Ace-Garageguy

Thanks to all for the great info and pix, and for taking the time to look at your models and post the real deal.

Wow...sorry you ran over that dog. Beautiful build of an unusual model.

Great looking little car. All your mods really work well, nicely done.

Only problem with 91% isopropyl is that it will attack some paints. If you're trying to wash something that's been sitting and gassing for a while, lets say, before shooting color over primer, or clear over color, 91% can cause you real grief. Test, test, test.

Pretty cool resto project, and an important car in the history of hot-rodding. Here's a link to a short article about the real car, for those who don't recognize it. http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2012/08/30/another-look-at-tex-smiths-hot-rod-xr6/

I try to keep up with this stuff as my time permits. The capability today is astounding if you follow the medical and industrial applications, and it's only going to get better (finer resolution, more versatile and robust materials, quicker throughput time, etc). Producing functioning human biological replacement parts, printed from a patient's own cultured cells (so there's no risk of tissue rejection) is already a reality at the prototype level. A beating 2-chambered mouse heart has been printed. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/05/29/health-3d-printing-organ-transplant/2370079/ Terminator-style human structural parts (laser-sintered 3D printed metal bones) are already reality. A badly disfigured Belgian woman received an entire 3D metal-printed jawbone.http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57372095-76/3d-printer-produces-new-jaw-for-woman/ DOD is funding human burn-treatment, on-site, replacement skin printing (right on the patient). http://www.3dprinterworld.com/article/wake-forest-3d-prints-skin-cells-burn-wounds Machine parts with complex internal shapes and webbing, that simply could NOT be made previously with ANY fabrication method, are reality. "Additive manufacturing renders irrelevant the problem of getting a tool into a tight internal nook or cranny. Because 3-D printers build by setting down material as they go, a printed object can have delicate lacelike features or strange curving parts, like the antlers on a model deer head recently printed by one of Pearce’s students. In some cases, separate printed parts are pieced together. But 3-D printing can also create objects with multiple moving parts in one fell swoop. Take something as seemingly basic as an adjustable wrench. By leaving gaps in the right places, a printer head sweeping back and forth can print, in place, the threaded knob that opens and closes the wrench." (Taken from Science News, March 9, 2013, under "fair use" definition in copyright law) The horizon looks good for composite parts (not fiberglass, but ceramic and plastic parts with integral metal or other reinforcements). The human imagination is really the only limit to what this tech can do.

Currently re-habbing a house that was stripped of all its copper, then left open with water leaks...filled with toxic mold...and asbestos. I'm doing all the work myself. Since 1995 I've been an engineering consultant, primarily developing field-repair procedures for composite general-aviation aircraft (Cirrus, Columbia, etc.), and providing contract design, tooling and production services for low-volume manufacturers (mostly aftermarket car parts). Also do hardware evaluation for smaller companies to match tools and equipment to their needs and finances, plus technical writing and research. I've been working off-and-on with Mills Customs doing fabrication and mechanical work on real hot-rods, and as an A&P aviation mechanic. Previously I was in the car business as a mechanic, body-man / painter, bodyshop manager, bodyshop owner, mechanical and fleet-services company owner, collision estimator, race-car mechanic (SCCA stuff), and restoration shop owner.

You can get styrene sheet down to .005" thickness, and it will bend very happily without cracking at a 1/4" radius. Depending on the size and radius of the part you're making, you can work with much thicker material. If you select the appropriate thickness, you DO NOT need heat, unless you're vacuum-forming compound curves. Just one source of many: http://www.dickblick.com/products/plastruct-styrene-sheet-packs/

Entirely possible in the foreseeable future, but the amount of numerical processing 'crunch' in an iPhone size device, necessary to produce accurate 3D data from a non-stationary low-resolution scanning instrument, is still probably an order of magnitude away.

Professional hardware with .001" approximate accuracy is in the $25K range. http://www.creaform3d.com/lp/template1/3d-scanners/en/usa.php?gclid=CNHExqvb9LoCFTEV7Aodw14ABw -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Then there's "the worlds's first under $1K scanner" project... http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/45699157/fuel3d-a-handheld-3d-scanner-for-less-than-1000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Services are just a google search away... http://www.3dscanservices.com/ Sample prices: http://www.3dscanservices.com/samples2.aspx

"just observation and thinking it through" That's really a pretty good definition of science.

TDR, who have printed some 1/8 scale bodies and engines, also do smaller scale work like this 1/24 Jag. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-24-Scale-Short-Nosed-Jaguar-D-Type-Model-Car-Body-/300885109780?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item460e266c14 They print from in-house design work and accept custom orders. http://www.tdrcatalog.com/servlet/Service The Golden Sub body was printed by Shapeways for about $35, including shipping, if I remember correctly what Pico told me. The guy has been on the forefront of developing this tech for modelers, knows whereof he speaks (from actual experience, unlike a lot of folks) and is a member of my club...who I see and interact with frequently. Again, I have much information available to anyone who is interested. I have no intention of arguing, and the technology is changing too fast for me to stay ahead of the curve...so what I have may already be out of date. Still, it works, as Pico's models prove. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portable 3D scanners are currently claiming accuracy to around .002", output is most likely in mesh format and will most likely have to be converted to STL for printing. http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/ This is an encryption tool for hiding (possibly) copyrighted or pirated designs, or for keeping original work safe from easy piracy http://www.3ders.org/articles/20131104-free-3d-printing-encryption-tool-for-your-stl-mesh-files.html I don't think point-scan-print is quite here yet. i could be wrong. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pico Elgin has been developing his models in Sketchup. http://curriculum.makerbot.com/daily_tutorial/sketchup/sketchup_stl.html

