MrObsessive

I don't have a specific tutorial as far as designing, because all that I do was self taught. A lot of info I did get off of YT, but there's no one single set way to designing, although there are certain principles that should be followed. One of them is to work in as large of quads as possible, and in the case of Blender, you'd want the SSM to be turned on in the background. This will keep the surface relatively smooth, especially after it's exported into either the .obj, or .stl format. There is a site I've heard people talk about-----CGMasters.com is a site that's like a course setting where you go through different stages of getting a car designed. I believe it's subscription based, and while that's not where I learned to design, those that I've heard use that say it's a good program.

Ok.......I thought I'd post a few more of my recent designs. Only one of them is printable right now (T-Bird), and I do have a whole bunch of others that I've completed. There's too many to list here though, so I thought I'd post what I sent to a friend that messaged me as to what I've been doing lately. First up is a '55 T-Bird which I just recently made printable............ 1964 Ford Mustang III "Shorty" (Yes, this car does exist) 1964 Ford Falcon Sprint 1963 Ferrari 330 LMB I don't do interiors until after the wall thickness is done, as it's much easier for me then to account for that, than trying to guess tolerances beforehand. I have made interiors in the past, and as long as I can get decent pics at different angles, those can be done. Waaaaay many more I've made in the last period of time, and there's too many to list here. I'll try to keep the forum up to date, but I won't be able to list every detail of how I created what. That's too much typing, and frankly not one of my favorite things be it laptop or smartphone. Oh................I don't get this as an issue here, but I have to say that I don't sell prints or files. Everything I do is strictly as a hobby, and yes I do build what I've printed, as I have a Pontiac Banshee convertible in the works at the moment. I may do an update on that later, but pics of that are mostly on my phone, and have to be transferred so I can post on my laptop. I hate smartphone keyboards. 😣

Dave, I was able to get back to my own username, but I did change the password for safekeeping. All's well now. 😎

OK, I changed things up yet again, and all's back to normal. 😁

What Doug showed is correct, and it's one way to get wall thickness. I did wall thickness on that very car, and as I showed in my YT video, I separated the different body parts into sections on their own, and with the body panels in place (don't move them from their original position), I did the extrusion (E/XorY)/1.8mm's). The body panels then get extruded along the intended axis plane, and you may need to do some cleanup along the edges where there may be overlap. Blender can be a bit tricky at times to use, however the more you use it, you become familiar with how the program "thinks" and "reacts", and it becomes much easier over time. Here's the Mercedes I converted to print maybe two years ago now, which was made printable by the method I show in my video.

OK, if the body already has wall thickness and you want to make it thicker, that's next to an impossible task unless you want to do a LOT OF WORK. It's one reason I've taken on designing my own files and my own wall thickness. I've gotten one too many files that were simply too thin, and in the worst place such as the fenders and rockers. The only thing I can show you is a video I did if you haven't seen it on wall thickness, and I can also tell you that Blender's solidify modifier IMO is worthless when it comes to wall thickness on bodies. The caveat is the body MUST already be a single shell file. Dual shell files with wall thickness is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish. The roof can be given thickness BTW-----I do this ALL the time when I'm creating a print file, which I'm in the middle of now in fact. Hope this helps..............

Now those look GREAT! ❤️ 8-9 years ago I ran a thread on building a 3D printed 1958 Plymouth 318 Polyhead V8. I had said back then in other threads on this forum that 3D printing would in fact be the next big wave to hit the hobby. This was before Don and Carol Holthaus announced they were retiring, and no plans to transfer the business. My reasoning was that if a file exist of any particular object, whether it's a car, wheel, model part, etc...........the part will always exist as long as the file does. No need to worry about molds wearing out or getting busted. Some poo-pooed the thought of that, but as you mentioned, the future is now, and I don't see 3D going away any time soon.

It came from this fellow here. I should warn you..........the model is VERY complex, and it's going to take a ton of work to make it printable. LOTS of separate parts this has once it's separated into individual pieces.

Anton, I strongly suggest that with any type of resin, especially if it's the first time using it, I'd run a calibration file/print on the machine first before running any type of long running model. The files are out there online----there's various types to check out, but that will go a long way into zeroing in where your settings should be. I'm one that doesn't like to throw out setting values for this and that, because even between the same make of machines, there's too many variables that can affect how the print will turn out. I can suggest a setting, but then I don't have the same machine as you do, and what works for one may not work for the other. BTW, that looks like one of Andrey Bezrodny's files..........I've run a couple of his before, and I've not had any issues. My only complaint with his files is the file size is sometimes waaaaay too big, and that's wreaked havoc in Chitubox to the point I've had it crash.

No, there were no blueprints. All that was done came out of the mind of yours truly, and what I could see in an assembly manual.

You'll want to check with this fellow here. Chris Bell is very good at teaching folks who are new at this the ins and outs of printing. It's a sub site----he has various plans for whatever folks need, but IMO, it's worth the time to check out. Hope this helps!

