Post by David Mitcham on Nov 10, 2013 13:22:01 GMT -5
This is my attempt at creating the 1963 Ferrari 156 Aero as raced at Monza for the first time by John Surtees. By way of a little history, the car was Ferrari’s first semi-monocoque chassis and it was designed to take a new V8 engine. However this was not race ready so the car ran with the tried and trusted V6. Surtees was fastest in practice - 1.2 seconds ahead of Graham Hill – at an average speed of 132.193mph. This was well above the official lap record average speed of 128.12mph. In the race the Aero lead from the first lap chased by Clark and Hill who changed places repeatedly. However the Ferrari’s engine started to smoke and on lap 18 it dropped a valve and that was that. In the photo from the race below you can see a whisp of smoke from the exhausts.
I’ve found it quite difficult to find photographs of the car at Monza ,and in subsequent races, so the model is a ‘guesstimate’ rather than a fully accurate representation. Incidentally I have an excellent book on Ferrari formula one cars, 1948 to 1976, by Jonathan Thompson which contains many photographs and some line drawings – happy to provide information from it!
So the model. This is my first attempt at a scratchbuild for many years and I don’t think I’ve attempted anything so detailed before. My inspiration has been the fantastic engineering and modelling skills to be found on the Forum to which I aspire but don’t pretend I’ve reached! Having said that I’m quite pleased with the results and, thanks to Mark’s encouragement, I’ve taken the plunge to put up my efforts for scrutiny by the best!
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves other than to say the major components consist of the Dave Jones shell slightly modified around the engine and engine cover, an FF030 motor, Ranch Design gears, a brass rod and plate chassis, Pendle tyres and I confess I forgotten where the wheels are from – either BWA or RSS I think! The wheel inserts aren’t right so if anyone can suggest more accurate ones I’d be very grateful!!
The only build item which requires a special mention is the absence of a solid front axle; I constructed uprights from brass plate with stub axles from 3/32 tube and secured the wheels with a bolt and nut through the tube. This arrangement is fine on my home track but I don’t think would stand up to serious racing! The photos of this and the chassis are from my next project – Lotus 25 R1 – but its much the same as that for the Aero. Yes I know my soldering technique needs some improvement!
I see what everyone means about the struggle to attach photographs from Photobucket but I think I've got to grips with the technique now!
I’ve found it quite difficult to find photographs of the car at Monza ,and in subsequent races, so the model is a ‘guesstimate’ rather than a fully accurate representation. Incidentally I have an excellent book on Ferrari formula one cars, 1948 to 1976, by Jonathan Thompson which contains many photographs and some line drawings – happy to provide information from it!
So the model. This is my first attempt at a scratchbuild for many years and I don’t think I’ve attempted anything so detailed before. My inspiration has been the fantastic engineering and modelling skills to be found on the Forum to which I aspire but don’t pretend I’ve reached! Having said that I’m quite pleased with the results and, thanks to Mark’s encouragement, I’ve taken the plunge to put up my efforts for scrutiny by the best!
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves other than to say the major components consist of the Dave Jones shell slightly modified around the engine and engine cover, an FF030 motor, Ranch Design gears, a brass rod and plate chassis, Pendle tyres and I confess I forgotten where the wheels are from – either BWA or RSS I think! The wheel inserts aren’t right so if anyone can suggest more accurate ones I’d be very grateful!!
The only build item which requires a special mention is the absence of a solid front axle; I constructed uprights from brass plate with stub axles from 3/32 tube and secured the wheels with a bolt and nut through the tube. This arrangement is fine on my home track but I don’t think would stand up to serious racing! The photos of this and the chassis are from my next project – Lotus 25 R1 – but its much the same as that for the Aero. Yes I know my soldering technique needs some improvement!
I see what everyone means about the struggle to attach photographs from Photobucket but I think I've got to grips with the technique now!