albergman

Steve Not knowing much about submarines I'll just sit beside Hendie over there and maybe between us we'll figure out what your scheme is Sure is a fascinating story though and I'm rivetted to the screen like watching a good murder mystery led by a quirky detective who's not sure what to call himself but I have a feeling he knows how to solve this one. When's the next episode showing? Frank

Here we go again. Got the exhausts and wheels made and temporarily stuck in place with blue tack. Several lacquer coats on and rubbed down. I covered how I make my wire wheels in the Lancia D50 build so I won't re-tell that episode. Exhausts are just plain steel that I've bent to shape, used silver solder to join then polished. Got the megaphone tips all made but not mounted for the pictures. Back soon Frank

Simon A roll cage is a nice subject to scratch build as it's a fairly simple shape with mostly right angles. I would suggest doing it with brass rod of a suitable thickness for the scale of car you're building and most hobby shops carry it. Brass tube is also available but it won't bend properly but rod can quite easily be bent to shape. I don't know how complex a shape you want but for a bras cage you'll definitely be needing to solder it together. I've seen something similar done using leftover sprue from a kit. If you can find some of a suitable scale sandpaper or file off all remnants and see if you can fabricate what you need. Hope this helps Frank

WHAT!! No vegemite sandwiches?? I'm off then. Frank

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here Steve (or whichever of your split personalities you are today ) as I've just bought a drill stand for my Dremels and I'm very happy with it too. May not be available in the UK (I'm in Canada) but it's a "Milescraft" and looks surprisingly like your base so who knows ... brand changing? Anyway, these are only $50 here so it's a bargoon. I've been using it mostly as a cheap-o milling machine using a cheap-o Chinese Dremel knock-off with cheap-o milling bits with a 1/8th shaft and it's going to be a very useful tool for me. OK, back to the program already in progress ... I'll just get my coat. Frank

G'day Reconcilor/Bandsaw Steve/ChiselMeister Enjoying watching you convert a pile of timber into a submarine! Great tutorial you're making too. Certainly helps explain the scratch building process. Keep up the good work. Frank

Thanks for taking the time to reply Parabat. Time I did an update on this project. ... although it hasn't generated much/any interest. I know, it's a bit of a departure from the norm. Anyway, I got off to a bad start with it as I realized quickly that the hood didn't have enough curvature. .. after I'd shaped and fitted a nosepiece. I made several abortive attempts to remedy it (I'll spare you all the pictures ). Eventually I came to the obvious conclusion that I needed to replace the entire hood/bonnet so I bandsawed it out carefully then fastened the remains into a jig to keep the fenders at exactly the right width. Cut and glued up a new centre section that would take it out to the tip of the nose. Fastened this into my Work Mate table and planed/filed/sanded it to the requisite shape. Now begins the tricky part to shape the edges so that it will drop perfectly in between the waiting fenders with minimal gap and the "stripe" remains in a true fore and aft alignment (as sailors say). Remember, this will be a natural finish so no fillers allowed. I made a very precise template from a cereal box and got the alignment perfected then bandsawed the block close to the line. Now began a delicate process of sanding and trial fitting Very relieved to get it fitted so perfectly as now I can get on with the build. Shaped the external dimensions of the nose then roughed out the cavity. Finished the fine sanding of the cavity and washed the project down with Varsol Carved out an air intake bubble from padauk and fitted it. Somewhere along the way I made and fitted a headrest which incorporates a part of the stripe. Likewise a dashboard "bubble " got made and fitted. That pretty much finishes the body shaping so now I'm moving on to making some of the few attachments I'll be putting on. Started with a frame for the windshield which i cut from scrap tin. Filed out the tabs and bent them to the appropriate angle .... then carefully bent the frame to the right shape. Drilled a few holes through it and into the wood and tacked it in place with a few tiny straight pins. Made a start on a steering wheel which will have a proper aluminum core and wood outer rims ... early days there. Also working on the lovely flowing exhaust system. That's about it so far. Hope some of you find it remotely interesting! Frank

Not familiar with the kit but you've done a wonderful job on it. Your outdoor photos make it look like the real thing and just weathered enough to need a second look!. Lovely job. Frank

