Banpei's two door panda Trueno from Japan

[banpei]

@decryphe I didn't draw them myself. AE86.DDD (on Instagram) created them and he shared the models with the community.

@Ivan141 I don't have experience with creating those supports yet. I'm relatively new to printing and still learning how to create my own 3d printable objects. I used to be an artisan in 3D Studio and created many 3D objects in the past (like over 25 years ago), but those were used for the demos and (unfinished) games me and Mux made. 3D printing requires a whole different way of thinking on how to construct or print these objects,

[banpei]

I found a good tutorial on how to create supports with the slicer tool and it's actually quite easy. It's currently printing the same left door-cup and I'll keep my fingers crossed it works.

Edit: in case you are wondering, I followed the steps described in this video to paint the supports:

[banpei]

This is what the supports look like:

The slicer creates a tree-like structure to support and makes it easy to snap off without damaging the printed piece.

This is what the bottom of the cup looks like:

It still needs sanding, but it's not with the horrible loose filament dangling down that I had the print without the supports.

[Ivan141]

Now you're cooking! Much better.

[banpei]

I still haven't taken the time to mount the door cups, so no progress on that yet.

However, I have been quite busy with FreeCAD and the printer...

I can still order the kouki grille badge, but that's a totally different part and shape. The zenki grille badge is nearly impossible to find and costs an arm and a leg if you can find it for sale second-hand. My best guess is it's mostly the Fujiwara-Tofu replicas that are driving up the price.
At the top is my original grille badge, and in the middle are the intermediate parts to gauge the sizes and at the bottom the finished part. I wasn't planning on using these PLA prints, but rather having them printed professionally in PTEG or ABS. These are just mockups to see if everything fits fine.

And then I spotted an error in my finished part:

The part also has some other flaws and needs rounded edges (fillet), so I'll just have to go back two versions and redo them.

Another part on the to-do list is the top covers on the parcel shelf:

As you can see, a previous owner stuck some tweeters on top of them. I have recently replaced the 120mm Fujitsu-ten speakers. One of the speakers was broken and I simply couldn't make it work again, so I replaced them with some old-school Pioneer TS-44.

Now, these tweeters are an eyesore. I can't seem to find these covers on the parts list in Toydiy or Amayama, so I suspect they are part of the parcel shelf itself. So my plan is to draw and print them myself as well.

[decryphe]

That's really interesting! 3D-Printing really is already a really good thing for us with old cars and no parts.

I was lucky with those hat compartment covers, mine were just severely discolored, so I actually fillered them up and painted them, they look great now. The hat compartment is now a thin sheet of plywood - the masonite (original or from a previous owner) had started sagging and there were screw holes all over from various speaker installs.

As you're getting good at FreeCAD, would you be interested in replicating the pop-up foglights I have? I also have had contact with a polish company that does E-marked lamps and lenses, so it could be possible to make proper replacements.

[banpei]

It's not that hard to make static objects in FreeCAD, but it's a lot harder to make movable parts. I think I would be able to pull such a thing off, but it would require a lot of mockups to make something that works reliably. It surely sounds like a challenge!

[banpei]

After some more failed attempts, I managed to create this:

It's becoming more difficult to spot the difference between the original and the copy!

This is the progress I made:

The second last from the top are the supports I used for the black holder as I printed it the other way around. I used to print it with the front face down on the plate, but adding supports to that proved to be unreliable. The supports would leave some uneven surface behind and that made the white Trueno characters difficult to fit. So, I decided to turn things around and print it from the back to the front.

Up close you can see the difference between the two badges clearly:

The printed Trueno characters have a crinkled surface due to the pattern on the printing mat. Apart from that, I'm not dissatisfied!

Tomorrow I'll test-fit the printed version to the Trueno to see if everything lines up fine. If that's the case, I'll have it printed in ABS.

[Power_uP]

Looking good. Nobody will ever see the difference unless they get very close. It's such a great time that we have a way to get so many of the parts again.

[banpei]

It fits and looks convincing enough:

Up close you can see it has been printed, but that can be taken care of by sanding it a little bit after printing.

However, there is still one small flaw in the design:

The support is about 2mm off, so I had to push it in a bit hard to make it fit. The support is clearly weakened by pushing it in. I'm now printing the final version with the support moved 2mm and let's hope it's a good fit this time.

Also after receiving some pricing offers for printing the badge, I have decided to print it myself in PTEG. For the price of printing both the holder and Trueno characters, I can already buy myself two rolls of PTEG filament.
The reason to go for ABS is that it would be easier to smooth using acetone. I'll just sand down the PTEG prints to make them smooth and then paint them to make them glossy.

As I was already in my garage, I removed the rear parcel shelf from the AE86 to investigate the top covers. As I suspected, they are fused to the shelf. I found out the previous owner glued the tweeters to these covers, so it's even worse than I thought. So now I had to make a new plan.
My new plan is to drill them off so I can remove them. Then I'll make copies of the top covers. Since the shelf is weakened by the holes drilled into it, I'll make a new parcel shelf using mine as a template and then mount everything on the new shelf.