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Mercedes Benz SSKL, Matchbox 1:32 plus scratchbuilt and 3d printed bits!


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On 3/27/2019 at 4:28 PM, Snowman said:

That is some hard graft there! Look great!🤩👍

Thanks Snowman!

 

Today saw more progress on the brake drums.

The easy end first! All I needed to do here was remove the small lip around the axle and drill out the drums. It was so simple I only took one pic!

 

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The tape is there to mark the centre so I can make sure that the track is correct, which it is!

Then it was on to the front end. A little more difficult, but I was fairly sure that my plan would work, so I went at it! As I stated earlier, I planned on removing the moulded on drums, then thinning down what was left and cutting a notch into the new drums to let them slip over and engage on the remains of the moulded drums. That's probably easier to explain with pics....

No going back now....

 

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The drums were drilled out to fit over the axle and test fitted to see if it looked as though it would all work out. Fortunately it looked as though it would!

 

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So on that basis, the drums were marked out with a thin marker so I knew where to cut them out.

 

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A new number 11 blade and careful slicing enabled the first 3 layers of the drums to be removed and with a little fettling they slipped nicely over what was left of the moulded drums.

 

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All I needed to do then was mark the backplates, drill holes for the crossmember mounts, then cut a slit to enable it to be fitted over the moulded parts.

This is what it looks like fitted, but without the drum in place. When it comes time to fit these permanently I will fit the backplates first, then fit the drums and glue the 2 together.

 

46570162395_06624316a9_k.jpg

 

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This is how it will look when it's all put together. The backplates hide any gaps nicely.

 

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Unfortunately, one of the crossmember ends broke off while being sanded down, but that gives me a chance to show a little closer view of how it looks with the drum and backplate fitted.

 

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Since the plastic is so soft, I don't think that will be an issue as it glued back on and seems to be very strong. The break left a little nub and a hole which helped relocate it in the correct position.

 

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Another fruitful day's work!

I'm very happy with how that's worked out, despite the broken chassis member. I'll fit them after everything is painted, backplate first, then drum, then wheel.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

 

 

Edited by limeypilot
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On 3/29/2019 at 12:17 AM, Hamden said:

 

Like how you have improved the brake system which will be very visible on the completed replica

 

   Roger

Thanks roger, I really had no option after i decided to re spoke the wheels, but I'm glad I did it!

 

On 3/30/2019 at 10:57 AM, Hewy said:

I'm glad this is back on, great work on the drums, I like those

Thanks Hewy!

 

Well folks, some more progress has been made over the last week.

I didn't like the black on the undersides as it was too dark, so I resprayed with Panzer Schwarzgrau darkened a little more, and that came out like this

 

46824665624_4b996d44eb_k.jpg

 

That wasn't nearly dark enough, so I did it again and just lightened the basic black a tad. So much for trying to be clever!

 

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That actually looks lighter than it is, I'm happy with it now.

The interior is almost non-existant and one thing I wanted to add was the trim panels on the side walls. These were cut from 10thou sheet and painted the same colour (along with the seats).

 

46824665284_81f2054b86_k.jpg

 

They are just a tad smaller than the cutouts in the body so they will show a thin line of white bodywork along the upper edge.

 

Yesterday I made a start on the white. A good couple of hours was spent masking out the floor and springs, then I got a light first coat on to see how it looked.

 

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I left it overnight and late this morning took a closer look. That revealed that the sink marks on the rear sides of the bodywork were still visible, plus some more work needed to be done on the front chassis rails, particularly where the extra panel was fitted under the exhausts (or at least, the bit of that part that I didn't bin!) 

 

So a little more PPP was applied and sanded down, then it was back into the spray booth for another coat!

 

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That should do it! I thought I'd cocked it up as the paint seemed to be going on dry, but when I moved in closer, it went on wet and looks to have a good smooth high gloss to it. A bit of micromesh and it should be more than acceptable! Maybe I should lower the pressure a little, would that help? (or thin the paint a little more?)

I'll leave that now for a few days before I attempt to remove all that masking on the chassis. I hope it will all come off ok, and more importantly, that there aren't any hidden black bits where there shouldn't be black bits!

The sharp-eyed among you will have also noticed that I have removed the bonnet handles and locking clips. They will be replaced with nickel-silver wire later.

