albergman

Steve. Glad to hear you share the same excitement. I'm sure it's the same for a kit builder to replicate a car they really like ... I don't know. Frank

Thanks guys. Master? Not quite It is VERY satisfying to see a shape you know/love coming from rough blocks of wood. Love to see someone else try it ... choose a simple car shape maybe like the Maserati 250F, lots of plans on the web, scale them to a large size, duplicate my build method and see how you do. Might end up as a nice wooden car toy for a grandson (or kindling!). I only started doing these a few years ago. Cheers Frank Other natural finish wooden cars: 57 Ferrari TestaRossa 54 Ferrari 375MM Misc Wooden cars

Time for a bit more progress, such as it is. Not only is this a difficult shape (for me anyway) ebony is also a challengingly hard medium. Said it before but most of the shaping is done on my vertical belt sander. I use a very worn out belt and shape the wood gently and slowly. Also use a coarse rasp (flat one side, rounded on 'tother) and for small parts I like Dremel sanding drums always mounted on a flex shaft. OK, first ... I recently bought a better quality particle mask than what I'd been using. The dust from this wood is very invasive and a mouthful of paper towels just wasn't up to the task. This looks better doesn't it? My wife says it's quite an improvement but ... I'm not sure. Now to the car! Sides were cut previously and now they're shaped and fastened (screws) onto a working board. You'll notice I've already worked on the driver side and have the fin and headrest shaped. Things always look rough at these early stages as many small pieces get cut/shaped/glued together before sanding to shape. Now that I have the sides oriented I can start to shape a hood. I trim the inside of both front fenders to identical shapes (basically where their downturn ends) then make a template out of something firm ... in this case a nice sample of vinyl house-siding kindly provided by a local building supply outlet. I mark off 1" measurements and draw a line that is close to what I need. Often takes a few tries but eventually I have a shape that is a good fit between the wings. This now gets placed on to the block which will form the hood/bonnet and traced before cutting it out on the bandsaw. Lots of care taken to get this as fine a fit as possible. Once I'm happy with the fit it gets taken out and shaped ... lengthwise and transversely. Most of this is done on my belt sander. Next it gets glued between the fenders and a new round of shaping starts. I'm trying something different this time, since I found that my sander produces copious amounts of fine black dust, I've collected at tub of it and I'm mixing it with epoxy to form a paste that I use as a fairing compound. Fortunately it takes the identical black colour as the raw ebony when it gets wet. This is not something I've ever been able to do with any other wood. So, here is the front end in a semi finished state. I'm really happy to (in my opinion) have captured the D-types flowing lines and this step has definitely "broken the back" of this project. Everything else will be much easier from now on. Still a long way to go. As an afterthought I took a picture of the undersides so you can get an idea of how many pieces are used to get the shape ... it's not just 2 sides and a hood! Quite a mess under there. Thanks for looking in. Frank

Thanks for that Harvey ... you are too kind.

Harvey, I have to pretend your model isn't on this site because it makes me very aware that my scratch building skills are sadly amateurish! This is just top level model engineering that, if I had enough time, I might aspire towards but ... I turned 80 last week so it ain't gonna happen! Anyway, keep up the impressive work. Frank

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. Glad to be of use Mr Boyd! Frank

Having quite a time shaping the sides of this car with its endless series of curves. Decided to take a break from it and do some more work on the wheels and tires. I make my tires from the synthetic material called Renshape and I thought that I'd give more of a detailed description of how I make them in case someone thinks it might be useful. I've covered parts of this process on different cars but never all the steps in one place. I'm going to turn all 4 tires at once as they're the same diameter front and back on a D-type. First I slice off an appropriate hunk of Renshape (Ren) in my bandsaw. Next I draw on a suitable circle traced from a small bottle and rough shape it on the saw. Next it gets mounted in the chuck and secured at both ends It's an easy job to turn the whole block down to my size While I have it securely fastened I'm now going to use my knurling tool to impress a tire pattern onto the tread surface. This device uses a pair of wheels each with a different diagonal pattern to emboss a diamond shaped "tread" into the Ren. Not exactly a real tread pattern but it suits my purposes! Next I use an inside boring tool to ream out the precise diameter to fit the rims I made (above). I shape the cross-section profile of the tire now by free-handing an Exacto blade into the cavity while the lathe turns it. Here's something I hadn't done before. I wanted to try to emboss those little radial marks around the sidewall and got an idea when I noticed the adjustment knob on my knurler tool ... it has straight cut grooves! A rummage in my bolts bin found a suitable sized bolt and I locked it into my tool holder. Careful placement against the wheel rim allowed me to press it into the Ren and give me the required look. Next step is to take one of the rims and test fit it injto the tire. Decided to insert the hub section to see how the package will look I blackened the Ren with a big black marker Next I sawed off the tire and the job's nearly done ... just repeat 3 more times! Here's the four rims in readiness. Still have to make the knock-off hubs for them. One of them has a trial version but will be replaced. Thanks for looking in ... I hope it was useful to some of you. Frank

Nice model and a good job done!

