A lovely Redditor made a custom little tow hitch so now the Jeep is finally done! Besides the tow hitch it has windshield wipers, side mirrors, raised fenders and spare tire, springs to look like suspension, a back window that opens, and best of all, I added moving axils and wheels so it drives!!
Sorry for the lame music, I got excited LOL
This entire project started as a gift idea for my dad, and originally I was just going to make a window panel that looked like his own Wrangler. But then I thought, it’s basically a box, why not make it 3D! And so began a 5 month long project lol.
In April I took detailed pictures of my dad’s jeep while he was visiting. He came outside to grab something in the middle of it and I had to make up some bullshit excuse about my bf wanting to see it 🤦🏼♀️
I wanted the proportions to be correct so I looked up the outside measurements of the real thing and scaled it down 20x and used that to make my sketches. Annoyingly enough, my careful ruler drawing came out like crap so I did it freehand from the pictures and when I measured it after it was perfectly to the 1:20 scale I calculated earlier… another 🤦🏼♀️
And then the joyful process began! Did the left side first and I had a great time. Did the mirror side, and had a slightly less great time 🤣. By the time I finished the grill portion I was ready to throw it out the damn window… SO MANY TINY PIECES!! I swear to god never again 😂
While fitting my pieces together I realized I did NOT include the overlap in my calculations… So I had to get creative! In the end I managed to make it all fit and it taught me lots of lessons for next time.
Just for fun I added some little details!
- The fenders are two layers of glass to make them raised and stand out more to give the piece some dimensions. The spare tire is also two layers.
- The back window flips up like the real version (if I had a tiny hinge the bottom would open too) because I wanted to add fairy lights inside and needed a way to get them in and out.
- Inspired by u/Overall_Pitch3538 and their little blue car, I decided that the wheels would be attached to axils so it would drive! The axils are made from some kind of super long screw I found at the hardware store. Cut them to size, added copper foil and a thin layer of solder, and added the wheels to the ends with two strips of copper foil superglued to the wheels. They’re not super stable I’ve noticed, maybe covering the entire back in copper foil would have been better instead of just two crossed pieces. The axil carriers are just made from wire that I twisted.
- Added little springs in the wheel gaps because why not!
- I also have a custom metal hitch coming in the mail any day now which I wanted to add for shits and giggles lol.
This gift was, of course, extremely well received and my dad couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw it. He knew he was getting something from glass but he never could have imaged this! Told him this was for Father’s Day, his birthday, and Christmas, for the next 5 years, and because we’re annoyingly the same we both said that last part at the same time so he at least respects the effort LOL. It was a lot of work, and I’ll never make one again (like I tried to think of a hypothetical situation where someone asked me to make another one and my instant reaction was “not for less than 1k in cash up front cuz f*ck that!!!!” 😂) but it was absolutely worth it because of the reaction it got.
Now off to the next project! Thank you for following along ❤️
Just needs patina tomorrow and that’s it! Oh, and I have a little metal hitch coming too that needs attaching but that’s still on the way 😂. Will post the entire process tomorrow
Need the bottom, and then need to put the axils and wheels together so it’ll drive! Then just last finishing details, black patina, and that’ll hopefully be finished before Sunday so I can finally give it to my dad 😁
Also yeah the soldering looks a little rough, because of course I didn’t calculate the overlap for certain areas so my pieces didn’t all fit and I had a major panic moment, but with some creative placement and hardcore soldering I still made it work 🤣
It hangs a little over the nose but I think it’ll be fine, it’ll help anchor the grill piece in place. Ran out of foil and waiting for the new order to come in so I can finish the grill panel. Then the last complicated one is the back panel. Thinking I might do the bottom with the same colour blue as the hood accent, in my head it’ll glow blue underneath when the lights are turned on inside the car but that might not actually work this way in reality LOL. Also wondering what I might use to stand the side panels upright once I’m ready to solder all the panels together. Thoughts?
Ordered the fairy lights that’ll go inside too. I plan on sticking two on the headlights so they’ll glow lol. Also found someone who’s making me a little trailer hitch to solder to it which I thought would be a fun touch! I also plan on making the back window on a hinge so it can be flipped open, and it’ll have axils with the wheels on it so it’ll roll. If all goes to plan at least 😂
Hello! I hope this is the right place to post, I wasn’t sure where else this question would fit!
I’m making a Jeep Wrangler out of stained glass in 3D and I thought a tow hitch would be a fun touch. However, so far I’ve only found a 3D printed one which might be problematic with soldering, hence my search for a metal version. Could anyone point me in the right direction on where to get something like this? Does it even exist? Would appreciate any guidance! It’s roughly about 1:20 scale I think, if that helps?
Thank you!
Little bit of caching behaviour happening already with them hiding the peanuts just like their parents. Need to get some baby-friendly snacks. The expensive dehydrated kibble I brought was rejected lol
Didn’t have a chance to work on it much the last couple weeks but finally back to my dad’s gift! Learned the hard way to be careful when foiling long skinny pieces, at bottom back bar snapped in 2 pieces right at the last second 😑😑😑….. Was gonna make a new piece but decided not to drive myself crazy and just make it two pieces instead lol. Oh and got totally inspired by u/Overall_Pitch3538 and their little moving car with working wheels!! I’m probably cursing myself but I just HAD to add that element to my Jeep, hence no wheels in the panel lol. Fingers crossed it turns out the way I’m envisioning it!
Genuinely feeling so proud of this little haul, and I was amazed I found all these on my own property! The stinging nettle and cleavers we already fed before with success but today I decided to hunt for some plantain, and ran into the yarrow and chamomile along the way! Will see if the little guy likes those three new ones as well, fingers crossed it helps him not be so itchy.
Genuinely feeling so proud of this little haul, and I was amazed I found all these on my own property! The stinging nettle and cleavers we already fed before with success but today I decided to hunt for some plantain, and ran into the yarrow and chamomile along the way! Will see if the little guy likes those three new ones as well, fingers crossed it helps him not be so itchy.
I used a bandaid after which worked but need to switch to waterproof. I don’t like covering my hands while I work so gloves aren’t a great option for me. What does everyone else use to protect their fingers while going hard on the grinder?
I’m doing the fenders and wheels double cuz I’m trying to give it a little more shape, curious to see how it’ll work out!
Hi there!
I’m from the Netherlands and after WW2 the graves of the fallen soldiers that were buried here were adopted by families and we care for them. My family has taken care of two American graves for 4 generations now. We are in touch with one family and send them pictures a couple times a year, usually for Memorial Day and Christmas, but we haven’t been able to find the second family. We’ve scoured Google, even asked the other family if they could help, but so far no luck. There’s a lot of veteran groups on FB but I’m unsure if that’s the best way to find the family. If someone could give a recommendation on where to continue our search I’d greatly appreciate it! I’m sure the family would appreciate knowing their uncle/cousin/grandfather who bravely fought still has people showing him gratitude by keeping his grave in good shape. I have the name of the soldier and the day he died, he was from Pennsylvania, and on his headstone it says “TEC 5 334 INF 84 DIV” which I’m guessing says something about the unit he was in? Any help would be greatly appreciated!