Weird-O Maxx

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johnnydmd

Beer drinker and hell racer
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I grew up as a hot rodder...

I was learning to paint flames, and the idea popped into my head - why not do an Ed Roth artwork inspired monstrosity? Quickly the gears started turning. I had my old T-Maxx that I was using for another project(tried to vacuum form a replica of Megalodon - didn't come out well enough really), and decided I needed a hot-rod monster truck in my life. Originally I had considered traditional 3D monster truck style body concepts, but then I just figured what the hell, make it look like one of Roth's drawings!

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The concept in my head was somewhat this:

1. Design and print out a 3d Rat Fink.
2. Create a truck body that had a bubble for him to sit in, protected, and a big engine sticking out of the hood(from the lexan/PETG).
3. The bubble and engine would be 3d printed and attached to a classic truck/car body form.

A few things went wrong on the first attempt. Namely, that the printed parts on the form could not quite withstand the heat when the PETG was dropped down. It was close...but no cigar. Secondly, that trying to vacuum form the entire engine was dubious at best, and the detail left a lot to be desired.

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Here you can see the damage to the form...voids in the printed parts sagged.

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I decided that the pull was good enough for a practice run, and conceptual test. The bubble had distortions, and the engine, well, looked pretty much like crap.

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one thing i learned when i was trying my hand at vacuum forming, make a bunch of small holes through the mold so air is less likely to be trapped, especially in recessed areas think air hockey table. make them quite small so they dont try pulling the lexan through. looks good!
 
Meanwhile, I also designed up the Rat Fink driver in AutoCAD Meshmixer. Much like the truck body, this took some refining.

My first design I was proud of, being my first attempt to sculpt something with Meshmixer.

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The print was a little rough too - I didn't quite get the right 3D setup, so there was a lot of trimming and post production work.

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Despite this, I wanted to paint it anyway, conceptual testing as it was.

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After putting it all together, I started to come up with the ideas to refine everything.

First I had to deal with the mold. I reprinted the bubble, and this time drilled out the bottom and filled it with water putty to make it a solid block.

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The next change was that I would no longer try to vacuum form the entire engine - only the valve covers and block/manifold. Btw, the main portion of the mold was created using an existing body and filling it to the brim with water putty. The original body was left on for perfect smoothness, and does not deform in the vacuum former, as it's .8 lexan, and I'm forming .6 PETG(plus the water putty innards absorb a lot of the heat).

I was able to get a pair of pulls without the form sustaining any damage. Unfortunately they both had folds because it was only after my second(and last) piece of PETG did I realize I had forgotten to re-grease the mold, and the plastic was not sliding as well as the first time. The folds weren't totally horrendous though, and I was able to incorporate the scars into the paint scheme.
 
I also needed to get a better model for the Rat Fink, I wasn't thrilled with it - just not getting the look right. So I revamped my sculpture a bit.

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Got a much cleaner print by repositioning it on it's back.

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Painted it up, and this one I felt got the spirt a little better!

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Fitted the body, with the printed blower unit(note - this unit was just a test for fitment, I threw on a chrome finish just for seeing how it would look).

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By now, the concept is coming alive. The blower unit is held on by four screws through bottom, and one through the lower pulley. The pully belts tuck into slots in the front of the hood to protect them from flex, etc on impacts. Theoretically :)

Masked it all up, and began to paint.

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Getting the idea. Will print out a better(smoother) blower unit and fully paint before attaching. Still some areas of the body to finish painting(bumper and wheel well trim).

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There are other engine details coming - note the holes in the valve covers, those will have spark plug wires going out and to the distributor.
 
one thing i learned when i was trying my hand at vacuum forming, make a bunch of small holes through the mold so air is less likely to be trapped, especially in recessed areas think air hockey table. make them quite small so they dont try pulling the lexan through. looks good!

Thanks, yeah, I thought about that too, though my problem was mostly just the printed plastic not being reinforced enough. I later had some problems with folding that I realized was due to me not having re-oiled the mold after I had washed it to re-attach the new parts. It was a little "grabby" around the top. My first attempt with a nice slathering of PAM was fold free - other than a small crease on the bubble and the engine due to the overly complex area.
 
