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Post by Aurora on Dec 9, 2018 6:58:57 GMT -5
Looking back at my last post a month ago, it doesn't seem as if much has been accomplished. But many more hours have gone into shaping this shell. Lots more to do still. Using the eyeball method to sneak up on the shape of this car. Add material, prime, sculpt. Repeat.
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Post by Aurora on Dec 15, 2018 8:31:15 GMT -5
The body is getting close to the desired shape
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Post by f143 on Dec 15, 2018 21:30:40 GMT -5
Starting to look good Matt. Regards Nigel
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Post by Aurora on Dec 20, 2018 1:31:34 GMT -5
Thanks Nigel. The body is getting closer and I also thought it was starting to look good. However, the overall shape was actually well off. The curves of the car are gentler and more progressive than in my last attempts. My patchwork construction is not conducive to obtaining an accurate shape. The car consists of a base resin shell onto which multiple layers of styrene, PVC, putty, epoxy, CA, sodium bicarbonate, ink, primer, maybe a few drops of whisky, have been added. All these different colored materials make it virtually impossible for me to visualize the contours. So after each addition or removal of material, I must apply a coat of primer to the entire body, just to see what I've done. The resulting shape can deviate quite a long way from the actual correct shape before I catch it. Not the correct shape. The transitions between curves should be more gradual. PVC strips added to both the exterior and interior of the shell in preparation for more messy grinding and filing. Tidy workspace right before a snowstorm of airborne particles
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Post by f143 on Dec 20, 2018 19:10:38 GMT -5
A Ha, I see the problem, the construction ingredients probably contain too many drops of whiskey! the rest of the ingredients seem to have contoured a very nice shape, if not totally accurate to the car you are modelling. Progress is still impressive and I'm sure the finished article will be more than suitable to represent the original ERA E type. Regards Nigel
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Post by tomato007 on Dec 21, 2018 1:00:04 GMT -5
We will see an impressive ranga of scratch-build cars at this proxy race. I have to say that I‘m a little bit frightened by your tools! Best regards Thomas
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Post by Aurora on Dec 21, 2018 9:31:03 GMT -5
Yeah, for some reason whiskey doesn't seem to do as good of a job as coffee, or tea. Why is that? LOL Thomas, me too. Therefore I use safe, low-speed hand tools, such as these files. It requires a big effort to injure myself with these... However, I do have one power tool that I use constantly - a high-speed rotary tool. It is usually safe. But there is one cutter in the box - this circular razor saw blade - that IS frightening when spinning at 20,000 rpm. Neither whiskey nor coffee work well with this one.
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Post by Aurora on Dec 24, 2018 2:06:07 GMT -5
Fabricating this body may seem to be dragging on, and admittedly progress is slow. The shell yo-yo's between being too large, and too small. I add material and the shell is too big. I remove material and the shell is too small. I add material to a curve and the radius is wrong. I remove material from a curve...and the radius is still wrong! It may seem a bit ridiculous to spend so much time on what is just a simple body shell, but I want to get the dimensions and shape as close as I can. My method has always been to finish the body shell before designing the chassis, thinking that if I were to design the chassis first, I might be forced to make a body that would be over-sized or incorrectly shaped, just to get it to fit on the chassis. This thinking, perhaps faulty, is probably due to my early exposure to Aurora ThunderJets, which all used a common chassis, and consequently made compromises in body shape. Maybe for the next project, I'll try the opposite method and build the chassis first. Would that be a better method??? Scrap plumbing pipe being recycled as racing car bodywork Material added on the underside to increase the overall height, because too much had been cut away. Now, will I be able to resist the urge to remove too much this time?
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Post by Aurora on Dec 25, 2018 13:32:22 GMT -5
Using the previously formed engine cover panel as a scribing and grinding guide reveals that the engine cover is 24% over-sized. The overall dimensions - length x width - could be reduced, but the louvers would still be too big and too widely spaced. Why did I think building a Pre-War car would be easier than a 60's car?
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Post by Aurora on Jan 1, 2019 9:41:46 GMT -5
May not look like any progress has been made, but in actuality every surface has been changed. Shaping this body has reached a point of diminishing returns, so unless it falls apart during cleanup and detailing, this will be the final version.
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Post by Aurora on Jan 5, 2019 12:45:18 GMT -5
Ready to send to the master caster who will cast a rough blank. The blank will then be cleaned up, detailed, and then sent back again to cast the final body shell. For some reason I thought that pre-war cars were giant beasts with huge expansive bodies that provided loads of space into which almost any type of running gear could be installed. Hah, wrong again! This car is lower, narrower, and more streamlined than I had originally thought, with a small working space inside the shell. It should be an enjoyable challenge fitting the mechanical/electrical bits inside. I'll forever have sympathy with anyone who designs slot car bodies.
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Post by EM on Jan 5, 2019 13:35:39 GMT -5
Ready to send to the master caster who will cast a rough blank. The blank will then be cleaned up, detailed, and then sent back again to cast the final body shell. For some reason I thought that pre-war cars were giant beasts with huge expansive bodies that provided loads of space into which almost any type of running gear could be installed. Hah, wrong again! This car is lower, narrower, and more streamlined than I had originally thought, with a small working space inside the shell. It should be an enjoyable challenge fitting the mechanical/electrical bits inside. I'll forever have sympathy with anyone who designs slot car bodies. Looking very good! On size: I agree to a point but they are still a lot easier to fit out than the 60's 1500cc F1 cars
EM
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Post by f143 on Jan 5, 2019 22:04:14 GMT -5
It looks superb and streamlined, lovely effort Matt. Regards Nigel
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Post by Aurora on Jan 6, 2019 1:09:12 GMT -5
Agreed, this car does have more space than a 1.5L car. Any difficulty I have shoehorning components into the body is self inflicted. I had hoped to use a long can motor in a front-engine layout. Probably wishful thinking. This is an instance in which I'd like to try a vac form. The lozenge shape of the E-Type seems like it would be suitable for vac forming. And gaining an extra millimeter of space on the interior, as compared to a thick resin shell, would be a big help. Vac forming might even make it possible to create decent opened louvers.
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Post by Aurora on Jan 8, 2019 10:24:03 GMT -5
Time to start designing the chassis. One consideration is which wheels to use, and how to use them. Rear wheels is straightforward enough but the front wheel/axle assembly is the question. The car has a short front overhang. Stub axles would seem to be a possible solution to avoiding the interference between the guide post and a full length front axle. Of course the inevitable question - how to attach the wheel to the stub axle? These are Peter's wheels. I'm not 100% sure if I've assembled in the correct sequence, but the parts fit together well as shown, #1 on bottom, #8 on top. Some questions for those who have used these wheels. 1. Did you permanently join part #1 and part #7 together? Or did you use slip fits? How did you join? With solder? Adhesive? Which type of adhesive? 2. Have you mounted these wheels on stub axles? 3. Have you replaced the Aluminum wheel nut #8 with a steel nut/pin/axle? 4. How did you attach the wheels to the axle? EDIT: I should mention that these wheels do not have grub screws. Matt
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