Again another Marui project : Super Wheelie and Big Bear!

[silvertriple]

Today was my last day of vacations before getting back to work tomorrow... I initially planned to build the chassis... But nothing went as per plan :-/

I gathered all the hardware parts I needed and identified potential replacement for most expect the rear axles... And there was only one part that was found missing at the end of the gathering : the 14T mod 0.8 motor pinion!

I spent the whole afternoon to search for it in my part bins and cases. I'm sure I had 2 as I had one in the Super Wheelie I ran during the vintage events, but the second one were nowhere to be found... Until tonight 22:00 where I found it while searching for something else (that I did not find)
The build is rescheduled!

I also spend some time to examinate the options for the Shell printing. I'm hesitating between resin and MJF nylon. Last one is going to be more resistant for runs, while the resin option is going to be nicer... It's a difficult decision. I can always do another body for running purpose. I need to order this by friday to get it on time...

[silvertriple]

I passed the order for all printed part, and have to cancel it. Apparently, I need to rebuild my clusters differently as the body accessory has too many small parts connected and the selected provider only allow for 10... I tried to argue, but at the end, the project is delayed...

[silvertriple]

While awaiting the prints to attack the build, I'm taking care of the parts which are not dealt with using MJF PA12. There is some light glasses I need to print in flex transparent resin. I have some Liqcreate Elastomer-X. Initially I took it as I thought about being a solution for colored tires, but the issues I have with the Liqcreate Flexible-X have put this idea aside. I thought this could be now a good application.

The first print was 50% failed, and I don't understand the reason. The second turned better and I did not change any settings in between. The two glasses of the first print are already cured, it yellow a bit, but that should not be much an issue for my application...


I did 5 minutes UV cure in a jar of water, and then 25 minutes out of the water as prescribed in the information provided by Liqcreate...


Last part I need to take care is the windshield glass... I plan to cut some acrylic sheet with the Silhouette Cameo 4 to address this, and I'm eager to start the build...

[silvertriple]

This afternoon, i tried to export a dxf from Fusion360 to transofrm it in png, and it did not worked the way I wanted. I finally took a screenshot of the windows profile, and redimensionned it in Silhouette Studio, set the sequence of cutting : first pass for the holes, second for the glass surrounds...

And tada...


Why so many? The sheet is 200 microns, and I'd like to have just a bit more, and I decided to cut 3, and more just in case... Anycase, this worked well

[Dadio]

Excellent

[silvertriple]

This Marui Super Wheelie project started a bit more than 8 monthe ago, when I started to model the chassis… It was lot of fun, and having both 6V and 7.2V chassis, the bodyshells, I wanted to have the Mitsubishi unreleased body as well… Modeling it was fun, but I wanted one I can run, so the stl were done, and the printing is ongoing… And the story continues…

Two years ago, when I started the Marui Hunter project, one guy based in Australia, Johann (on another forum) proposed me some stickers for my Hunter (he was working on a similar project at that time), and few weeks later, I received stickers in my mailbox. And Johann became a friend… He knew I was modeling this car and that I had the intention to print it, and during a discussion, I asked him if he was able to draw the stickers, and if he could share with me the graphics so I can do the rendering...
He did, and although there is still some work to do to get some proper sizing, and the limitation of Fusion 360 making it difficult to get it assigned to faces… The “Bouncing Billy” driver name was added within the process to add some personality to the car, based on an idea taken from some comments on one of my facebook publications, and I really like it..




And when we work out renderings from there…





Obviously the sizing won’t be perfect until I get a body printed and the exact measurements done with the stickers, but it already looks super nice… I’m already super happy with the result

[silvertriple]

I'm eager to start the real thing... Printed parts are on the way, as well as some specific hardware to complete the set...

Today, some of the stuff arrived.