 

By the way, what do you all recommend for chrome? I have Alclad, but like a plonker I sprayed gloss black acrylic and I'm pretty sure that won't work too well under Lacquer! Any suggestions?

 

Have a good weekend all, mine's over - back to work on Sunday over here!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

 

Edited by limeypilot
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/6/2019 at 4:53 PM, Hewy said:

Very nice white finish ian, looking good, ak extreme metals chrome looks really good over gloss black, it's enamel based, I think it's better than alclad

Thanks Hewy, I've ordered some AK and it is waiting for me to pick it up when I'm home next month!

 

I've had a break from this for the last week or so on account of my brother came to visit! We had a great time, and his all too brief visit ended Tuesday night, so I've been able to make a little more progress over the last couple of days.

 

First up was a little weathering on the seats, floor, and side trim panels. Something I'm not used to and am a little hesitant to try, but it has to be done!

 

Flory washes applied....

 

47649844351_de61b92333_k.jpg

 

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The floor came out sort of ok, but I wasn't happy with the seats so I have redone them with a grime wash instead of a lighter one. We'll see how that looks....

 

The next job was to make up some foot pedals with .004" aluminium tube. That was bent to shape and thebrake and clutch were CA'd in place into the holes drilled before hand in the clutch housing. The engine was then attached, and the throttle pedal CA'd into the hole in the rear of the mount. I'm not too worried about the underside, but they are at least in the correct area. The main point is that they look right where they come through the floor.

 

46925811394_7b5a9b06d1_k.jpg

 

Not too much, but a move in the right direction!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

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I've been having a lot of problems accessing the forum, I can access it anywhere except at home! Etisalat, the provider here, keep telling me it's a site issue, but if it is, why can I access it everywhere except at home? Anyway, as a result, I'm trying this update on my phone, at the local bar. Hate it when that happens!

 Well, that's not going to work. I can't get the photo address to paste here.

 

I'll try again to access the site at home later

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by limeypilot
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Ok, I've managed to access more than just the first page, so here is a quick update.

First off, a quick dry fit of the body and home-grown side panels.

 

33827040988_958059368c_z.jpg

 

Looks good to me!

 

I then started to look at the hand brake, and realised that the kit part is pretty poor, to put it mildly.

 

40738004443_9db6b81972_z.jpg

 

So out came the aluminium tube and a beer can. A little bit of cutting, bending and squeezing and I had a much better representation.

 

33827043598_50e0254580_z.jpg

 

Then I had to reposition it to somewhere a little closer to where it should be, a little further forward and right, and mounted in a slot, not a hole...

 

40738005833_db418833df_z.jpg

 

a little filler and that problem was sorted too!

 

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That has since been painted and is barely noticeable. 

 

On to the next stage, but probably not just yet. I'm off back to Guernsey next week for my baby sister's 50th so it will be a couple of weeks before any more on this!

 

Thanks for looking in, and for your patience!

 

Ian

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That beer can has transformed into a hand brake nicely. Or did I misinterpret and the can just came out of the fridge for you to quench your thirst and has nothing to do with the hand brake? 🙂 

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10 hours ago, JeroenS said:

That beer can has transformed into a hand brake nicely. Or did I misinterpret and the can just came out of the fridge for you to quench your thirst and has nothing to do with the hand brake? 🙂 

No. you got it right. The beer can is the release lever at the top.

 

Ian

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  • 2 months later...

Hi folks,

 Just a small update on this on account of I'm still waiting for an order of thin CA to arrive so I can do the rigging on the 2 Pfalz Eindeckers I'm working on. I've been putting these jobs off and I'm glad I finally tackled them. The first was to fabricate a replacement for the front chassis tie bar. I posted a pic earlier in the post of just how awful the kit part is, but I wasn't sure quite how to go about doing it as there are a few small pieces involved which all needed soldering without the others coming of. I'm no expert solderer!

I started off by cutting and shaping the parts I needed: two pieces of brass tube, one to slide over the rod as the mount for it all, and one for the crank handle bracket, 1 piece of 1/32 square brass rod and 1 piece of 1/32 brass rod for the spotlight bracket. 