Hi all Been away and taking a break after finishing the Lancia D50 project but I'm ready to get into something new. My first ever scratch build 15(?) years ago was a '57 TestaRossa and I carved it out of basswood. Shortly after I made a silicon mold of it and proceeded to make 6 or 7 more in urethane. Here's 3 I had on the go ... That first one had more than a few flaws that got faithfully reproduced in the clones and I usually corrected them before giving them away. As it is, I never got a good copy for myself and even though I stripped the original basswood one down thinking I'd fix it up ... I never did. I had one casting that something really bad had happened to in the molding ... I used it as a mule to test different things and then in a moment of weakness I decided to make it my own "keeper". Over the next few years I'd plug away at it and it was coming along not too badly but my heart wasn't in it. So ... decided to start a new one and to do it in wood as I really love a natural finished model. I've done quite a few in the past and they were well received when I posted them here. I have a nice supply of good mahogany, which I'll use mainly for the body, and some padauk which I'll incorporate as a racing stripe and they make for a nice contrast. Using some plans from the web I scaled them to my requisite 9 1/2" and off we go. I find it's too tricky to do most cars from a solid block simply because it's too awkward to get in between the fenders to shape the hood/bonnet and boot/trunk so I split the model up. I cut rough profiles for the fenders and separate pieces for the hood etc. Bandsaw out the fenders .... All pretty rough at this stage I shape them mostly with various sanding drums on a Dremel with a flex-shaft and gradually tease out a pontoon fender ... Once I have a matched set I tack glue them to a block at the correct width ... Now I can begin to assemble the hood etc and get it to fit precisely between the rigid fenders ... Piece of cake right? I didn't take pictures of all my failures so this'll look like it worked first time .... HA! OK, the hood is made up from a thick cuts of mahogany on the outsides, a pure white veneer I've had forever (don't ask me what it is ... I don't know) then the red padauk in the middle. This gets shaped separately with the correct curves fore/aft and laterally. It's all guesswork because the plans don't show these lines. Once the curvature is deemed OK I start the slow process of shaping the curves to match the fenders. All the time I have to also make sure my stripes are pointing straight ahead not off-kilter. Eventually it drops into place and glues can be poured in. I've applied a wash of solvent here to liven the colours ... Now I get to repeat the process for the boot and it gives me just as much trouble! However, I persevere and eventually we have the basis for a Testa Rossa. Still lots of wood to be added front and back but this is easy-peasy compared to what's been done. I decided I wanted to fabricate a "metal" tonneau cover over the passenger seat rather than tack on a leather covering as I've done in the past. So first off I cut a thin-ish slab of mahogany and cut it to the perimeter size I need. Now begins a delicate process of cutting a recess on the underside so that it drops into the hole below and fits to the car body. Again I use a variety of Dremel tools ... always on a flex shaft and gradually get the fit I want. Now I can glue my white veneer and padauk to it and finish the fitting. Once all the surfaces fit nicely to the body I can sand the flat top surface down to the curved shape I want. Basically just keep sanding until there's only a thin lip all the way around. Applied my wash coat to the whole thing and here's where I'm at today. Frank

I've followed your build in its later stages and been mightily impressed with your attention to detail .... a masterful Tour de Force! Now just sit back and savour that lovely feeling of satisfaction having created such a beautiful object. Frank

That is one VERY convincing model. Looks like she's been raised from the sea floor. Truly impressive! Excellent photography too. Frank

Not a fan of warships but seeing "scratch built" beside it I just had to look! Glad I did as that is an impressive build. Wonderful, believable weathering and great attention to detail. Your seascape, a difficult subject to get right, suggests you've been out there or you are a keen observer. Well done.

Hi guys Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. The colour shown above is pretty close to the actual colour of the model but I really had to jump through hoops to get there!! My camera (a decent quality Nikon) insisted that the car was "Ferrari" red and the last build pics (making the mirrors) show what I mean. It's a known problem that red is notoriously difficult to capture correctly. I have a good photo editing program that I ran each shot through to get it to the right shade but it dramatically affected the shadows/brightness and gave a slightly surreal, dare I say artisitic, effect that I quite like. Anyway I felt it was better to reflect the correct colour I chose than to worry about other side effects. That's my story and I'm sticking to it Cheers Frank

OK folks ... I've deemed this one done and taken my "show pics" and they're now up on the Finished Builds here. Thanks very much to those who followed me on this one. Had lovely comments and received good suggestions along the way and it sure makes the effort all the more enjoyable. So, the bench is cleared and I just might be picking up my Gresley A4 steam locomotive again. See you there. Frank

Hi All Well, I'm considering this one done! Just as well as I was getting tired of looking at it. It's not to any known scale ... just the same as all my other car builds ... 9 1/2 inches. There's a build log here if anyone wants to see how we got here. I'm not much of a painter I'm afraid. Anyone who has looked in on my build will know that modelling for me is mostly about "the process" ... how am I going to make this and what will I use? So, a word of caution, don't bother counting the rivets or the spokes as I don't pay much attention to that kind of thing LOL!! I wouldn't be the least surprised to find that every wheel has a different number of spokes! But don't bother telling me I won't listen!! Thanks for looking though. Frank Other scratch builds ... Triumph TR6 Sport Fisherman 36 Half-Hull yachts Beneteau 51 sailboat Varnished wooden cars Flying Scotsman A3 Lola T-70 Billings Dragon