SEFAC

[David Mitcham]

I've started carving my first entry for the Mac Pinches Thirties Championship. The SEFAC was a gloriously unsuccessful French Grand Prix car which started life in 1935 entered three grand prix and only actually raced in one - the 1939 Pau Grand Prix. In that race it was driven by Jean Tremoulet and managed to complete 35 laps. The SEFAC had two four cylinder engines side by side under the bonnet with a large supercharger serving both. It was redeveloped after the war by the Donmartin company but was no more successful. I will provide a bit more history later.



This is where I've got to.







Best Regards

David

[Andrew Rowland]

Awesome David...
Looking forward to see the rest of the build.
Andi

[Mark Huber]

David,

Excellent work on an unusual car. What are your favorite source materials/books for these 30's cars?

Cheers,

Mark

[Peter Seager-Thomas]

Looking good David, the model already looks better than the real thing...

Are those oil coolers each side of the cockpit?

Peter.

[David Mitcham]

Hi Mark

Peter Seager-Thomas suggested the SEFAC of which I had never heard. A search on the web came up with in period photographs and some of the car being re-built a few years ago. I find the web the best source for photographs and quite often information and dimensions although sometimes I have a relevant book. For obscure cars like this its rare to find plans/blueprints so one has to hope there are side on photographs and hopefully head and tail on views. With basic dimensions such as track and wheelbase its then not too difficult to come up with a drawing which is a reasonable approximation of the real thing.

Hello Peter

I can't find outdoor sure what the protuberances alongside the cockpit are - I've seen references to them as oil coolers and others as fuel tanks.

Best Regards

David

[slo]

Looking forward to seeing this one come to life David, another unique build.

[David Mitcham]

Things have moved on a little since my last post and the SEFAC is ready for moulding and casting. However I've also carved two other bodies for the Mac Pinches Thirties Championship - Reg Parnell's Challenge GP car which was built in 1939 but only took part in the Prescott hillclimb in that year, and the Multi-Union, primarily a Brooklands car although it it did take part in some road races too. I'll be deciding which will be on the grid once I've built chassis and tested them.

Best Regards

David

[David Mitcham]

Very slow progress on my Thirties cars. The bodies are now cast by that master of the art, John Warren. I shall definitely be entering the SEFAc and probably the Challenge. I have started on building the chassis but as ever making sure the guide does not protrude beyond the front of the body on the these cars is proving a bit difficult.

Best Regards

David

[Peter Seager-Thomas]

They're looking good, and I suspect will be even better once in primer.

Out of interest, do you prefer working in wood, or resin. They must be very different, with perhaps modelling board somewhere in between....

Peter.

[Andrew Rowland]

Your production is amazing David!
These look great...
Andi

[David Mitcham]

Hi Andi and Peter

Thank you for the compliments.

Peter

For carving I prefer the modelling board. I have used balsa and its easy to work with other than dealing with the grain and it would be better for using as a body shell in its own right. The modelling board is better as the basis for moulding and then casting in resin - its tough enough to allow complex shapes but soft enough to make carving and sanding straightforward.

Best Regards

David

[Mark Huber]

Feb 27, 2020 17:06:38 GMT -5 David Mitcham said:

Hi Andi and Peter

Thank you for the compliments.

Peter

For carving I prefer the modelling board. I have used balsa and its easy to work with other than dealing with the grain and it would be better for using as a body shell in its own right. The modelling board is better as the basis for moulding and then casting in resin - its tough enough to allow complex shapes but soft enough to make carving and sanding straightforward.

Best Regards

David

David,

This material (Professional Plastics Modeling Board ) ?


Mark

[David Mitcham]

Hi Mark

Yes that looks very similar to the material I use www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/patterns-moulds-and-tooling/tooling-and-modelling-board. I use the medium density board - I haven't tried the high density as it is said to be difficult to hand carve.

Best Regards

David

[Han]

Hello David. Nice what a good model of the sefac. I m the owner of the original sefac. I have good pictures for you and also the color of the sefac. I m very interested in your work Maybe we can find each other by mail. My mail adres is [e-mail]
Regards Han