albergman

Hi SEC ... welcome aboard and I'm glad you found this somewhat interesting. Ha ... you read my mind Steve. Exactly my plan. So, wire wheels eh? You must be getting ready to buy a mini-lathe? Sample of scratch builds ... Maserati 250F, Lancia D50, Mercedes W196, Ferrari 375MM (woodie), Flying Scotsman loco, Sport Fishing Boat

Ah what can I say? Ya got me! Yes, I found when well into the job that I had a big mistake and the only solution would have been to start over with a new wheel rim and I don't have the material to make another ... could find some I suppose but it took so long to get to this point that I wasn't about to throw it all away. I'll tuck the flaw behind the front forks and let it be. Nobody ever sees my models anyway and, if you know anything about my previous scratches I'm not all that particular about correctness ... should be but I'm not. I just enjoy the process of figuring out how to make stuff from scrap. My eyes aren't so good anymore and I really have to look hard to see the flaw. I can live with it. Frank

Moving along I'm ready to tackle the front wheel. This will be very different to my wires I make for cars and I mulled this over for a long time before getting started. I needed a chunk of aluminum big enough to cut out the rim and it needed to be 5/16 thick at least. I can buy small aluminum plates at most hardware stores but it's always just 1/4" thick so ... into the parts bin where I find a couple of old heat sinks from some components. This one is large enough and thick enough so hack off the fins in the band saw and round it as much as possible. The lathe brings it down to a blank that I can now shape to a rim ... I really have to be careful here because any error that goes too far means I can't make my rim from this piece and I only have 2 suitable heat sinks ... and a rear wheel to make! Cutting a recess in the outer surface for the spokes to eventually poke through Here it's glued to a block so I can rotate it and drill the 40 spoke holes required in 2 rows. Here's the tiny hub with a few trial spokes. The 2 flanges will eventually have 20 holes in each. Took me a long time to come up with a jig that could hold the hub and rim at a suitable position that I could start adding my spokes. For spokes I'm using ordinary straight pins which I snip the head off and bend a 90 degree about an eighth inch from the end. I thread the pin through the rim and drop the bent end into the suitable hole in the hub. As easy as this sounds it took many many attempts at getting the pattern right and only after perusing many Vincent videos on YouTube. Here's an early attempt that'll give you an idea what I'm talking about Further along in the process ... I won't bore you any farther so let's move on to the end. I smeared a layer of JB Weld epoxy around the slot in the outer rim to seal the spokes in place then ground it down flush to the rim when it set (and snipped off the pointy spoke ends). Here I've slid on a working tyre that I've been experimenting with so you can see how it might look. So that's where I am now. The front end is just about finished fabricating and maybe I'll get it painted and assembled soon. Both brake drums (dual drums front and rear ... in 1948!!) have been turned with the requisite 4 cooling fins after I made a super-fine tool bit to cut them. OK I'll leave it here for now. Hope you approve. Frank

Hi Dave What a marvelous job you've done here and well done on the scratch build replacement parts ... very authentic. You sure have stirred the nostalgia pot with this one and you can add me to the mix. Never had a Goldie but always admired them at races (here in Canada). First bike was my one and only Beezer ... a Bantam followed by a string of AJ's and Matchies. Like you I didn't "discover" Japanese bikes till my youngest turned 16 and got a Honda Custom 250 that blew me away with its fit and finish, smooth twin engine and just an all round lovely reliable little machine. I just had to get back into bikes after that. Frank

Don't know about better Steve ... definitely older!! I'll be 84 this Saturday and finding all this tiny hand-work a challenge for gnarly fingers and failing eyes. Maybe I should have just 3D printed it LOL. Albervin huh? My name comes from owning an Alberg sailboat and our sailing friends referrred to me as the "albergman". Haven't done a lot of new stuff lately as, now that I know how it goes together I've re-made many of the parts! Today I made the little bracket the fastens to the front fender and attaches to a plate between the forks. That allowed me to mount the fender in its final position. Got all the tiny bits up at the handlebars shaped (might remake a couple) and that completes the list of all front end parts. I've slipped a piece of brass rod into the holders for the handlebars. I won't be working on the model for a while so I did a test assembly of all the pieces to see how it goes together. To stabilize it I've glued a block of Renshape material between the lower front forks otherwise it's impossible to put it together. Thanks for stopping by. Frank

