[Gordon Steadman]

As someone who enjoys carving my own slot car bodies, I watch, with great interest, the growth of 3D printing.

It's obviously a great way of getting bodies made at home and, obviously, offers the opportunity, like wot I have, to have cars not out there already.

But....most of those I see on the forums look as though they have been cast in rough concrete and painted with a 10 inch house brush.. There are also some that look superb but it have clearly taken a long time to rub down, fill and paint properly to achieve what I would consider a good finish. In wood, the basic shape is fairly easy and quick but it's the finish that take the time. Imperfections are all too obvious when the basic finish is smooth, maybe that's why some people don't bother.

I understand that the process is still developing and, no doubt, in due course, things will be almost as good as a professionally produced body but for me, for whom racing is more important that concours, putting up with such a rough finish would be impossible, I'd bin it or put it back on the bench for the hard bit.

No doubt others will have thoughts on this.

[rallyhub]

Hi Gordon,

I'm also very curious about the development of 3D printing, but I still respect people who carve their own wooden bodies.
The latter, in my opinion, is still a kind of art.
I think you should do what you like best, which is the carving of your own bodies.
Once a balsa boy, always a balsa boy?

[autoavia]

I think the quality of 3D printed bodies varies a fair bit and the quality depends on the material used to make the print. The process is still in it's infancy and given time I am sure that the quality will improve.

I bought an inexpensive body that was printed in what I think is PLA and found that it was as hard as nails and very difficult to sand smooth. Over two years later it is something that I pick up every now and then to have another go at finishing it but I am still unsure that I will ever get it to the point where I will be happy with the finish.

 My woodworking skills can only be described as appalling so I must admit that I have never tried carving a body but I do admire the skills of those who have mastered the art.

[Kevan]

A 3D print can only be as good as the 3D file and the plain fact is they're made of flat'ish pixels so will never be smooth like a well polished injection molded version.

I'm one of those willing to overlook the imperfections to have a car that otherwise isn't available. It's all part of the scratch building side of our hobby.  

Maybe I should consider trying carving as an option, in a lot of ways would be much easier and quicker than 3D file creation.

[Gordon Steadman]

A 3D print can only be as good as the 3D file and the plain fact is they're made of flat'ish pixels so will never be smooth like a well polished injection molded version.

I'm one of those willing to overlook the imperfections to have a car that otherwise isn't available. It's all part of the scratch building side of our hobby.  

Maybe I should consider trying carving as an option, in a lot of ways would be much easier and quicker than 3D file creation.

Certainly for me. The very idea of trying to create a 3D file turns my head to mush. It's bad enough 'normally'.

[Bazzer]

As someone who enjoys carving my own slot car bodies, I watch, with great interest, the growth of 3D printing.

It's obviously a great way of getting bodies made at home and, obviously, offers the opportunity, like wot I have, to have cars not out there already.

But....most of those I see on the forums look as though they have been cast in rough concrete and painted with a 10 inch house brush.. There are also some that look superb but it have clearly taken a long time to rub down, fill and paint properly to achieve what I would consider a good finish. In wood, the basic shape is fairly easy and quick but it's the finish that take the time. Imperfections are all too obvious when the basic finish is smooth, maybe that's why some people don't bother.

I understand that the process is still developing and, no doubt, in due course, things will be almost as good as a professionally produced body but for me, for whom racing is more important that concours, putting up with such a rough finish would be impossible, I'd bin it or put it back on the bench for the hard bit.

No doubt others will have thoughts on this.

Gordon

I don't use 3D printing for slot car bodies but have made small under body components such as guide flags on Scalextric Juniors.

I was highly sceptical of 3D printing but saw a few good parts being made and decided to make the jump on manufacturing parts for my RC pylon racers.

3D printing is not magic and there are a lot of tricks to get really good results, most of this is understanding what the slicing software can do/is doing. My observation is that 3D printers can pretty well work out of the box, at least that is what my Dremel 3D20 done but to get really good results requires perseverance and understanding (no change there).

The 3D printing community is massive and there is momentum within it that will and does produce a lot developments on a regular basis.

My advise is keep a watchful eye but don't dismiss the process out of hand (not suggesting you were).

There is also a lot that can be done with the STL model to make it smoother and this has a very positive effect on finishes.

I will post photo's of some of the 3D printed work that I have been involved with but they are RC models so I will only post if there is a request.

B.

[Gordon Steadman]

It would be interesting to see the possibilities of course.

As I said in the first post, I have seen some really good results but, usually, they have been as a result of extensive filling, thick undercoating and rubbing down.

There is zero likelihood that I will ever get involved with 3D printing as it involves things that my poor old brain cannot handle. For me, creating anything visual involves eye, brain and hand directly (Camberwell School of Art trained etc etc) I did try a couple of 3D programs for interior design us once and rapidly returned to my trusty pencil.

My nephew is into the whole thing but he produces bits for his wargaming (how on earth did a member of my family get into stuff like that? I blame his father, my sister was a sensible woman) He has suggested producing some cars instead of tanks but as I prefer 24th scale to 32nd, I think his machine might be a little small.

As you suggest, I wasn't knocking the idea, I guess I had expected more.

[Kevan]

I can't create 3D bodyshell files because I can't do complex curves.  I did sit down during lockdown v.2 with the intention of learning how as there's plenty of youtube help but the interest quickly waned as I had chassis to draw up for other cars.

[Bazzer]

It would be interesting to see the possibilities of course.

In the case of this model the fuselage buck/pattern was 3D printed and then filled and faired to a high standard, a composite mould was then produced from which the actual fuselages were made.

In the photo of the finished model the curved wing tips are actual 3D printed parts which have been painted. So these wing tips are providing part of the aero make up of the model which flies at about 130 mph.

I have done a lot of smaller parts for control linkages etc. and they are close to the standard of injection moulded parts, I have also started printing waxes for lost wax casting of aluminium.

All of this was done on a simple printer that I paid £200 for, it is not the printer but how it is controlled via the slicer software.            

[Gordon Steadman]

I assume that manufacturers now use this method. Quickly printing a body the right shape then gives the opportunity to get a good finish on it and use it to produce a production mould.

After my recent experiments with getting resin bodies made from some of my wooden masters, I am certainly tempted to try some more. Being able to reproduce them does take away the fear that my....priceless work of art, ahem..... will get destroyed when racing hard.

So far, it's been one made of plasticard that got thoroughly clobbered, the balsa ones seem surprisingly resistant and are easy to repair anyway.

Thanks for showing us your planes.