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Toykid

New Scale bodies for Tamiya kits

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That is excellent work Toykid. It takes a lot to make me swear out loud with just a picture but man you did it :)

You have GOT to start selling these to the public mate. Don't worry about the cost cos people will pay for talent like that. Amazing work! I want one, no two... make it four and I'll let you know if I need anymore :D

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I just had an interesting email from a gentleman named Thomas. I tried to reply via TC but for some reason my email would not send. So just to make sure I avoid any future questions or issues regarding my employer. Here is the correspondence:

Hi!

Don^t you think it would be an idea to point out that you^ve stolen the CAD-drawings for your Manx from your employer? You don^t really need to use the word ^steal^. Say ^borrow^ instead. Admitting it now will be less embarrassing than being confronted with this information in the forum later, don^t you think.

Here is my reply:

Hi Thomas,

I am not exactly sure what you mean? All the cad for this project was created by me in my personal time on my own machine or purchased from a vendor with my own money.

The company I work for doesn't make anything like this.

What leads you to believe that it is stolen?

James.

Just a 'doubting Thomas!' I really hope he sees your reply...

In the meantime, I would admit that I would be at least a bit skeptical that someone doing this as a hobby could turn out such excellent CAD drawings. So: true talent!

The driver figure is also superb!

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Thanks Grastens,

After working until about midnight last night trying to get the rear wheels arch correct I awoke to this lovey email from a gentleman named George:

Enough said:

http://images1.wikia...yersM-Seven.jpg

Of course, most of the TC-members will still believe you lies and you will never admit the truth.

My reply:

Dear George,

I haven't worked for hot wheels for 6 years and that car was made before I worked there and I am pretty sure it wasn't made in CAD.

It was created by Phil Rielman in 2003 before I worked at Mattel.

http://hotwheels.wik...i/Phil_Riehlman

Although I do own that hot wheels car and did use it as one of my references :)

If you need further proof you could email former TC member cardesigner aka Jun Imai. He still works at hot wheels and can verify the truth.

Best,

James.

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Toykid who gives a flying copulation what anyone thinks ? You know its your hard work that has gone into the design . As for your starting point and some of the rendering - so what . So long as the code is open source its in the public domain for anyone to use as they please . The trolls - and thats what they are , are only jealous of your obvious talent .

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Thanks bromvw,

Yeah I get that some people are always going to find something wrong no matter what. I also understand that some people get really annoyed when they see someone trying to get credit for someone else hard work. I just want to reassure anyone reading that I try to give credit where credit is due. I am not trying to pass off anyone's hard work as my own.

The reason I am able to do this (and by the way there are people who are way better at this than me) is because I have been fortunate to have been trained on CAD since I was 16. I have over 23yrs (I started back on AutoCad 10 back in 1990) creating designs on one form of software or another. For the last 14 years I have worked in the toy industry (LEGO, Mattel and now Spin Master). This has given me the experience and knowledge to make this project a reality.

So some might think that I am some how "borrowing/stealing" from those companies. The VP of Hot wheels is a good friend and recently had lunch with me (he was excited as he just got a Blazer on eBay and wanted to share). I shared with him this project, so he knows what I am up to and he didn't have a problem with it.

I have been in management for the last 10 years so TC has been the creative outlet for my personal passion. I get to work with some of the best design talent in the world but they get to do all the fun stuff creating awesome toys, I have to manage the budget and org charts (I am a demon on XL ;) but its not exactly the most fun in the world :( ). Don't get me wrong, I love my job, it just doesn't allow me to work with my hands as much as I would like.

I have to be very careful as I am unable to use the company resource for my own ends so all prototypes or sculpts I have had built have to be paid for with my own money - and they are not cheap (I have currently invested more money than I care to admit to). I have done this because I am fortunate to be able to fund my passion and I decided that this was the year that I would see if I could create this project that I have had in my mind for so long.

I guess that is why I have been so sensitive to these accusations but I also want people to understand who I am and how I was able to make this project possible.

OK, that is the last I will say on this matter - I really need to finish off this body as my deadline to finish it is Monday and there is still so much to do :wacko:

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Toykid you have our support mate. Now stop typing and get to work on that body! We wanna see results man! :D

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The reason I am able to do this (and by the way there are people who are way better at this than me) is because I have been fortunate to have been trained on CAD since I was 16. I have over 23yrs (I started back on AutoCad 10 back in 1990) creating designs on one form of software or another. For the last 14 years I have worked in the toy industry (LEGO, Mattel and now Spin Master). This has given me the experience and knowledge to make this project a reality.

Well that explains a lot. I'm only a beginner by comparison (less than a year). I'll stop beating myself up so much about not being able to draw objects to the same standard, although I have learnt much about Rhino over the last few weeks with the intense studys and following the many tutorials around. Still have a long way to go to be able draw like the examples shown here.

