1/8 James Bond Aston Martin DB5

[Nigel Heath]

I was very impressed with your work on the leather. What are you sticking it down with? Apologies if you have already stated this but I am being lazy.

[roymattblack]

Most of the leather is stuck with Cyano.

I'm using Evo-stik Serious glue to make the edge beading.

It needs to be 'wet' glue, but not a thick line as I discovered early on.
A thin layer of glue sticks the leather instantly (it is skin, after all...) but too much glue soaks through making a horrible dark stain rendering the whole piece of leather useless.
The 'instant-ness' of the cyano means I can apply a line of glue on a difficult curve or corner, and then stretch the leather into place so there are no wrinkles, before pulling down onto the glue.

Hold it a few seconds - voila! Stuck.

The most difficult parts have been the upright front part of the two front seat backs as they both have very deep sides and top, with a huge compound curve on the upper corners. The drivers seat took two attempts - I'm doing the passenger seat right now, so here's hoping.....

Roy.

Edited January 21, 2014 by roymattblack

[Nigel Heath]

I wonder if a contact adhesive (like Evo-stick) would work and not give you the soak through risk?

Edited January 21, 2014 by Nigel Heath

[roymattblack]

It probably would but Cyano is so 'thin' it doesn't show whereas Evo Stik tends to be a 'thicker' glue and might show through as a texture of some kind.

The more I've gotten 'used' to using the Cyano, the less problems I've had with the soak through.
Now, I apply a bead of Cyano and lightly mop it with a cotton bud before fixing the leather to it.

I've just completed the rear seat back and the passenger seat and luckily, each part went ok at the first attempt with no wrinkles or dark patches.
The parts in the pic are only placed together at present so there are 'gaps' between the bits. They won't be there when fully assembled.

Rear wheel arch liners and a few remaining interior parts, then all the leather is done.

Roy.

Edited January 21, 2014 by roymattblack

[Nigel Heath]

Good point about the glue showing through. The above leather work looks fantastic.

[Bengalensis]

I really like what I see, I'll have to try this some day.

[Mafney]

Fantastic work Roy, will be a stunning model once its compete!

[roymattblack]

I just want to highlight the fantastic people we have in this crowd.

Kev (Jockster) has incredibly kindly sent me issues 1, 2 & 3, totally free of charge.
He wouldn't even let me pay postage, despite the fact it all arrived in a pretty hefty parcel.

The seat in part 2 is a Godsend, as it has allowed me to use my own seat as a 'test' for the first attempts at 'leathering'.

I'll now use Kev's seat as the 'proper' one.

The other parts - front grille, bonnet, front bumper - will be used as display pieces in my 1/43 car cabinet, on the Aston Martin shelf.

Ace man.
Many thanks Kev.

Roy.

[Nigel Heath]

I just want to highlight the fantastic people we have in this crowd.

Yes, we do.

[triumphfan]

The leather work is awesome, well done. This alone will make the interior look so realistic. Looking forward to seeing this project develop.

Steve.

[roymattblack]

Many thanks again everyone.
Although the kit is decidedly basic, it's great fun trying to improve it a bit.

There are still a few parts of the interior to cover with leather but for a bit of a change I made a start on the engine compartment.

As usual, much of the moulded in detail is pretty basic and some of what is there is completely unrecognisable, such as the four fuse boxes on the left side of the firewall. As moulded, they appear as two odd ‘bars’ sided by side, each with two strange ‘U’ shaped protrusions, each having a large raised disc in the middle. I had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to be until I Googled some pictures of the DB5 engine bay.
In reality, they should be nothing more than four curved-edge boxes with a small central knurled knob. These were easily made from Plasticard and the knobs were made by drilling small holes and inserting dressmaker’s pins. The new boxes were glued over the top of the existing ‘blobs’ after the central moulded discs were cut off. Wiring was then added as per the real car photo’s.

Some plumbing was also added at this point, again following pictures of the real car and part of a wiring loom was added similarly.

[roymattblack]

With the Rolls now virtually put to bed, I'm getting on with a bit more of the DB5...

There are still a few parts of the interior to cover with leather but for a bit of a change I made a start on the engine compartment.

As usual, much of the moulded in detail is pretty basic and some of what is there is completely unrecognisable, such as the four fuse boxes on the left side of the firewall. As moulded, they appear as two odd ‘bars’ sided by side, each with two strange ‘U’ shaped protrusions, each having a large raised disc in the middle. I had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to be until I Googled some pictures of the DB5 engine bay.
In reality, they should be nothing more than four curved-edge boxes with a small central knurled knob. These were easily made from Plasticard and the knobs were made by drilling small holes and inserting dressmaker’s pins. The new boxes were glued over the top of the existing ‘blobs’ after the central moulded discs were cut off. Wiring was then added as per the real car photo’s.

Some plumbing was also added at this point, again following pictures of the real car and part of a wiring loom was added similarly.

Most of the pipework and wiring on the engine bay (make that ALL) was added using steel wire and rod. Thin ally tube and wire from an old printer cable. The various decals and labels I made and added. I also had to make the wiring relay boxes – none in the kit and the beginnings of the brake pipes are from thin solder wire.

Roy.

[Pete in Lincs]

Keeping busy, making it look busy.

I like it.

