sharknose156

woao woao wao ... Sadly i missed so much during the last weeks, isolated on my 'work' planet .. i will need to study the pictures carefully one by one... so much to learn and to enjoy ! what to say but repeat what Harvey said so eloquently (if i may Harv) "I run out of ways to express my appreciation of your work, Dan. Superb as always...and forever an inspiration!!! Thank you, Sir!" yes, thank you indeed Maestro; for the inspiration, and for the so many technical lessons in there, and above all; beauty, art, creativity flowing from your fountain-like brains moving your craftsmans' hands to produce all these minutely precise materials, different materials, all harmony, symmetry, realism, precision, authentic texture, elegance, so much of zen beauty .. and so on and so on what is breathtaking to me, is that you are producing these parts without gadgetry, without software and so on and so on, only using good old fashioned methods and tools. where will you place this beauty once completed ?

beautiful work

Dear Pascal, Thank you very much for these important informations, details and sources for polishing sticks etc. AND for posting such great work 🦁. Sam 🏎️

Dear friends thank you very much. From you "The Maestros" this is the best compliment 🏋️‍♂️ . i wish i could advance faster, but the pieces are damned small. My camera coming out of repair next week, so i will stop using my phone as well.

Thank you Chris, thats lovely. best to you and your son, thats great you can share similar hobbies. Sam

beautiful very neat. what brand of washes do you use ?

Dear Pascal, Amazing your masterclass, as usual, this is "orfeverie & micro-technique" what you do. In my limited experience, MFH requires much more time than plastic and more careful handling of parts. Still learning to polish small parts without affecting the shape. So sometimes i reluctantly leave a small portion of the factory mark, grrr, like a seam or two, better than irreversibly altering the shape. i have also tried to make my own polishing tools, but not satisfied with my trial and errors, and not enough time to do all ! the time i have i prefer to work on finishing Paul's the car. is there a way to slightly modify the colour of white metal without painting it ? i,e with some harmless chemical ? only to build color contrasts. in case of working on small pieces, and making a small or large mistakes, there is no alternative but to either make a new scratched part or re-order a part if possible. But the aesthetics, look and feel and realism with MFH are all far better than anything i have experienced. keep posting please 🙏 kind regards Sam

Dear Friends Started working on wiring and detailing the engine. Not an easy task, as all are minute pieces.... but they are necessary to include if the level of Paul's scale modelling is to be respected. the purple dots show the places where i worked since the last posting the 4 orange seals you see are made of painted washers starting with size 0.63 mm, orange as in the real car above using Harvey's wise advice to use pin-vices below you can see i modified the throttle links entirely and followed Pascal's advice to include the control nuts ( which i did, but not with his talent ) thank you. Am traveling and will be back home next week and plan to post again in 10 days. kind regards to all. Sam

Dear Fiends, thanks a million or your encouragements ! they are very important to me and i am very grateful. Dear Harvey and Pascal, well noted thank you very much, will absolutely do. Best to all Sam

Hello Everyone, Happy to say that the missing parts have finally arrived. Sincere kudoos to Robert / RB Motion who was absolutely perfect and professional throughout and had dispatched the parts promptly when they were ordered and cooperated fully during the delays. The delays were probably caused by the snow storms on the US east coast a good month back and created back logs at US Post. Then, as if this was not enough after finally clearing and reaching Zurich, the parcel somehow returned to the USA for a few weeks... All the while it was assumed to be delayed at the Swiss customs etc. then it was sent back to Switzerland and cleared by Swiss customs within a day. The parcel was never opened throughout, but was transhipped quite a few extra times... someone even told me it is Trump's fault ... The guy makes many mistakes, but this many !? Anyways, here below is the 'shipment' with all the tiny parts. Honestly, I prefer NOT to empty the bags just for the picture... The parts are so so small, that at first glance, i thought i had made a mistake in the order and scale calculation ...😨 here is a first rendition of the mounted banjos, pipe (it is really hollow) and cable to be used for the throttle & carb cable, this are 8 parts... my poor eyes complained for the measuring, cutting, filing, gluing and doing and re-doing... the 0.6 hex nut needs to be replaced with a smaller one. Here you can see the car as it was while waiting all this time, with some sub-assemblies which could be mounted then and a few of the cables at the ready, but waiting on US Post. At the time of this picture, i had run out of carbon fibre to further polish the oil filters caps... but will catch on as i just received a new supply. but friends, the eyes hurt and burn quickly at this scale, also holding the frail white metal is delicate during the polish... some parts here are dry fit still and even some require needle painting, and only some parts are weathered. So please don't judge unfinished work yet before i raise my arms. This is before the cabling and wiring and installation of the throttle cables. 👇 While waiting on Trump, i tried to reproduce the beautiful padded leather inside the cockpit with oils and acrylics so now work will finally resume, but please don't expect a quick completion, the delays have affected my original schedule and my Q2 professional and personal schedules are mad, so i will work at as fast as reasonably possible. Please note that dear Zoe, Paul's widow is perfectly happy with this, and that is really what matters i believe. See you soon here and thank you for watching this space. Sam

Absolutely enjoying this ! looking at how you are starting and solving some challenges, am sure it will be a great result.

