Perfect Day

Steve and John - Yes it is a bracket by Chas Keeling available from http://www.scdparma.fsnet.co.uk/

JohnP - I've got a Dremel as well. I sort of pinched the design from your Honda chassis and reworked the front axle a little. By the way are you still building a Cooper-Maserati, this wonderful photo was in the Maserati book I got yesterday.



Alan - The summerhouse is finished but I'm not rushing the design of the track as I want to be sure that I get a circuit I can live with long term. Here's a shot of two overgrown schoolkids "playing" with the test track, actually we were checking out our Fly Classic and Ninco Classic cars before the Southend Slot Racing Club meeting last Thursday - I'm the one with the hair!



Bill - The soldering and clean up only took an hour or so but I had been making the parts on and off during the week, the total build time was probably about 3 or 4 hours.

No one has said what their idea of a perfect day is!?

David

QUOTE (PastimeRaceway @ 24 Jul 2004, 20:28)What F1 shell is this chassis for? Inquiring minds want to know!
I'm trying to squeeze it into a Lotus33 but there's very little room for Jim Clark, I'm not sure whether to carry on with it or look for another bodyshell.



David

I've had another perfect day, two this week!

It started with the postman delivering some Patto decals, some BWA wheels and my Goodwood Revival tickets and paddock passes and there wasn't a bill in the post either to spoil the fun.

Another sunny day out in the Morris Minor and a quick visit to Southend Airport to have a look at the Vulcan bomber then home to the model room to carry on with the F1 chassis.

I thought I would try some suspension detail and came up with this, because of the radius rods I couldn't build it in place so I arranged the parts around a brass tube spacer that can be put on and removed when maintaining the car.



Once the bodyshell is on I can slip the suspension detail on and they will be retained by the wheels and the radius rod location holes in the shell.



That gentle humming sound you can hear is Colin Chapman spinning in his grave, I know it's not that pretty or accurate but it's my first try and I've learnt some useful ideas for the next one I build. I know it hasn't got springs and anti roll bars but it achieves the impression I wanted for this car.

All I've got to do now is work out how much of Jim Clark will fit into the very little space available.

Alan - You've convinced me and I've ordered a few Moto GP motors for future cars but I'm going to stick with this chassis and motor as is.

mp - The NC2 was an idea but I didn't want too much power for this car as it will run on a smallish track most of the time.

Fergy - I can only use this bracket because the shell is a copy of the Monogram body and it gives me more room than with the more to scale Classic bodies and it saved all the messing about with getting the rear end all straight and true.

Bill and John - I feel I'll have to carry on with the car but I'll do Jim Clark more justice in the Lotus 25 that I'm planning.

David

Here's the SCD bracket on the right of the picture with two BWA brackets. The main difference is that the SCD is narrower and measures at 19mm or .75"



David

QUOTE (JohnP @ 27 Jul 2004, 19:11)Goodness! Impressive keeping that little lot all in the right place while you soldered it up. Any tips gratefully received David
I work in a fabricator's style rather than the pure engineering approach of someone like EM and I start with half an idea and problem solve along the way discarding pieces and re-doing it if necessary. With the suspension it went smoothly in one go although I part built a practice piece one first to check the design.



To hold the bits in place;

I started with the axle tube/spacer which I cut to size.

Then using square section tube for the uprights I drilled the holes for the radius rods at right angles then cut to length.

I ran a round needle file over a bit of wood to leave a shallow channel that the axle tube would sit in while I soldered the two square section upright pieces in place - the channel allowed the uprights to be on the centre line of the tube.

I drilled the holes in the body for the radius rods.

I put the body on the chassis and taped it in place, slipped the two axle tubes/uprights onto the axle then bent and cut brass rod to fit between the axle and the body.

Once I was happy with the fit of all the pieces I put the car on the workmate, and used the nose of pliers to act as heatsinks and the weight of the pliers braced the assembly while I soldered them in situ.

I soldered the bottom links with the car upside down for obvious resaons

Hope this makes sense!?

