Campbell-Railton Blue Bird 1933

[Bengalensis]

10 hours ago, klubman01 said:

Great work so far.

 

A long time ago, one of the breakfast cereals (Kellogg's Corn Flakes IIRC) gave away a series of really small models of all the different Bluebirds.  They were in blue plastic and consisted of about five or six parts.  Kit building - gotta start somewhere. 

 

Thanks a lot. They sure gave you good treats in those days. I've done the Proteus CN7 in 1/24, would love a kit of the Sunbeam.

[Bengalensis]

Transmissions are always an important part in these wheel driven LSR-cars, also I like race car transmissions, and luckily part of it is quite visible in this one, going through the cockpit. The forward part is supplied as that resin piece I rebuilt earlier, and a metal pipe makes up the shaft tube going backwards. But the rear part that is visible beside the driver's seat in photos of the naked chassis (not that I have found many of those photos) is missing.

 

First I thought I'd just create the complete thing in my 3D Cad and have it printed, but then I decided to first build the rear section from scratch, the old school way. A disc cut from sheet styrene and drilled for pieces of Evergreen rod around the circumference became the base, completed with pieces cut from some old spare box parts.

 

 

This forms the forward section of the rear axle, and the whole thing now fits like this beside the seat. I think it will do fine for what will be visible in the end.

 

 

Here is a quick test fit of the main parts, albeit a bit iffy as it's only held in place with blue tac.

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Fantastic!

Great skill and great subject: modeling at its best!

 

 

[Bengalensis]

22 hours ago, Moa said:

Fantastic!

Great skill and great subject: modeling at its best!

Thanks a lot, you are most kind.

 

There should be a thin rounded edge on the lower sides of the cockpit opening, fanning out towards the headrest straps. I added this using 0,5 Evergreen rod and sanded the rear to shape.

 

 

There should also be a rounded darker beading around the edge of the windscreen frame. It looks like it might have been added as a protection from the hard edge, possibly a rubber or textile strip, not sure. It's a little thicker the cockpit edge, so I used 0,64 rod for this.

 

 

I now have to sand the body before doing further details on it.

[Bengalensis]

This morning I sanded out the whole body, a much faster job this time around thankfully. Then I started more detail work. There should be a few small fasteners around the cockpit opening and these were made from 0,5 evergreen rod glued in drilled holes. I also adjusted the fit of the rear wheels and brake drums.

 

 

I have not been as good at checking out problems early on as I should. The locating holes for the steering links where not correctly placed to make a reasonably accurate steering linkage. Luckily it is not too late to correct it, even if it would have been better to catch this earlier.

 

 

This will make a much better layout even if there will still be some compromise. Also that lower panel behind the engine is not the correct shape and there might be a few more issues with proportions here and there, but I won't bother with it and it's not easy to draw definite conclusions from the few reference photos there are.

 

 

Then I made this little tool from two steel needles glued to a piece of styrene to achieve about 2,6 mm C-C.

 

 

The tool was used to mark the locations for tiny drill marks I had to do on the edges representing the valve covers of the Rolls Royce R engine that should be visible.

 

 

I'm not sure about these long exhaust stacks. Most photos show them like this, but they look to be before running at Daytona. There are also photos showing shorter stacks, and photos showing what looks like more or less only the exhaust ports.

 

More bolt heads and fasteners were drilled and glued from 0,64 rod, looking at photos and obtaining a reasonable compromise.

 

 

 

Looking at photos of Campbell himself in the cockpit I get the distinct impression that the interior sides were lined in brownish(?) leather of similar type as the seat and head rest, with a rounded edge. I made two panels for this from 0,5 sheet fitting like so.

 

 

 

A rough test fit to ensure that it will be possible to mount the front axle and wheels and get everything to line up, within adjustments that will not be too large to make later on. It's not looking too bad and will hopefully work out OK in the end.

 

 

30 and 50 years of development certainly made the creations a lot faster; 438, 649 and 1019 km/h, but that development very much did not make wonders for the look of the same creations. Although the Blue Bird Proteus CN7 has grown a lot on me, the Thrust 2 still has a long way to go... Actually the later Thrust SSC looked much better. Yes, I want a 1/24 kit of the SSC, please FPPM or someone; it would only be 69 cm long... Just make it and take my money.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Your attention to detail and your dexterity to represent it is truly admirable.

I think you are ready for 1/72nd scale now

[Bengalensis]

11 minutes ago, Moa said:

Your attention to detail and your dexterity to represent it is truly admirable.

I think you are ready for 1/72nd scale now

Thanks. I do have the Blue Bird K7 speed record boat in 1/72 resin in the stash. One day...

[harveyb258]

And that's a big thumbs up from me...

[Bengalensis]

Thanks a lot.

 

In the morning I masked for a few coats of primer to try to represent the thin sheet metal edges of the wheel fairing end covers. This detail was actually there in the resin castings, but I had to fill and sand out problems, so it had to be sacrificed in the process.

 

 

What I wanted is exactly this, here after drying and sanding. A thin raised edge. I just hope enough will remain after painting.

 

 

The wishbones of the front suspension have been reshaped and the steering arms lowered and modified, to further improve the look of the steering components. When the suspension and front wheels are installed I will have to scratch build shafts from the brake back plates to the body and levers that the external brake linkage can connect to.

 

 

I have also spent some time watching the films from the record breaking at Daytona, and it became clear that it is like I suspected with the exhaust stacks. They were much shorter at that time. Here is a descent view.

 

 

Having a reasonably clear idea of what I wanted I set about creating it in my 3D-cad. I was not really in a mode to scratch build this detail six times and repeat it all a second time. I think this will do, and be off to printing.

