nikkita katana

Hi everyone and Happy New Year. Sadly no updates on this one yet. Been a few bits of personal stressy stuff going on so haven't exactly been in the right frame of mind to tackle the challenge I set myself here. No massive issues, just enough to feel a bit too niggly for this one. A couple of months of things going smoother and hopefully I'll drag all the bits out from the spare room.😀 Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to pick something else off the shelf and do an out the box build to get me back in the swing of things again.

Hi Roger, Have to confess I've been hibernating a little bit lately, mostly curled up on sofa with a duvet and Netflix. Sun's just come out here so that might help.

I watched that Netflix series, Tony and Constance were awesome. I wanna work there part-time and I'd settle for sweeping the floor if it gets me in the door!!! It'd be a bit of a commute tho.

This is so cool I want one!!! Actually I might want lots of them after watching those videos and looking at the whole collection on ebay.

Thank you Mr C, That's a rather nice diversion. And some really useful links. The fact it has a frame that looks fairly do-able is kind of why a cobra is an idea for something later. Although making all those curves doesn't look quite so straight forward. But making from scratch and buying materials and tools as I go along would certainly suit me better than saving up for a nice sized kit. 600 bucks is a lot of brass (and hairdryers). I'm gonna drool over that engine for a while now if you don't mind.

Thank you Mr C. A lot of it is more re-learning, as I've had the chances to use some interesting machinery in jobs in the past. The figuring it out how to do it small scale is all new though. And am definitely having fun. Haha, last month my hairdryer broke and the replacement was cheaper than the new soldering iron. Only by a few pence but cheaper none the less. #priorities I do have an idea in head of something I'd eventually like to do in 1/8 scale. Got any detailed drawings of that Cobra or know where I could find some?

Getting good at scratching my head a lot Harvey, anything else getting better is a bonus. I've got the replacing of fixing brackets on the frame down to about half an hour now. Kind of ironic that the more you re-do bits the less you get bothered about making something wrong in the first place. And only having to replace the stock of brass is way better than having to replace or repair any damaged plastic kit parts.

Thank you Dan Yeah maybe, but just a likkle one. Would probably minimise the risk to fingers when I've got the dremel in one hand and cordless drill in the other. Have had a look at the 12v dc 5 in 1 little machines on ebay for about £100. Even one of those is out my budget for now.

Happy New Year everyone Rear calipers removed from their original discs. And following on from everything else being made at least twice, I thought it'd be cheating to only have the one go at the shocks. So here's version 2.0 with an m1.6 bolt as the centre. And they will be adjustable (if I put the fixing point for the 5th rear arm in wrong place so an allen key can get to bottom of shock bolt). And the original (with front disc) compared to the new bits. Think I've figured out why it's called scratchbuilding, cos there's lots of scratching of the head involved.

Thanks for that Kirk, Google has been working overtime but it has been tricky to work out exactly what "standard" would have been. Even searches for diameter have listed anywhere between 304 and 332mm. I've gone with the larger size. But adding an extra centre bit is probably essential to get the kit caliper on inside the wheel. Filing the centre bits of discs was surprisingly easy. And one just about finished bar a bit of filler. Although I did have a blonde moment and only managed to put 11 grooves on this one. Even after marking all 12 on a piece of paper to put underneath it!

Thank you Dan, I won't be making any claims that any of the brass bits are to the correct scale though. Somewhere close is just fine by me. Brief update on not that much to be honest but I had a re-make on the hubs, this time starting with the centres and then adding less of the 2mm square for the arms and shock fixing points. Should finish up a lot more compact and neater than first go after the excess is ground off. And upper and lower arms should finish up closer to parallel, which seems to be how they appear in any reference pics I've found. And, in the absence of useful sized brass, I got some .25 & .75mm plasticard to have a go at some new vented discs. Would be nice if I can chop the calipers off the kit ones and have the discs spin when wheel is turned. Beginning to like using the dremel a lot so that could turn out fine or not and everything gets chewed up!! I don't think there's any chance of neatly drilling the discs so will go for grooved instead. The .75 had little notches filed out and then sandwiched between two bits of 0.25mm plasticard. Works on the first try out, just need to get 4 looking similar enough now. Probably end up with 12 grooves and 18 vents.

