Jo NZ

Two to add from me: Thick as a Brick - Jethro Tull (after all, it's only one track, all said and done) The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse - Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and of course lots of what has already been said

1958 Morris Oxford in black over grey. Column change, no syncro on first (or second!). I think I got points for double de-clutching. Mill Hill test centre.

The little red triangles are danger signs. They would have DANGER along each side and what the warning was for (in this case EJECTION SEAT) in the centre.

Did you change the printer software to suit the new screen? My replacement screen for a Mars 2Pro made no mention of it until I went back to the purchasing page.

Very nice! Did you print the rims and spokes in one piece? If you want some period feel for the factory setting take a look here https://www.ourwelwyngardencity.org.uk/content/people/sir-henry-tim-birkin

Probably more like "Illogical, Captain" I know I would!

Believe it or not, it's true. I've built a few classic Pochers (two Alfas, a Rolls and a Bugatti) and I spent a lot of time, after breaking the screws in the plastic, looking for a tap - which is when I found the thread size, Taps at the time were very rare and about $1000 each! The screws break because the are brass which has been chrome plated. The plating process embrittles the brass. Regarding the other screws, they are indeed M2, as is the threaded rod. You may want to replace the rod with stainless steel (not too hard to get) as the mild steel rod will rust eventually. (Edit) I can't find the English reference for the 1/16" Whitworth screws, but here's an extract from the official Pocher Factory Supplemental Instructions for the Alfa kit It's in Italian, but you should get the gist....

Actually they can. I've seen one. Can't say where it is, though, I'd have to kill you! The NDA I signed was worse than the Official Secrets Act.

It looks absolutely magic. Is there any Airfix left?

The threads on those screws are 1/16" Whitworth. Good luck finding a tap! I soft soldered one of the longer screws (minus head) into a length of brass tubing and filed three slots along the length to make a tap, of sorts.

The dashboards arrived from Nick, and I have to say that the engraving is brilliant! Unfortunately they have suffered in the post... I'm not sure what did it, but they are curved in two directions - pretty difficult to do luckily, with some gentle flattening in a vice, and then a rubber hammer and surface plate, they can be recovered. I flattened the worst one first I drew the plate intentionally 5mm larger all round, so I'd got some fiddle room to get it in the right place on the dash hoop Looking good! I was looking through my photos for more detail when I came across this Notice how the dash hoop goes down the side of the chassis? I'd never noticed it before, and made the hoop to sit on top of the chassis. Bugger. So next is to build a new dash hoop out of laminated strips of wood. I still have the jig that I used to make the first one, so a slight modification will correct it. I'm off to my LMS tomorrow to get thin strip hardwood. Luckily he supplies boat modellers so always has a good selection... - and then I can use the second dash plate....

What did you use for the webbing?

If I think very hard I might remember some SMTS kits, otherwise I’d need to look at Four Small Wheels. Western Models made a Maserati 250f piccolo and Nick Masons Ferrari 250 gto as kits, and the Brabham BT 52 and contemporary Williams as built only. Brain fade setting in in, can’t remember any others.

Starter also made the Benetton B188. Still got mine!

Coincidentally I also drew up the Rev counter for the Birkin Bentley Time to have another look at it. Bigger script and wider lines...

Awesome, Nick! In the meantime I had better finish the bits for the dash... The only part to do is the fuel gauge (Incidentally I love the fixings. Two hex head, one countersunk slotted and a hole...) I drew up the gauge face in fusion 360 and cut it to show the lettering And looked at lots of fancy programs to recolour and add detail. Most of them are so complex they would take weeks to learn (e.g. GIMP) (I'm still looking for a simple photo editor to replace Picasa 3....) Guess where I ended up? Microsoft Paint.... So the finished dial looks like The outlining that has appeared isn't present when it's printed. Also this is 6mm across in 1/8 scale so only readable with a magnifying glass. I've also drawn the gauge holder Which fits behind the panel I've printed the gauge onto photo paper through Word (you can size the image in mm so it prints correctly). Now for the gauge itself...

You beat me to it! But we’re still right!!!

The prize has to go to the Citroen BX 4TC Rallye (there's a model by Profil 24). Oversized, overweight, you name it, it was wrong.

Wow! that was quick! Looking good....

Thanks Nick, I'll PM you.

Thanks guys While I am girding my loins to assemble the second engine, I modelled a few more bits from the dashboard. This is a pump handle. As it's connected to the fuel system I'm guessing that it's for fuel pressurisation - there's no mechanical or electrical pump anywhere. I've only modelled the handle as I can use brass rod for the shaft. There are assorted bits on the dash... Fuel gauge (and I've just realised that it tells you when you've pumped enough), two switches (magnetos?) - they look like 1920s light switches, two pump things that fit into the oil tank, and a tap which connects to the fuel system - a bleed valve? I've already modelled the back of the fuel gauge - the gauge itself and the face remain to be worked out... Replica vintage light switches are 50mm diameter by 40mm high, so that gave me a reference. I can use brass for the plungers on the oil feeds (?). Here's the rest And the tap It's not quite fully detailed, but in 1/8 scale it's only 6mm long, so I'm happy with it! I still need to find a way to make the stamping on the dash for "FRONT and REAR" (twice). They look like 1/4" characters in full size, so I'm looking for a stamping set with 0.75mm letters.....

I've gone back to the engines, because a lot of the build involves lining up with bits of them - or clearing them with the bonnet. First step was to get some decent 3d prints of the cylinder barrels and heads. The barrels weren't too difficult, using standard chitubox supports on the head face, but deleting those on the fins. The edges of the fins try to warp downwards (as it's printed) but these were acceptable. The heads were more difficult. I tried several style of chitubox support but the fins always curled over. eventually I made my own supports, but still had deformation around the cutouts for the pushrods. The final version looks like this - I continued the support across the pushrod slots and it stopped the warping The supports are thinned at the head face to make them easier to remove. Note that I set the supports on the head/fin joint. The front engine... I found some suitable diameter springs in my collection if recycled printer and cd drive parts (I generally only keep the springs and small screws, possibly bits of rod as well). The rockers had been drawn long ago. Here is Engine no.1 assembled and temporarily in the frame. i've left the carbs off as the are very easy to knock There's a wire (hose!) going into the oil catch tank. this appears to be wedged between the cylinder and the body work Very easy to draw, just a profile rotated around an axis. And there's that very nasty exposed chain drive... Next time I'll shorten the rockers so the pushrods are parallel. The rockers are a nightmare to assemble. The bolts holding them to the head are 0.5mm hex head rivets from MFH. They are cast, so I drilled out the holes to 0.6mm to compensate.... It's going to get some serious weathering, the rockers and springs in particular need to look very oily. On to engine no. 2!

Forgive if I'm dreaming, but after all the hullabaloo about flying direct from Oz to London (a first!) a couple of years ago, I definitely remember flying Perth/London direct in 1985 on a 747SP (dash 200?) Only a 20 hour flight, but as the plane was only 2/3 full there was room to walk around, stretch out etc. Was it all a dream?

Good stuff! I see that the rev counter is installed straight, and conveniently max revs are at 12 o'clock 🙃. The belts look very realistic too, great curves.

You might want to check the orientation of the rev counter with photos. Most were aligned so that max revs were at the 12 o'clock position (easier to see for the driver). The red needle is the "telltale" that is mechanically driven by the rev counter needle, so should also be at max revs (or more if you're modelling a lunched engine!). These telltales were re-settable using a button on the back of the instrument.