Mel's Drive-In Model Set - 1:64 Scale Diorama
Print Profile(1)
Description
George Lucas wrote and directed the movie American Graffiti, a coming-of-age story inspired by Lucas' upbringing and experiences in California during the 1960's. The movie highlighted the car culture during that era and featured Mel's Drive-In (the original restaurant in San Francisco) as one of the main locations in the movie. While the Mel's Drive-In has since been torn down, the restaurant lives on in Lucas' movie. During my research, I came across a great article that I'll link below that tells the history of the restaurant and what made it so iconic.
deeprootsmag.org/2013/07/23/mels-the-true-story-of-the-worlds-most-famous-drive-in-part-1/
The Mel's Drive-In restaurant has so many unique design elements which made it the perfect project to make into a model set. The main rectangular building is bright yellow with the large “Mel's drive-in” logo that immediately catches your eye. Next to that is the round building which is the main diner, and has neon lights around the roof and round spot lights on each of the posts of the walls. The cars park all around the round diner and along the yellow building. The road sign is an angular design with bright letters and logo and a large arrow pointing directly at the restaurant. The aesthetic and design is truly unique and so recognizable.
Some printing notes:
- The large logo sign on the yellow building has some small pieces like the dots for the letter "i" and the dash between “drive” and “in”. I was able to use my fingers, however, tweezers may be necessary to help glue these in
- I used hot glue for the small rectangular roofs and the posts. Glue the posts to the roof pieces first before gluing to their bases
- The round building walls can be glued to the base if you want them to stay together permanently but can still be assembled without glue too. The round roof can also be glued to the walls or just rest on top. The pieces for the round building fit together like puzzle pieces
- The assembly guide PDF is available
Filament Used:
- BL PLA Basic Yellow
- eSun PLA Gray
- eSun PLA Black
- eSun PLA Fire Engine Red
- eSun PLA Cold White
- eSun PLA Pink
- Microcenter Inland Blue
I'm really happy with how this model set came out and I hope you all enjoy it! Feel free to reach out with any questions.
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Boost Me (for free)
If you enjoy this print, please consider giving me a Boost! All of my designs are original, created by me, and shared with the 3D printing community. I do all of this in my spare time in between working full time and spending time with my family. I enjoy designing and making things to help grow this community of makers. Thank you for your support!
Membership
Support us even further by subscribing to our TOP LAYR and COMMERCIAL LICENSE LAYR memberships!
Documentation (1)
License
You shall not share, sub-license, sell, rent, host, transfer, or distribute in any way the digital or 3D printed versions of this object, nor any other derivative work of this object in its digital or physical format (including - but not limited to - remixes of this object, and hosting on other digital platforms). The objects may not be used without permission in any way whatsoever in which you charge money, or collect fees.
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