1967 Opel Kadett "Gill" Coupe (lotsa pics!)

[MrObsessive]

This is one that finished printing overnight, and it's another file I got from EDM 3D Garage. A car that I saw a resin kit of on eBay maybe three years ago, but got outbid BIG TIME as the resin ended up going for well over $400. 1/25th 1967 Opel Kadett coupe which has the rarer fastback roofline you don't see out there on the roads any longer. Print time was about 15 hours with layer height @.030mm, and 2673 layers on a Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K.

I posted this over on FB, and folks have gone crazy over it. I get the questions from time to time, what do I plan to do with the bodies? My intent isn't always to build the car I print, I just happen to like that particular car, and want a model of it. I also know due to the subject matter, the car will never see the light of day on the hobby shelves. I also have to put up a disclaimer on FB posts that I do NOT sell my converted files, or do I print for others. That would VERY quickly turn into a burden, and be a hobby killer.

OK.......a bunch of pics of how it turned out............

The hood and trunk will get printed later in the smaller printer. I can tell you that converting the files for this was MANY keyboard hours on the laptop, and some parts of it were trickier than others. I was just having the conversation with someone that 3D printing is far from plug and play due to all the conversion/scaling work, and then there's getting the proper wall thickness so it will print properly. I made this one particularly on the body, a bit over 2mm thick due to the roof shape at the C pillar.

What's next? I just finished up the conversion work for this...............

1958 Packard Hawk also from EDM. That I'll run sometime tomorrow, and this was VERY tricky to get the wall thickness dialed in due to those tailfins. I did a tiny 1/43 test run last week, which showed up some trouble spots. I got those sorted out and this should print without much issue.

[cobraman]

That Opel looks great !

[exnyman]

I’m amazed at how smooth your printed bodies turn out. I tried dabbling with 3D printing a number of years ago. My focus was on 1/64 scale cars. A few turned out ok, lots of print lines which needed to be filled. My very first print was of a 69 Buick Wildcat that looked it had driven through a bowl of spaghetti. I didn’t know about adding supports to the file at that point. I’d love to try my hand at it again but I think the printer I have isn’t the best and since it’s old now, a new one would do better.  This may sound like a dumb question but, I see your supports are step ups so the print comes out on an angle. Is this to fit it on the print plate? Or is it more for extra support? I always did mine on a level base of supports but again, I was only printing in 1/64 scale.

[MrObsessive]

On 10/11/2022 at 7:13 PM, exnyman said:

I’m amazed at how smooth your printed bodies turn out. I tried dabbling with 3D printing a number of years ago. My focus was on 1/64 scale cars. A few turned out ok, lots of print lines which needed to be filled. My very first print was of a 69 Buick Wildcat that looked it had driven through a bowl of spaghetti. I didn’t know about adding supports to the file at that point. I’d love to try my hand at it again but I think the printer I have isn’t the best and since it’s old now, a new one would do better.  This may sound like a dumb question but, I see your supports are step ups so the print comes out on an angle. Is this to fit it on the print plate? Or is it more for extra support? I always did mine on a level base of supports but again, I was only printing in 1/64 scale.

Jim, sorry it's taken a bit to get back to you. Just got over recently an eight day stay in the hospital, and was pretty much out of it health wise since the beginning of the month.

I print at an angle because you want as less mass lying horizontal against the surface of the vat as possible. More mass = more issues with suction forces creating a distortion where it's not wanted ie: roof, fenders, flatter panels, etc.

Of course, the higher the angle, the longer the print will take as that's adding to the number of layers. Sometimes, printing at an angle is a necessity due to the size of the model. The Opel didn't need as much tilt as say a 1970 Buick Riviera I printed months ago. Still, you want to tilt your model on both axes, to reduce the suction forces.

[Dragline]

You have adapted to printing pretty quickly brother. You see its worth and that is why. Im pleased you are getting to make the cars you want.

Your skill cannot be undestated. You have an affinity and your desire drives it.

[1959scudetto]

On 10/8/2022 at 1:39 AM, MrObsessive said:

This is one that finished printing overnight, and it's another file I got from EDM 3D Garage. A car that I saw a resin kit of on eBay maybe three years ago, but got outbid BIG TIME as the resin ended up going for well over $400. 1/25th 1967 Opel Kadett coupe which has the rarer fastback roofline you don't see out there on the roads any longer. Print time was about 15 hours with layer height @.030mm, and 2673 layers on a Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K.

I posted this over on FB, and folks have gone crazy over it. I get the questions from time to time, what do I plan to do with the bodies? My intent isn't always to build the car I print, I just happen to like that particular car, and want a model of it. I also know due to the subject matter, the car will never see the light of day on the hobby shelves. I also have to put up a disclaimer on FB posts that I do NOT sell my converted files, or do I print for others. That would VERY quickly turn into a burden, and be a hobby killer.

OK.......a bunch of pics of how it turned out............

The hood and trunk will get printed later in the smaller printer. I can tell you that converting the files for this was MANY keyboard hours on the laptop, and some parts of it were trickier than others. I was just having the conversation with someone that 3D printing is far from plug and play due to all the conversion/scaling work, and then there's getting the proper wall thickness so it will print properly. I made this one particularly on the body, a bit over 2mm thick due to the roof shape at the C pillar.

What's next? I just finished up the conversion work for this...............

1958 Packard Hawk also from EDM. That I'll run sometime tomorrow, and this was VERY tricky to get the wall thickness dialed in due to those tailfins. I did a tiny 1/43 test run last week, which showed up some trouble spots. I got those sorted out and this should print without much issue.

Great Opel body, Bill - combined with the die-cast Kadett Coupé of the German Hachette Opel series (1/24) which has been reissued under the white box name also in silver and blue metallic, there would be almost endless possibilities...