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Here are my updates from the weekend. Its been hard to get the rear just how I want it but I am getting closer. Hard to see but if you open these images up in a viewer and click through you can see the changes in length, width and arch design.

1st attempt

img50_02032013060046_4.jpg

2nd attempt

img50_02032013060046_5.jpg

Latest update

img50_02032013060046_6.jpg

1st attempt

img50_02032013060046_7.jpg

2nd attempt

img50_02032013060046_8.jpg

Latest update

img50_02032013060046_9.jpg

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Mark, what are you working in? Maybe I can post up some tips to help?

James.

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Mark, what are you working in? Maybe I can post up some tips to help?

James.

Rhinoceros 4 with RhinoCAM 2 plugin to output CAM for the small 4-axis CNC. I'm much better at it than I was 2 weeks ago. Still have a few problems with naked edges after making all the surfaces and trying to join them together into a closed poly.

Simple shapes, like modern suspension arms, I could make months ago, But these are nothing more than making a solid object and making hole cuts in it. The most complicated thing I'd made up until a few weeks ago was the DF01 gear cover in my showroom. That also was made from solid shapes and then cut out to the right dimensions.

Made this a week ago:

20cm_Ski_Boat.jpg

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Cool, let me put together some quick screen grabs later in the week of how I work out the basic shapes for car bodies. Are you using the edge analysis tool to see your naked edges? Do you know where the edge match surface edit tool is?

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Ohh, I didn't see that image when I replied. You are well on your way, very nice.

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Here is another shot of the rear. This was the image I used to create the rear pipe. Kokuzu and I had a number of emails back and forth whether the car should have the SS pipe (originally my favorite option) or this pipe that was designed by Bruce Meyer to get more horses after he kept getting past by faster Manx's. Thanks to Kokuzu he kept bugging me to make this pipe. It is my new favorite.

img50_19022013031929_7.jpg

img50_19022013031929_8.jpg

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Are you using the edge analysis tool to see your naked edges?

Yeap. That's how I knew they were there.

Do you know where the edge match surface edit tool is?

I see in that menu: Split Edge, Merge Edge (which does strange things), Join 2 Naked Edges (this will get most of them), Rebuild Edges, Remove Edges.

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Mark,

Great, you definitely know your way around. One tip I use is to create a surface, trim it with another surface and then use the curve from object to duplicate the edge as a new curve. then you delete the old surfaces and build new ones with the new curves you just created.

This helps to created the cleanest surfaces possible which is always a help in making sure everything stiches together properly. Regardless of what program you are modeling many ways to approach creating surfaces are the same. If you can find any youtube tutorials of the Car designers creating car bodies in Alias, that will help show you ways to approach making certain shapes - then all you have to do is figure out how to do that in your program :)

That said I am sure there are a ton of guys giving how to's on You Tube for Rhino too (if you haven't found them already).

James.

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Daniel is a true master of his art, I can't wait to see this guy fitted to my latest project.

I can't thank Daniel and James (aka Beetlelover) enough for helping to make this happen.

Now my only problem is making sure that the car is worthy enough to have Albert drive.

img50_12032013194238_1.jpg

img50_12032013194238_2.jpg

img50_12032013194238_3.jpg

img50_12032013194238_4.jpg

img50_12032013194238_5.jpg

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Is that seriously a piece of painted plastic?!? That's almost unbelievable!

Amazing work...

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Holy **** this is awesome.

So awesome in fact that I can't believe it so I will send you a message to tell you you're stealing. ;)

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James,

thank you for lifting the fenderlines! You're pretty **** close to reality here....

Nice job on the driver....

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Here is another shot of the rear. This was the image I used to create the rear pipe. Kokuzu and I had a number of emails back and forth whether the car should have the SS pipe (originally my favorite option) or this pipe that was designed by Bruce Meyer to get more horses after he kept getting past by faster Manx's. Thanks to Kokuzu he kept bugging me to make this pipe. It is my new favorite.

img50_19022013031929_7.jpg

img50_19022013031929_8.jpg

thats excellent - but . The rear fender appears to have almost a 90% turn into the body . On the real thing its more of a curved line on it so it would come out of the molds easily .When working in fiberglass a 90% edge is always a weak point so they tend to radious the edges in order to add extra material . Small detail but it would look more life like . i know this is a work in progress though and you'll correct that ;)

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thats better :D . the transitions of the front wing and side pod into the body look as though they need similar work . Wish i knew how to do this cad stuff :(

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Wish i knew how to do this cad stuff :(

Lots of tutorials on Youtube that will take from making the most basic of lines/curves to turning that into a surface (3 or more curves joined) and then turning those surfaces into an object. I found enough videos on just Rhino4 to keep me watching for 2 weeks (not including the video tutorials for the various plugins like t-splines).

Only way to learn is to grab a program and start making things in it. Rhino5 is available for free with the limitation being on the number of times you can save before you need to purchase it (just don't save your work when learning).

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