The list of cool, car-related items you can make with a 3D printer just got longer. You can print die-cast models by downloading files from a variety of sources, and now you can print a roughly 1/64-scale garage-shaped key holder (with moving parts!) to hang on a wall.
Available on a site called Cults and priced at merely $2.40, this little garage was designed to fit Hot Wheels-sized cars. It’s surprisingly detailed: There’s a brick-look finish on both sides and a garage door that looks like it’s made of wood. The party trick is a pivoting mechanism linked to a key holder. Put a key on the hook, and the weight makes the garage door open up to reveal the 1/64-scale car of your choice.
Regardless of what you put in the garage, this is an awesome way to hang your keys. It’s even cooler if you can find a scale model of your car. Put, say, the Hot Wheels Alfa Romeo GTV6 in the garage that your GTV6’s keys hang from. If you own multiple cars, you can print a garage per set of keys and find a matching model for each. You won’t have to rummage through a bowl (or, in my case, a valve cover from a Citroën 2CV’s flat-twin engine) to find the keys to the car you want to drive that day, and the garage is an original way to decorate your house.
There are several ways to print the garage. You can download a single file that includes the blueprints required to print the whole thing, or you can choose to download individual files. There are even different finishes for the side of the garage to choose from. As for the car, well, you’re on your own. You might be able to find your ride in the vast Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Tomica, or Majorette catalogs. If not, print it!
Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com