A client in Poland commissioned a local design studio to build a 3D scale model of the famous Saab 900 Carlsson. This interesting work has been entrusted to an experienced “Undergraph” studio who has done so many successful visualizations, animations, 3D models and generally beautiful graphic creations so far.
The lead and responsible designer in this studio is 3D animator Piotr Szaniawski, who, as you can see, does a really good job of creating a Carlsson Saab 900 3D model. Client requested a Saab 900 custom 3D model with aerodynamics kit for 3D printing. Main challenge of this project was making whole body as one object:
As you can see, the 3D model is not as detailed but it is made in one piece. 3D model based on a real car, created according to the original dimensions. You may be wondering, how much can this cost? How expensive is the printing material? The answer is very simple – Depends on the material you use. Basic plastic is about $30 for 1kg. You can get your own 3D printer, or you can take advantage of one with compensation.
Just to mention, in addition to making the Scale a car models, these 3D printers are ideal for creating spare car parts that are no longer available, or inaccessible, or expensive. Yes, 3D printers are neat but come with caveats. You’ll discover when trying to make tight tolerance fitting parts like gears or enclosures for electronics, you’ll want to include your layer height into the diameter/width/height of things like hinges/bushings or slots for circuit boards.
PLA is great to get started, but not tolerant to sitting in a hot car in the sun, will get soft and warp. We would suggest moving to PETG, not as brittle as PLA and quite UV and heat tolerant due to its 230C (MIN) print temp. Let’s also add this, You can’t print parts for a car with PLA you need a printer that is capable to print ABS. During summer PLA starts to warp. You can use spraypaint to make stuff look better. Wet sand and filler to smooth everything like car parts.
3D Printing is just one of the tools for DIY manufacturing. If you find parts are weak, then wrap it with fiber glass or carbon fiber, or even make your print as a mold for other materials and cast it. Also my suggestion is learn as much as you can with CAD, so as not to get board printing other people’s design.
