Scratchbuild of a Lancia D50

[albergman]

On 2016-11-26 at 4:57 AM, ROLY43T said:

Hi Frank,

I'd be interested to learn more of that tool for producing tyre treads, if it works would you give us a run down on how it works ( if that's not a trade secret ). This is a very interesting topic, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

Roly

 

On 2016-11-26 at 5:08 AM, roymattblack said:

I too will be interested to hear your tread pattern plans as I want to make some more tyre moulds and want something different to the ones I have.

 

Roy.

 

Good morning

 

Had a chance to play with my new toy ... the knurling tool yesterday.    For those who have never seen one it's an attachment for a metal lathe used to put those nice grippy surfaces on tool handles.

 

 

The two wheels with a knurled finish get pushed up against the work piece while the lathe turns.

The space between these wheels is variable and that change can produce different patterns.

 

In action ... (the outer wheel is just glued to another blank to get it clear of the chuck).

 

 

The depth of "tread" in this instance depends on the pressure applied and the duration of the application.

 

I tried it against several scrap Renshape blanks and a couple of urethane castings.

 

 

Different spacing ...

 

 

On urethane

 

 

Urethane gives a finer cut and I must have had the tool at a bit of an angle to the piece.

 

Anyway, various patterns and depths are available but all are just variations of a diamond shape.   These aren't really anything like a true tread pattern but for my purposes they're better than a bald tire or straight lines cut circumferentially.

 

The tool is quite cheap ($32 Canadian for my mini lathe) and I'll get good use from it.

 

Frank

 

 

[albergman]

Got my rear suspension pretty much sorted today.   Have to decide whether to make enough of a chassis to attach the forward end of the trailing links.   Right now they'll just disappear forward into nothing.   I think I'll want a bit of chassis visible in the cockpit eventually so it wouldn't take much to extend that back to pick them up ... stay tuned.

 

All of this is bolted together with tiny bolt salvaged from my old film camera ... yes, it hurts to scrap something like this but what else you gonna do with them??

I don't tap threads for these.   I just drill a hole that's barely large enough and keep going in and out as it cuts its own threads in the softer aluminum.

 

 

Anyway, here it is.

 

 

 

 

The top bar with all the holes isn't supposed to be a continuous piece.   I don't know where the two components with the holes are supposed to go ... never see a picture with the boot/trunk open.    I just made it one piece for convenience.

 

I'm getting ready to start fabricating the attachment struts that hold the tanks to the body so I set it up in its jig.   Placed the wheels around it for a photo-op.   Dying to get some paint on it!!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm leaving the leading and trailing edges of the tanks thicker than they should be till later ... will eventually be the thickness of a sheet of aluminum and that's too fragile while I'm working on it.

 

Cheers

 

Frank

[albergman]

OK ... back again.   So, last time I finished (sort of) the rear suspension and the wheels were fabricated (mostly).    There remained the nasty project of fabricating the finned brake drums which join the suspension to the wheel.    This car has multi-finned drums and they are beyond my capabilities to fabricate to scale and have the requisite number of fins (10).

 

 

I considered several media to make them ... machined aluminum (beyond my scope), brass sheet, tin cans (yes, really) but decided my Renshape is hard enough to use and could tolerate a half dozen or so fins ... so ... made an ultra fine tool for the lathe that let me scribe 6 or 7 rings around the work.

 

 

The recesses across the fins was done with a Dremel tool

 

 

The piece had to have a dish cut into it to let it fit over my existing backing plate ...

 

 

Then it can be attached (but not permanently)

 

 

Now the wheel has to be readied for its part in the process.

 

I have the spoke section inserted but the rim needs a false edge to complete it ... like this.

 

 

 

It slides into place to make it look like a complete rim ...

 

 

Now the finned drum can be "attached"

 

 

Next ...  this unit can be offered up to the waiting suspension

 

 

Repeated the process on the other side so I'm a lot further along at this end anyway.

 

 

So there ... lots of detailed measurements (and very, very slow, cautious lathe work) to get everything to fit but I'm really happy with how it went together.

 

I'm open to recommendations for finishing the finned pieces to look like aluminum.   I'd probably just brush on some aluminum paint but there's probably something better out there??

 

Next is the front suspension then I get to make a couple more fins ... oh goody.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Frank

[CrazyCrank]

Stunning work   Congrats !

 

[albergman]

8 hours ago, CrazyCrank said:

Stunning work   Congrats !

 

 

Glad you like my project ... thank you.   Every time I see that winch handle (avatar) I want to ask about your yachting interest.   We recently sold our Alberg 37 after sailing to the Caribbean and living aboard for several years.  

 

 

Frank

[CrazyCrank]

I'm sailing usually on 28 to 40 feet sailboats, in Brittany: Morbihan Gulf, Quiberon Bay, sometimes between Lorient and La Rochelle, sometimes I participate to local regattas.

