Minicraft 1935 Morgan Three Wheeler

This was another in my series of projects intended to better my skills with regards to car paint finishes. While I was hunting for reference photos, though, I discovered that the kit parts looked quite different from most of the reference that I was finding. What I ended up learning was that there were various air- and water-cooled versions of this car. While the kit came with parts for the air-cooled version, I really liked the look of the water cooled engine better. Since I had been toying with the idea of modeling some replacement parts in the computer and then having them 3d printed, I used this project as a test bed for just that.

Most of the model was build per the kit instructions, with the exception of the engine and radiator. The kit engine was measured and inspected in order to get dimensions for construction of a replacement part. Using various photo reference, I then modeled a replacement engine (except water-cooled) that should fit in place of the kit engine. Once completed, I sent the files to Shapeways for printing, and after a little back-and-forth (mostly me having to make some parts thicker so they could print), I ended up with a replacement engine and a few radiator that fits under the chrome cowl.

These pictures represent the end result of this experiment, along with a little bit of bonus scratch-building thrown in for various hoses, wires, springs, and such.

Check out the build log posts here:

Morgan Post 1
Morgan Post 2

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