Perfect Day

I'd be tempted to go with Alan's suggestion and build the 33 with a mini-motor. It is a 1.5 litre car after all!

You could then open up the rest of the cockpit and get a lot more Jim in

It wouldn't make the best use of that lovely rear bracket though so maybe a new shell for this one and a new chassis for the 33 as you were (sort of) thinking

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

That is a great idea for the suspension detail! Do you mind if I *try* to copy it too?

I'll be curious how you fit Jim in there with the motor the way it is. I'm running into the same issue, even with a micro motor (because of it's length, not girth).

The shell looks awesome -- I see nothing wrong with it.

Steve

Goodness! Impressive keeping that little lot all in the right place while you soldered it up. Any tips gratefully received David

Excellent, David!

That is yet another plus to a hard shell - it will retain things like that suspension detail. I'm still planning mine out, but 90% of it will be attached to the chassis - it's the stuff that must be stuck on the vac body that worries me.

Once again.... thanks for more inspiration!

It just keeps getting better.

Let's see, where is that community college class list? Here it is...hmm, basket weaving is in here somewhere

Finally.... someone who thinks like me!

tx, what kind of Dino? we what to know!

One of the best looking cars ever built.

RR

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

Thanks for the explanation David - sounds straightforward enough

QUOTE I work in a fabricator's style rather than the pure engineering approach of someone like EM

The latter impression created only by the fact that the bits of ill shaped wire, brass strips that didn't quite fit and machined parts that refused to assemble as they were intended go directly into the bin or are lost on the floor!

I really like this approach to doing the suspension bits and will certainly try it although after this fit of building 60's F 1 cars passes, I shall return to models where the suspension is not such a prominent part of the car* (I have in mind doing one of Mac P's w-196s because the wheels are so close to the body that suspension simply doesn't enter into the program)

I would guess that the additional drag of the suspension will have little, if any impact on the performance. This is based on my experience with a model of the 4.5 L GP Ferrari based, again, on one of Mac's bodies. The body is mounted by "snapping" it over the axles - the axle slots being cut on a slightly smaller center than the axle centers and having a slight "L" shape at the top to allow the axle to rotate freely with the body simply resting on it. (Approach learned from Larry LS).

One caveat: This approach seems to work very well when using a "standard" Mabuchi "S" or "K" can motor. I would be wary of trying this with one of the mini-motors. Having sampled the unmistakeable aroma of buring insulation on several occasions, I have come to the conclusion that they are quite sensitive to drag!

EM

* One of the observations I have made is that your models, even bereft of suspension bits, project an overwhelming aura of reality. I'm trying to figure out what the secret is!

I agree with EM, Your models are very realistic David and they look great.

tx, that is a real class car.

Please let have a story about the Le Mans Classic meeting that would make my day perfect.

RR

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