1:32 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - looking for a driver figure

[choc-ice]

The story so far...

 

I'm sure we've all seen this

 

Although as a child I loved Ian Flemming's book more, and especially John Burningham's illustrations. If you haven't read it I really do urge you to search out a copy.

 

The drawings were done by photographing a cardboard model he made and then drawing over them.  He's still got it now, although it's looking a bit worn since it was built in the '60s

 

It was based on the racing car (actually cars) built by Count Louis Zborowski in the 1920s but it was Alan Mann who was building those red and gold Ford racing cars that was asked to build a car for the film. Production drawings were done by Ken Adam who was the production designer for the James Bond films and a bit of a hero of mine.

You may think the film was sappy, the child catcher was terrifying and the Corgi toy too quick to lose its tyres but I thought it was time to have a go at one of the most well known cars ever made.

 

My usual approach was to start with someone's 3D CAD model but I didn't think it was very well proportioned. I was lured by the appeal of the simple curves of the wings (no, not those wings) and thought I'd have a go myself. Time to start with the production drawings.

 

 

I also found a side photograph of one of the film cars which was a useful check against the drawings. I printed them all onto graph paper so I could take measurements from them and start putting it into the CAD. I wanted something easy first so started with the wheels. There's quite a lot of detail here and getting them right gives any car a head start. The rears have 14 spokes and the front has 10 but there are also clamp bolts that hold the rims together and lots of detail around the hubs. The wheels were specially made for the film, hiding drum brakes inside them so it would look accurate for an Edwardian racer.

 

Once the wheels are done I created the assembly with them in the right place, adding the motor too so I'd have a sense of where things could go and any limitations in the body. Then I could start with the body shape, beginning with that very Bugatti-like radiator and making a swept blend to the circular shape at the back end of the bonnet. The wings are probably a bit too thick for scale but I've gone for what will survive on a slot car track.

 

The rear bodywork really was made by a boat builder and it's quite a tricky shape to make in a CAD system, especially if you're as unskilled as I am. This is where I am so far, it's probably been about 10-12 hours on the CAD and obviously plenty of time in front of that in the planning stage.

It's a very large car as you can see.

 

There's lots of time spent re-checking bits because you don't know what's wrong until more is finished. So far the outer body shape is quite well defined and I'm making the seat spaces. Then it's the rear wings and I can start on the detail bits like the windscreen, lights, horn and outside gear lever which will all have to be made separately from the resin bodyshell.

The car will need steering so I need to sort out how that will work and keep the guide as hidden as possible yet still link up with the steering arms. I'm toying with what to do with the wings but it's probably one more headache than I need so I might leave them off, especially as folding them in like the Corgi toy interferes with the motor position.

 

Chitty will need a driver but I'm really struggling to find something suitable in 1:32 scale, any thoughts on where to look?  I don't mind doing some adapting as I'll probably have to resin cast it eventually.

 

Gareth
 

[Fastcat]

Hello Gareth,

                           Try Immense Miniatures. Their civilian heads could be fitted to a driver body. Otherwise, several of the old 1/32 Airfix cars had drivers dressed in period clothes. Maybe one of these would be suitable? Might need to ratch around on eBay a little but some of the '30s cars have drivers, also some of the Edwardian stuff.

Good luck with your project. It's good to see something a bit different.

 

Dave

[bentwaters81tfw]

That card original model looks like a re-engineered Airfix Bentley.

[Pete in Lincs]

I'd also go with the Airfix vintage cars idea for your figures.

 

Like the idea of this whizzing around the track too!

[choc-ice]

Thanks, chaps.  I've asked Immense Miniatures and they don't really have anything suitable, I've had a look at the Airfix 1:32 cars and the 1911 Rolls Royce looks promising but I don't know if there's a chauffeur figure or not.  Some boxes show it while others don't.

[Pete in Lincs]

See here on this link to

the Airfix tribute forum.

 

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=126

[hampden80]

Hi Gareth,

                 Nice work.That is my kids favourite movie. I might have an extra chauffer figure from an Airfix kit, so please contact me.

 

John

[bhouse]

Some of the figures supplied with the Old Bill Bus would be just the ticket.

[Graham77]

Not sure if I'm too late but have the driver from the MG TC kit going spare somewhere, flat cap and all if I remember correctly. I'll have a look tonight and let you know.

 

further to this here is the chap in his very nearly cleaned up best

 

 

PM me if he is any good and I'll get him in the post to you, he needs a good motor to drive

Edited October 18, 2016 by Graham77
Added a picture

[choc-ice]

Thanks Graham, message on its way!

 

Seats are done although I haven't done the buttoned effect on the rear yet, dashboard is done and the bulkheads through the car that means it can be resin cast are done too. I've started on the rear wings but need to tweak them to shape.

 

[choc-ice]

After several (better not to count how many) hours I tweaked the shape of the boat so it was slimmer at the bottom, then I could get to work on the details.

 

Headlights, gear lever, bonnet hinges, bonnet strap, louvres on the running boards and the bonnet.  To make painting a bit easier I scooped out the relief between the planks so it can be pale between the joins.

 

I still need to work out the steering mechanism and I've managed to get an Airfix 1911 Rolls Royce which has a chauffeur so hopefully I can make a driver from that.

 

 

I'm not sure what to do about the horn yet, it's too thick for scale (as is the windscreen surround and some of the headlight details) but those parts will be 3D printed separately, not resin cast so they need to survive the printing and polishing process.  The whole thing needs to be strong enough to go around the Scalextric track so scale has to take a back seat to strength sometimes.

[choc-ice]

Let's get an update!  I went to the James Bond in Motion exhibition in London last month and as well as the fantastic 007 cars there was this fantastic model of Chitty, as it was basically done by the James Bond production team.

 

I don't know the scale but it must have been almost 3 feet long!

The headlights look a bit low but it's a wonderful model!

 

Back to my own model, this is the 3D printed master with a Mini of the same scale (1:32) for comparison

 

From there I made a silicone mould and from there a resin casting

 

There was a lot of trial and error for the steering front end; clearance for the steering linkage was quite difficult and different to my other steering systems as the guide is a lot further back.  I wanted to keep it hidden from view most of the time.  The tyres here are Scalextric Bentley ones but the sidewalls are too high so I've had to get customer ones moulded.  Here's how it looked last week, still waiting for the tyres.

[choc-ice]

I've been a bit of a slacker in not updating this thread.  I bought an Edwardian Rolls Royce kit with a driver figure but casting him in one piece was very difficult and casting it with separate arms seemed like a bit of a faff for the assembly.  As it turned out, getting the tyres right would eat into my patience so much that I had nothing in reserve for the driver figure!

 

The sidewalls are extremely low for the diameter and there's a rib on the wheel to keep the tyre on the rim (common for slot cars) so filling the mould was difficult.  After a lot of trial and error, and more tweaks to the steering mechanism to get it working correctly the car was finally finished.  Excuse my dreadful painting skills, by the time I'd got to painting it I was on a schedule for the next car!

 

 

 

 

It looks ok for a model, but unlike static models you can do this... watch Commander Potts hang the tail out and turn the sound up too

 

[choc-ice]

But the advantage of a kit like this is that other people with far better skills can build it up and show how it should be done!  This guy assembled it but added wings, jewel headlights, a starting handle and a full compliment of passengers.