YIKES!! Ooooooh.................I hate dual shelled files! I just got an Amphicar file the other day, and the ENTIRE thing is dual walled! I'll have my work cut out for me, as the file is VERY nice, it's obviously way too thin to print as is. The Studebaker looks GREAT! Are those Andrey's files? I thought I saw a Stude on there a while back. ❤️

A bit more work to the T-Bird done as I get near the finish line at this designing phase. Since I last posted, a number of items have been created. A soft top, grille shell, front and rear bumpers, and soon the taillights and lenses will be on deck to be done in Blender. A number of pics...............probably within the next week or so this'll be all done, and then the next phase will be wall thickness established for print. Thanks for looking!

S'more work done on the Cobra, and last I Ieft off, I had the hood done. I've since gotten the rest of the front end done as far as the grille opening, front bumper, turn signal openings, and headlight doors. The headlight doors won't open and close as 3D printing thickness won't allow for that to look in scale once done, but the shut lines are definitely there, and IMO the car looks much better with the headlights closed than with them open. Also, I'm taking some artistic license and I made vent windows for the doors. IMO, the car seems incomplete without 'em, and I can't believe during the mid '60's if Ford had produced this car, they'd make a convertible lacking those. Just a little while ago this morning, I got the taillight bezels and lenses created, and soon will follow the rear bumper. At some point I'm going to have to turn off Blender's mirror modifier, as there's a gas door on the top left fender I'll have to create. So it doesn't show up on the other side, the modifier has to be turned off for this asymmetrical part. A bunch of pics, and eventually I'm going to create a hardtop AND uptop for the car. The original had no uptop, but I think it would look pretty good with one given the car's shape. Thanks for following along!

I only know of one. I've not heard it ever mentioned that there were multiple versions of either car. In the meantime, I did get the hood and those pesky vents created. I have a bunch of pics of when the car was at Amelia Island years ago, but no real clear shots of the hood, and particularly the vents. I took a guess as to how many vents according to the length of the row. The vents are at least made however, and I'm not going to get hung up on every bit of minutiae about the car-----it'll never get past the design phase. ? I did take some "artistic license" though and added vent window frames to the doors. Somehow the car doesn't look right for that period without the frames, but the coupe I don't think would look right with 'em. The next hurdle will be the front valance, and then creating the headlight doors. I won't be doing working features on this except for the hood, but I need at least the cut lines in the fenders for the headlights.

I cannot answer that Andrew. That'll depend upon you. Some swear by Fusion, while others like myself find Blender a bit more user friendly. Fusion is very good for the mechanical end of things where you need to have more exacting tolerances for machine parts and whatnot, while Blender I've found to be better at creating more organic shapes such as car bodies. How difficult or easy one would be over the other is totally on the individual.

There were some other changes, some that weren't readily seen from '55 to '56. The area just below the trunk was completely different due to the new exhaust for '56. Likewise, the rear part of the chassis/floorpan area was changed to suit the new exhaust. The interior had a different seat pattern although slight, and the dashboard top is a bit different along with a new steering wheel. I'm not a fan of Connie kits either, as some cars just don't look right with 'em on, and I did create a print file of the '57 a bit ago, just haven't printed it yet. I don't like AMT's '57 at all. It never looked right to me, especially the hardtop, and I swear that thing is smaller than 1/25 scale.

Why this car has been ignored as a kit is beyond head scratching, and the 3D models I've seen of this car have been-----less than desirable. So, even though I built one of these years ago from a Monogram '56, I decided to jump in and create a 3D file of this car. I got some very good orthographic pics of the car, and then there's of course my own model I can look at to straighten out certain details. Some pics of the WIP, and I'd like to eventually format this to print, run it, and see how it compares to the one I did some 25 years ago. This is scaled to 1/24 BTW, so I can use the Revell kit as a donor. Thanks for looking!

Oh! I've GOT to follow this one! I've been seeing this here and there on ads, but I've got the MFH 1/12 scale kit of this car-----God knows when I'll get to it! Then there's a couple Agora 1/8th's that I've yet to touch/finish. The '61 Jag I have all the parts to build and finish the car, but I've yet to even start it, and the GT40 which I did start is only about halfway done. 3D designing/printing/building has sort of taken over at the moment! ? Keep up the great work!

This WIP is starting out as a 3D model, and then it'll get formatted to print, and I'd like to use either a junker '63 Cougar II kit as the running gear, or find a whole kit on the cheap. I'm designing this in Blender, and I got started on this just yesterday. The car has no official blueprints, and contrary to popular belief, it shared very little with the coupe. They look very similar, but in creating and shaping the body panels in the program, they don't share any body panels at all. Hood, front fenders, doors, rear deck------all different in some way. I do have a very good side shot of the Cougar II to use as a blueprint of sorts, and then I just took pics of the model I built years ago to use for the front, rear, and top views. I've also pics of the 1:1, which has some very good interior shots. The dashboard also shares nothing with the coupe-----very different. Sometimes one has to use what's available, as concept cars can be troublesome to make models of, especially 3D models due to how they're photographed. A number of pics---Later on, the tougher task will be creating the hood as there's MANY slots that go right down the middle. Blender has an array function that can help with this, so that's what will be put to use to get those created. Thanks for looking!

