MASERATI 250F Scratch Build

[longshanks]

Awesome !

 

Kev

[albergman]

On 11/15/2017 at 1:04 PM, longshanks said:

Awesome !

 

Kev

Thanks Kev.

 

A few more pieces readied.   Rear suspension now pretty much done except for sanding and polishing all the metalwork to tidy it up.

 

First new part was a curved bracket attached to top rear of the chassis which will support the exhaust pipe at the back.   Sawed a piece of scrap steel and filed it to a taper.

 

 

Being steel it was easy to bend (aluminium would snap) and solder to the chassis.

 

 

I then fashioned a steel band to circle the exhaust and drilled a hole for the bracket to insert.

 

 

Next up was another steel bracket to take the transverse spring on the right rear.   Again scrap steel plate is bent to shape and another piece is soldered underneath.

 

 

Really pleased with it till I went to install it and found the strut was out by 90 degrees!!   Had to rotate and resolder.

 

Finished making the spring now that I have the 2 brackets bolted in place ready to accept it.

 

 

 

I assembled all the rear of the car just to check for fit.   Everything still loose and sometimes out of alignment.   Still have another Houdaille shock to make and a wheel to wire up but nearly finished at the back.   Bodywork is getting hacked up as new parts look for room but I'll rebuild it all to a tighter fit around the suspension.

 

 

In case anybody is wondering about the tire treads I covered this in fair detail in my Lancia D50 build.   Basically I just use a knurling tool in my lathe to impress a pattern into the tire ... which is shaped from Renshape.

 

Thanks for looking in ...

 

Frank

 

Other builds ... Triumph TR6    Sport Fisherman 36   Half-Hull yachts    Beneteau 51 sailboat    Varnished wooden cars    Flying Scotsman A3   Lola T-70    Billings Dragon  Ferrari Testa Rossa in Mahogany

[Kiwidave4]

Great stuff as usual Frank. That last shot certainly looks like a 250F.

[Arachnid]

Just Great 😀

[albergman]

5 hours ago, Kiwidave4 said:

Great stuff as usual Frank. That last shot certainly looks like a 250F.

That's convenient!   The very thing I'm trying to build! 

 

Seriously,  glad you like it.

 

Frank

[harveyb258]

Lovely stuff, Frank!!

 

Cheers, H

[albergman]

On 11/17/2017 at 5:10 PM, harveyb258 said:

Lovely stuff, Frank!!

Thanks Harvey.

 

OK ... spent a lot of time thinking about how all this apparatus is going to attach to the car body.   I've decided I don't want it to be like the Lancia where the wheels and suspensions are all glued to a display board and the body drops over everything and is screwed separately to the board.   That means I can never hold the completed car without the display board tagging along.

 

So ... in my middle-of-the-night ruminations I got the idea of making a belly pan and attaching the chassis to that for a start!   So, into the steel bin for some sheet metal.   Made a pattern in cardboard first (old record album covers work great) then out with the tin snips.   OK, I was going to just bring it back to the opening for the rear suspension but realised it had no way to be supported so ... I soldered on some more steel and got it to the back of the body.

 

Here's the belly pan.

 

 

It fits beautifully into the cavity and the 2 recesses fore and aft.   I've rounded the sides to meet up with the body. 

 

 

Next I had to locate precisely where the chassis will sit on this then I fabricated a couple of small steel tabs which I soldered onto the chassis then drilled holes through tabs and pan.

 

 

You can only see the forward tab but there's one on the rear cross bar too.    Oh yes, I recently used JB-Weld epoxy (?) to attach the transverse spring to the chassis ... you can see that above too.

Here's a shot down into the cockpit where you can see the forward tab ready for drilling.

 

 

Now I wanted a way to attach the wheels/suspension to this chassis/belly pan combination.   Decided I wanted something to hold the axle at the right height (yes, I'm going with a one-piece axle from wheel-to-wheel) so that I can slide the wheels etc on and off so after a few false starts I came up with some thick (1/4") aluminium, drilled a hole through it for the axle, shaped it with hacksaw and files then CA'd it to the pan ...

