Fiat 508 "Balilla"

zathros

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Damned!! The fit looks fantastic to me!! Truly a beautiful machine! :)
 

zathros

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Tonino, I put the original image, then yours, and then extracted one using my CAD program. Your panels are 100% perfect! They could not be any better. This is great because it means I can just make the frame and not worry about fit. I'll send you the plans for the frame by email, I will send it as a .psd file so you can manipulate it. I must make a body in the scale you are making, then one 200% bigger, as I wish a bigger version of this car. You did an excellent job. I am extremely pleased and I would say impressed, but I have come to expect this kind of work from you.
The picture with your name is the original trace.

I redid a panel in Rhino 5.0. I then stacked them together, there was no difference (Top Picture). I rotated the picture slightly so you can see how your "new panel" lines up perfectly (2nd Picture). :)


Bodies 100PerCent.jpg




Comp Perspective.jpg
 

zathros

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Well, I got the frame parts, then tried to put them together virtually, but it's taking too much time. I just needed to bend some stuff to make sure the scale was right. I am using the line drawing you gave me in .ai (Adobe Illustrator) as the actual size. please let me know if this right, if not I need a dimension of the overall length ob the body panels, and it has to be exact from the bottom corner, all the way to the front. Draw a perpendicular line that will go against the bottom of the radiator/grill panels, so you can draw a perfectly straight line. Once I have this dimension, I can scale all the rest to it, and start making a frame model. You don't have to measure it. If the .ai file is the exact size, I can use that. Trying to construct it on the computer is taking too much time. One I have scaled the parts sheet, work can begin. :)

Frame Final.jpg
 

Tonino

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Fantastic work John! I cannot wait to put my hands on your frame!
If the export function on CorelDraw doesn't alter the size of the parts they should be,in the .ai copy I sent you, exactly as in my prototype because I used the prints as they are, without any re-scaling. Anyway, to be sure, I traced some measures on my original frame to help you doing some checks. Here they are (all in millimeters, excuse me, old european units...) Let me know if the quotes are enough for your purposes.
 

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  • misure.jpg
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Tonino

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Once completed fenders it's time to deal with wheels. Many ideas on how to enhance them.
DSC07541.JPG

The many parts that will form the "sandwich"
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but, unfortunately, I don't like the look of the tyre: too "square". It would be necessary to draw it from scratch using cone sections instead of cylinders but my poor 3D skills won't help me. I need a "B plan"
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I started adding a little ring of cardboard to raise the cental section.

DSC07549.JPG DSC07551.JPG
Then I shaped the outer tyre ring with a little custom tool (the pole of a little flag) on the rear of a mousepad.
The ring now has a more "fatty" look

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And the wheel look somewhat better than before

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The first thread I drew was really ugly (above). I tried to create something more realistic (under)

I considered also to add a raised thread but the work would have been very much and the result not very nice. Not worth the time to cut all those zig-zag's!
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And this is the result: much better!
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Tonino

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As I said before the experiment with raised thread was rejected. Not very realistic. This is the test.
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Some work on the hubcaps (is this the word?) to give'em a spherical surface.
DSC07562.JPG DSC07563.JPG DSC07564.JPG

And here are the wheels: my Balilla soon will stand up!
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Almost done! Last details still to do: headlights, licence plates, bumpers and door handles... then this build is over!

DSC07567.JPG DSC07568.JPG
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zathros

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Tonino, if you can get some Liquid Electrical Tape, you could pull off the tread pattern, as the Liquid Tape would fill the gaps in such a way that the wire would look one with the thread. That being said, those tires came out beautifully!! ;)

Also, thanks for answering my insecure pain in the butt questions. I just want to get the chassis so your body will drop right onto it. ;)

The car, as a whole, far exceeds my expectations, it is so damned cute, yet, if you read the history of these vehicles, they came in all shapes and sizes, They were also produced by many countries. The amount of them produced is staggering!! Something around 50,000 units, in various countries.
 

