Bengalensis Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 I couldn't hold myself; there is just no way that this one can be left resting in the stash for even a short while... This is Fernando Pinto Models 1/24 scale resin kit of the famous Bluebird-Proteus CN7 that Donald Campbell used at Lake Eyre in July 17 1964 to raise the FIA world land speed record to 648,73 km/h (403,1 mph), which was the last world land speed record set by a wheel driven car. The capacity of the car was considerably higher than that, but that was sadly never to be fully explored. More on the CN7. Here's what the box contains, a basic set of resin parts, some smaller details, a wind screen and decals. There is no cockpit detail at all, apart from the seat. I'm not sure if anything more will be seen through the very small windscreen, but if need be I'll just scratch the rest. That's an A2 cutting mat and the Audi Sport Quattro is your average size 1/24 scale car for comparison. The castings are a bit rough in places and there is a fair amount of cleaning up required, as well as filling air bubbles and some minor shape issues. Nothing unexpected for a kit of this kind though, but it will certainly not fall together by itself. I think this will be good. Already after some quick and rough cleaning the basic parts look a lot better, but much work remains. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shood23 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 I will most definitely be watching through this Shaun 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Ohh you lucky man , i would love one of those Very nice indeed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artoor_K Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 What a machine! Watching it closely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmonk Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 One of my favourite vehicles, will be watching with interest. There is a vac formed kit out there but this one looks much better. Cheers, Warren 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foghorn Leghorn Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Oooh, this'll be good ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Amazing car. I've been tempted by this kit myself so I'll be watching with keen interest. Roy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Hold on, hold on............. , ok sorted, Sean 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 I think this will be good. Mr Understatement or what? I just remembered watching a TV drama some years ago about Sir Malcolm, Played by Robert Hardy. IMDB says it was around 1981! The sound of the car was glorious. It wasn't the one above, But.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 This is shaping up to be another stunning build looking forward to following this to the end. Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Nice, looks just about like the Corgi one I had, & still have, from 50 years ago. One for me to watch for sure. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Rogers Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Looking forward to seeing her take shape. Have you thought about which blue to use? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaker Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Nice work already. One of my favourite jobs is the taking the bits off the runners or casting blocks and doing that first dry run to see how it looks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwinism Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Beautiful car -didn't realise it was that big. Looking forward to following this build. Cheers, Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Thanks for the encouragement guys. I haven't given the blue paint any special thoughts yet, but I have several blue lacquer paints so I expect to pick something I think looks close enough, or do some mixing. We'll see as we get closer. I decided to start at the rear end, trying to get the bottom section and the four exhausts to fit. After a good deal of cleaning the edges, including opening up a lot of air bubbles, the bottom piece dropped in place. I cut the back ends, which are casting blocks, of the exhaust parts for a start. Then I had to remove a lot of material from the bottom part to allow the exhausts to fit correctly. I'm marking them all up for their respective positions to prevent unnecessary surprises later. There are no instruction in the kit so I'm not sure if the exhausts are meant to be cut shorter, but I'm trying to keep their full length with the cast end plug for the best possible effect. Here is the outside of the bottom piece and exhausts, a rough dry fit to see that it will work. I have to cut off a lot of material from the back ends of the exhaust parts to allow them to sit on top of each other. There is an air bubble at the bottom of each casting that opens up because of that which I will have to fill later. Next the Dremel with a larger sanding drum comes out to remove a lot of material from inside the main body part to allow the top exhausts to fit at the correct angle. The body is now very thin here... Here we go, a very rough dry fit of all parts confirms that there will be enough clearance to fit the four exhaust parts once the bottom piece is firmly joined to the body. A look at the mighty exhausts from behind, upside down. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triumphfan Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 I was looking forward to you starting this one Jorgen. I'd wondered how it was engineered, it looks quite good. The lack of instructions surprises me a bit but, after having purchased several of the FPM kits now, it is no loss really. I have the 1/20 scale vacform from Speedline. It was a challenging build and my only vacform to date. On the plus side it has a fully detailed cockpit including a tiny Mr Whoppit teddy. Bluebird CN7 does hold an impressive presence on the display cabinet Will be watching closely. