I’m not sure which group of hobbyists is more creative: the people who build custom RC cars or the ones who carefully craft every little detail in their stationary models. Whatever it is, I think we just found a crossover hit that blends passions into a jumble of beautiful 3D printed craftsmanship.
Meet the 3D pen-equipped YouTuber who goes by the name of Sanago. Your niche? Build wild crafts out of bits of melted plastic, including this meticulously crafted Porsche Taycan RC car.
The car is built in several steps. First, Sanago sketches the car on paper, carefully creating an inked wireframe view of the Taycan’s top, side, front, and rear. After finishing that, Sanago takes out his 3D pen and gets to work.
In case you’re not familiar with these nifty gadgets, think of them like a 3D printer that can fit in the palm of your hand. The tiny heater melts and extrudes strands of plastic as if they were being traced with a writing utensil, and instead of a fancy circuit box determining where the plastic is placed, your brain guides your hand to shape it properly.
Using the wireframe as a guide, Sanago can retrace the lines he inked earlier, but this time he uses the 3D pen to lay a thin layer of plastic on top.
Once each side of the car is formed, remove the layer of paper and move on to the next. After you complete each side, start joining them into a three-dimensional frame.
Sanago then fills the empty air by moving back and forth in a grid pattern. These grids get smaller and smaller until it completely fills the holes. Then he smoothes the entire surface with a soldering iron and lets it cool.
The surface is still rough and needs some work to look more like German pressed steel. He then uses a rotary tool and several grits of sandpaper to smooth the surface before applying plastic putty over the bodywork to fill in any imperfections.
Somehow it gets even more intricate from there. Sanago carefully crafts the smaller pieces of the front bumper and glues them into place. He then moves on to the headlights, building their profile out of wood and thermoforming a thin sheet of plastic over them to match the factory profile. He even uses clear plastic to build a small fixture to carry the light in Porsche’s iconic four-point pattern. He also uses similar materials to make an illuminated heckblende taillight and shaded acrylic sheets for the glass.
Lastly, build the finer details. Side mirrors, a license plate and “Porsche” lettering, all before airbrushing the entire car in a shade of green paint.
Sanago ends the video by dropping the full body onto an RC frame and taking it into the snow for some slippery hoonage.
I have to admit, this is one of the best uses of a 3D pen I’ve seen. And better yet, the entire Sanago channel is full of unique projects like this, and each one has soothing subtitled comments that I can’t help but enjoy. And while it may not be a full-size replica of an Aventador, watching the build process is just as satisfying.
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