No safety net here, no need when sitting on the floor. Fire extinguisher is not too far away though. Regrets maybe, but there's none to do with modelling. And a Merry Christmas to you Harvey And to everyone else

Thank you Harvey, yes I think I am with most of that. The hubs are a bit of a compromise based on picking the simplest way to make something sturdy but I could now have a go at something a bit more intricate and if I fail stick with the clunky ones. There has been an awful lot of fixing/completely re-making previous bits whenever a new part has been added which makes me think "why not" on the hubs. But it's also meant every time I've had to re-do a bit it's ended up better than the previous go. Connecting the last top arm involved cutting it's fixing point off the frame and replacing it. So much messing about but worth the extra time and effort. Haha, yeah normally I would colour code kit springs and as it happens pale blue would be right for how this one will end up. So you never know, they may make their way into the bodyshop. Was also having a think about ways of making them better and technically I reckon they could be made as adjustable if the centre shaft was an m1.6 bolt and a nut was used at the top. Would mean having to set the nut properly in some sort of putty/liquid plastic recess at top and leaving access to bottom to get an allen key in it. Course, silly me only ordered just enough longer bolts for the wheels and they're not here yet so will put those thoughts to back of mind for now. But I haven't made the ones for the front yet so may experiment when I start on those.

That is some superb work for a sad yet very worthwhile cause. I feel I should put a hat on just so I can take it off for you chaps.

Provided nothing breaks, that's the rear suspension sorted.

Haha Now you mention it I didn't actually say THIS Christmas And technically I've made everything at least twice!!

Thanks Harvey, My nails suffer from clubbing so even picking tiny parts up can be a problem. Nails curl over the end of my fingers instead of growing the normal kind of straight way. Total pain most of the time but when they grow nice and long they're proper claws!! Was not going to start this model til a few of them had broken. Incidentally, turned out easier to file that ally tube down to 2mm and then flange it. Just put a bit of 1mm brass inside the 2mm to support them while they got whacked. Few more to make but getting closer to all sorted. Just a few fixing pins to do and rear anti-roll bar to work out. Next photoshoot could be the whole of the assembly completed. Most of the year I've been telling friend he'll have it by Christmas. He's more than happy with just the back wheels for now though.

Fiddly little blighters but yayyy, that worked in two halves. At least it works if the glue holds. But excess glue is definitely easier to clean off than excess solder. Not sure how such a tiny piece can seem like such an achievement but hey ho!!

Been thinking of tidier ways to fit upper arms fixing pins. So instead of 1mm brass and a dab of solder (which works ok but not that great on a close up view) I thought maybe trying to get some sort of flange on the 1mm aluminium tube. So today has been making the parts to make the parts. Two bits of 2mm brass set into a solid base, one countersunk one flat. And aluminium in first bit of brass tapped with a pointed bit of 1.6mm steel rod and then flattened in second bit of brass. Comes out looking like this. Was originally thinking of 2 halves with 0.5mm rod through middle bit they may end up a bit too small for me to cut right length and fit properly. Will see how that turns out when or if I've made enough spares. Friend who car is for popped in yesterday and inspected the progress and it all got a big thumbs up, and he preferred the bigger ride height and more springyness to play with. And also really liked the idea of the one centre nut for the wheels so a selection of 1.6mm allen bolts and nuts have been ordered.

I got a sneaky feeling you might be fibbing a little bit there Harvey There's many amazing builds here to admire but this one is my favourite of the lot.

You're welcome Alan. I'm finding brass quite nice to work with. Not too soft so keeps its shape ok, but soft enough to file and bend mostly how I want it to. And any bodges and dodgy fits can be fixed with a bit of solder.

And has anyone got any good tips on cleaning tiny files? Mine appear to be rather grubby now!!!

Hi Alan, Of course you may ask The springs themselves came off ebay earlier in the year. I think two 10cm lengths were about £2. Type "3.18 od spring" into ebay and the seller should come up as the first result (just did for me anyway). They do various small sizes and multiples of 10cm lengths. The rest is this..... and the * bit means.... The 2mm longer bit of brass tube was top part above the aluminium turned down to 1.7. Centre all drilled to 1.2mm and and then re-drilled with 1.5mm bit from the bottom to a depth of approx 5mm. The aluminium bits were just superglued to the brass tubes but the top has now been soldered since it's the only part that gets any kind of stress on it. There's a couple of diagrams on first page of thread that may help explain how it all works. And here's the tools used. That's a piece of 1.5mm rod quickly worked down to 1.3 I worked way along a file width at a time sort of like this to help stop everything bending out of shape..... So nothing fancy in the way of equipment but takes a bit longer than on a mini lathe I guess, and maybe not so accurate on the measurements. But sufficient to achieve the desired result. Hope that helps.

So far more by luck than anything else!! And turning the iron down a lot and only adding as small amount as possible and let it cool again. Little blobs haven't quite turned into big blobs

Thank you Codger. Back in the 80's I did make the 1/8 Monogram Camaro Z28 IROC. Just straight out the box and brush painted. If I still had that it would certainly be coming apart for some proper detailing of the engine at the very least. It's only available funds (or lack of) that's stopping me from any larger scale models. I'll have to try and put a couple of quid away on weeks I'm slightly better off, but then I say that a lot and it rarely gets far. it's just nikki btw