You Can 3D Print a Model Kit of Your Favorite Car, Thanks to This Guy

If you’re into modern supercars, displaying a scale model of your favorite car on your desk is relatively easy. You simply need to wait for a company to release one. If your automotive fantasies lean toward the more obscure side of the spectrum, you used to be largely out of luck. That’s changing with 3D printing: There’s a site called 3DExport that lets you download the files required to print a wide variety of cars.

The site is kind of like Etsy for folks who sell 3D-printing files. Anyone can create a file, upload it to 3DExport for review, and sell it on the platform if it’s accepted. Creators receive a 70% to 80% royalty for each file sold, though the site notes that it vets each submission before adding it to its store to keep quality in check. The list of car-related items available to buy, download, and print is absolutely stunning.

If you want a Lancia logo, there’s one available for $15. If you want a Gemballa body kit for a scaled-down, E24-generation BMW M635CSi, you can get one of those as well; It’s priced at $30. Rally car-inspired lights? Hell yeah! That’s $8, please. What’s more impressive, however, is the vast catalog of actual scale models you can print, and the work of a Ukrainian creator named Andrey Bezrodny really stands out.

Bezrodny has been selling on the platform for nearly a decade, and the files he offers let anyone print what looks like the home-made equivalent to the plastic Revell kits we used to build (or, for some of us, try to build) as kids. For example, the 1984 Jeep Cherokee (XJ) model is broken down into several files that include a body that can be divided into four parts: the grille, the wheels, the tires, and the interior, as well as windows and light lenses. The files are in .STL format, and they’re suitable for resin and fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers.

Print it out, assemble it, paint it, customize it if you have something really specific in mind, and you’re set. The cool part about 3D-printing your own model is that changing the scale takes a matter of seconds, so the main limitation is the size of your printer. The XJ can be printed in 1/43 scale, which should make it a couple of inches long; 1/8 scale, which should make it well over a foot long; and anything in between.

American cars are well-represented in Bezrodny’s catalog. Beyond the XJ, the list includes a 1979 Dodge W200, a Chevrolet Silverado HD, and a 1973 Pontiac Grand Am. He also offers European cars, such as the BMW M3 Touring, a 2003 Subaru Forester, and a Nissan Hardbody.

Numerous other creators sell files on 3DExport, so if Bezrodny doesn’t sell what you’re after you may be able to buy it from someone else. Seriously, give it a whirl! I just found a 1984 Citroën C15 model that makes me want to pull the 3D printer out of my attic and fire it up.

Most of Bezrodny’s cars cost $20 to download, though they’re all temporarily half off. If you’ve spent decades waiting for a model of a 1991 Honda Civic, it’s your lucky day: That one is free to download. You can even print out some cool, aftermarket-looking wheels to put on it.

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