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Thanks Steve. The lack of instructions is not a problem in this kit really, there would have to be a fair bit of engineering involved anyway. I'm a bit envy of those interior parts you had, I think I will have to scratch it all as it will be visible, at least in theory. That will of course include Mr. Whoppit who has to be present. Touchwood have a 1/43 Mr. Whoppit available, I don't know its size but I'm guessing it will be far too small. The top exhaust openings were a bit too long, so I cut and glued 0,25 mm sheet sections in place and added a little filler. When I started to sand that it became clear that more filler was needed correct a few low sections further forward. After sanding and reshaping the openings the top exhausts now mount like this. At the bottom of the fin is the reinforced attachment point for a brake parachute. This area changed during the cars development and I think it only looked like this in the final successful runs of 1964. There is a resin part for that but it's a bit crude and I thought it was better to scratch it all. I glued a resin block to fill the cut in the fin. This was sanded to shape and I started to cut the necessary pieces from 0,25 sheet styrene. Somehow I miss a picture of that. Anyway, this is what it all became when finished. There will be some small rivet detail added later. I can now attend to the permanent fitting of the fin. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triumphfan Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Nice work so far Jorgen. It looks like your version will be a lot more detailed than mine. As far as the teddy bear mascot, Mr Whoppit goes, you could make one easily by cutting out a plastic card silhouette and adding Milliput to either side. It is a fairly easy shape to replicate , I would guesstimate probably 10 - 12 mm tall in 1/24 scale. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louiex2 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 That will of course include Mr. Whoppit who has to be present. I'd check the dollhouse suppliers, I would guess if they don't have Mr. Whoppit, they would have some sort of scale teddy bear you could start with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Thanks guys. It wouldn't be too difficult to scratch Mr. Whoppit but I'll check dollhouse and stuff like that first. I looked at a video where Campbell is handed Mr. Whoppit into the cockpit and he would indeed be just about 10 mm tall. It's of course rather stupid to fit the fin this early but for some reason I started at the back so that's it. To secure it safely I drilled and inserted three Ø2 mm metal rods about 15 mm into the fin. They also have some grind marks in them for the glue to bite. I tacked the fin in place with CA and when it was aligned correctly I sealed the join with thin CA. After running CA also from inside I then mixed a good batch of 5 min epoxy and filled the whole trench covering the metal rods. The fin shouldn't be easily moved now. With that done the bottom piece could be glued in place and filler added. This will now harden up properly before sanding and some rescribing of the air brakes bottom lines. I can also look at doing the details for the top of the fin next. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I saw a jetex powered version of this on ebay Uk yesterday. How mad would that be? Lovely work, as always, Jorgen. (It bothers me that I can't add the umlaut to your name!) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Stunning work on the exhausts and fin area Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaker Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Nice work, Can't see anything happening to that fin now! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Thanks a lot, glad you like it. I saw a jetex powered version of this on ebay Uk yesterday. How mad would that be? That's pretty cool. I know I have seen a photo of a set with both this and the Bluebird K7 boat complete with a Jetex motor to go with both of them. There was pretty good power in those Jetex motors but they could be messy to clean after running. There is some sort of probe on top of the fin for the latest 1964 version, and a base for an antenna. There is a resin part supplied for the probe, but again I think it will be better scratched. I found a suitable piece of copper wire. I first chucked it in the Dremel and turned the tip. Then my soldering station came out. I rigged it up like this first to get a small mounting pin soldered. Like this. After a similar set up I had soldered a piece of thin brass PE scrap piece for the small fin. This was then cut and sanded to shape. After some careful work with the Dremel and a pin wise the fin was prepared. The new part was glued in place and some filler added. While that cured I filled some air bubbles in the parachute housing. It will later fit here somewhere. Then I just worked on and suddenly I had rounded the top of the fin to blend in the probe and added a small rounded antenna base. The antenna is only a dry fit, but the chance that this will survive undamaged to the end of the build is probably minimal... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Here is now the rear bottom sanded and rescribed with exhausts test fitted. It's not fun repairing scribings in an area with air bubbles and filler, but it worked. There will no doubt be some finer work left to do after the first primer. Then I fitted the parachute housing. The top had a nasty dip in front of the rear air scopes. At first I thought I would have to remove the scopes to fill and sand, but most of the problem turned out to be a raised bulge further forward, so after some block sanding it seemed more manageable. A bit of filler added still, but much less than it first seemed. The front air intake was cleaned up and sanded smooth. Then the top of the nose was also quite uneven, so more block sanding was called for, and a bit of filler in a low spot. This feels like the countless hours I have spent in my 1/1 scale work shop... With all the filler fully cured I gave the whole top side a good work over and it now feels very nice and smooth. The four air scoops are next on the agenda. I have filled some small air bubbles in them and they will also need to be thoroughly cleaned out with the Dremel. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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