I'm a "sunday sailorman", who is actually sailing from 1 to 3 weeks of a year. (3 to 6 a few years ago)

In 2014, my Yacht club annual regatta has taken place in the Solent, Southampton and Cows Island...It was a rich experience

I like very much spin my crank on winches and have fun when racing.

 

 

[vontrips]

Lovely work on the drum fins! You deserve to treat yourself to a mini-mill! ;-)

[albergman]

4 hours ago, CrazyCrank said:

I'm sailing usually on 28 to 40 feet sailboats, in Brittany: Morbihan Gulf, Quiberon Bay, sometimes between Lorient and La Rochelle, sometimes I participate to local regattas.

I'm a "sunday sailorman", who is actually sailing from 1 to 3 weeks of a year. (3 to 6 a few years ago)

In 2014, my Yacht club annual regatta has taken place in the Solent, Southampton and Cows Island...It was a rich experience

I like very much spin my crank on winches and have fun when racing.

 

 

 

 

C/C well, at least you're out on the water.   The only sailing I do now is on other people's boats ... the best way!!

 

3 hours ago, vontrips said:

Lovely work on the drum fins! You deserve to treat yourself to a mini-mill! ;-)

 

V/T ... thanks.   My tiny shop couldn't accomodate one I'm afraid.   I know nothing about mills and I'm just now feeling comfortable with my mini lathe.   You have one I presume?

[vontrips]

 

Yes, but don't know what I'm playing at on it...good fun finding my way though!

 

Only takes up 800mm of bench space, even with a longer than standard table fitted. I've put both my lathe and mill on old kitchen floor cabinets with casters. I can wheel them out the way to make space when needed. All the tools go in the cabinets.

[kpnuts]

Hi albergman, incredible skills here. 

Doing a great job. 

[albergman]

Made a start on the front suspension yesterday.    Made the two top A-arms first.   Decided to do them in brass rod in one piece and bend that to shape as one continuous piece.    Filled the outer angle with silver solder then shaped that to replicate the requisite bracket.    The inboard ends still need to be shaped and holes drilled to mount to the car.   The stalk of the "Y" gets filed way down to fit into the vertical bracket ... next below.

 

 

Next came the vertical bracket (kingpin?) that holds the upper and lower A-arms and the steering lever.   Cut this out of a scrap of aluminum ... lots of filing, drill 3 holes and polish.   The middle hole IS supposed to be above the centre.

 

 

This all pretty tiny so keep that in mind .    These are actually the two upper A-arms shown.   The lowers have a different shape.

 

 

Next came the backing plate for the brake drum ... I've also fabricated the steering arm (?) and the rod/bracket which attach to that.

 

I ran a tiny bolt from the far side of the backing plate through the upright and threaded into the steering bracket.

 

 

Made a tiny C-shaped bracket from spring steel after removing the temper with heat.  Ran another tiny bolt through that to clamp onto the steering arm.

 

The rod has a flattened head to keep it retained inside the C-bracket.

 

Had a go at making an aluminum finned brake drum but, as I expected, my finely shaped tool bit snapped after making a few lovely cuts.

 

One  last thing.   

 

I finished a front tire to the profile I wanted and put a tread onto the surface using my knurling tool.   Then I took a fine cutting tool and cut several cuts into the surface.

 

Applied a coat of flat black and buffed it slightly.   I like the effect it has.   Convincing enough for me

 

You may have gathered from following my builds that I'm not fanatical about correctness when it comes to things like number of spokes, number/size of holes, rivets etc.   I'm much more interested in "the Process".   I enjoy thinking about "how am I going to fabricate that?" then doing so.    So, bear with me as I make a model that brings me pleasure.    At least I usually try to keep the parts in scale whenever possible. 

 

Cheers

 

Frank

 

 

 

 

[sharknose156]

Your finned finned drums solution and technique is incredible.

Thank you for sharing and explaining this great wip. 

[Dr. Fiat]

Fantastic job on the tires and on the finned drums!  That part alone would have done me in!  Keep sharing progress on this amazingly realistic scratchbuild!!

 

Thanks!

 

Darin

[harveyb258]

Beautiful work Frank! A true scratchbuild!
Thank you for sharing your techniques with us!

 

Cheers, H

[albergman]

On 2016-12-07 at 6:26 PM, sharknose156 said:

Your finned finned drums solution and technique is incredible.   Thank you for sharing and explaining this great wip. 

 

On 2016-12-07 at 8:34 PM, Dr. Fiat said:

Fantastic job on the tires and on the finned drums!  That part alone would have done me in!  Keep sharing progress on this amazingly realistic scratchbuild!!

Darin

 

15 hours ago, harveyb258 said:

Beautiful work Frank! A true scratchbuild!   Thank you for sharing your techniques with us!