Golly ... I'm blushing! Thanks for the kind comment Spiny. Frank

Thanks Keith. Sorry to hear there's someone else with a SWMBO. When I finish a model I usually get a "Hmmm, and where do you plan to put that?" True, it's hard to find a spot when her quilts take every bit of free space. Thanks Pete, Silenoz et al ... glad there's still some out there who appreciate the beauty of wood. Frank Other scratch builds: Maserati 250F Lancia D50 Ferrari TestaRossa Flying Scotsman A3 Alberg 37 sailboat Trojan 36 Sport Fisherman Triumph TR-6

Time for an update. OK all 4 wheels (hubs and rims) are done but tires still to do. Today I stuck my cardboard profile panels onto the ebony I bought and bandsawed out the rough shapes. Just took it close to the lines. Poor old saw was wheezing trying to get through 2" of ebony and I had to keep spraying water on the blade to cool it. Once both sides were rough cut profile and plan view I fired up my belt sanding machine and easily took the wood right down to the lines. The sander makes quick work of this rough shaping and soon I have both sides"sort of" done. Tomorrow I'll get them locked onto a working board and start the shaping. Cheers Frank

You're absolutely right Harvey but I've worked a lot with it and know what I'm in for! Thanks Pete. D-types on the road eh? Imagine. Back in the 50's in my small town here in Canada there was a chap who drove an XK-SS and a mechanic who owned a gull-wing 300SL. They were expensive but still affordable if you wanted one bad enough.

Thanks Clive. Appreciate your comment. If you read the text you'll know that I grew up in Scotland and left as a teenager in '51. Most of our travel was done by steam and buses and I logged many an A1,2 3 and A4's in my Ian Allan spotter guide. An everyday event back then. Frank

Me again. Now that I've cleared the bench I've been scouring the image bank trying to decide what I'd like to tackle and I've settled on a LeMans D-type. Don't know if I'm quite up to the task of shaping this beautiful machine especially since I plan to do it entirely of black ebony. Might require a few attempts to get it right. I don't have the wood yet but will get it tomorrow. In the meantime I've got a set of plans stretched to my size (9 1/2 inches), printed, cut out and glued to a sacrificed LP cover of my wife's that I detested! While waiting for the wood however I've been trying a few different methods of making those unique Dunlop wheels. First attempt was to machine one as a single piece. This came out OK but I soon realised I couldn't drillo those 15 holes without trashing the rims! To make that rounded face I shaped a special tool bit because I'm not good enough to do it any other way. This worked a treat by the way. So, next I trimmed off the outer rim and had a practice run at marking off the 15 required holes ... man, that takes a lot of tries ... everything from 13 to 17. Once I had the locations fixed I marked a starter hole with a tiny Dremel bit and we're ready to drill. Let's just say the results were not as advertised. I'll spare you the ugly results. So I decided to split the wheel into a central hub and a rim. Turned a cylinder that'll be long enough to do 4 hubs and marked off the 15 holes. I only have a mini drill press that holds a Dremel and I didn't want to hold the aluminum while I drilled it out so I machined a perfect size hole in a scrap of Renshape and sank my block into it ... nice tight fit. Drilled a pilot hole at each location with a very fine drill. After that it went into the lathe for the roundy bit to be machined then ... back into the block to have the correct size holes drilled and that came out well. Last step was to machine an outer rim (no photo sorry). Polished both parts and finally have a wheel I'm happy with. Hope it looks like a Dunlop D-type Jaguar wheel to you! By the way, this rim is exactly 1" diameter. Other scratch builds: Maserati 250F Lancia D50 Ferrari 375 MM Ferrari TestaRossa Flying Scotsman A3 Alberg 37 sailboat Trojan 36 Sport Fisherman Triumph TR-6

Glad to comment. I think we owe it to each other to pore over the love and attention-to-detail that goes into a model. There was no mention of whether this is a scratch build project but I believe that's what you do. I know what you mean about collecting so many pictures and drawing from them. So ... is this trailer a replica of something real or a fusion of lots of interesting bits and pieces from various pictures? If so, what a liberating idea ... no right or wrong about the details.