I managed to get Jim Clark to fit by recasting the driver figure with a bit more depth of resin than the original which gave me more to work with, channeling out a recess for the top of the motor so Jim can sit over and around the Mabuchi. Space was so tight I had to snip half the motor lead/brush tabs off. It's not perfect painting it will hide a mulitude of sins.



David

I'm flattered by your comment EM.

I'm not sure what the secret is other than I only ever make models of cars that appeal to me especially anything driven by the greatest ever driver, Jim Clark. I've been an F1 fan since the early sixties and love the cars of that decade, I've bought motor racing books and photographed at circuits for 35 years and have a complete run from the end of the fifties through to the early eighties of Motorsport magazine so I've built up quite a reference.

When I make a model I immerse myself in the car and the period and read up all the background history and check all the photographs so I kind of "live" the subject and I hope that perhaps my love and fascination of the subject is conveyed in the finished model.

Anyway, today was another perfect day - hot and sunny all day and after gardening all morning I spent some of the afternoon in the model room and made up the exhaust system for the 33 as well as the intake trumpets and the roll over bar.

If all goes well I should do the final clean up of the shell tomorrow, finish the driver figure and find some mirrors - I've just realised though that BWA don't do inserts for this car so I'll have to improvise.



David

Neither, the Lotus 33 cars used a six spoke wheel from 1964 onwards.



David

Phil - Wasn't Longford the track with the wooden bridge they raced over in those "safety conscious" days?

John - I might try and adapt the Maxi Models Eagle inserts, they're not ideal but might do as a temporary fix



Howmet - I can't find any Scalex wheels at the moment so the car is up on bricks until I can find something suitable.

I sprayed and decalled the car yesterday, lacquered and detail painted today - I have to work tomorrow and Sunday which will slow me down but I hope to finish the car by Tuesday.

David

I more or less finished the car this evening but I'm not very happy with the wheels, I've used Maxi Models superb Eagle inserts reduced to fit and thinned so they recess into the wheel but I don't think they look convincing as the Lotus 6 spoke. I might put the wobbly webs on even though they aren't right for this car but they will perhaps look better.

I'm going to give it it's first run tomorrow to see how it handles.




David

Howmet - The lunchbox with the Marmite sandwiches is the top of the motor which pokes up between his elbows, see here;



The next Jim Clark car I do will definitely have a Maxi Models driver figure to do the great man justice.

John - I guess you're referring to the Race of Champions in 1965 when he hit the bank at the bottom of South Bank, a very rare mistake indeed.

I plan to enter each car I build but by the time I finish them I get sort of attached to them and a bit unsure about how much very hard racing it will get subjected to, incidentally this car had it's first run on my test track today and is beautifully smooth and fun to drive - I thoroughly recommend the SCD U-bracket to anyone.

David

QUOTE (JohnP @ 2 Aug 2004, 19:37)Marmite butties? Lunch box? How about using one of those MotoGP motors as recommended by Mop... er um I mean Alan next time - Jimmy should be able to pack a complete picnic basket!
Stung by the comments about poor old Jim Clark being cramped for space and struggling to get a square meal in one of my cars I decided that nothing less than the whole of the great man will be in the Lotus 43 that I'm planning next.

Once again Classic provide the glassfibre shell, BWA the excellent wheels and Lotus 40 inserts (same as the 43), Maxi-Models driver figure, Slot it axles and gears and I had intended to keep Alan quiet by using the MotoGP motor but even that wasn't small enough to give Jim enough elbow room so I decided on one of the cube motors (whatever they're called) that Pink Kar use.

After a bit of back surgery on poor old Jim Clark I could get the gear/motor/driver all into the available space in the 43 shell, the close up cockpit shot proves it's all in there as you can just see the armature windings behind the driver.




Dennis - I'm sorry I don't know where the fine mesh came from, it was given to me a few years ago. My problem is that I've only got enough for a few more cars so I need to source some more very soon.

Another perfect day today, scorching hot and sunny here in Southend - took the Morris Minor out for a good run, the seafront could have been the South of France, the farmland could have been the countryside around Reims and I was overtaken by a metallic bronze Ferrari 550, the only one I've ever seen on the road.

David

Is this fast food or a drive thru!?



David