If only we'd known what we had in our possession back in those days. At least you and I had some actual experiences with these wonderful machines. Now they're out of the reach of most mortals. I'm guessing that your different gearing you mentioned meant that the rear wheel was reversed so that it used the larger of the two available sprockets? Lovely model by the way. I've never heard of that brand but then I don't ever build kits. Thanks DF ... too kind. Frank

Thanks for your interest guys. I know this sort of thing doesn't appeal to everyone but I just love figuring out how to make parts and finding appropriate materials. I did a Fusion 360 project and 3D printed a steam locomotive recently but it didn't give me the same satisfaction as a hand-made project. A few other scratch builds ... Maserati 250F Lancia D50 Sport Fishing boat Ferrari 375MM in wood

Just a brief update today. Rough shaped the front fender and its wrap-around bracket. The bracket is unusual for a Vincent because it's not of the usual black, tubular style but a flat polished strap instead. I had to rummage through my steel scrap and found a sample from an old stereo receiver (remember them?) that just happened to have enough unbroken metal to give me the piece I needed. Got it drilled and mounted roughly to the forks and the fender. Another part I made was the shock absorber that is mounted at the top of the forks. This was a simple thing to make on my little lathe and got it in place too. That's about it.

OK, got some time today to proceed with the front suspension. I've decided I'll have to simplify the real thing as there are so many pieces that are just too small to model but it will barely be noticeable. Today's project is to make the lower U-shaped bracket that joins the steering post to the front forks ... this one. I'll be making it from a flat strap of aluminum. As you can see above on the real bike there are actually 2 separate horizontal bars that join the vertical parts but I'm going to make it a one-piece which will be stronger and a bit easier to fabricate. I'll spare you all the steps to shape it but here's a mid-stage ... lots of hand-filing. The main post is already inserted here at the right angle Eventually I get it down to the final shape. Holes drilled through both ends to accept a locating pin. Here it is finally attached to the front suspension bars and the dampers at the back. That was a full afternoon's effort to make that piece and get them all fitted together. Now I have to do a similar approach for the upper U-bracket and tie it into the steering post. Thanks for looking in. Frank

Nice to be close to a bit of history ... but hard not to be near it in England

I believe you are right Brandy. I'd been ignoring that other pivot point in the adjuster. That apparatus allows the rod/seat to rotate around that offset bolt. Good spotting! And I agree with you that the seat will indeed rise/fall with the suspension because it definitely all pivots around that forward point.

It could be that's what they were as there's a threaded rod inside that upright. Why it would need to be damped puzzles me though. A simple pivot point at the base of that rod would have sufficed so I think it has an additional effect (along with the shock absorber under the gas tank) in slowing the rise and fall of the rear suspension. Thanks ME. Noel ... Gunga Din was indeed a one-off in that it was a bike reserved by the works for development. There's a good Wiki article on it here so I won't repeat it. In short though, it seems a magazine writer named it thus when he was loaned the bike for a weekend and found it too much of a machine for him ... a better bike/man than I am Gunga Din. Fascinating that it languished unseen for years under a tarp in the old factory before someone saw it and knew what it was.