Cheers, H

 

Thank you, thank you.   Glad to have some interested modellers along.

 

Today I machined the two front brake drums first.   I've made a new, finer cutting tool and was able to cut even thinner cooling fins in the Renshape.    I'm not going to put the "notches" across these fins as I'm sure they'd shatter and besides, I see many of the early Lancias had straight fins without cuts ... so there!.    Next I assembled the front wheel pieces I've been working on.  The front drums are entirely out in the air-stream ... as they should be.    I did open some aluminum paint and brushed on a coat.

 

 

Re-shaped all my tires to a more reasonable (cross-section) profile then pressed a tread into them with the knurling tool.    Most of the wheels can now be glued up with their brake drums.    I decided I'm going to make another rear tire for one side ... not happy with it.

 

After all that I was just too keen to see all the bits put in place for a photo-op.

 

Gettin' there!

 

 

OK, from the sublime to the ridiculous ... making a tiny bracket for one side of the windscreen.   I had already made a simpler pair but the real ones have a couple of interesting curves in them and I now knew how to make them.   This will be a piece of metal that wraps around the glass and is attached then to 2 90 degree brackets on the car body ... I guess I can't use actual pictures from the web so bear with me.

 

I went back to this sheet of metal (I'm calling it spring steel) but it's shiny, thin, hard to bend but can be softened with a flame.   Then it becomes nice because it's very thin and malleable and never breaks (so far).   Some kind of tin I suppose.  

 

First I hammered a larger piece over a piece of aluminum scrap the thickness of the (eventual) glass.   Then I delicately shaped it with one of those equally delicate coin-sized grindstones you get for the Dremel.

 

Here it is as I drill a tiny (.4 mm) hole through it ...

 

 

Next I slide a similar sized pin through the hole and silver solder it in place ... file down the solder gob then polish the whole thing.    It will be cut from the larger piece just below the pin.    Scrap plexi in place.

 

 

I had also previously made the 2 90-degree brackets for the body.    Here's one with the new bracket.   BTW the windshield bracket is 3 mm tall.

 

 

I just had to take a picture of the mess after making such a tiny bracket ... now I have to make another.

 

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Frank

[Dr. Fiat]

Insanity!!!  My blind bat eyes think that 0.8mm or 1mm is absurdly small... but 0.4 mm?  

 

I'll tell you what- I've never build a model from scratch (yet), but I imagine the satisfaction at the end of the build is simply indescribable...what an accomplishment...

[albergman]

On 2016-12-09 at 9:41 PM, Dr. Fiat said:

Insanity!!!  My blind bat eyes think that 0.8mm or 1mm is absurdly small... but 0.4 mm?  

 

I'll tell you what- I've never build a model from scratch (yet), but I imagine the satisfaction at the end of the build is simply indescribable...what an accomplishment...

 

Hi and thanks Doc.    Yes, it really IS satisfying to make something from scratch.   Figuring out how and from what I'm going to make a part is fun for me.   I only started scratch building 12 or so years ago and I wasn't in the trades (I was a computer geek) so it's just something I learned by doing. 

 

As for the fine drills ... I buy these tiny cases of drills locally ($8 in Canada).   Made for soft materials so I break a lot using them for aluminum.

Maybe one of these other projects of mine will inspire you try a scratchbuild!!!

 

Frank

 

http://www.britmodel...flying-scotsman

http://www.britmodel...ilt-triumph-tr6

http://www.britmodel...tsy-wooden-cars

http://www.britmodel...uilt-half-hulls

http://www.britmodel...rt-fishing-boat

http://www.britmodel...build-lola-t70/

http://www.britmodel...agon-tarted-up/

 

[Dr. Fiat]

Thanks Albergman!  I'm speechless after viewing the Trojan-designed boat and the TR6!!!!!

[albergman]

16 hours ago, Dr. Fiat said:

Thanks Albergman!  I'm speechless after viewing the Trojan-designed boat and the TR6!!!!!

 

Good job you're a Doctor then ... sure hope your voice comes back

 

I never meant to induce any illnesses.

 

Frank

[Dr. Fiat]

8 hours ago, albergman said:

 

Good job you're a Doctor then ... sure hope your voice comes back

 

I never meant to induce any illnesses.

 

Frank

Only a Doc in Chemistry!  I'll bet my wife wishes I had a problem with my voice!

 

[albergman]

Well, it's been a while!   I've been picking away at the model over the last 4 months but mostly re-making parts I already had ... story of my life.

   

If I'm to be completely honest I have to admit I started on another project!!      I've been trying to get up the motivation to start another locomotive ... one of Gresley's A4 streamliners for those who care about these things.   Got the shell finished then felt real bad about the D50 gathering dust already and maybe joining all the other unfinished projects languishing in drawers.

 

Guilt got the better of me so I've been back at this one and I'll finish it da*n it!!