Pete

[MikeW]

No matter how many cars Bond had over the years, this was the car.

Looking forward to watching this build.

Cheers,

Mike

[kev67]

Very nice

[Mpfiend]

Superb work Roy,

The details you are adding really make this build stand out.

I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Best Regards

Keith

[S5 modeller]

I too started purchasing this kit. Until I joined this forum I thought it looked pretty good, but after seeing your work, I realise how pants the standard kit is.

I only got about half the issues, so have a massive box of parts, with some assembled.

Just beware of the steering column, it is rather fragile and mine arrived broke from the suppliers, I had to order a new one.

Matt.

[roymattblack]

I must admit I'm feeling a bit 'mojo-less' at present and in the past 3 days I've picked up, opened, studied, and put away umpteen kits.
Nothing seems to be of interest.

I've made a bit more progress on the DB5 though....

I moved on to the interior parts next.
The main floor section was covered with self-adhesive dolls house carpet in a light grey that was as near as I could get to the proper colour.
Templates were made in paper first, trimmed to fit, and then traced onto the rear of the carpet. Once cut out the carpet pieces fitted quite well and were a definite improvement over the black ‘pimply’ plastic that was supposed to look like carpet.

The dashboard and other interior parts were assembled pretty much as per instructions but I added some leather over the central console and arm rest, taking care to make sure the lid still opens. I also wrapped the handbrake gaiter in leather and BMF’d the tube.

With the driver’s seat fixed in place, I fitted the ejector mechanism in the passenger seat area.
I have read about the number of people that have ultimately disabled this function as the eject mechanism is just far too powerful. One poor soul tried his once the car was finished, to demonstrate to a friend.
The seat ejected so forcefully, the roof panel (metal!) flew through the air like a Frisbee and split the friends lip, and the seat smashed the ceiling light bulb…
After testing the assembly for myself I have decided that mine might also be disabled.
If it were true to scale, the passenger would go around 500 feet in the air, if not more!

The front uprights and discs were put together next.
The discs were painted a dull silver all over but it looked identical to the calipers – I wanted a bit of contrast.
I covered the disc with Aluminium tape and lightly sanded around the outer face with 400 grit.
This gave a nice representation of the actual disc face and it also now looks different to the colour of the calipers.

Roy.

[roymattblack]

A bit more done on the big'un...

Next on the list was to fit the interior to the chassis which is a substantial metal casting. Assembly of this was very straightforward and was actually little more than nuts-and-bolts assembly.

Getting the engine in was also extremely easy. Not so the bulkhead and firewall sides……
They just did not want to fit!
Fitting these three components took the best part of half an hour.

Once the parts were in, I had to connect up various brake pipe runs, bits of wiring and heater and fuel pipes. It was starting to look very ‘busy’ down there.

There are a lot of working electrical features on the model and this means a huge number of wires that need tucking out of the way. I bundled them together and taped them under the inner floor before connecting them to the PCB board at the rear. When the model is complete they won’t show as they will be hidden under the outer floor which is yet to be fitted.

The body parts went together very well – perfect fit in every case – and I was pleasantly surprised by the window frames which have very fine rubber surrounds and a chrome strip insert, just like the real car and it looks very convincing.
I did add black trim-line to the inner face of the door window frames to replicate the gap the glass goes into. Better than leaving it shiny chrome.

So far there have been very few fit issues and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything will go together ok when the body parts are fitted to the chassis.
I have read several horror stories about models that have parts that won’t line up without serious drill-and-dremel work. To test things out, I placed the major assemblies onto the chassis and everything seems ok so far. Time will tell.

One oddity I have now seen for myself...

The painted body parts actually match very well - but not in photo's!

I had read this on a few other forums but didn't believe it. Surely, if the parts colours match, they match!

Not in photo's they don't!

It really is odd. When the car parts are put together, the silver pieces match very well.

Take some photo's - different shades of silver!

Take my word for it - the car looks better in the flesh than in the pictures.

Roy.

[justin1980]

Wow!

I love the extra bits your adding, its looking great!

[S5 modeller]

Starting to look really special now roy. I like all your additions, you're making a silk purse out of a sows ear there.

[hendie]

now I am really starting to get envious!

[wimbledon99]

Again I am gobsmacked. Can't wait to see this complete

[roymattblack]

Many thanks for all the kind words you guys.
It's a fun build.

The rear axle was assembled next and once again it was mainly a nuts and bolts job after the parts had been painted satin black. The kit parts are already a very good finish but somehow I don’t like just leaving the plastic unpainted – it doesn’t seem ‘proper’ to me.
The main lower floor part was painted similarly and some details picked out in Humbrol Metalcote steel and Ally.

The front section of the car was assembled easily after the parts ‘behind’ the front grille had been painted matt black – they were body coloured as supplied.
The doors fitted perfectly and open/close with a nice spring mechanism. With the windows and interior panels added, it now looks like half a car and as before, I couldn’t resist trying the main assemblies together.

Wheels next – and all I can say here is the kit wheels are possibly the worst representations of wire wheels I’ve ever seen. They will NOT be going on my car!.....

Roy.

[hendie]

looking great and I am insanely jealous

and you have me intrigued - can you post a photo of the wire wheels so we (I) can see just how bad they are?