Rhaven Blaack

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This looks FANTASTIC!!!
I like what all you did with this model. The detail really makes this model POP!
 

zathros

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Got much further with the frame, if I sent it to you in .ai format, could you scale it to your needs?

Sample below: (These are missing two parts, they're done, but the sheets are not usable.

Sample 1.jpg Sample.jpg
 
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Tonino

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WOW John! It seems a great piece! Wonderful sensations looking at all those pieces...! But I'm afraid it won't be a cakewalk!
Please feel free to send to me anything you want! I'll try to take some measure to figure how it can be married with my existing car.
 

Tonino

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...meanwhile... here are the ...

LAST DETAILS!
:animated: :animated:

Rear license plate with light
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Front license plate
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windshield wiper (one, for driver only)
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Door handle (to open from inside was used that lever you see behind the glass, that's not the door lock)
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Front bumpers
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And rear ones
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Tonino

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...and finally the headlights. They gave me some troubles...

First of all a look to the many parts I added to give an internal detail to the lamp visible through the transparent face.
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The original model had the headlight fixed directly to the front fenders
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I definitely didn't like this option. The lamps are too low and distant each other. Not realistic and very different from the photo of the real car. The "expression" of my Balilla was not convincing this way.
I finished drawing other pieces.
Two little supports for the headlights with the shape that is clearly visible in the photos I have.
5img-1312203035b.jpg

Here is my little support.
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Now the question is: how to let the big headlight stay on that little edge?

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So I added little plates to act as a tray

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Now the look is much better, even if still not the optimum (I feel like the lamps are somewhat too little and distant, but this is a problem related to fenders shape...)

Now just some more little retouch here and there and then I can make the final photo reportage!
DSC07596.JPG
 
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zathros

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The Balilla looks beautiful. wouldn't touch it. Maybe you could make a frame a make a sports car version, that used the same frame, slightly different front suspension as they did not use leaf springs, but double a frames with a large hydraulic reservoir for the shock absorber, :)

Maybe like one of these. My favorite is the Copa D'Oro , then again the Berlinetta is magnificent, as is the "Sport! :)FIAT-508S-Balilla-Coppa-dOro-03-665x380.jpg Coppa d'Oro.jpg FIAT-508S-Balilla-Coppa-dOro-02-665x363.jpg fiat 508 Berlinetta.jpg fiat-508-balilla-sport-02.jpg fiat copa d'oro.jpg
 

Gandolf50

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WOW...love all that is going on with this model! Love seeing the collaboration as well !!!
 

Rhaven Blaack

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This is one of the best car models that I have seen. I really like the detail that you put into it. The collaboration was OUTSTANDING!!!
 

Tonino

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... and you didn't see nothing yet!
This is only the V1.0 !!!
:D

I'm going to put this model (in the form you see here) in the resource section as soon as I can arrange the final patterns with all the details I modified during the build.
I only wonder if sharing this can break some kind of copyright.
Anyone knows if the original model is still in production?
 

Rhaven Blaack

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Since you have completely redesigned this model, there should not be any problems with releasing your model and having us hosting it.
 

zathros

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That model is not breaking any copyright laws as it is more than 10% different than anything before it, and just upload it, I will take care of any issues that arise. Mated with my frame, this will be a 100% new model of this beautiful piece of Italian Heritage that has gone unrecognized for too long. You would not believe how much the sport coups get a Pebble Beach cars shows, the very few times they come up. People do not sell these cars, once they get them.

We are going to be offering this cars in a few scales, original, like the one Tonino is building, and one, big enough for a 12" G.I.Joe to get into!! Only kidding, but a bigger one will be offered too, just need a consensus on the scale, like, 1/18, and a Supersize!! That could be built into a pedal car!!


The collaboration is because of Tonino, he is the kind of person one is proud to call a friend. :)
 
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Rhaven Blaack

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Granted I mostly build SCI-FI, but I would be happy to build this model. It looks like it would be a very fun model to build.
 
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