That's great 🎶. Indeed i seem to remember a short discussion about this long ago when you started.

Every time i visit your WIP i feel am landing on some other planet, another world... what a delight ... all from the comfort of my screen... all my friends here said it, however i would like to add that i feel your ingenuity is just at an incredible level, your approach to solving issues, i mean the shrink tubes cut in half and resulting in this incredible realistic rubber joint thickness, colour, texture ! then the flat rivet technique ... then how you turned the cap without a lathe... 🙀 Each post is a masterclass filled with learning points on so many levels. This grille hammered by your brain and hands to this final super realistic shape !!?? i secretly pray that you will not paint this art piece 🙊 are you going to ?

a powerful car with a strong character ! a Great project. from memory it seemed to me that Dodges have a particular engine sound i think (?) like a monster swallowing the bubbling high octane lead-gasoline alive and enjoying it ! what is the scale ?

what the hell .....these spurs ?.... do you have kryptonic eyes or an atomic microscope ?

incredible precision and craftsmanship as usual dear Thierry. Thank for posting the 'how', very interesting. Hélas, je découvre à l'instant que ta santé n'est pas au top pour le moment. J'espère de tout coeur que tu vas te rétablir aussi vite que possible et tu vas résoudre ce problème comme tu sais si bien le faire et solutionner tous les 'challenges' qui te font face et de manière brillante et que je t'admire chez toi. i hope your health gets back to perfect as soon as possible. Thierry, I have confidence that you know how and can manage and hopefully resolve this additional challenge as well as the best experts can. Wishing you all the courage and energy you need. sam

This is really sculptural art, beautiful. I admire your natural ease and confidence in improving shapes and form. This car has its own particular soul and character now and it is really beautiful.

Fantastic trip Dan ! thanks for sharing this inspirational art work. where do you order you acorn and other nuts ? are these springs made by you ? magnifique cher Dan Sam

Dear all, Thank you for your very kind, generous and encouraging words. What we are doing is nothing but a normal reaction to a sad situation and a mark of respect for a lost comrade's wishes, with whom we shared a passion for beautiful racing cars and admired his meticulous skills. Dear Codger, Your words are far too generous in my regard and this is a truly collective team work from 3 persons. I only wish i had more time and a faster pace. I also would like to thank you and Ron for the selfish pleasure i derive from working with you both on such a fascinating subject. I am indebted to you for sure. Lets now look forward to the fast approaching day when the car is completed hopefully as Paul would have wanted, and we can return the car to his home where his very brave Widow said she is reserving a dedicated place in a glass cabinet containing objects that were all dear to Paul. Best to all Sam

Dear Codger without your contribution and close communications, with Ron of course, this would not be possible. Thank YOU.

Hello Everybody and Happy New Year again to all !! Been working as much as time allows on the back of the car. Looking at all the reference pictures of the car in 67 and 68, the back of the car is very complex. However different wirings and configurations of pumps and oil tank coolers etc. changed in almost each race version of the car. So it is a feast for those who want to superdetail. This is not the intention in this build. However, Paul was a neat and very meticulous builder and so the task needs extra attention. Here are the principal periphery parts being finalised before assembly. Most are already weathered with artist oils of high quality and very fine pigment mixed with lighter fluid. these are the main oil filters: here is the wiring for the disc brakes. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, when mounted i will take proper pictures using a tripod and white light. This below is how the car looks now before assembling the parts above, which i intend to start this week end. you can see i added the pipes to the brake calipers and the pins connected to the adjustable antiroll bar. The little oil tank connected to the gear box appears in different colours in many versions of the car: grey, black, dark grey, metallic etc. Here it is in the metallic version. I promise to take better photos tomorrow !! here below is my attempt at slightly improving the throttle connectors and add the cables between the front of the car to the back and to the fuel injection metering unit, on which i have added a few details you will see this week end. The work is tiny and this is the dawning of a possibly acceptable result after many many failed attempts, it is still work in progress. If i am not able to scratch a neat piece i will revert to the MFH version. That's it ! Thank you very much for watching. I expect to be able to finalise 80 % of the back's assembly this week end and post thereafter. Sam

@Pascal happy new year you should publish a small book about all your WIPs this is the benchmark, even a level better than many excellent models posted on the MFH website.

Way to go what a beauty. Looking forward to more posts with anticipation.

Yes indeed, am vey happy we are in quasi-constant touch and his wisdom and experience is key to the results we see. As for your Monza, i believe a Pocher is never just another car to build, so i hope you decide to share the pics and we can all learn and enjoy the build. Yes indeed ! and you are and will always be a very big inspiration for developing my techniques Happy New year to all Sam

Hello Wayne @larchiefeng, thank you very much for your kind words and support to our small team for completing Paul's superb work. Happy New Year to you and i hope you find the time to complete your beautiful F40 posts and others. Sam