Thanks, yeah, I thought about that too, though my problem was mostly just the printed plastic not being reinforced enough. I later had some problems with folding that I realized was due to me not having re-oiled the mold after I had washed it to re-attach the new parts. It was a little "grabby" around the top. My first attempt with a nice slathering of PAM was fold free - other than a small crease on the bubble and the engine due to the overly complex area.
didnt realize i caught the posts midway through you posting :) looks really awesome! looks to be coming out really well!! can't wait to see finished product!
 
That's an incredible piece of work! That would make "Big Daddy" very proud, indeed.

Thank you!

Getting a little closer to completion. I just need to attach the plug wires, screw in the Fink and supports, and it'll be a wrap for the body portion of the project.

Couple of other notes:

I printed the Fink and motor using PLA on a el-cheapo Davinci Jr 2.0 printer. The prints were decent, but not the quality if I had sent them out, which would have cost around 50 dollars for the two combined. Also, PLA isn't the best choice, ABS would have been more durable for impacts, as PLA is more brittle. I will be putting this to the test of course.

The total weight of the Fink and motor is 3.3 ounces. Additional PETG and screws bring it to 3.5 ounces.

Yes the motor is a Hemi :) Chosen because I love Hemi's, and also because I wanted the plug-out-of-the-valvecover look.

The body is made from .6 PETG which is pretty easy to work with. As mentioned, my first pull in which I sprayed the mold with PAM came out nearly perfect other than the problems with the form itself melting and the complex area of the blower unit. I had cleaned the mold to re-attach the new parts, and totally forgot about the PAM application until after I used my last two sheets of PETG! Doh - "Why do I keep getting these new creases where I didn't before??". So it's not perfect, but I made due with the paint scheme on the worst of it.

I used the tutorial on these forums for painting the flames.

I plan on doing another one for a solid axle project over the Winter :)

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Assembled. Blower unit is still using the temporary one. I still am working on the much smoother printed one that I'll be using Spaz Tix Mirror Chrome and clear on. This one is using Valspar, which looks pretty decent but I haven't found any clear coats that don't mess up the paint. On the new printed blower unit I'm also thinking of hollowing out the inner supports some to reduce weight. Otherwise, the body is pretty much finished. Little bummed about the two imperfections on the bed, but lol, I'm sure I'll be creating a few new ones once I run it around. Next will be doing some chassis/drivetrain work.

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This Maxx was from a long time ago, in a galaxy(era) far far away. Lots of Integy aluminum before I knew better - though maybe I got lucky because it's held up well despite some major tumbles. Shame you cannot find the UE stuff other than people on Ebay wanting a small fortune. Drive train is a Dynamite .19 with THS tuned pipe and Tigerdrive drill starter. Rb Innovations air filter, and Robinson Racing FO conversion. It's got some get-up. Was able to ditch quite a bit of weight getting rid of the EZStart and stock chassis plate to offset all of the alloy parts. It's at 11 lbs with the massive Duramax Hatchet MT tires.

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Finished :D

Other than a few asthetic flaws caused during execution, I'm pretty happy with the results. All in all it took about 2 months to get it done, between failed attempts and trial and error. Now it's time to get it dirty haha.

I'm going to do a Winter project with this concept, for an Outlaw Extreme drag car. I'll probably use the same body and driver, different paint scheme, but toying with trying to rustle up a Parma 56 Chevy. Maybe even doing a Wild Child driver. It'll be a from scratch built Nitro Slash, no donor car. All CF and alloy, and stuffed in the biggest BB I can fit, and nitrous oxide because, well...it's a drag car...and it's gonna be outrageous, not practical.

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Cool, but are there other animals? in my mind, the mouse is a bit strange:oops:
 
Cool, but are there other animals? in my mind, the mouse is a bit strange:oops:

Well, I mean...it's Rat Fink :D

I was contemplating though, possibly doing one like this with an alien theme, and an Ed Roth styled version of the Mars Attacks Martian. Oh man the possibilities with that, lol. Maybe for my drag car project.
 
Wow I am impressed!
Originally I was thinking why not start with the Arrma notorious body, but clearly you have this handled!
 
Thanks!

Working on another...Finked out invader. I didn't create this mesh from scratch this time, took pieces from a few freebies I liked and massaged the heck out of them to get it posed and detailed the way I wanted. Tentatively, this will go into a 56 Chevy with an Ed Roth style bubble top and some flying saucer type decor and paint for a gasser drag car.

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