3D print Chevrolet Caprice 1/43

I would be interested in participating and sharing the cost.

You are correct that this will need to be printed on a resin printer to get the best quality. However, I want to offer a word of caution to anyone purchasing custom printed resin models:

If the parts appear to be moist or sticky DO NOT TOUCH THEM!!! A correctly cured resin part is bone dry and completely safe to handle, but uncured resin is HIGHLY TOXIC!!!

This is not an issue for a professional printer that knows what they are doing. However, there are MANY people out there that buy printers and go into business without having any idea how to produce high quality (AND SAFE) parts! Research the printing service to make sure they have been in business a while, and that they have good customer feedback. 

Producing high quality parts takes a LOT of knowledge and a lot of experience, but there are plenty of people that believe all they need is the printer to start a business and get rich quick. If someone says "I know a guy that can do it real cheap", run fast, run far!!

Thanks Dave for the great advice. I am starting to find out that there is more to this than meets the eye. I have not checked out any professionals yet but I am starting to suspect that to get it done properly may be more expensive than it is worth. I will probably look into this further, but may just wait and hope that this model becomes a new release by one of the manufacturers.

@daveg Thanks for the advice.

I'm up to about 12 3D printed models in 43rd scale.  For some I have a local fellow who is happy to buy the file from the internet and print them for me for which I pay him for his time and materials.  He has produced some great items for me.   He uses PLA which is either white, grey or black and replicates very fine detail even in 43rd scale.  It comes off a spool and is fed into the hot end of the printer nozzle in and extruded in hair sized threads The issue I sometime find is that horizontal surfaces such as roofs and hood can show the layering technique that is a feature of 3D printing.  I have been easily able to overcome this with some glazing putty as used in auto body shops and some sanding when dry.  Since all the items are ultimately painted using this is not a concern.   A few of my items have been printed by a Bulgarian printer and these are done in resin.  All are apparently well cured before I receive them, so no stickiness is noted.   Some files print a body with the bumpers attached and others essentially print a "kit"of parts much like one would get in a 24th scale AMT kit.   Some parts are extremely tiny,  such as steering wheels, dashboards, suspensions, exhaust systems etc.   Chrome parts, whether attached or separate will have to be covered with bare metal foil or done with a chrome pen such as a Big Thumb.   And keep in mind that wheels/tires will have to be glued in place, thus not rollable.  And all windows will have to be created with clear acrylic such as some food products are coming in these days.  Flat windows are easy but curved screens can be a challenge.   Although I do not do the printing, too big an investment and learning curve to obtain good results,  I did want to learn more about the machines and process and can highly recommend this book which I got at my local library.   Idiot's Guide to 3D Printing by Cameron Coward 2015.  Dewey decimal number 621.988.

This is my latest print kit and the completed vehicle,  a 1950 Plymouth Suburban.   I am in the process of taking an extra one and stretching it to create a 1950 Plymouth woody.  (This chassis has my own added engine details).

I have take this 3D concept one step further and attempted to hire designers to create an STL file for a few other obscure cars never done in 43rd scale.   This process of contracting with a "designer" somewhere on the globe through a website, and have them create an accurate file is taking time and is a bit awkward.  We will see how it works out.  If I was cloning an existing 43 scale model, I though they would need the model, but none wanted that as they work from photographs.  If one can find a Bring a Trailer auction listing these have dozens of useful photos that I believe they can work with.

Thanks for a very informative explanation of your model work.

@daveg Very well said and explained........  Resin 3D printing is messy and toxic. Period.

I would never recommend buying any of these systems unless you have a proper training in an engineering field to understand the implications of using these chemicals. 

@john-quilter This seems to me going back in the 1960's, buying a plastic scale model in about 1/43 scale. I remember a box with a 1915 Model T  Ford and 2 other models. These thing were really clumsy to put together. They were about $1.00 for all of them. I was about 10 YO. It was the first time I messed up to build scale models.

John, your Suburban wagon is a real jewel. Thanks for sharing and the accompanying  information.

@nickies I appreciate the comments Nickles. With so many things today, there seem to be potential hazards involved and it's important to be aware of them.

This 3D printing of models is an intriguing development.

John Quilter says the people producing the model files for printing work from photographs. Quite apart from the cleverness of the printing process, I'm wondering how they manage to take "flat" images of a model from all the different angles required and get them to blend into an accurate full-body 3D rendering. Clever software, presumably.

I came across this video of a guy printing body parts for a model. He does quite a lot of detail fiddling around, so you might want to fast-forward here and there, but it's fascinating to see how the software handles the shapes and automatically creates supports for the various printed parts.

Complete Idiot's Guide to 3d Resin Printing - Step by Step Chitubox Elegoo Saturn 4 - YouTube

The number of models now available is surprising. I believe some of the people involved are actually doing laser scans of old 1:24 plastic kits. The output can then be scaled up or down as desired. Resin may be messy and toxic but apparently the results are much superior to filament printing where very fine detail is required without any layering marks.

Posted by: @nickies

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@daveg Very well said and explained........  Resin 3D printing is messy and toxic. Period.

I would never recommend buying any of these systems unless you have a proper training in an engineering field to understand the implications of using these chemicals. 

A number of years ago I did so some resin casting of small model parts but I found it too much work for the  end result and the material, rubber molding putty,  and the resin all were expensive and had a short shelf life.   Not worth the effort in my opinion,  but I know a lot do resin casting of complete bodies.  Not sure if that is the same type resin that is fed into a 3D printer however.

Posted by: @john-quilter

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If I was cloning an existing 43 scale model, I thought they would need the model, but none wanted that as they work from photographs.

This fact surprises me too.    🤨 🤨 

@john-quilter No, the two materials are completely different. Casting resin is typically a 2-part system, resin + catalyst. Mixing the two together starts a chemical reaction that hardens the resin. This chemical reaction can also produce tremendous amount of heat if the part it too thick. Think Chernobyl without the pesky radiation. Don't ask me how I know this.

Printing resin is cured by ultraviolet laser light, one very thin layer at a time. Once the part is removed from the resin tank, it must be rinsed thoroughly and then fully cured under UV light. If the part is too thick, the resin in the center of the part may not cure fully, and can leach out of the part days, weeks, or months later. If the part is not designed properly and contains voids without proper drainage, it can trap the highly toxic liquid resin, which will leach out (or leak out) eventually. That is why it is so important to have a printing service that knows what they are doing; they can spot these types of issues in the digital file and correct them before they go to print.  

Here a good comparison of the different types of 3D printing: https://www.hatchbox3d.com/pages/photopolymer-resin