The new wheels showed up today. I'm VERY pleased with the way that the centers turned out. As for the sleeves, I made a slight error when I designed them, and they are WAY too small. This wheel center was printed in shapeways Frosted Ultra Detail material, and is very nice IMHO.

Here is what it looked like when it came out of the box, semi transparent

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF0152.jpg

A coat of primer applied

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF0154.jpg

Then how it looks under the car

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...s/DSCF0157.jpg

I got some brake components in yesterday. The rotor and half of a caliper. The caliper needs to be a bit smaller, however the rotor turned out really nice. I thought I had ordered a rotor hat but I guess I didn't. The rotors will be painted gunmetal, or flat black with a silver mist to simulate the carbon rotors from a ZR1 corvette. All I had available was gloss black, but it allows you to see the machined aluminum bolt heads that will be used to detail the brakes once I get a full set done and ready.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/DSCF0170.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...2/DSCF0172.jpg

I'm lost?!

I went back and re-read my post. I assume you are talking about me ordering a rotor hat. I had created the part in solidworks and uploaded it to shapeways, but it never made its way into my basket for an order. I may have to fudge just a little on the brakes. It seems that the mounting tabs to mate the hat to the rotor are too small to be printed. I'm going to re-create the hat in a way that it doesn't need the tabs and order one of each and see if I can solve the problem.

Ah, www.shapeways.com I am creating the parts in solidworks, uploading the files to shapeways then ordering them to be printed. Once I have all of the kinks worked out of the parts, I will be offering them for sale.

Oh ok. I wonder how close you can get to real metal looking discs./

These won't be done with a metal finish. They will get a carbon ceramic look. However there are a lot of companies making some very convincing paints to duplicate aluminum, magnesium, and all sorts of other metals

this is awesome. makes me want to get out all of my stuff and start building again!

Scale model disc brakes
 

One source for scale model disc brakes is Ebay. You can get actual metal discs and rotors for RC cars which are usually 1/10 scale. Check them out we just used these on a scale model we built for Toyota and they came out killer, I did buy two different sets and combined them to make what you see. I also machined some special hats to fit the parts. Check it out you will be amazed :thumbsup: What you are looking at is a billet alum scale wheel for a Lexus concept car that is being shown on the Auto show circuit and this is the scale model with a almost identical disc brakes as the actual car.

Any updates?? This looks awsome!

No updates. My drive comes and goes for these things. I've been trying to get motivated to pull this out and work on it, but it typically ends in me needing money for parts to move forward and I never seem to have it!

I haven't been here in quite some time!

For those of you who have followed this build from the beginning, you may remember the issue I was having with parts, and having to create my own. Not being able to find a machinist to help me with wheels, etc. Since moving into our new house, I have started to create a space for modelling and hobbies. Along with that, I have started visiting some of my old modelling communities. With that, I have found MUCH more support for these large scale models. A friend on the west coast made a master for a 1/12th scale LS1 and was kind enough to send me a couple of copies, along with a pair of racing seats. There were two major items holding this build up, the wheels and the engine. Not being able to get the wheels completed was preventing me from figuring out the suspension geometry, setting final rear end width, etc. Not having the engine, also prevented from the creation of other items, the transmission, fuel system, turbo set-up, etc.

This should kick start this project, Once I get the block put together and cleaned up, I will get some good pictures and start getting this thing back on track! I also sent my wheel center out so that I can get some sleeves and lock rings made. Hopefully those will be back in a month or so. A member here has offered to see if he can create some 3D models of tires for me as well.

The original inspiration for this project was Bad Penny. So, after going through some old reference photos, I will be going back to dark sunset orange metallic. It feels good to be excited about this thing once again! It has been many years in the making, and I am ready to show off a finished piece!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psgechueu6.jpg

And just for something else to look at, The tires will be TOYO RA-1's

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...pseye3sdgj.png

I got a couple of pictures of the two halves glued together.

Detail is a bit hard to see in photos taken with my phone

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psnkeba7pq.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...pstr2tuml0.jpg

that is awesome

Thanks! It seems we talked about a syborg replica a few years back! When I clear some projects out, it is on the list!

and the funny thing is that I have finished the latest project and I am moving on to another that I need to start a build thread on.