 I recently bought some liquid flux and solder paste so decided to try those. Simples! It goes "fizz" and it's all stuck together!

 

48404353442_7dc3736791_z.jpg

 

I think you'll all agree that's a slight improvement, even though it's not 100%!

 

Next up was to make a start on the shock absorber linkages. The tie arms will be soldered together, but I was having trouble figuring out how to do the actuating rods. I tried crushing some aluminium tube and filing that to shape, but as suspected, I filed the edges off and the two halves split. 

 

48404205641_b4402a543f_z.jpg

 

Lurking in the back of my mind was the thought that I'd put aside some thick copper wire for my Bentley build, and I actually managed to find it!

 

48404206076_560dd012d5_z.jpg

 

That seemed hopeful, it squashed well enough and could be filed, so I went for it. After an hour or so I had 2 acceptable arms, which now need mounting holes drilled and they're done! They're not masterpieces by any means, but they will certainly do the job!

I'll wait until I've done the linkages before I drill the holes so I get them the same size!

 

48404205961_ea04808801_z.jpg

 

That's enough small work for one day, catch you soon and thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

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Right, where were we?

Oh yes, front shocks....

 

Holes drilled and the next step was to solder the mounting rods...... before I did that I also wanted to put the linkages together. That was a job and a half. I hadn't realised that aluminium didn't solder like brass, so it took a good few attempts before I finally got the aluminium ends to stick to the brass centre rods. Here's how they looked after I managed to get them to stick...

 

48445625712_c5cb9f892c_z.jpg

 

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After that, I dug out some resin nuts, sanded them down, and CAd them to the actuator arms. I also CAd the rods that attach the shock arms to the springs. I gave up on soldering them as I couldn't drill the holes for the mounting pins.

Here's how that all looked. 

 

48445467676_a658f40de8_z.jpg

 

I'm happy with that little lot!

 

That led to the next step, the mudguards. I hadn't realised how bad they were!

 

This is what we get in the kit...

 

48445468731_7b5664fb6b_z.jpg

 

Both front and rear have some odd angle changes which have to be corrected. They should be a lot smoother than this...

 

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Here's one of the front ones corrected, the rear ones are far worse!

 

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You can see from this next shot just how thick the mudguards are. This, of course, has to be corrected.

 

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One front one done...

 

48445468466_ae0d2a5e38_z.jpg

 

This is one of the rear mudguards, and it's very obvious that some of these details are not true! 

 

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A couple of holes drilled, some plastic removed, and some .020" brass wire bent to shape, and we now have this.

 

48445468086_ccb2989583_z.jpg

 

We're getting there!

The easy bit is done, now I need to do the same for the front mounts on the rear mudguards, and the rear mounts on the front mudguards. I'll have to expand those too as they were widened to stop mud/dirt spraying back toward the cockpit. Then the hard part.... Making new mounts for the headlights/front mudguards. I'm hoping to do it with plastic and not have to use brass, but we'll see soon whether that works or not!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

Edited by limeypilot
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Quite superlative Ian.

I dont remember you mentioning that you were building this but staggered to see the quality of invention that has gone into the wheels, exhausts....

<lists whole car>

...and so forth.

Beautiful range of work.

Expect spokes on the Battle now too! :)

 

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9 hours ago, Rob G said:

When you're done with this'un Ian, I'll send you mine and you can do that one too!

 

Spectacular work!

Thanks Rob, but I think one will be enough!

 

7 hours ago, Darwinism said:

Hi limeypilot, just found this thread. You, Sir, are a true artisan - I follow along if you don’t mind. 

Thanks, and welcome aboard!

 

48 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Quite superlative Ian.

I dont remember you mentioning that you were building this but staggered to see the quality of invention that has gone into the wheels, exhausts....

<lists whole car>

...and so forth.

Beautiful range of work.

Expect spokes on the Battle now too! :)

 

Thanks Tony, but the Battle shall remain spokeless, no matter how much you hassle me!

