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Post by Aurora on Jun 26, 2015 14:51:38 GMT -5
Another offer to yourself or anybody else....for a small fee I can mould and cast several bodies of your one off creation. You really only need to trust the mail service to New Zealand and my skills. The time and materials to mould and cast three or four bodies from a master isn't that great and a turn around time of a week is possible. John, thank you for offering this service. I hope to be able to take you up on it one of these times. Unfortunately it won't be this time, as I need to finish the car in a few weeks. Matt
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Post by Aurora on Jun 29, 2015 14:47:05 GMT -5
This was to be a second attempt to solder the front end sub-assembly, but after pondering this set up for a few minutes, I didn't think it would succeed Proof of concept for a hastily assembled chassis jig, after deciding against the no-jig method Looks strange but it actually worked! The survivors. As I was making these tiny washers, several jumped off my bench, never to be seen again... Alloy shocks. I don't have the correct solder for this material, so some easily soldered steel wire is threaded through the tube... ...like so. Front suspension rocker arms have been roughed out Bending these various arms was tricky - only one chance to get them right One more test fit prior to soldering the front end together Used an iron for this instead of a torch, to reduce the risk of de-soldering other joints It's together. Now, will it stay together? Test fit No. 756
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Post by David Mitcham on Jun 30, 2015 5:39:09 GMT -5
Hi Matt
Fantastic! That front suspension detail is superb. I'm fascinated by your jig, very ingenious! It must take a lot of time and patience to set it up.
Best Regards
David
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Post by Aurora on Jun 30, 2015 8:52:00 GMT -5
Thank you David. For this car, I prepared some fairly detailed drawings. I made the parts working off the drawings, hoping that they would fit together. A few missteps along the way, but most of the parts have fit together fairly well.
You are correct - the jig it takes a long time to set up . As I am setting everything up, I usually find that the parts require additional work - filing, shimming, bending, polishing, etc. - before they will fit together. I often need to fabricate another clamp or device or some type of contraption, and add it to the jig.
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Post by Aurora on Jul 1, 2015 5:19:44 GMT -5
A few solder joints needed to be re-done. One of the sway bars shifted out of alignment. I tried to fix it but no luck. It is interlaced with some other components that could be at risk of shifting if I apply too much pressure or heat The chassis is starting to take shape...
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Post by Aurora on Jul 4, 2015 5:01:51 GMT -5
The rear bulkhead has been trimmed and is close to its final shape The confounded rear bulkhead is visible on the real car. It has all sorts of components attached to it, including what looks to be a pressurized hose. So it must remain visible. But I couldn't figure out how to attach the fake gearbox to the rear of the engine detail, and still maintain visibility of rear bulkhead at the same time. So the fake gearbox will be a separate piece. It will incorporate two sleeves that will slide onto two steel pins that are attached to the chassis. One pin is soldered to the bulkhead; the second pin is soldered to the axle bracket and the lower track rod The bulkhead is probably not as robust as it should have been. The bridge section is awfully thin... Brass square tubes will be built into the fake gearbox. The tubes will then slide onto the steel pins Nickel silver brake disc Discs are one piece. To create vented discs, I toyed with the idea of fabricating a three piece disc "sandwich". A center piece would be cut to resemble a toothed gear. Soldering two thin circular discs onto the toothed center piece would result in a vented appearance. But these work pieces and the tolerances are just too small for me to do a credible job. So artistic license results in round vent holes Gotta keep the brakes cool, even at 1/32 scale. My first attempts at discs had too many holes. This disc probably doesn't have quite enough vent holes, but it will do for now
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Post by Aurora on Jul 12, 2015 15:27:29 GMT -5
Body post The post is screwed to the chassis. The body will be lowered down onto the post, and the post will then be trimmed to the correct height. Once the correct fit is achieved, the curved brass piece will then be attached to the body with epoxy cement This tube was intended to be the radiator hose. Working from my drawings, I thought it was the correct diameter, but after test fitting, I thought it looked too big. So into the parts bin it goes... Not quite right. Frustrating cause this thing took ages to make... Smaller hoses. These were much more difficult to make than I anticipated After reading some recent research on the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism, it made me think of this project. Apparently the mechanism's "design conception exceeded the engineering precision of its manufacture by a wide margin...".