I finally got around to ordering a few more prints from the 3D models I created. I got a caliper and rotor hat in today. A couple of flaws, I forgot the mounting tab for the calipers, and the bolts for the hat do not clear the mounting surface of the wheels. All of the primary parts were printed from my 3D models, the bolt heads are machined aluminum from RBMotion

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psjsddkhcw.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psvh72hqq3.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psyx4rggsc.jpg

keep posting

I will keep it updated as I get progress completed. I am still working on organizing my new hobby space. My wheels arrived at the machinist over the weekend. Hopefully in the next month or so I will have a set of wheels to start working on the suspension!

Man, that's about $7,500 for the set of wheels at 1:25 dollar scale, lol.:wacko: Impressive detail throughout.

Well, time for an update on this thing. Thanks to 3D printing, I'm finally making some progress and getting excited about this thing. I originally started it with intentions of building something real close to Bad Penny. Then I noticed the paint issue and went solid black. Well, we are back to sunset orange metallic! I've added some CF parts (decals) just to give it a different look. Think auto cross.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psbrtoyzf7.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psdgji1jpv.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psdtstjeep.jpg


I've also finally got a good, scale, LS engine. I'm trying to decide if I should go twin turbo or whipple. I'm leaning towards the whipple to try and keep the project moving and the costs down (all 3d printed parts).

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psk8to0qcd.jpg

and for size reference:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psvpfthfnk.jpg

I'm still fighting with the wheels. That has been a perpetual battle. I finally found someone to machine sleeves for the wheels I drew in Solid Works. Unfortunately, the finished product was not what I was looking for, and they ended up WAY too big. What is shown in the pictures above, are the wheels I'm planning to go with. A design I drew up in solid works. The "sleeves" are also printed and painted with a molotow chrome pen, to see how it turned out.

Look for more updates coming soon!

So cool and I think you should go Whipple.

That is the way I am leaning. It will save $100-200 in parts cost, between the turbo's (whether I have them printed or make molds of the masters that I created), machined fittings, braided line, etc.

I'll be ordering parts this weekend. I need to go through the resin parts I have for the engine/transmission and see what all I want to use and what I want to replace. I'm hoping to have all of the major engine parts in a couple of weeks so that I can get it assembled and start detailing it.

This project is killer awesome!
PLEASE keep posting!
I too would go whipple

Thanks. It's been going off and on for about a decade. I'm hoping with the new availability of parts, I can keep the momentum going.

The cool thing about those 3D printed parts, the guy that created the LS3 has a full set of internals too. It would make a sweet little diorama. The down side is the cost. The fine detail material gets to be super expensive.

Just curious what would they cost ??

1/8th scale, with the way he has everything listed in his store, about $200 for the parts. This is with the majority of the prints being in material that leaves a lot of texture. This is ok for the block if you are going for a factory cast look. If you want a machined, LSx look, it would need to be printed in the high def material which drastically increases the price. The other parts can be smoothed, though it would take quite a bit of work.

I know he prints 1/4 scale parts, though he prints those in house and I don't have a price on that. I could get a price if you were interested in a scale LSx diorama for a desk piece or something.

Edit: That total cost could probably be reduced if I had him put it into the store as a "kit" with all of the pieces in one file to print, that could reduce the cost.

A few things to try and show the process, and trials this thing has been through.

The over sized wheels I mentioned were going to be SWEET, had they turned out correctly. The centers had the look I was after, though after the sleeves got machined, they turned out to be 23" in scale I think, and once I mocked them up, they were entirely too large.

The process:

I drew up the wheel centers, printed some test pieces, and like the look, though I felt they needed to be a bit bigger, the original spokes were too narrow and I felt the wheel was a tad too small. Upon re-design I printed new pieces and then ended up stalling because I couldn't find anyone to machine the wheel sleeves. I finally came across a group of modellers who had a Facebook group dedicated to big scale modelling (1/16th-1/8th). It was there I got hooked up with a guy who could do what I was looking for. So, I set out to get the wheels finished, one of the major hang ups of this project.

This is how big they turned out:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...sulsmpdfm.jpeg

You can also see here that the guy machined the wheel sleeves for the center to be rear mount, I was looking for front mount, to replicate a 3 piece wheel. They were also machined with a "stepped" lip and I was looking for a smooth transition from the lip to the center. So, we talked it over and I sent them back to have him separate the sleeve and the mounting ring so that I could adjust the centers to the depth and mounting orientation that suited the build.

Here is what I got back:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...pshlt4ulmz.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ps6tedhk7s.jpg

Unfortunately when doing that, I was left with sleeves that did not have a smooth inner diameter, and mounting rings that did not fit snugly inside of the centers. Leaving me with parts that were all but useless. In the midst of all of that I thought about the lack of tires for the build, and once tires were on it, they wheel/tire combo was going to be ENTIRELY too large and look like a Donk.