 

 

The right wheel is just standing in for the photo-op and not attached other than the axle.   The left wheel is now easily fitted by sliding its hub onto the axle (which is glued into the block) and fitting one tiny bolt into the end of the leaf spring ... you've seen that further up.

 

So the whole rear mechanisms is now fastened to this chassis/belly pan and can be attached or removed by the 2 Robertson wood screws (it's a Canadian thing ... square holes!!).

 

A lot of planning and false starts in the last few days but I'm really happy with what I've got.   Some re-working of the right rear wheel needed to make it fit properly but minor stuff.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Frank

[albergman]

Well now ... a lot has happened in the last few weeks.   

 

Basically I've completed fabricating:

Rear suspension

Front suspension ... 

Reworked the body of the car ... sawed off the nose and glued on a new block of Ren, finished reshaping the body to better fit around the rear suspension

Made more new parts ... Quick release gas cap, splash guards, metal bracket to retain the leather strap around the gas tank

yada yada ... 

 

Let's start with a shot of the front and rear suspension "modules" which can be added/removed from the body with 2 screws each

 

 

The front now has 2 coil springs (hard to see here) made from a larger spring that was of the right "heft".   Heated that, stretched it out then wrapped it round an appropriate steel rod to give the right size.

 

 

You might make out that I've made new disks that are held by 2 screws onto the brake drums.   These are now steel disks and used in conjunction with new steel  upright kingpins which are soldered to these disks.   Decided to go this way because the wheels were too floppy being attached to a tiny stub ... by CA.   The steel disk also let me solder new steel steering arms which proceed forward and meet a steel rod which connects left and right steering arms ... soldered of course.  The front wheels are now solidly mounted.

 

 

 

Here's one of the steel disks with the kingpin and steering arm soldered on.

 

 

I machined them from the ends of a paint roller!

 

 

OK, next I moved back to the Renshape body and here I had initially sanded one side of the nose too low and instead of trying to build it up again I just bandsawed the whole nose off, glued on a hunk of scrap and re-shaped it.   Here's the car with all the fabricated bits in place.

 

 

Ah, the front springs are visible here and also the brand new brass windshield surround that I decided was needed.

 

At the rear the 2 shock absorbers are now in place and you can see the tiny ends of the steel bar aft of them which will eventually be the attachments for the strap which retains the tank.   I haven't shaped the ends of that bar till I'm further along.    Haven't done any shaping of the body cavity around the front suspension yet either.

 

 

OK, next is to start fabricating all of the many louvers which the car needs.   I made them all by a method I thought was fine but next day I filled them all in with Bondo(car repair paste).   Spent a while thinking how to cut them and came up with this ...

 

Machined a grinding stone used on my Dremel so that it had a tapered shape.

 

 

Tested it on an old Lancia D50 scrap body

 

 

I further refined the stone so it had a sharper edge.

 

Than after carefully drawing on exactly where and how wide every louver would be I went at it.

 

 

You can see I'd also sprayed on a filler coat of paint and sanded it down.

 

Next on my list was the huge gas cap and release mechanism.   The only steel I could find large enough was a lag bolt!

 

 

Machined it down and polished it in the lathe.   Next I filed out the 2 pieces to make the release mechanism.

 

 

Then soldered it all together ...

 

 

Next I cut out the splash panels for behind the front wheels, cut a lot on either side with a Dremel disk then tapped them temporarily into place.

 

 

Made a steel bracket for the top of the tank which I think just helps hold that leather(?) belt in place.   Cut it from thin steel plate, soldered 2 pieces together the final shaped it.

 

 

Fits here ...

 

 

And that about does it.    Need to make a smaller oil tank cap and some hood opening levers and that'll just about do it for fabrication.   Oooops, except, of course, for a complete cockpit ... seat, steering wheel, dashboard etc etc.

 

I'll then go over most parts and polish them up or whatever's needed.    Paint coming soon!