Well, for one thing, it costs a lot more for a lot less. For another thing, automotive lacquer primers CAN attack and slightly craze the surfaces of SOME kit plastics. I'm ASSUMING this isn't an issue with Testors made-for-models stuff...but by the same token, automotive lacquer primer is probably a lot better at resisting "hot" topcoats like Duplicolor automotive lacquers.

Nice post, Art. Great to have the science of what's actually going on so intelligently presented, with the cause-and-effect relationships clearly explained, to folks who don't already know it.

A what-if kinda project. It's widely known that the German government underwrote the many achievements of the German automobile industry shortly before WWII. This build is a what-if the US Army Air Corps had had a similar interest in backing an American LSR vehicle, powered by a then-state-of-the-art fighter engine. Malcolm Campbell ran 272 mph on the sands of Daytona Beach in 1933 in the 5-ton, Rolls-Royce R-powered Blue Bird, so we're talking pretty fast machinery, even by today's standards. The Allison 1710 cu.in. V-12 engine project was launched in 1929, and by 1937 the engine was fully developed and flying. Though it was overshadowed by the Rolls-Royce Merlins (first run in 1933), in the 1930s (at 1000+hp) it still would have been quite a powerplant for just about anything. The USAAC got its first one in 1932, still experimental, and this fantasy build could have been something lashed together as a 'test vehicle'. The inspiration came in the course of doing the Challenger build, and I started thinking of things to combine to do a '30s what-if. An old toy race-car in about 1/24, and a gluebomb Batman something provided the outer bits. After some whacking and hacking, it was starting to look like something. The rough component layout, with an AMT Allison providing the power, and a Johan Mercedes 500k supplying chassis and suspension. The hood will have to get large blisters to accommodate the cylinders and heads, much like this Supermarine S6B. (a Bernhard Schrock model) The Allison is liquid-cooled, and the radiator for this will be in the rear, exhausting hot air out the large opening in the tail of the bodywork. Well known in aviation circles is the fact that the P-51 Mustang used a very low-drag arrangement to duct air through it's belly-mounted radiator (the P-51 was originally Allison-powered, but later upgraded with Merlins). The heat added to the airstream through the radiator increased its energy, and some sources quote as much as a 30mph increase in speed added as thrust from the cooling duct. That's an idea that will also be incorporated into this purely fantasy build.

I think the Brutus is only a V-12. http://pistonpunch.blogspot.com/2011/12/bmw-brutus.html Cool project...looking forward to it.

You CAN spray it on bare plastic, but why would you WANT to? plowboy, on 20 Nov 2013 - 09:07 AM, said:

Yup. Yup yup.

I don't think I ever INTENTIONALLY destroyed anything. Never had the urge to ruin stuff...never at all...and always felt bad when I did screw something up.

I have links to all of his sources and links to design tutorials he's posted at his own considerable cost in time and effort, but I'm really getting tired of posting correct information and having it ignored or disputed endlessly. I'll post the links and resources if there's any REAL interest. I've posted it ALL before. I posted the link to Shapeways, who does Pico's printing, above. It seems to have been ignored already. As far as the cost of doing the design work, it requires a skillset that takes time to develop, and time to implement. I don't think $100 is out of line...it's cheap even...and though it can be learned by an individual using Pico's links and techniques, it's rather like plumbing in that, if you don't bother to learn how to do it yourself and elect to pay someone else, it CAN get very expensive. Plumbers and CAD-workers have to pay for food and shelter too, and need to be compensated for their work / time. I'm kinda doubtful that pointing a $400 scanner at an object and getting usable data out of it for making accurate models is gonna happen, but I'm kinda out of touch too apparently.

I never have a problem with Testors straight lacquers or basecoat / clears, or most of their enamels...BUT, the dark red enamel i shot on the wheels of my black '32 wedge-channeled car bubbled and popped to beat the band.

I've had similar bubble problems with Testors rattle-can enamels, yes sir. Occasionally, but it's happened...for no apparent reason. Are you shooting enamel ?

Shapeways will print from your files. http://www.shapeways.com/for-your-home?li=nav The body of Pico Elgin's (ACME club, Atlanta, Ga.) 1/24 model of Barney Oldfield's "Golden Submarine" was printed by Shapeways from design files developed by Pico.

Good call...looks like I was wrong. I went back and looked at the kit I'd bought open, the one I'd based those statements on (which was molded in black and had, apparently, some extra black FE-looking heads in it...along with some other extra parts). I just checked 2 more versions of the double-T kit on the shelf, one original and one repop, and you're right...the kit heads appear to be MEL. Still, the Continental cast-alloy valve covers are wrong for the "Lincoln" engine in the kit. My apologies for providing incorrect information. And thank you rasafyff, for getting it right.

Lotta that around.