Fast forward a few months and I got bored and started digging thought my box of parts. I found some tire casts that a guy in California sent me to mess around with, my original prototype wheels, and found that everything fit together almost perfectly:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psp0l2hxrw.jpg

They also looked right at home on the rear of the Camaro (notice the body was still black with hockey stripes at this point)

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psxifa50cf.jpg

So, that set the wheels in motion to start trying to source parts, and reinvigorated the build.

It was at this point I came across some old reference photos as well as photos of the body when it was painted Sunset Orange Metallic in the beginning. This set me on a course to strip the body, which took about a month of soaking in various chemicals, and prepping to re-paint it SOM. This time around I used a mail order auto refinishing site and picked up some SOM in a spray can and got the finish I was after, minus the tiger stripes.

So, where does this leave me you may wonder?

The wheels need some work. The centers are a little loose in the sleeves, not so loose that they aren't usable, but loose enough to make getting them mated together square and looking right could be an issue. Ideally, they need drawn with a "stop" for the wheel center at the proper depth for the offset I'm looking for, problem there is, I don't know what offset I'm after! These aren't necessary, but would definitely help. In addition to that, I would like the spokes on the wheels just a bit "beefier" as the look anemic as they sit. The brakes that I designed need to be scaled down, as they were designed to fit the larger wheels, and now that I'm going with the smaller ones, they will not clear. Then, once all of the adjustments are made, I need to "group the parts" in a Solid Works file and upload them to be printed.

Anyone familiar with solid works? lol

There are some guys doing some pretty cool things. 3D printing has REALLY opened up the 1/12th scale and larger stuff. There is a guy replicating Big Red, he commented earlier in this thread. He did a 3D model of the tires and is working on casting them in rubber.

Wheels are a whole different story, if you don't have CNC abilities to work in small scale, you are out some major coin. I'm still working with my 3D renderings and hopefully can order some test prints mid July to see if it is going to work. I haven't completely given up on getting wheel sleeves machined, though I am prepared to work with the printed sleeves and try to give them a finish that I like and gives the look I am after.

EDIT:

I ordered about $60 worth of 3D parts last night. I should have all of the major components for the drive train now. Whipple charged LS3 with a TKO 5spd

Not a huge update, but figured I would chronicle some of the growing pains.

Moving to the smaller wheel means I need to change the size of the brakes that I drew up in Solid Works. I'm hoping to be able to accomplish this in the shapeways terminal and not have to completely re-draw parts.

Here are a couple of shots of the wheel size that I will be using. The aluminum ring has the same ID and OD as the printed sleeves, and of course a shot with the brakes behind the current wheels.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ps7q7xeyjg.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ps7nsamuxe.jpg

Hopefully I can find the time to scale the brakes this weekend and order some test prints to make sure that everything fits correctly after the changes.

Well, a box of goodies showed up today! Whipple, TKO 500, bell housing, and other misc goodies. I should have consulted with Ron on the bell housing. The mounting flange on the T5 doesn't match the bell housing, but that is an easy fix! The whipple is a very nice piece and the conical air filter mates right up. I will probably remove the fuel rails and injectors and create my own. I need to pull a few refence photos, it looks like the way the whipple is going to sit, I may need to scratch up a valley cover for the LS. Time to start counting for machined bolts and goodies!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psn16kq3pn.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psifaj59nv.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psskgfcexy.jpg

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

This is so cool.

Thanks. I've been working on getting my work bench cleaned up and a spot to do some airbrushing.

I dug out all of my machined aluminum bolts this morning. I also compared the TKO 500 to the kit bell housing from the original motor. It looks like it should mate up pretty good, I need to compare it to the back of the LS3 block and see how it matches.

I'm hoping I can get some time this week to get these parts cleaned up, bolt heads removed, and primed. Then I can start on shift linkages, fuel injectors and rails, etc.

Put some color on the whipple this evening. The color on the body is burnt iron, magnesium on the TB and the backplate, semi gloss black on the pullies. I added some machined aluminum bolts the the back plate. Lots of detail still to add, but it is a start.

Due to this being a single unit, the fuel rails, injectors, and TB will be used and detailed. The only way to really super detail this thing would be for it to be printed in multiple pieces, or to cut it up. I feel that with some wiring, fittings, and paint it will ve convincing once it is nestled into its home. I will be adding some more detail to the TB to look like a DBW unit.

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psyxpjjznd.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...psmpcipbfk.jpg

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