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Frank

 

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by albergman

[Dr. Fiat]

Just impeccable craftsmanship.  I don't know how you do what you do.  Scratchbuilding is a real talent!!!

[Kiwidave4]

Been waiting for an update, and its great to see the progress you have made. Just love the way you use 'found' materials!

 

 

[kpnuts]

Incredible engineering going on here.

Edited December 6, 2017 by kpnuts

[Scratchbuilder]

Lovely stuff, as always, Frank.  You gotta be brave to cut louvres, freehand like that!  I always use a knife and a graver. Dremels make me nervous, but clearly work for you.  So glad you sorted out the nose<G>

 

Martin

[albergman]

10 hours ago, Dr. Fiat said:

I don't know how you do what you do.  Scratchbuilding is a real talent!!!

Thanks Doc. I suppose there's some talent there but really it just takes practice and imagination.   I never did this sort of thing until I retired and I've just slowly gotten better with each model.   Most of my work is done with Dremels (cheap knock offs actually) and a flex-shaft which, most importantly, gives you the ability to use a tool bit like holding a pen.   I couldn't do this stuff with a tool directly into the Dremel.   BTW I have 8 "Dremels" all with after market flexis on them and a different tool type in each one.   Just saves a lot of bother constantly changing bits.

 

 

I shape car bodies (after the bandsaw part) with coarse sanding drums on a flex.   Most metal bits are "sculpted" with these "stone" cutting disks ... brittle things but wonderful.

 

 

Other than that I have MANY files of various sizes which I buy whenever I see them on sale.

 

Have a go at shaping something with a file sometime.

5 hours ago, Kiwidave4 said:

Been waiting for an update, and its great to see the progress you have made. Just love the way you use 'found' materials!

 

 

Thanks Dave ... I'm nothing if not a packrat!

4 hours ago, kpnuts said:

Incredible engineering going on here.

Thanks KP.   Too kind.   That kind of accolade applies to Martin's Vincent (Scratchbuilder ... below) for real engineeering.

2 hours ago, Scratchbuilder said:

Lovely stuff, as always, Frank.  You gotta be brave to cut louvres, freehand like that!  I always use a knife and a graver. Dremels make me nervous, but clearly work for you.  So glad you sorted out the nose<G>

 

Martin

Thanks Martin.   Pity these guys can't see any more of your fabulous Black Shadow on this site.   

 

As for the freehand work ... I'm not all that particular if every louver is identical to its neighbours    I should be but I'm not ... and the flex-shaft really brings a lot more precision to the process.

[longshanks]

 

Beautiful micro engineering, a pleasure to behold.

 

Always looking for little snippets I can take away ....

 

Flexi shafts and louvres tucked away for the future

 

I've tasted sanity and I think I slip back

 

Kev

[Silenoz]

Superb work...

[sharknose156]

hello Frank, dear albergman i hope all is well ?

hoping for some new updates soon ?

 

do you solder white metal like you would brass ?

different temperature ?

 

thanks a mil !

 

[ejboyd5]

On 10/6/2017 at 10:38 PM, albergman said:

I've sawn my block into 4 segments lengthwise and blackened one surface on each before glueing all 4 together again.   This gives an always-visible centre line and mid-ships horizontal reference lines.    

A brilliant idea that I'd never heard of. Thanks.

[albergman]

1 hour ago, sharknose156 said:

hello Frank, dear albergman i hope all is well ?

hoping for some new updates soon ?

 

do you solder white metal like you would brass ?

different temperature ?

 

thanks a mil !

 

Hi there Sharknose!   I probably won't be coming back with updates as the car is now finished and presented in the "Ready for Inspection" part of the forum.   I do have a few more build pictures but there isn't much more to see.    If you really want to see more then sure, I'll post them.

 

RE: soldering white metal.    Well now, I've never used that material in my models so I don't know what the answer is ... maybe someone else can help you.

 

34 minutes ago, ejboyd5 said:

A brilliant idea that I'd never heard of. Thanks.

Glad to be of use Mr Boyd!

 

Frank

Edited August 17, 2018 by albergman