The stickers sheet is a PDF I printed to check the sizing as soon as I receive the printed parts...
A major part of the hardware is there. Missing stuff should arrive by Saturday.
The Bumper fixation is sorted as I found some Springs with the same internal diameter than the orginal ones (the wire is having a smaller diameter but that should not be an issue). They fit perfectly and they will do the job. I just had to recut them to make them slightly shorter.

Very difficult at this stage when the last set of printed parts will arrive, all the more so as they did not go the same route as previous shipment from the same manufacturer... The latest will be next tuesday, but I really hope it will be earlier. Crossing fingers

[silvertriple]

The final set of prints arrived this morning...


All those parts look nice, and that is good to get into reality... I was a bit scared for the body part by the print provider team during the validation of the files as they mentioned warping and aspect risks during the file validation stage... But it looks good...



And i'm very happy with the dashboard as well... Man, I want to tune this radio


The ifrst thing I've done during my lunch break was to check the sizing of the stickers so Johann can eventually modify them...





I also put the body on an original chassis, and it fits perfectly...




There is a few parts I still want to print, for some reasons...



I intend to get the prints done over the week-end... The build itself will probably happen tomorrow for the chassis. I'm still undecided at the moment regarding bodyshell paint or not... I may have a window to paint it tomorrow, but do I want this is a good question

[Dadio]

That's out of the park Mark excellent job
Looks super modern with the satin finish but if you go that way I think decals would look out of place .... any idea what colour you'd go for if you paint it ? either way the dashboard needs detailing for the dials and radio . Must have been a huge sigh of relief when there was no warping and it fit

[silvertriple]

That's out of the park Mark excellent job
Looks super modern with the satin finish but if you go that way I think decals would look out of place .... any idea what colour you'd go for if you paint it ? either way the dashboard needs detailing for the dials and radio . Must have been a huge sigh of relief when there was no warping and it fit

Thanks

Yeah... Same feeling about the decals being out of place on the body without paint... I'm thinking about metallic black for the bodyshell, as I want this car to be as close as possible as what it would have been in box art, specifically because there was no real box art (and I'm also tempted to order a resin print for the body, just because it would look really nice )

[silvertriple]

There was no way I would even think one second to run this project car with original tires (not that I don't have some)... But for the fun, it has to be printed tires (and because I would always think the project is not over if I don't do it this way)...

So I took the same resin as the one I used for Samurai and Ninja tires. I think it is slightly on the hard A shore side for this usage, but since I could not have successful prints with the other resin I tried (plus they fact that the rare success tend to be tored too easily), I have no real choice...

The printer worked since yesterday, and as precised within my 3D printing thread, I think I have now the right way to do the post process (rear side is still bad, but front is nice)...

Here is the result (2 other tires will be printed this afternoon)...



You may notice the very different profile for the tires between the rear (thought for the rigid axle and almost flat) and the front (thought rounded to ease the turns). I've tried to be consistent with original tires thread thickness as the front thickness is higher than the rear, probably to give more weight to the front...

And next to original tires (partly depleted) on one of the Super Wheelies (the test rig for the transmission), here is the pic...


In terms of parts I still need to print rims and internal locking rings... And unfortunately, it seems the body mount didn't arrived today as I expected...

[silvertriple]

And finally, the rims are printed...


Trying to include a ring (TPU printed) in the Hunter tire turned to cut the tire, so I'll try first to run those tires without (the pilars used for the impression will somehow replace the ring, that may be sufficient)...
I will need to prepare a group picture of all the parts for the build (hopefully, the missing bdoy mounts will be here tomorrow - they are the actual reason of the delay)...

[silvertriple]

I had to wait all the parts being here to do this before I start the build...


That being said, it's a bit late tonight, so the build will start another day...

[Dadio]

You need a lot of plastic bags to put the grouped parts in and a box that's taped shut and your parents to hand it to you for the propper Christmas experience .

[silvertriple]

For a proper xmas experience, I would need a box as well... I'm quite sure it could be interesting to make it a unique kit, but I'm just afraid I can't wait to build it a box is done... That would mean I need to get another set of parts... Nah... No Christmas experience