This deserves another look and a few more observations. First off, I know nothing about trucks and even less about foreign trucks/lorries ... I'm Canadian. I can only assume you were replicating an actual vehicle? If not, then your knowledge of wear and tear and attention to detail is admirable. Things I like ... (forgive me if I use the wrong terms ... see above). That bent lower step on the bulkhead The way you replicated rusted sheet metal/welds along the trailing edge of the flat bed. The so-o-o correct looking discoloured paint everywhere The 2 rims of different colours on the port side ... don't know if you did the same on starboard (I'm also a sailor). The perfect wear and tear on that yellowed tensioner (starboard at the bow!) The perfectly rusted panel on that black box (port side mid-ships) and, well, everything else!! Love it. Frank Edit ... almost forgot ... the dust lying correctly in all the corners and what looks like a slice into the sidewall of the furthest forward tire on the left side. Probably more but I don't want it to go to your head!

OK, so this is the real reason I abandoned the Maserati build. I scored a collection of small pieces of exotic woods and couldn't wait to start making sawdust. Once again I returned to one of my favourite cars ... a '54 Ferrari 375MM which I photographed at a local race in '54! Imagine my excitement as a 15 year old when some guy showed up at a local club race in one of these and blew the doors off every MG TC in sight! So, I haven't done a build log of this one as my last "woodie" understandably didn't generate much interest but I have quite a few pics if anyone is curious. This model has fenders/bonnet carved from padauk with a black ebony "stripe" down the middle and that is bordered by a whitish veneer. I decided to make the windshield from ebony because ... well, I wanted to. The finish is built up from layers of shellac then many sprayed coats of gloss lacquer. Why not just use lacquer? did someone ask? Well, most exotics are very tight grain and tend to be oily and it seems shellac is best as a base coat. Each coat of lacquer gets wet sanded (1000) before the next coat goes on. After the final wet sand it gets polished with a quality rubbing compound then waxed. I don't know what goes on in my camera when I try to photograph wood but it seems to want to exaggerate the grain. Oh well, it is what it is. Frank Thanks for looking Frank

That is breathtakingly realistic. If there were no clues in the setting it could be mistaken for the real thing. I think I'm always saying that about your work ... I must come up with a new compliment! Bravo. Frank

Thanks Keith I do intend to do a WIP on it but it's more of a woodworking project than modelling. I'll start with a Finished Model entry and see if anyone wants to see how I got there. It's pretty much the identical build to my 57 TestaRossa. Pics soon. Frank

Thanks for the suggestions Dave. Unfortunately the other 50's era cars never struck me as being very aesthetically attractive and I don't want to spend valuable time making something that doesn't appeal to me. I think that's a sentiment that would apply to all modellers ... unless it's a paid commission. So, I'll mull it over for a while. My conscience keeps telling me to get back and finish any of the several cars lying abandoned ... maybe you know that feeling too. The mystery car is just another Ferrari (375 MM) done in exotic woods with a natural finish. I've done quite a few in this vein and they're a bit of a fish-out-of-water for this site being more of an artsy piece than the Maser was. Here's a teaser ... made from padauk with black ebony stripe and windshield. http:// Frank

Dave ... sorry to have kept you waiting! Next project is still hazy but I'm thinking I might like to continue with these 50's GP cars and maybe do a Mercedes W196 open wheeler. The streamlined version would be easier because I don't have to fabricate suspensions but that's a tricky body shape. Actually I have another car to post that I finished since I abandoned the Maserati so I'll have to get the camera out again. Thanks to all others who commented. Much appreciated. Frank

Hi All I sort of dropped off the radar for a while (9 months) as life got in the way and I was tired of looking at the Maser. I'd gone too far with it to abandon it however but a month ago my muse returned from vacation and got me going again. I'll have to post the steps I went through to get it finished but in the meantime here's the finished project. Before anyone yells at me ... I will get some yellow paint and do Fangio's stripe across the nose! Cheers Frank

I admire your perseverance Clive! Interesting how nature intrudes whenever one looks the other way. Have you made much progress past the above pictures? Frank

It's interesting to see the materials chosen by different scratch builders to accomplish the same thing. Really shows that there are many solutions to a challenge. Coming along nicely Steve and, in the words of Charles Dickens ... an Artful Dodger. Frank PS ... soldering: Cleanliness of the parts is key to good solder contact. Fine sand each area first then apply flux/solder to each piece separately. Place the 2 pieces together and maybe lock them in place with masking tape. Apply heat to the join ... no more solder really necessary unless you want to add bulk.

Great to see you carrying on in the scratchbuild mode Steve. Sure hope you get back to AE2 soon and "git 'er done" as they say. I know how much fun it is to embark on something new and that excitement drags me away sometimes for years at a time!! My Maserati 250F got abandoned 6 months ago and I've since started and finished another all-wood Ferrari 375MM and gone on to yet another project. I can hear the Maser whimpering on the shelf nearby and guilt is drawing me back ... slowly. All the best with the new project. Frank