Alvis Stalwart toy car

Stally is back!

More or less by coincident I found the nice model from WindhamGraves of an Alvis Stalwart MK 2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvis_Stalwart).

At the moment I saw it, I remembered that I had it as a toycar from Matchbox when I was a small boy at the early '70s: https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/Alvis_Stalwart

As a child, I loved this model, because of its 6x6 drive and the swimming capability of the real car.

Now, after seeing the source model, I was fascinated again (and thought of pimping the model a bit as a weekend project).

So what did I change? First impression after inspecting the original thing: It needs spinning wheels and a bit more detail!! Here is what I did:

• redesigned the lower body part to give a bit more detail: Added headlights, water impeller in- and outlet, and the characteristic 4 shocks to the front wheel double wishbone suspension
• put some rectangular holes in the wheel/axle support, so that the modified axles and wheels can spin and travel up and down (kind of swing axle) to give some more playing fun
• redesigned the wheels: You can either print the whole wheel in TPU as a one-piece part (file Wheel_TPU_Alvis_Stalwart.stl - easy to insert the axle made from 1.75mm filament), OR print the tires separately in TPU (two kinds provided: files Wheel_TPU_Alvis_Stalwart.stl and Tire_slim_TPU_Alvis_Stalvart.stl ) and the rims as separate PLA parts (file Rim_Alvis_Stalwart.stl) . When doing this, you may have to tinker a bit to get the axles in the center hole tight and straight.

-aligned upper and lower body part for better assembly with corresponding holes in front and rear (just cut two 5mm pieces of filament as dowels and glue both halves together)

• made inserts for the windows... I thought it may add a bit for quality and realism if the windows are black. Painting is not easy on the printed surfaces, so I made a set of 0.5mm thin stl which can be glued in the window recesses. This is an option of course...

Length of the model as in the provided .stl-files is about 70mm

As much as I like the technical aspects of such cars, tanks, machinery, I am not happy with the military use of them... so why not print the Stalwart in gray or white PLA as an exploration vehicle, just like the good old Matchbox one ? :-)

On the pictures you can see the white stalwart with the slim tires, whereas the sand-colores one features the wider ones.

Hope you enjoy and a big THANKS to WindhamGraves for sharing!

Print Settings

Printer:

Ender 2 Good old boy :-)

Resolution:

0.1 for the body parts, windows inserts and the TPU wheels or tires, 0.2 for the rims

Infill:

20

Notes:

Print as follows:
1x upper body part

1x lower body part

1x set of windows

6x tires (TPU!)

6x rims

or

6x "one-piece wheel) (TPU)

Assembly in the "Post-printing"-section. Its easy...

If you print ist in original size (scale 1:100, length appr. 70mm), I recommend printing in 0.1 layer height, because of the many small details and angled surfaces.

It can be scaled up of course, but remember, if you scale the model up or down you have to find proper material for the axles and the short dowel parts.

Post-Printing

Assembly :-)

Printed in 100% is fine for using 1.75mm filament pieces as axles and dowels.

Just cut 50mm of filament (or 2") and heat them gently over a candle, then roll them with all 4 fingers over a wooden board to get them straight. After some practice, you'll get them perfect straight, and this thing will run superfast I promise!

When usiing separated rims and tires, be sure to assemble the wheels before completing the axles with them.

Stick the axle in one wheel or rim, make sure it sits tight, then insert the axle in the body holes and pressfit the other wheel/rim. Make sure there is about 1mm freeplay on the wheels to the body so that the axle can spin and swing freely.

Align the two body parts with the 5mm pieces of filament and glue both parts together.

Here you are!

Easy peasy.

Addes some detail, made the wheels and axles working, added window inserts.