3D Printed Vehicles

[Stephane]

I'm not at all in the same league as all of you, but I printed this with one support at the bottom of each wheel and a few more under the main body.  So yeah, not sure how I'll paint in there, but printing in place is possible 

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By the way, I really like that open jeep! Looks so much better than a closed off vehicle!

[Mark W]

Awesome Stephane!   I imagine it should be pretty simple to alter the 3d model to separate the wheels for future prints (Is it the SRT8 from Thingiverse?)
Otherwise airbrushing black might get enough coverage in there. 

I sure do miss my old Wrangler, but I gotta say, I think I prefer my WK now days.     

[Stephane]

Yes, it's the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 from user stunner2211 on thingiverse - he's got a whole lot of interesting vehicles for print.  Actually, if I remember correctly, the downloaded file even had two versions, one with wheels on and another with wheels off.  I chose to print them in place because they looked so incredibly tiny for manipulating and gluing on!

I'm starting to have a bit of a backlog for painting.  Problem is that I don't yet have the paint!  I do have an airbrush though, had it for years even though I've never really used it all that much except for painting a camouflage pattern on an r/c warbird years ago.  I did buy some Model Air paint in colours suitable for weathering rail, but as with the backlog, the short length of test rail is still waiting for a test paint on my workbench.  Now I'm at the stage where I want to buy a small starter set of paints for the small models coming out of the printer, but I'm hesitating between buying model air or model color.  I want to be able to both airbrush and manually brush on the paints.

[Mark W]

I just stumbled upon your Thingiverse makes.  Incredible prints, I especially love the tractors! 

I'm also preping my own Grand Cherokee now. 


I prefer Vallejo's Model Color to Model Air (full disclosure, never actually used Model Air).  The Model color thins perfectly with plain ol' water and airbrushes beautifully, even through my 'cheapest airbrush on Amazon' airbrush.  When not airbrushed, the model color does amazing from the bristle brush too.

Filler primer will help smooth the layer/print lines.  When smoothing isnt necessary, I just use the Model Color Acrylic straight on the resin.  Sticks great. 

[Mark W]

Here's my WK!

Notice the windshield and drivers window compared to the rest.  I simply added a thin coat of gloss and those layer lines completely disappeared!
And for that rim details, I'll have to whip out the DSLR this weekend because this cell phone photo does not show the rotors and pads that were printed inside the rim!


https://i.imgur.com/FVMTQNI.jpg


My prototype climbing stairs at Turtle Creek ORV down in Kansas. 


https://i.imgur.com/vhiwCQd.jpg

[Stephane]

Ah man! How will I ever be happy with my Jeep now?! 

Well, I'm glad you printed the Jeep and posted the painted example; it gives me a (very high) target for my own painting!

Funny, on my example, I actually deleted the brake detail when I ran the model through MeshMixer's Inspection tool.  I left everything else, but figured those brake details wouldn't be visible!

Did you print the axles as is or print the wheels separately? They were so very thin that I ended up adding a cylinder around them to increase their diameter to 1.5mm, I was worried that the wheels would snap off otherwise.

[Mark W]

Oops.  Didn't mean to steal thunder. 
Share some more of your other prints to get it back! 

We should update this thread title to "3D Printed Vehicles".


Yes, I printed the wheels separately.  Instead of the axles with the body and holes in the wheels, I moved the axle to print with the wheel and made holes in the body.  That then gave me a little 'stem' to hold them by while painting. 

[Stephane]

No thunder was harmed in the making of this thread  Your pictures really do give me something to aim for and answers questions in how to paint and print!

I'll be printing new vehicles this weekend - I have two lined up.  I'll make sure to post them when done.

I wish I could print more, but with work and the kids' sports and activities during the week, I only have weekends.  Plus, I always have to get ready by raising the temperature of the garage up from 15 or 16 degrees Celsius.  That means I get only two or three prints a week!    Looking forward to summer temperatures!

In the meantime though, I also made a big purchase of paints just a few hours ago.  I had to order online, and I hope to try painting by next week.

[bnsfdash8]

I did a Ford GT when I first got my printer. I need to give it a try again to see if I can get a little better detail out of it.

[tehachapifan]

Here's my WK!

Notice the windshield and drivers window compared to the rest.  I simply added a thin coat of gloss and those layer lines completely disappeared!....



https://i.imgur.com/FVMTQNI.jpg

Wow, that coat of gloss made a HUGE difference! Look great!

[Stephane]

I want a heavy equipment manufacturer on the N scale layout I'm slowly building (even more slowly now that I bought this printer! ha!), so I'm pretty happy I came across this 3D model.  Motor graders are my favorite big trucks, they just look awesome!

Maybe I should take out my own DSLR out, the silly cellphone camera just can't quite take good enough pictures!  But I'm really happy how this model turned out.  I forgot to check the size of the railings before printing - I'm surprised they even printed out!

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The model was found on free3d.com. I thought it was generic (the page didn't have any info), but I on searching for motor grader dimensions - to resize the model to N scale - I came across what looks like a perfect fit! It seems to be a Deere 872G.  Looking forward to painting this one!

Note that I have not yet sanded down the remains of the support stubs, so the print is still rather ratty.  Oh boy were the supports a pain to remove!  I sometimes wonder if I'm using too many supports.

Oh, and I strategically positioned the graders when taking the pictures, heh, one of them appears to have a bit of a flat tire up front.  Not sure what happened.  Can a support fail and them somehow reattach itself? no idea.  Good that I printed two, I used slightly different support strategies on both.

[Mark W]

That is amazing!  I love it!

Looking forward to seeing your paint results too.

[IronPenguin]

Mark W

I see you use Vallejo paints. I checked their Amazon site and was overwhelmed by the number of various combinations they have. I swear they must have one for left handed modelers who only paint foreign cars on Thursday. 🙂
Any suggestion on what combination of colors? Are their kits any better bargain than just buying individual colors?

[Mark W]

I'm personally not a fan of the pre-selected paint kits or collections.  They don't usually offer any bulk discount vs buying colors individually, and even if they do that savings will usually be offset by the inclusion of several colors that you'll never ever touch. 

I have the convenience of Hobby Town carrying these paints in store though, so any time I need a specific color, it's just minutes away.

[Stephane]

Oops! I ordered two sets of 16 colors! 

I ordered the basic set of colors (white, black, primary colours, browns etc), and the metallic effects set.  I was in the same boat as you, couldn't decide on the colors to start with, but in my case, local individual colours are much more expensive than the sets at one of the biggest online Canadian hobby stores.  In my case, those sets are like getting 4 or 5 free over having bought them locally.

I ended up buying model air colours however.  We'll see how that turns out!