A bit more progress. Next step was to fabricate the bracket that anchors the rear fender. This is a one-piece metal rod that wraps around the fender and is anchored to the frame down at the hub. It needs 2 tiny tabs through which I can insert bolts. I tried soldering tiny tabs but this didn't work too well so I bent a piece of scrap steel to the shape of the rod and soldered it on ... not pretty. http:// Used a sanding/cutting disk on my Dremel (cheap copy) to hack away at it till I just had the tabs showing. http:// This is much stronger as it has a thin strip of steel running under the rod and joining the tabs. Next I have to anchor the leading edge of the fender and decided to solder a tiny steel bracket to the frame and drill a hole through this and the fender. Now I can fit a small nut and bolt and the fender is secured. http:// To fasten the ends of the wrap-around bracket I needed to add a tab through which I can drill a hole and fasten it to the hub. This is fiddly but I cut a slot in a piece of scrap (all of which comes from salvaged ink-jet printers) and fitted the rod into the slot. http:// Apply solder (messy) then grind the mess down to a decent shape. Looks pretty good once it's cleaned up ... now repeat for the other side. Once this has been fastened down with a nut and bolt I can drill holes in the fender to take bolts there. Next I dismantled the whole apparatus and cleaned up the scratches and polished the fender then re-assembled it. I re-fabbed quite a few of the pieces and got rid of all the brass and replaced it with steel and now I can fit those "dampers" that attach to the back of the seat. Lots of trimming of rod lengths and locating new holes but now the seat fits perfectly above the fender. My shaped cutout under the seat is now too large and I have to address that but I think I'm about ready to move to the front suspension. Thanks for looking in. Later

Might as well throw in a couple more pictures of various parts. These are dampers of some kind that attach to the back of the seat. Tiny little blighters but fun to make. Here's the knurled wheel that is part of it ... bleeding fingers too! Turned an oil filler cap and cut a knurled edge into it too Back later

Let's just say it's about 1/8h scale. And that comment brings back memories of me doing just the same thing when kick-starting wouldn't fire it. There was me (130 pounds dripping wet) pushing it down a slight incline praying ... "please, please fire" as I jumped onto the seat and dropped the clutch. OK, moving along at a snail's pace. I've made both fenders by band-sawing 2 lengths of aluminum from the al. strap I bought. I have a small pipe bender jig that worked fine to induce a curve into the strip. Kept placing it onto my drawing to see how close the curvature was. Once I was happy with the curve I filed the edges to give it the shape needed When I had the shape I wanted I couldn't resist giving it a rub down with wet sandpaper then a polish. I've made a couple of pieces that the fender can now be test fitted into To give a more precise shape to the fenders I turned some scrap material to the diameter of the inside radius of the fender and hammered it over this "mold" to get the right shape. I'd been laying my parts on the scale drawing to check sizes and that worked to a certain extent But I decided to make up an apparatus where I've glued the lower parts of the model to a block of Renshape then glued the scale "drawing" to some plywood and fastened it at the right height to let me assemble the parts and check alignment. It's a bit crude but doing the job. This is turning out to be a difficult project ... and that's saying something after building three Gresley steam engines! Thanks to those who find this interesting. Frank

Thanks guys and thanks for that picture .. though I already have it.

Ever since I finished my last project, that 3D printed steam engine. I've been racking my brain trying to think of a model that appeals to me for another scratch build. It has been my own unwritten rule that I only ever build cars/boats/steam engines that are important to me or played a part in my past. I had the use of a Vincent Rapide back in 1955 here in Ontario Canada, when I was 17 and a family friend asked if I'd look after it for him for 2 months while he went back to Scotland ... does a bear sh*t in the woods?? At the time I had an AJS 600 twin and a Matchless scrambler but they quickly got pushed aside and I rode that Vincent everywhere. Now, almost 70 years on, I feel ready to tackle a bike model ... a scratch built one at that .. and a Vincent. The one I'm going to attempt is called Gunga Din and was the development machine used by the factory for many years and has, in modern times, been found, restored, tied for first place at Pebble Beach concours and now belongs to an important man in the motorcycle world here in Toronto Canada. What I'd give for an hour with the bike and a camera but as it stands I'm going to have to build it all from photographs. Those familiar with my models may know that I'm not a stickler for absolute precision and correctness so, as usual, I'll be taking liberties as and where I feel like it. Scratch building for me is mostly about 'the process' and figuring out 'how am I going to make this part?'. I've begun the project armed with only a 'pretty decent side view' of the bike which I've since converted to a line drawing and scaled it to my default size ... 9 inches (see above about liberties). http:// I've got off to a good start and have selected a lot of the 'low hanging fruit' to fabricate. As usual, my parts are made from my stash of scrap aluminum, steel and brass salvaged from old printers, cameras, computers etc. Gas tank, seat, oil tank and shock absorbers under way. http:// Half hour of filing and sanding ... Seat and Gas tank are shaped using Renshape which is a composite pattern making material. Here the oil tank, seat and shock absorbers are test fitted. http:// For those unfamiliar with the Vincent bikes they have no traditional frame in which the engine is bolted. Instead, a strong, steel box-like oil tank resides under the gas tank and the front and rear suspensions are bolted to that ... very much ahead of the times. I'll be moving on to the rear suspension members next so I'll leave you here. Back soon.