 

The last post was done late last night, and in a bit of a hurry, so a couple of details got omitted. First, it would be far better to simply scrap the mudguards and vac/plunge mould replacements. But I'm not going to! They are not only far too thick, but are too deep and also rounded across the top, instead of almost flat. I have sanded down the tops of the rear ones to flatten them off a bit, which also helps with the depth, but I don't want to risk going through! You can get an idea of how far off they are by looking at the bracket I have attached on the rear ones above. The bar where it attaches to the underside of the mudguard is, in reality, straight, not bent to a curve!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

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On 8/4/2019 at 1:05 PM, harveyb258 said:

Having just seen this thread, I must say that you're doing a grand job, Ian.  I look forward to your next instalment.

 

Cheers, H

Thanks H! A quick update on the rear mudguards....

 

This is what I'm aiming for....

 

48465197091_482b916967_z.jpg

 

Hence the removal of the surplus plastic, and brass rod for the brackets. I left the moulded mounts on until I had the shape sorted out, so that I could be sure that the height would remain the same. Once I had the shape formed, I clipped the moulded mounts off and fine tuned the shape to make the mudguards even. I had to tweak the rear mounts a little as they were a little too long, resulting in the mudguards not being parallel.

 

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Close enough for now! I can give them a final adjustment and ensure they are absolutely level and even once everything is mounted and the wheels are on.

I'm happy with that!

 

Now for the front.....

 

Thanks for looking in folks!

 

Ian

 

 

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I'm  glad your still on this one ian , I've took  mine out of the box and looked over it just this week with a view resurrecting it ,i love those mudgaurd attachments,  the linkages and the crank handle guide ,smashing job, i think what you were aiming for you got in spades , looks great ,even more so when you take into account its scale ,

Glynn

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  • 4 months later...
On 8/6/2019 at 1:35 AM, hendie said:

fine piece of fettling there Ian.

Cheers Hendie, sorry it's taken so long to reply!

 

On 8/7/2019 at 10:14 PM, Hewy said:

I'm  glad your still on this one ian , I've took  mine out of the box and looked over it just this week with a view resurrecting it ,i love those mudgaurd attachments,  the linkages and the crank handle guide ,smashing job, i think what you were aiming for you got in spades , looks great ,even more so when you take into account its scale ,

Glynn

Thanks Glynn! Go on, you know you want to!

 

A little (very little!) more done on this over the last couple of days. I decided to go ahead and fit the bits I made back in July so I sprayed the linkages and chassis tie-bar white yesterday and fitted them today. I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out!

The dash board also got painted as I managed to find some useable instrument decals so it's now ready for those.

 

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I got hold of a Molotov chrome pen too and am experimenting with that. The small pieces are easy enough but the radiator shroud is presenting problems. May try to decant and spray, we'll see how it looks!

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

Edited by limeypilot
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On 12/13/2019 at 8:52 PM, peekay said:

Fantastic modeling going on here, a joy to watch.

Thanks peekay, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

 

On 12/14/2019 at 12:42 PM, Hamden said:

 

Nice to see this one back on the bench, your front suspenion looks superb a vast improvement over what the kit provides.

 

           Roger

Cheers Roger. I'm certainly happy with the way it's turned out. As you say, even if I'd really screwed it up, it would still be a huge improvement!

 

A little more to add.... I mentioned earlier that I had acquired some instrument decals. They are these from interdecal

 

49228866986_f9e63878ff_z.jpg

 

I picked out a few that resembled the instruments - not 100% accurate but they look ok, the needles are in the right places, and they are very close to the correct sizes.

They were added to the instrument panel, along with a disc of black decal. Also added were a couple of discs of aluminium beer can. Some drilling and a couple of pieces of 0.040" aluminium tube later, one of which was squished in pliers to flatten it, and I now have this....

 

49228402828_3db95ec43d_z.jpg

 

I hadn't noticed until I looked at that pic that the centre dial actually says MPH, it should of course be RPM. It is not noticeable to the naked eye so it will stay! A little more to add with some stretched clear sprue and I think that will do it for the IP. I think it looks a lot better than the moulded kit part!

 

I also added some .040" aluminium tube to the steering wheel to replace the moulded mixture levers. All the little round "blobs" on the ends of the tube were added with Mr Dissolved Putty, applied with a paintbrush and slowly built up to the correct sizes.

 

49228402913_164e5112fe_z.jpg

 

I'm much happier with that as they're far crisper than the moulded lumps!

 

Thanks for looking in, see you all soon!

 

Ian

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