10 3D Printable Model Car Kits.
When I was younger I used to love buying model car and airplane kits and assembling them. That kid would have loved having a 3D printer and being able to print out all sorts of great model car and vehicle kits, and thankfully there are a ton online that are available for free or very nearly free. The great thing about these models is the fact that they were made so they could easily be post-processed and smoothed out and painted to look like anything that you want, or you can just print out the parts in corresponding colors and leave them as is.
Here are the Ten Coolest 3D Printable Assemblable Model Car Kits:
LANCIA STRATOS ITALIAN SPORTS CAR
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
The Lancia Stratos was a popular Italian rally car from the 1970s and many car enthusiasts consider it one of the most beautiful sports cars ever. Even by just looking at this 3D printable version it is easy to see why people think that. This car model kit was designed to go together easily and with a minimal amount of glue. And obviously you can print it is any color filament that you want, or you can sand it proper and give it a nice paint job.
VINTAGE AMERICAN LUXURY CAR
Found on: Pinshape
Cost: $4.91
This awesome 3D printable car kit is modelled after the mid-century American cars that used to fill our city streets like a Ford or a Buick. You can almost see Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel on their way to Hollywood in this car. It’s amazingly designed and well worth the $5 cost for the STL files. The kit is also easy to put together and includes an assembly guide, and if this car isn’t to your tastes, the designer has more than a dozen different car model kits available, check his work out on Pinshape.
LOCAL MOTORS STRATI WORLD’S FIRST 3D PRINTED CAR
Local Motors Strati 3D printed car by gpvillamil
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Local Motors designed the world’s first mass produced 3D printable car, the Strati, and now you can have your own slightly smaller version for free. Local Motors initially released their own design of the 1/10th scale Strati, however it was missing some detail and the wheels didn’t move. So a Thingiverse user decided to spruce the kit up and included a working axel, gave it individually 3D printable wheels so they can be printed in rubbery material and made the design closer to the actual car. It’s a great kit whether you are planning on owning your own Strati, or just a fan of modern car design.
WORKING DUMP TRUCK
Caterpillar 777f Dump Truck by moczys
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This easy to print dump truck design was made so it can be easily assembled and all of the parts can print without supports. The truck will require some aluminum tubing for the axles, however if you don’t need it to roll then the wheels can just be glued on without them. Here are more detailed assembly instructions from the designer, but it looks like a relatively simple build.
HONDA MOTOCOMPO FOLDING SCOOTER
Motocompo Folding Scooter by petropixel
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
Back in 1981 Honda released the Motocompo folding scooter in conjunction with their Honda City sub-compact car in Japan. The scooter was designed to easily fold up and be stored in the small car’s trunk with ease, and while more of the scooters were sold than anticipated it was still only in production for about 3 years. This great kit includes working joins so everything can be folded up just like the real thing. Obviously it can be printed in any color filament that you want, however the design is simple enough that it could easily be finished and painted to look more realistic.
CUBAN PICKUP TRUCK
Cuban pickup truck by Johannes van der Kolk
Found on: YouMagine
Cost: Free
After visiting Cuba and returning with a wooden model of an old time truck, the designer of this Cuban pickup truck kit decided that he wanted to recreate it as a 3D printable model. The kit is really close to the original wooden design and looks like a lot of fun to print and assemble.
Here is a video about the project:
VINTAGE HOT ROD PICKUP OR SEDAN STYLE
Hotrod pickup sedan by bouncygoth
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This awesome vintage-style hotrod kit can be turned into a sedan style hot rod or a pickup truck style hotrod. Or you can just 3D print both and have a complete set. The designer included all of the assembly and printing instructions on its Thing page, so it should be a simple project to get started. He does note that the engines were made using spare parts he had lying around, not 3D printed parts, so you will have to come up with your own.
VINTAGE 1949 CHEVY TRUCK
1949 Chevy COE truck by bouncygoth
Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free
This detailed kit for the old school Chevy pickup trucks from the ’40s is a fantastic kit that is perfect for model train sets or dioramas. It is available in two styles, a double chassis length or a stakebed body, so you can select the style that you want to make.
VINTAGE VOLKSWAGEN BUS
hippies van by Mao
Found on: Pinshape
Cost: $4.98
One of the most iconic vehicles from the 1960s and 1970s is the Volkswagen Bus. This great model kit has a ton of great details, including interior seating and even a surfboard on top of the van. The assembly instructions are on the model page on Pinshape, so this should be a relatively pain free model project.
M1 ABRAMS TANK
M1 Abrams – Mechanical Model Kit by Jernej Primon
Found on: MyMiniFactory
Cost: Free
The massive M1 Abrams Tank is one of the most iconic war machines from the Vietnam era of our military history, and was so dependable that it was used for decades longer than most military equipment is used. This great model kit is fully articulated, includes a moving turret, the wheels roll and the tracks will move. There are print settings and details available on its page on MyMiniFactory, so there won’t be any guesswork involved. The kit is also made of only a handful of parts, so it should go together relatively easily.
That’s it for this week, as always I love to hear from you when you print or build any of the models or projects that I share, so please don’t hesitate to drop me a line. You can email me or just send me a Tweet @SJGrunewald.