caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) Meanwhile in blue-car world... Although it had the same engine, the layout of wiring and pipes is different... Edited November 22, 2015 by caterhamnut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar2 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Superb work. We've got a Caterham Academy car being delivered to my university in the next couple of weeks. We will be building it as a technicians car which we'll hopefully be campaigning next year, with our students working as pit crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Had to make the fan on the front of the radiator. I think the round outer piece was part of a 35mm film plastic canister... You can also see the corrugated tube that makes up the intake manifolds that come up from an airscoop under the radiator (a fatal design floor on the first R500 cars - the real car this is modeled on scooped up cement dust on track from this intake that was positioned about 3 inches above the track surface - engine rebuild!) This piping is a bitch on the real car and equally tight and tortuous on a 1/12 scale model - but its accurate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Superb work. We've got a Caterham Academy car being delivered to my university in the next couple of weeks. We will be building it as a technicians car which we'll hopefully be campaigning next year, with our students working as pit crew. Brilliant! You'll be able to compare 1/12 to 1/1 I made a (much older!) Academy car as a wedding gift for an owner (from me) - didn't do the engine detail - or the decals (didn't now how to then!) - I should probably go back and touch up!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) Right - so that was the engine bay pretty much finished... I'll post some real/model pictures - think I got it pretty close Edited November 22, 2015 by caterhamnut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Of course not finished yet!! (those last few pics I took recently, hence the headlights etc - they come later in the WIP!) Some more 'finished' pictures from back then... And an old image I did to show what was used from the kit (the red bits) ok - on to the next stage - roll cages. The race cars have full SLR safety cages - the Tamiya kits come with a very poor chromed roll bar, that is way to low but what they had in Japan! So I would have to scratch build the cages... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Hmmm, there's an awful lot of expensive kit bits used there...!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) I took some images from the photos I had taken, and by reducing them and scaling them in front of the model by eye, I made some 'actual size 1/12' pictures. I think I measured some 'hard points' on the photos and compared to the model until it was right... To make the cage I took some black plastic tubing and inserted coat hanger wire so that I could shape the tube into the correct curves - I made some MDF templates to fold the wire around, and it actually worked really well. Actually I think these cages are my fav part of the scratch built stuff, as they really make the car look like the race car - I also really like the shape of the SLR cage - the curves and the rake look really good IMO compared to the much more square Academy-type cages, where you can still use the windscreens.... The model cages fit in exactly the same way as the real ones - mounted at the back in the boot and at the windscreen mounts at the front. Had to make two, and they are interchangeable Edited November 22, 2015 by caterhamnut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Time for more details... The front screw is where the cage mounts - model and on the real car... Laptime sender... The indicators in the model are a very old style bent plate - the later cars have a more rounded shroud... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Those cages are excellent! And the cut off switches are pretty neat too - they make my piece of flat strip stuck onto a bit of plastic rod look pretty pathetic (but they are twice the size though...!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 Obviously the wheels are totally different. Kit comes with minilite-style alloys with pretty normal tyres - probably around 14-15" R500 has 13" wheels, split rims and magnesium hubs, and ACB10 tyres - or slicks. Back when I started the kit I got a friend to draw up the wheel centres in 3D CAD ..and used a fancy milling machine to cut some centres. After testing in metal, we actually made them in styrene. Came out great - one of the jobs I have to do now I am restarting these kits is the rest of the wheels - rims and tyres. Not sure how yet. Probably 3D printer - maybe get some machined...we'll see. And finally, in order to bring us up to date - the dashboard. The plastic dash in the kit is nothing like the race car - which has a Stack dash, electrical cut-off switches and knobs etc etc - and of course each car was different. So I started by cleaning all the details off the model dash. The with the wonders of photoshop, I made some images of each dash and scaled it to the right size, stick them on the plastic dashes and started to make the detail, using wire, cut plastic tubes etc. And that, my friends, is pretty much where I had got to! One of the big hold ups was how to make the carbon race seats - they are only about 4mm thick in 1/1 scale, and rather curvy. I had no idea how I was going to make them - learn some 3D CAD and use a 3D printer - maybe now, 10 years later, the technology is more accessible. The comfy - but old style seat from the kit. So now, 12 years after I started, and about 10 years since I last did anything with them, I am starting again! Everything from now on is current work! The big jobs are: The seats! wheels & tyres interior decals - lots of race decals I started with the dash... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 Looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Absolutely stunning work!!! I did help a friend build a real 1:1 version when based in Brunei years ago and a friend also asked me to make one of these kits for him. I'd love to do another but the prices seem sky high second hand! I'll just content myself watching you do yours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Kit prices now are silly. Mark, the one you helped with wasn't black and gold was it? Had a friend in the club who was ex RAF pilot, pretty sure he was out there. He had a stunning black Caterhamnut, and had gold plated every metal part - windscreen surround, wheels, headlights - all the fittings. Looked amazing - very Lotus JPS. He had been able to do it as he knew a bloke with a massive plating tank, which they used to plate things like Temples and shrines!! So he literally chucked all the bits in the tank when something else was being plated....I'll dig out a picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Very nice work. Personally, while you've done a perfect job replicating the roll cages, I think they're a hideous addition to a piece of pure automotive simplicity. They make it look like some sort of cheap Mad Max lash-up - IMO, the roll hoop is more than racy enough. But safety... As for the seats - hand carve a buck and vacuum form the shape. A simple vac machine is easy enough to make, and given the limited use it'll get there's no need for getting carried away. You'll find plans and ideas all over the interwebs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hi Rob, Yep - cage was a requirement for those race cars - at least I am pretty sure they were. As I mentioned, the cage for the lower race series is even cruder - much more upright. I don't even have a windscreen or doors on mine, let alone a cage I had thought about vacuum forming - the only way to get the thickness close to scale - a 3D printed component would have to be artificially thickened... What material would you recommend for carving in this particular case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Yep - cage was a requirement for those race cars - at least I am pretty sure they were. I'd guess they were too. And at the moment, there's much unhappiness in the hillclimbing & sprinting world in the UK as the MSA is making full cages mandatory even for road going Caterhams/Westfields etc from next season. Many people complaining that they can't fit a full cage & keep things like hoods, screens etc, so either have to keep the car as a fine weather road car if they want to keep competing, or give up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 What material would you recommend for carving in this particular case? I'm no expert, but I imagine that one of the dense carving foams might be suitable, either balsa-foam or a polystyrene foam. Failing that, the good old standby basswood (aka lime tree, linden.) I'm sure you'll find a plethora of suppliers in the US. You could even resort to Super Sculpey polymer clay if you need to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 So - this is where I started in 2015! ...but I was not happy with that. I used some carbon decal to cover the dash after cleaning off the above detail, and re-did it with scratch parts. I made the toggle switches by flattening some wire rod Of course two different layouts... Both have Stack digital dash boards... Tiny rocker switches added... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vontrips Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) Crikey! The quality of the builds round here has jumped yet another notch recently! Seem to spend too long dribbling here. Finally found that 7 gallery; http://s41.photobucket.com/user/Superb7/media/Another%20Caterham/DSC04382_zps18da44fd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=110 Edited November 23, 2015 by vontrips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 The 3 Tamiya kits come with two different prop shaft tunnel covers for the interior. The classic and 'BDR Special' versions come with an older version, where the central tunnel is simply a curved aluminium panel, covered in carpet - the hand brake is located under the dashboard on the passenger side - as seen on this kit. The JPE Kit comes with a squared off, leather covered tunnel top - as seen on all more recent Caterhams - which is what I need for my yellow car. However the kit version doesn't have a handbrake - which I need. At the top is the aluminium tunnel in the kit - next down is the cover that comes with the JPE. I cast a copy of this and fashioned a handbrake section, complete with leather gaitor. I then used this to make another casting for use on my models - in this case just the yellow car. The ali topped gear lever is a sewing pin. In situ... Blue car has powder coated ali tunnel - no hand brake, so I can use the original kit part (you can also see the different dashboard layout on this car) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) Crikey! The quality of the builds round here has jumped yet another notch recently! Seem to spend too long dribbling here. Finally found that 7 gallery; http://s41.photobucket.com/user/Superb7/media/Another%20Caterham/DSC04382_zps18da44fd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=110 Wow - that is crazy - totally scratch built! Not a fan of the additional 'bodywork' and flared nose cone, but you can't fault the modelling.... Mine is pretty crude in reality - bits of plastic and filler - not machined metal or very 'sharp'... Edited November 23, 2015 by caterhamnut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Kit prices now are silly. Mark, the one you helped with wasn't black and gold was it? Had a friend in the club who was ex RAF pilot, pretty sure he was out there. He had a stunning black Caterhamnut, and had gold plated every metal part - windscreen surround, wheels, headlights - all the fittings. Looked amazing - very Lotus JPS. He had been able to do it as he knew a bloke with a massive plating tank, which they used to plate things like Temples and shrines!! So he literally chucked all the bits in the tank when something else was being plated....I'll dig out a picture! The one one I helped with was imported by a chap called Gary Thomas. As cars attracted a heavy tax in Brunei, the engine was imported as a 'marine' unit! I left Brunei to work in Duabi, but before I left Gary took me for a ride and I recall that the Caterham was finished in BRG and had various parts gold plated. We both worked for the national airline and they had their own plating shop. There was a gold plated plaque on the dash citing the fact that it was the first car ever to built in Brunei! I should have been more specific and mention that the friend who asked me to make one for him was not Gary, the owner of the 1:1 car n Brunei, but another colleague in Dubai who was just a fan of the marque. It was the same kit that you started with, but just built straight out of the box. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caterhamnut Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Different car - similar story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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