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Post by David Mitcham on Jul 12, 2015 15:49:07 GMT -5
Hi Matt
Your attention to detail is great and so is the finish and fit of the suspension parts. Its quite difficult to try to get pipes, exhausts etc to be to scale and I actually think some things look better slightly over scale - at least that's my excuse for the drain pipe exhausts on my Ferrari 801. You'll see what I mean when I post pictures later in the week!
I totally identify with the quote in your last sentence!
David
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Post by Aurora on Jul 13, 2015 5:44:55 GMT -5
David, I've heard others (or perhaps it was you) state a preference for making some parts over scale. I'll do some more work on exhaust pipes tonight and test that idea. I made up some exhausts but haven't mounted them, so I cannot yet determine if they will look correct. According to my plans, they are the correct scale, but I'm not sure - they look a bit too big to my eye.
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Post by David Lawson on Jul 13, 2015 10:42:49 GMT -5
Matt
What a great piece of construction your chassis is.
Regarding yours and David M's comments about the size of components, I agree with you that you should trust your eye as much as worrying about the scale measurements - this always supposes you have the eye in the first place. You certainly have demonstrated that you have so carry on trusting your own judgement.
I'm really looking forward to seeing this car completed.
David
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Post by Aurora on Jul 14, 2015 14:31:23 GMT -5
Thanks David. My eye is correct maybe half the time. Like perhaps other builders here, I need to remake parts - sometimes several times - until they look okay. For example, I have now joined all those on this forum who have struggled to make a nest of exhaust pipes. Plastic rod bent with heat. Inconsistent heat application, jig is not accurate - FAIL I didn't have enough brass rod stock to make full length pipes, so I can only make these stubby 3 into 1 pipes. The jig is a little better than the last, but not by much. Very difficult to obtain accurate bends Drilling out brass rod to make the 3 into 1 exhaust collectors Try...and try again...and again
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Post by David Mitcham on Jul 15, 2015 4:45:23 GMT -5
Hi Matt
The effort has been worthwhile - the end result looks excellent. I've never had much success with plastic and my material of choice at the moment is aluminium rod, wire and tube. Easy to shape, file and drill, and light weight but not solderable so a good strong glue has to suffice. I've used copper too which is a bit easier to bend than brass.
Have you constructed the engine yet?
Best Regards
David
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Post by Aurora on Jul 15, 2015 5:21:14 GMT -5
David, the engine is next on the schedule. I need to finish the exhaust pipes first due to clearance issues between the pipes and the other engine parts. The pipes are located almost snug up against the cam covers and intake trumpets.
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Post by Aurora on Jul 30, 2015 15:01:41 GMT -5
Roll bar Ready for heat Rough form Lucas fuel injection meter. For the ignition box attached to the roll bar, I never did find a good photo, so this is a guess on the form. Velocity stack debris screens carved from acrylic, but they didn't look quite right so they were not used Intake trumpets insert into PCB cam covers Intakes and cam covers. The pins were supposed to support the intake debris screens, but for some reason I couldn't achieve solid joints, so they were not used A coat of primer to expose hidden problems Not sure what this structure is supposed to be Stub axles Test fit of the stub axles Attaching more steel and brass...chassis pan...trailing arms...gotta watch the weight Rust never sleeps, so on with some paint. The pale blue bulkhead will be visible Will this chassis be sturdy enough? Driver test fit
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Post by Chris Wright on Jul 30, 2015 15:06:48 GMT -5
Simly amazing work Matt, way beyond my skills.
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