New 3D Printed 1958 to 1960 Edsel small Hub Caps

[john sharisky]

...and accurate. Also called "poverty caps" or "buttons". I've been thinking about these for a long while. Except for the AMT (also SMP?) kit annual '58 or '60 wheel covers, we haven't had in-the-day accurate wheel choices for our Edsel projects. I mean, as the 1:1's really were.

Rico has some finely detailed items in his Shapeways store. He posts here. Some e-mail back and forth. Some photos back and forth. Finally some 3D file images exchanged. Now they're in his Shapeways store.

I've purchased three racks. Eight hub caps on each rack. I purchased the more expensive "Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic" printed media. Translucent, I can't effectively photograph the caps themselves. Here are the racks that I purchased:

 A direct link to the Edsel caps in Rico's Shapeways Store.

I've purchased ten different line items from Rico's store. The small-diameter "1972 AMC Hubcaps with scripting" are exquisite. The tiny "American Motors Corporation" scripting was what prompted to contact Rico with my idea of the Edsel hub caps.

A direct link to Rico's Shapeways Store.

Long convinced that the Edsel caps were a re-strike of of the small 1957-1959 Ford caps:

...I sent Rico dimensions of the Revell '57 Ford caps to work with.

Here's the final 3D file image that Rico sent me:

Here are 1:1 examples of the Edsel caps on a 1958:

...1959:

...1960:

These Edsel caps might ring familiar to us oldsters or promo collectors. AMT did indeed receive this cap design from Ford. But mistakenly were worked out to full wheel covers in 1/25th for the '58 promo's. Here's a set of resin replicas that I have from The Modelhaus:

These new caps give us another choice for the "look" of our Edsel projects for 1958:

...1959:

...1960:

I've collected this photo of two '58's with the wheel rims painted black:

The term "poverty caps" can be a misnomer. Here's a top-of-the-line '58 Bermuda four-door station wagon in the Ford styling courtyard. I put this image together from a Popular Science article on the Edsel introduction (Ford called the light-colored wood panels "Driftwood"):

I hope that I've convinced you to consider these Edsel wheel caps as another build option. I've purchased Rico's Shapeways items because they'll add to my projects. But I wouldn't have continued to do so  - nor approached him with this project - if the quality hadn't swayed me. I've also purchased from several other Shapeways vendors.

I'll answer questions best I can.

Thanks for looking and please stay safe!

John

 

[Kris Morgan]

Very cool

[Force]

With help from me with measurements and pictures Rico did 1963 Ford poverty caps like I use on my Galaxie 500XL Fastback, I bought a couple of sets from his Shapeways shop and they look great.

[peteski]

These wheel covers do look good.

John, if you never worked with that type of Shapeways printed parts, those look like they might still have some wax on them.  Before you plate or paint them, I recommend a good rinse in Naphta (either VM&P Naphta from a hardware store, or Ronsonol lighter fluid).  It will likely make them look more milky, but that just means that the wax was cleaned off. 

[john sharisky]

6 hours ago, peteski said:

These wheel covers do look good.

John, if you never worked with that type of Shapeways printed parts, those look like they might still have some wax on them.  Before you plate or paint them, I recommend a good rinse in Naphta (either VM&P Naphta from a hardware store, or Ronsonol lighter fluid).  It will likely make them look more milky, but that just means that the wax was cleaned off. 

Thanks Pete! I'll give it a try.

My favorite liquor store caters to smokers. I'll try there.

John