Movie "Accurate" Anti-Pesto Van

[seven]

May 1, 2013 17:01:04 GMT Harriet said:

Are you going for the full A series engine in yours? Or doesn't the film van have the same engine, I can't remember?

I will probably use the 1/12 Mini cooper engine, similar to the link posted earlier. The only time I can recall that we see under the hood in the film was when Gromit tried to Laso the Were Rabbit. Unfortunately all we get to see is a wood spool of rope where the engine should be. I may do that instead of the engine, I haven't fully decided yet.

A quick little progress report:
I had made a new gear shift and hand brake. Test fitting the parts before I paint and glue them in place.

[seven]

added strips of styrene along the door frame

[seven]

Upgrading the chairs




I wanted to match the bottom of the chairs to the opening credits of the film.

[Gromit]

I'm loving this ... more please!

[seven]

Thanks Nick ;D

Going back to my reference images, turns out the hand brake is actually in the middle, and not on the right hand side of the drivers seat.

[seven]

Updating the trim around the gas cap

Before:


After:

[seven]

Whoo hoo! I am excited about this part. I didn't like the stock grill that came with the kit as pretty much every detail is wrong. So, I wanted to make a new grill. I measured the existing one to maintain it's shape (however the film version is a bit narrower), and drew it up in 3D CAD. Sent the file off to a 3D printer and this is the end result.

The new grill has the correct number of slots, with rounded ends, a raised center strip (don't know what to call it) and I know it is hard to see in the pic, but this grill has a detailed Austin badge in the center, that I am sure will pop when painted. I am very pleased with how it came out.

[Harriet]

Impressive - we seem to be seeing a lot of 3D printing being used in models now.
That does look good - nice one!

[seven]

Thanks Harriet.

Little more progress, here is the Drivers side floor matt...

[Gromit]

Absolutely loving this, how many times have you watched the film?

[seven]

I have seen the movie less than 10 times.

I am not doing this by memory if that's the motivation behind the question ;D. I was able to take screen captures of all the scenes I could that included the van and 'am constantly referring back to them.

[seven]

Created the missing flying A hood ornament


But alas, tragity struck. I picked up the model and turned it up side down, forgetting that the hood was no longer attached, and it fell to the floor snapping off the flying A. Being so small, I can not find it anymore. I'm going to have to create another one to replace it

[seven]

New License plates. I just didn't like the one that came with the kit. The plate itself was too long, the wrong font, and was a decal so it didn't have raised letters. I took a Dremel and cut off the original plate and glued in my new plate in its place

Side-by-side comparison of the included decal and the new plate

Old plate frame is longer than the my new plate design

[Harriet]

Nice one - how did you make the plate? Did you carve it out, or was it another 3D print?

[seven]

I used a screen capture of a front on shot of the Van with a clear view of the plate and scaled it to match the size of the model kit. In AutoCAD I then traced over the image to get a proportioned shape and scale of the plate. Once I had something that I liked, I created in 3D and had it printed.