Thanks Steve. It sure has been fun doing these three. Gives me immense pleasure to look at them lined up like this. You've already dipped your toes into the subject so you'll already have an idea what's involved. The '600 lb gorilla' of course is all that metalwork that has to be fashioned and fitted (reasonably) correctly. If you don't feel up to tackling it the way I do then seriously explore 3D printing. Once you crack the design problem you'll probably just love applying it to many different aspects of your hobby. It seems daunting and I admit I was very hesitant but had the (mis) fortune to have Nick on this forum pushing me relentlessly into it ... and I was very grateful for his help. Just don't let him find out you're considering Fusion 360 ... he won't leave you alone LOL!!

Thanks Kapam. Glad you like it/them. Afraid I don't build to any known/accepted model railway scale as I'm not a model railway enthusiast. I just make them to fit on a particular cabinet and they're all roughly 24 inches ... maybe 26 for the Mikado. I suppose I just picked a size where the metal bits were manageable to hand-make.

Thanks John. Nice to hear from another senior who actually remembers travelling behind and seeing these machines as every day occurrences. I too lived in sight of the LNER and could see them go by from our living room. I've been in Canada since 1951 but they still hold fond memories for me and it's been great fun to build my boyhood 'heroes'.

Thanks Jeroen ... semi gloss black to replicate war-time colours. Hides a lot of faults too LOL.

I've just finished this lengthy project and posted my finished pics way, way down in the 'Other Modelling Genres/Locos, Trains and Layouts' where hardly anyone ever goes. As a wee lad growing up in Scotland I saw a few of the P2's in the late 40's and 50's (yes, I'm old) and always liked the look of them. Having already built two display models of (to me) Gresley's finest designs Flying Scotsman and Union of South Africa I talked myself into doing a Mikado P2. This is a 'never was' engine so some liberties were taken and I've named it after a famous Scot as all of the class were. My original idea was that I'd 3D print all of the fiddly 'motion' (the rods and levers that go round with the wheels) and hand make everything else. Well, I couldn't get the plastic 'motion' to look like metal ... my painting skills aren't great and I decided to just make it all from scrap real metal as I did for the other two engines. In the meantime I'd gotten pretty handy with the design software Fusion 360 and started printing various bits ... cab, all the wheels, tender etc and by the time I was done I'd printed the entire engine and made real metal motion ... the exact reverse of my plan! As Robert Burns wrote ... the schemes of mice and men gang aft a-gley. Here's just a couple of samples for you. More are at the above named page. Frank

Thanks Nick. Glad you like them. You're right though it was quite easy after I got into it ... that one page set of instructions you wrote for me was the ticket. I think you know I gave the printer to my oldest son who is way past me into Fusion and prints stuff non-stop. Me ... I'm happy to return to making my models by hand. Different strokes. Frank

Well now ... a year to the day has passed and I'm finally finished this one! Truth be told I haven't spent much time on it as life really got in the way. However, she's finished and mounted on her own tracks and has taken her place with my other 2 Gresley Pacifics 'Union of South Africa' and 'Flying Scotsman'. I guess I'll just post my finished pictures here as there doesn't seem to be a more appropriate place for them. Here we go then. 'Robert the Bruce' ... a 'never was' Mikado 2-8-2 taken on as a project to learn Fusion 360 design and use my 3D printer. Cousins ... oops I see the A4 is derailed! Night time at Top Shed ...

Hi Jeff I like your approach to these ... simple but effective and I bet your son thought they were wonderful. I bet he recognized his school and some of the houses. Frank