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1/8 James Bond Aston Martin DB5


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The wheels are scale replica's of DB5 Borrani's.

The rims and hubs are turned and drilled ally, the nipple inserts are resin and the spokes are all hand-laced - all 72 of them.

Each wheel takes around 15 hours to make so there's only two so far.........

More piccies and info when they are all finished and on the car.

Roy.

Edited by roymattblack
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I can't give any details yet, as the guy making them for me doesn't want to get swamped with requests for 'proper' wire wheels.

He does actually have other work to do.

Having said that, they aren't 'pence' by any means although I feel they are worth it and will lift the Aston from a 'nice' model to an ACE one.

Roy.

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A bit more on the DB5...

You can clearly see the oddity I've previously mentioned here...

Namely, the silver parts look a different colour in the pictures, but look fine 'in the flesh'.....
The car is all ONE COLOUR if you see it for real.

OK… Before the wheels are added I need to join the three main assemblies together first.
Chassis/interior, rear wings/roof and front end/doors.
How come these parts fitted together nicely when I was just test fitting things?

It took the best part of three hours to fit the parts together today.
Getting the rear end/roof in place was a matter of minutes and apparently this part of the build has been notorious for problems and difficulties with many others.
The front end/doors?
Not so lucky.

No matter how I jiggled and juggled the parts, there was just no way the lower end of one front wing would sit down properly at the sill level. There was a gap of at least 1/8” and the door top fouled the roof.
After an age of peering into every nook and cranny with a torch I was no further forward.
When I managed to get the driver’s side nice and level, the passenger side was wrong.
If I got the passenger side level – awful fit on the driver’s side.
Eventually I took the doors off to look more closely into the inner wings.
Finally I found the problem.

The inner firewall on the passenger side was sitting about 1/8” too high so the windscreen scuttle couldn’t sit properly on that side.
It was acting like a see-saw.

If one wing was down, the other was up, and vice-versa.

Close scrutiny revealed it was a manufacturing issue, as the bottom of the firewall was sitting absolutely solid and flat on the chassis. It couldn’t go any lower.
Out came the Dremel and files and five minutes later the firewall top was 1/8” lower.
I also cleaned up all the fixing points, locating holes and screw mounts.
A further five minutes later, the doors were put back and the front end fitted.

It was 1/8” too high on the passenger side….

AAARRRGGGHHH……

However, close inspection showed that this time I had trapped one of the bonnet support arms between the firewall and front wing.
Bonnet support moved – nice neat front end and the doors fit!

However, in my engine-detailing exuberance I have added a few too many pipes and wires ‘high up’ in the engine bay and now the bonnet will not close properly.

Onward and upward……

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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Many thanks you guys.

Just a little update - I found the reason the bonnet wasn't closing tight was nothing to do with my 'extra' plumbing.

The kit-part which is 'supposed' to replicate the catch mechanism inside the bonnet (it actually looks nothing like the real thing) was fouling the heater duct chamber.

I just removed the offending part.

Now the bonnet shuts tight - in fact, it's SO good a fit, it's blinkin' difficult to get a finger nail under it to open...

Engine still needs some plumbing and pipework connected but it's getting there.

Roy.

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Getting near the end now...

Fitting the floor/chassis together after painting the parts satin and matt black, was simple.

I have to say this is a really basic kit and although it's turning out nice, I'm not impressed with the attention to detail.

It really is a 1/18 scale model that's been scaled up to 1/8.

However, all that aside, it's been fun making the modifications, trimming the interior and changing the hideous toy wheels for ones that are hopefully, a billion times better.

Getting the floor section onto the upturned body was a mission though, particularly as the car weighs in at around 20lb.

There are literally dozens of wires that make all kinds of electronic bits work - a bit of a novelty really that in all honesty will be ignored within a few weeks I would guess. It seems that in adding the electronics, the kit makers forgot to make allowance for them when the floor is added.

HOW do you get them out of the way when the floor is in place, but won't quite go down because a few wires are in the way????

It had me tearing my hair for quite a while.

All done now though.

A few details, and the rear wheels to fix in place properly.

Roy.

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Edited by roymattblack
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  • 2 weeks later...

Roy I am still catching up on my backlog. This is looking incredible and as you say those magnificent wheels will take it to another level again. Your paint finish in stunning as well.

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  • 1 year later...

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