Hi, All. Not much to post lately but I did get some Z scale automobiles from Mike at IronPenguin Electronics (who knew he made these?) They are c. 1967 muscle cars. There is a Corvette, Mustang, F100, Camaro Challenger and a 2012 VW. They are 3-D printed in solid plastic. They are well detailed. This is my first attempt at painting and masking something(s) this small. I used spray paint from cans after I primed them with Tamiya grey primer. I found it was much easier to mask the windows in many tiny pieces of masking tape rather than trying to cut an exact fit. I have added license plates as well as other little details. The Mustang has racing stripes and custom side mirror. The side mirrors on the F100 are modified Showcase Miniatures
Those are nice. The windows really need to be decals that fit exactly. They could even have trim. I know nothing about printing decals. Anyone...? I have tried thin washes on a couple of small resin building windows to varying effects. Showcase Miniatures has a two part pick-up truck cast in metal that is the best 3-D looking vehicle I've seen. However, they have never made a two-part car. It would be cool to have some zee-folks in those vehicles. Jim
Hmmm...He sent me these a couple of weeks ago. He also sent me an n-scale Corvette. Hopefully he'll read this thread and enlighten us. Jim
Nice job Jim! and you too Sven! I agree Jim, I wish more shelled out cars were available in Z scale. Notch has some nice cars with clear glass but they are all German automobiles. Would love to see 50's thru the early 80's American prototypes. I think that would cover a lot of folks layouts. Its on my shapeways list of CAD models to make. Only problem is I hate, hate, hate making cars in CAD.... So its currently at the bottom of the list.
I'm not sure why I posted the same image over and over again. Here is a view of the rear of each car.
Hi, Kurt. I thought they were for sale. They had a price tag of $2.00/each. Though his website does not have them listed. I hope Mike sees this thread and clues everybody in. He sent them to me as a gift. I would try my hand on another batch of them if they are available for sale. Jim
I used to design 50's to 70's american cars and trucks using an Engineering CAD. But solid, not hollow. Unfortunately, the software license I had has expired last year, so the car projects I have are standing by... I miss drawing my cars so much... Here are a few of my works made using CAD: Joao
Those are really nice Joao! I hear you, CAD programs are expensive. I'm way over due for an upgrade. But not looking forward to shelling out several thousand dollars right now.... But if you can afford around $1000, I recommend Rhino. https://www.rhino3d.com/6 You get a pretty powerful program for a not totally insane price.
If ok for you, Jim and the others, We may want to use this thread to display cars that are available for the Z-scalers. Such as: Best, Sven
Hi all, The Z scale cars I sent Jim are almost ready for production. I haven't put them on my web site since I wanted his opinion of them. I'm always amazed at how long it takes to go from prototype to final, but both they are almost done. Final and most boring step is writing the text, etc for the product page. I want to add a Z only section to the website and these will kick it off. Regarding the cars, I could print them in clear resin which might help with the windows. It would probably be easier to mask them once to prevent painting than to mask everything else and paint them Opinions? Mike 'IronPenguin' Tennent
Mike, My only recommendation is to delete the side mirrors from the pickup truck. They're too large and just don't look realistic. Better not to have them at all. Well done overall!! Keep up the great work! John
They're coming, just got to wrap up details of getting them on the website. Photos, text, etc. It takes more time than it should. IronPenguin