VehiCROSS Hard Body - How Do I Recreate?

[Creep]

I've had a very rare 1/10 Isuzu VehiCROSS shell in my possession for several years & finally started working on it recently. Now I'm thinking one V-Cross crawler is simply not enough! I would love to make a few more shells; but as to the most practical solution, I am not aware. Can anyone out there give me a hand with this or give me some viable options? Thx

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...m/P1020328.JPG

[ik632]

You could have it scanned and then reverse engineer the model. That could cost around $5k to do the scanning and CAD model for the outer shell. Then, you 'd need to decide if you wanted to do a hard body or vacuum formed. Vacuumed would be cheaper to do the tooling (~$2k) or if it were to be a hard body, you'd need to have injection molds done up which would include tooling design (~$5-$15k depending on who owns the tool when you're done). There is also urethane casts you could do from the model. I'd still scan the original and 3D print one to make the casts from.

I actually do what you're asking for for a living so it's pretty cool. The cheapest would be to scan, create a nice STL, print, make molds from print and then urethane cast the new bodies.

[Creep]

+$5k!?!? Yeah, not gonna happen! Thanks for your input but there must be a more realistic solution. I was thinking the scan & print method, but guessed that would be more like, well, less than $1k... Really, I would not want to spend (nor could I spend) more than $500 to create at least 5 more shells.

Anyone else have some ideas?

[CheapTwin]

Here's Good thread how to manufacture and replicate hardbodies

ZEEK 1941 1/2 ton Dodge - Scale 4x4 R/C Forums

[Creep]

Ohho... Thank you, Finland! These types of wood artisans are incredible! I love Headquake's builds also - so much scale, detailed woodwork... Anyway, I just got to the mold casting part of that thread link posted above - page 8 - only 19 more pages to go. Haha! I am getting some ideas from it already tho...

[Docwolf]

you could recast it. used dental gel to capture first a negative, then again to capture a positive. you can buy the resin kits at places like Hobby Lobby or online. you could also do a Lexan if you have access to a vacuum table.

[ik632]

Yeah, it's time, money, or quality. You sacrifice one to get the other. I work with professional shops that do that process every day. They start with a part, scan it, reverse engineer and can manufacture in the same day.

I really liked that link for the wood model. That's what most of us might do in our garage, but it's a lot of hours.

I didn't even tell you how much the scanners and software cost. The scanners start at around $50k and go up to $200k and the software starts at $10k and goes up to $35k

More realistically, you'd do the dental cast and then pour up some urethane pieces. My only worry with the cast off the original is if you damage it pulling the mold off, that's why I suggested scan ->STL ->print ->mold from print.

[ik632]

I actually have access at work to scan, model, and print with the powder printers. Those would be for vacuum form molds though. Those prints are actually pretty cheap, but I don't think they would work for hard bodies.

[krazykrawler]

Check with your local Trade School and see if they offer that class to students,then see if they would do a "custom" project for you.The teacher may find it as a challenge for his students.Just a thought

[Creep]

Thanks for all the great ideas guys! I think I am going to mimic what was done in that link CheapTwin posted. That yielded great results! I would not need to do any of the woodwork of the buck form since I have this body to start with instead. After I rework some of the lines of this body to be more accurate, I would just use clay to fill all the holes & wheel wells before the pour. It does seem tho I will be spending $500 before I get what I'm looking for. Wish me luck, it will take a while!