3D-printed 1/24 scale 15" Vector Wheel

[Chief Joseph]

Does that include a spare magnafier lens as well for us with old eyes. Lol. Looking forward to those wheels. Any ideas on pricing yet. Joe.

Can't talk price right now.

Chief those are amazing looking! What size wheel did this end up being?

Real-life 15", which means about 16 3/8" overall diameter at the face. It fits my aftermarket tires plus Monogram's "Goodyear GT Radial" kit tires.

[chase-cars]

3D piece looks really good! I use the technology a lot and it's very useful

[epi4561]

Wow... looking great!!! Like many others have said, depending on the price, I'd be interested on a couple sets..

[Chief Joseph]

The tiny Plastruct hex rods that I'd been waiting on finally arrived in the mail yesterday, so I made the lugnut. I'm casting copies of that tiny thing today and I expect to have the set ready to go by the end of the week.

[mikemopar70]

Wow!

Awesome stuff you got there, i'm interested too...

I'm planning to build a T-Type Turbo Buick soon so..

Keep it on!

[gtx6970]

I don't get to this section very much.

So when these wheels are ready, PM me.

I'll take a set of wheels and a set of Radial GT tires to go with them for a future Buick Turbo T type build for a friend of mine

[Chief Joseph]

I've updated my website.

[azers]

Nice job. Placing my order today. I take it the extensions on the lugnuts can be inserted in the holes in the wheels so they don't get lost so easy. By the way love the tires.

[Chief Joseph]

Here's a sample wheel I painted for some promo pics:

Wheel is painted with Alclad Aluminum, the lug nuts are Alclad Chrome, and the decal on the center cap is the Buick emblem used on Regals. The tire is not included in the wheel set; this one is my resin Eagle GT. You may note I haven't included valve stems with these wheels-- I wanted to leave something for the modeler to add. Maybe one day I can finish my Grand National models now! Speaking of that, here's a prototype of the earlier GN grille with paint and foil:

I'm thinking that Alclad Chrome might be easier to use instead of foil. Stay tuned, Buick fans

Edited December 11, 2012 by Chief Joseph

[brodie_83]

Darn....I'm excited for the grille! I still gotta pick up those wheels.

[azers]

Any plans to replicate that grill in resin and sell some to to other forum participants? Would go good with the buick i plan to do after seeing some of your guys work.

[Greg Wann]

Absolutely awesome work! I love Buicks!

[Danno]

Wow!

[Casey]

Absolutely awesome work!

What Greg said.

Just in time for the reissued Monogram GNX kit.

[brodie_83]

I'm gonna be buying a set of those wheels/tires here soon buddy!

[Chief Joseph]

Thank you for your comments!

After talking to a few guys today, I think I will be offering a version of the vector wheel with the lug nuts and centercap attached. It'll be just one piece like a normal Monogram wheel front. It'll be slightly cheaper than the version with separate parts, but the trade-off is it'll be harder to paint.

The grille is coming soon. Stay tuned on that.

The Buick GN is undergoing something of a renaissance right now. December 11th was the 25th anniversary of the last GN rolling off the production line, and there has been a documentary film released this week called "Black Air." The film explores the unique culture surrounding the cars and the people who own them. And the Grand National will be re-introduced by GM, built on the same platform as the outstanding Cadillac ATS. Yeah, 4-doors but at least it's RWD.

[azers]

Yeah.ill look forward to the grill just let us know. And ill take a few sets of the new vector wheels when your ready. Just keep us updated. Better go get my buick on payday.

[Scuderia]

Great to hear about the grille that looked very slick. Will definitely make me by multiples of the GN and GNX kits for ideas. Your craftsmanship is great

[brodie_83]

I'm in for the multiple-piece wheels...it's all about detail and accuracy for me! I also heard about that GN documentary movie and saw a teaser trailer of it on YouTube awhile back. I'm guessing it's making it's way to DVD...I gotta have that too! Someday I'm determined to buy back my '87 GN that I never should have sold in the first place...I miss the heck out of that car!

[azers]

I like both ideas multi piece wheels for us detail fanatics, one piece wheels for those of us with limited dexterity and want the look still. Ill take them in both versions please.

[Ben]

That's some really nice work on those wheels and that grille!!!!!!!!!

[azers]

Recieved my vectors today. Really nice. Curious to see the one piece vectors. Can't wait for your next project. Joe.

[chase-cars]

That's kind of an open-ended question...

I don't do any of the resin casting, that's done by talented people who are good at it, and have been doing it for years. I create some custom parts like wheels, tires, alternative front ends (to change my '74 Dodge Monaco to a '77 Dodge Monaco Royal) and get them 3D printed. I use ProEngineer software because I use it at work all the time, then upload the 3D files to somewhere like Shapeways or iMaterialise and they send me a master model.

This gets used as the master model for the silicone mold

[Bernard Kron]

Along with NormL's thread on modeling his Atom, this is a great thread helping to flesh out the issues surrounding this rapidly progressing technology. It's following the general path I've seen with other computer-based technologies which eventually migrated to the home computer platform. I can remember the early days of Aldus Pagemaker and Photoshop, running them on 386 computers and sending the results out to service bureaus for output of acceptable quality. Even with today's powerful home computers, cheap data storage, commonly available photo art and drawings at little or no cost, and even high speed cloud (on line) computing, it's still advisable in many cases to use a service bureau for certain types of high quality output when the front end capital investment (for printers, materials, etc.) doesn't make sense or is simply unavailable.

In our world consider white or metallic colored decals. You may be able to create the original art on your home compuer, and even look at a proof by printing out in high resolution on your home inkjet or laser printer, a printer which may have cost you as little as $50.00. But you still have to go to someone who has a Micro-Dry or die sublimation printer (Alps, Oki, etc.) to get final output on decal stock. The cost of printers and supplies is prohibitive for the home hobbyist who may print 10-15 sheets of decals per year on the outside, and even fewer that actually require this technology. So, while making and printing decals is now a common part of our hobby, it still makes sense to job out parts of the process. And very importantly, cheap printing didn't destroy the aftermarket in decals or remove them from the inside of model kits.

Rapid Prototyping and 3D printing have evolved at breakneck speed. Home printing is a reality. High strength, high density print media are starting to be a reality. (Some F1 teams are now printing work parts in the pits during race meetings to mount and use on their cars immediately.) High resolution output is a reality. Over time all these key elements will continue to cheapen. The time it takes to process and print output will continue to shrink. But video game enthusiasts don't generally create their own game objects, any more than we car modelers make our own decals or mix our own paints.

The key issues to watch going forward are printer resolution at low prices, and the general availability of fused media technologies and high density print materials. For the hobbyist modeler cheap, fast printers, smooth surfaces for larger objects (bodies), accurate and finely detailed small objects and easily produced and/or readily available 3D drawings will be the pivot points that make the promise of this technology a reality. It will be at that point the Harry's vision will become something that we will add to our world, but not necessaily to the exclusion of the ways we do it now (purchasing complete kits and aftermarket parts).

Having said all this I gotta say, those Vector wheels are gorgeous!!!

[spkgibson]

I have a suggestion for you....How about making a 1973-74 style Dodge Dart grill.....And the factory stock 71 Duster full wheel covers...And also the 70-71 Dodge full wheel covers for the up coming 71' Dodge Demon....They could also be used on Challengers...Coronets....Chargers...And Super Bees.....I would need about 12 sets.....And 5 of the 73-74 Dart grills....Would possibly be a great seller to Mopar fans.