 

 

Furthermore the four spoke steering wheel in the kit is not correct, as it was by now a three spoke wheel. I have seen it before, but wasn't sure it was at Daytona, but indeed it was.

 

 

So while I was doing cad work and will 3D-print I just carried on and made the steering wheel as well, to be printed at the same time.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

So many details

Picasso used to say that you never completely finished a painting, at some point you just let it go.

Fine work, as we are used from you.

 

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, Moa said:

So many details

Picasso used to say that you never completely finished a painting, at some point you just let it go.

Fine work, as we are used from you.

 

Thank you very much. Picasso was a wise man; it is very much so, you are never finished with a model, but have to let go somewhere. I have learned this a little more with growing age...

 

And in the meantime there have been blue paint sprayed. The photo is a little misgiving; the shade of blue has a slight more greenish and paler tone to it.

 

[CrazyCrank]

Can't wait anymore to see the final result.

Your build is amazing !

Keep up the good work

 

[klubman01]

Once that blue paint is on it looks really good.

 

Great work on the detail parts.

[Bengalensis]

Thanks a lot guys.

 

This morning all the parts have been sprayed with the first paint. Except of course for the printed parts, the files were sent for printing yesterday. And also the photo etched honeycomb mesh, which I am still waiting for. These days billing of credit cards is working just as it always has, but shipping even of small letters seems not as healthy. Oh well, I'll just wait, plenty of stuff to do anyway.

 

[Brandy]

Lovely work here, and the little details you are adding make a huge overall difference.

 

Ian

[Bengalensis]

Thanks a lot.

 

Thankfully the postal systems are not dead yet. Today the photo etched honeycomb mesh from Spain showed up. It's looking very well done.

 

 

Unfortunately for me even the finer is far too coarse for my needs in this project. I will have to wait and see what the Renaissance mesh looks like when it arrives. It may very well be that I have to settle for a simple square mesh to reach a fine enough pattern. We will see.

 

[harveyb258]

Hi Jorgen.

 

Would 0.4mm hex mesh be any good? I have some spare that you could have.

Check out Eduard accessories item number 00109 4x4 hex mesh.....

[Bengalensis]

6 hours ago, harveyb258 said:

Would 0.4mm hex mesh be any good? I have some spare that you could have.

Check out Eduard accessories item number 00109 4x4 hex mesh.....

Thank you very much, that is a most kind offer. I had not thought of Eduard, I will check out their mesh and see what it's like.

[Gorby]

On 18/04/2020 at 18:31, Bengalensis said:

Yes, I want a 1/24 kit of the SSC, please FPPM or someone; it would only be 69 cm long..

You've got the modelling skills and the CAD skills, you could have a go at scratch-building one. 

[harveyb258]

18 hours ago, Gorby said:

you could have a go at scratch-building one.

.... and do it large.....1/12 would only be about 5ft long...

Now that would be one helluva display-piece.

 

You certainly have the skill. The hardest part would be convincing 'er indoors...

[Bengalensis]

On 22/04/2020 at 18:44, Gorby said:

You've got the modelling skills and the CAD skills, you could have a go at scratch-building one. 

 

6 hours ago, harveyb258 said:

You certainly have the skill. The hardest part would be convincing 'er indoors...

 

Thanks guys, you do have a valid point; it wouldn't be terribly difficult shapes to create from scratch. Only moderately difficult. No doubt would the project grow considerably once started though... I'll keep it somewhere in the back of my mind.

 

I have ordered a sheet of the Eduard mesh, and some others from their range at the same time, it's always good to have a larger selection of materials in stock. Thanks again for the remainder and the offer.

 

I have been painting parts on and off, and I'm almost done, Just got to pull myself together and take some photo. Tomorrow the 3D prints are scheduled to arrive at our doorstep, surprisingly fast.

[Bengalensis]

Yesterday the new parts arrived from the 3D-printer. This was done at Shapeways as usual. Lately the parts have been quite well cleaned upon arrival from them, but this time I had to rinse and wash away a fair amount of glop. The parts came out well though.

 

 

Test fitting the exhausts after some minor adjustments.

 

 

 

I have been painting all the parts during the week in what little time I have found. The painting of the centre section of the wheel caps is a bit of compromise as they aren't perfectly accurate in shape, but it will do OK I think.

 

 

I'm quite pleased the interior and transmission. I have to check the instrument decals supplied in the kit, I may have to draw and print a new revolution counter.

 

 

A coat of primer sprayed on the 3D-parts. Hopefully they will be good for painting after only some minor sanding.

 

[PROPELLER]

The leather on the seat is absolutely outstanding.

And your paint job Too... Congrats!

 

Dan.

[klubman01]

3 hours ago, PROPELLER said:

The leather on the seat is absolutely outstanding.

And your paint job Too... Congrats!

 

Dan.

Absolutely agree.  The leather looks suitably used.

 

I'm really enjoying seeing this one go together.

 

Trevor

[Bengalensis]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm glad you like the leather paint. I just hope I can repeat it on more projects, so far it might be the best I have done.

 

As I suspected the revolution counter on the decal sheet didn't look like the one I got a small glimpse of in reference photos, so I drew myself a new one that looks closer. Here it is printed once again using my old dedicated XP-machine and OKI/Alps printer. This also gave me the opportunity to get another print I had waiting done at the same time. @Moa; better be prepared for some 1:24 scale modelling 😎

 

 

First a white roundel, then the new decal (printed on clear sheet) on top of that.

 

 

This will do. Some clear varnish will be applied to the instrument faces when they are thoroughly dry.