wheels.

Hey folks, I have finished up a new tire master and it will go into production soon. This time it's a BF Goodrich Radial T/A in 1/24 scale. Like the Eagle GT I made earlier this year, this new tire is based on the 235/60R-15 size that is common for a wide range of musclecars from the 70's and 80's. The master was made from lathe-turned plastic with photoetched tread and sidewall lettering. The production pieces will be cast in white resin, which means you just have to paint the tire black and then lightly sand the sidewalls to reveal the white letters. Now, I have a question for you: I know some people like the rear tires on their hot rods to be steam-roller wide, like a 295/50. I can make something like that fairly easily to match this narrower tire. Would there be much interest in a big & little setup like that? Thanks for looking! Joseph

That will work, but you'll have to wait for the 5-gal tank to come up to pressure before you can paint.