 

So ....

 

I'm pretty much finished making parts and actually now trying out various spray colours as I don't want to do it in the familiar Ferrari red but more like the maroon that Lancia used.

 

Here's some pictures of parts made

 

Exhaust pipes

 

 

Driver seat/mini chassis

 

Decided the instrument nacelles were too big so had to make new ones ... and fill the holes in the dashboard!

 

 

The small ones are really tiny ...

 

 

Some of you may recall that I'd made front and rear brake drums in Renshape a while back.    I decided after living with them for a while that I didn't care for them (sounds like real life!) so I made an ultra fine cutting tool for my lathe and VERY delicately cut a pair of finned front drums in aluminum.

 

 

Next thing was I didn't care for the brass A-arms on the front suspension so ... these were re-made in aluminium!

 

Drilled holes at the outboard end so I could run bolts through from outside the brake backing plate and the kingpin.

 

 

Once all this was combined on the car I was pleased I'd made the effort.  Now the whole front suspension is aluminium.

(The right-lower wishbone has rotated on its bolt so it looks odd.)

Oh ... new grill installed too.

 

 

What else???    Oh yes, now that the front drums are aluminium I must re-do the rears!!

 

left to right ... the rim/tire,  brake drum and rear suspension with backing plates bolted on ...

 

 

Now the drum sitting inside the rim

 

 

finally, the rear suspension fits into both ...

 

 

Actually I still have to make the other brake drum but that will pretty much finish the rear suspension ... until I decide to remake something else!    Those brass bits on the de dion tube are bothering me now!

 

Here's a test fitting of all the gubbins that goes between the tanks and the body.

 

Exhaust pipe with a large oil pipe feeding into the base of the tall, narrow oil radiator then a flex line taking the cooled oil back into a reservoir behind the seat.

 

 

Everything is just being test-fitted here.

 

The rivet strip was a late decision after drilling and fitting of hundreds of the plastic rivets that I'd bought.   They were just too large-headed.  So ... I shaved off all their heads and came up with the aluminium strip idea.   The best material I could come up with ... scale thickness and malleable, was that disk that coffee cans are vacuum-sealed with.  

 

 

I smoothed out the "bimps" on its surface and cut appropriate sized strips.   Next I sharpened a small nail to a fine rounded point and used it to punch in "X" rivets (where X=5 or 600).   Glued the strip to the tank and around the ends.

 

There are rows of individual rivets scattered around the tanks and elsewhere on the body and for these I used 1/2 inch straight pins liberated from the missus' sewing room on a midnight raid.   These were actually hammered into holes drilled for the purpose.   By leaving the hole at 3/4 depth the "nail" went in without any glue being needed.

 

Oil radiators ...

 

They are tall thin units fitted at the rear of each tank.   There's a segment that protrudes to the rear which ends with a spigot for an oil hose to attach to.   I preferred to have this part made from a single piece of metal as it's so much stronger that way ... so ... into the scrap bin!    I found a scrapped computer hard drive "chassis" that already had the requisite oil radiator built in so a few minutes with a hacksaw retrieved it.

 

 

A few more minutes with files and the rad unit emerged ...

 

 

Next I drilled a few holes into the rad. body then filed out a suitable rectangular hole into which I squeezed/CA'd  some wire mesh (anti-static shielding off some computer component).   Still looking for something more appropriate though.

 

Stripped off the plastic covering from some leftover wire and slipped it onto the spigot.

 

 

The plastic was too resistant to bending to the shape needed so I did end up sliding some brass rod into it.

 

OK,  that's about where she sits.   Trying various paints and washing it off as I search for something appropriate.

 

Thanks for looking in.   Back later.

 

Frank

 

 

[hendie]

very nice work. The brake drums look much better now.  All the ingenuity shown here is now filed for future use !

[Borez]

Very nice, looking over your other work I love the Lola T70. Is it still a work in progress?

[albergman]

Thanks guys.   Appreciate you looking in.   This one's starting to become a drag and I'm finding myself rushing things.   I can see the end in sight though and I WILL finish it.

 

The LOLA?    Hmmm ... haven't touched it in a long time.   Just checked and it was Sept 2004      Not likely I'll pick it up again.   It was one of the first models I chose to build when I decided to try scratch building in 2002 and it has some serious issues that I can't be bothered trying to fix.   I've learned a lot since then and it might be faster just to start over.    It's a complex shape and I was just working from photos and I've learned that that can be very misleading.

 

Frank

[BeastieBoy73]

That is a magnificent model. It's early days for me with regards model building but I have my lates Grandfathers Cowells lathe gathering dust that I'd love to think could be used to build even just one part of a model like yours.

 

He built a 3.5" Gauge live steam train (same as the one below) using the lathe so I'm hoping some of his skills have rubbed off on me. So far, any skills that he may have passed on have remained very hidden...