Doug, Eric from EDM3DGarage just came out with a '58 Pontiac Bonneville Hardtop file, and I'm quite certain he's about to follow that up with a convertible. As you know, I got that old hardtop file from 3dExport that............needs some help. I can at least use the interior out of that for the newer '58 Pontiac as that'll save me some work. I like the '58 Sunliner as I have that file, but haven't touched it yet. The uptop on that IMO needs redone/redrawn----I may do that as I'm not quite crazy about how HUM3D did that. To my eyes, it doesn't have the right "swoop". to the rear. I LOVE your Dodge Red Ram Hemi! That's turning out great! I've only one engine I've gotten done so far, and that's the Australian Hemi six in their Valiant Charger for that market. The file came with a very incomplete engine with a number of (significant) things missing, so I took some time and drew up what was needed, and eventually I'll print it. Keep up the GREAT work!

I posted this over on FB where it's got (and still getting) a TON of buzz. Some of you don't do FB, so I thought I'd post this here. I started this file as a clean slate back in late January, and it started literally as a single line in Blender. I had no official blueprints to go by, just good orthographic pics I could find on the 'net, and a bunch of other shots of the car. Here it is all printed up in the Mighty 8k, as this printed the other night with no issues at all. I'd like for this to be a transkit of sorts for me as I'll see if I can use one of the AMT '67 Mustang kits as a chassis donor, as the real car was essentially a stock Mustang underneath. A bunch of pics-------I don't plan any more copies of this, and no I'm sorry-------I do not sell files or prints of what I do. A comparison with a '68 Mustang CS I created months ago. I got the wheelbase pretty much exact on the Bertone, so I at least did the scaling correctly. Some file pics as it was being created.................... The 1:1............... Thanks for looking!

More power to you Doug trying to straighten out somewhat dense mesh! For me personally, I've just taken to redrawing the entire section if needed, as dealing with tight meshes can drive me crazy. Such was the case with the '64 Corvair I did when the front end from the '60 needed changed as they're different. Yes, I gotta switch up on projects too from time to time------I might have five or six going on at the moment. I'm in no hurry to print, as I'd be overrun with cars after too long, so I'm limiting printing any to maybe once a month now. The Plymouth looks great! Was that originally Dan's file? He does such really nice work! I got his '53 Woodill Wildfire not long ago, and it's a VERY nice file. ❤️

Been just a minute since I last posted here. I've had a LOT of files done in the last couple months or so. I can't list all of them here----the page would take forever to load, but I can say that I've been doing a lot of my own design work lately, and not as much buying ready to convert .obj files. Some pics of what's up...... A 1964 Corvair Monza four door sedan. The file started as a '60, but the front ends are different, so I created a new front end for it to suit a '64. The print .stl file does have the gas door on the driver's side front-----I didn't add that in the .blend file seen here as the file size was already rather large. 1965 Bertone Mustang Show Car. I just worked on this today, and it's soon to be done to be printed somewhere along the way. The base file before wall thickness.......... The print file which is soon to be done............ Lastly, a 1963 Aston Martin DP215. The blueprints for this are rather wonky, but I've got a ton of pics of the 1:1, so some changes were made, particularly with the roofline as that's not quite right. Thanks for tuning in! ? P.S. I have to add like I do on FB that I do not sell any of my files are prints. This is strictly a hobby for me, with no intentions of trying to make money at it, or getting tied into some sort of obligation or deadline. That's a hobby killer for me.

It's one of the reasons I've stressed to newbies that they really need to get familiar with the 3D programs out there, as that can go a long way in spotting and correcting bad files/prints. Sadly, there's some fraudsters out there like any other field----people staring at the ceiling at midnight, beating their knuckles at the headboard trying to figure out what they can do to beat someone out of their money. I've already gotten my fair share of complaints about X person and files/prints via emails or PM's, so I can definitely believe there's a lot of nonsense happening in the 3D world unfortunately. The latest trick are these fraud "3D designers" who will put up a post on FB for example saying they can design a car to anyone's specs. The problem is, you go to their profile page (many don't), and there are no examples whatsoever of any of their WIP's or any printed product that they ostensibly designed. Yet............I keep hearing stories over and over again how this person was taken by such and such, and they lost a bunch of money over it. Eyes and ears open folks-----the hustlers are out there as I've met 'em, and have had to get quite nasty in the recent past with a few very obvious frauds.