fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 55 minutes ago, Bengalensis said: @Moa; better be prepared for some 1:24 scale modelling I can guess what's coming! I am sure it will be a complete thrill! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 26, 2020 Author Share Posted April 26, 2020 Decals have been applied. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 26, 2020 Author Share Posted April 26, 2020 The printed parts are painted and finished. Some serious assembly can start. There is a clear sheet supplied in the kit to cut the wind screen pieces from, but it's 0,4 mm thick, and I would like something thinner. I found a nice piece of 0,1 mm, but it's quite flimsy and would probably end up as wavy finished pieces in this situation. Some 0,25 material felt like a good compromise. The glass pieces cut, adjusted and glued. Ready to go on to the body. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 26, 2020 Author Share Posted April 26, 2020 I'm slowly starting to fit the parts. I have a vague idea what the best sequence will be, but not entirely. Or at least I thought so... A somewhat out of focus photo, but of all five this was the least bad. The floor with pedals, gear lever and transmission. The seat will be fitted from above after the floor section is glued to the body, to ensure a perfect fit against the head rest. The new exhaust stacks in place. I'm very happy that the car was modified with these shorter stacks when it was running at Daytona, as the longer pre-Daytona stacks in the kit looks too much like showing off. This looks much more serious. The front axle fitted and I've made a start on the steering linkage. I'm substituting the softer rods from the kit with 1,5 mm piano wire that I have in stock in perfectly straight long sections. The front wheel fairings are only tacked on very lightly at this stage so I can make adjustments. A bit tricky to decide the best way forward now. I must do some weathering before fitting the wheels as otherwise they are blocking access. But almost everything else must be fitted before weathering, so I must fit the wheels, or I can't align the front wheel fairings, that must be glued permanently before weathering. A bit of Catch 22. But I'll find a way. Will do some temporary wheel fitting once some paint on the rear axle has dried, and then see how to proceed. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 I can't take this anymore! It's too beautiful and too well done! Unbelievable results, and it's not even finished yet! Oh Master of the Wheeled Marvels! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 22 hours ago, Moa said: It's too beautiful and too well done! Thanks, you are most kind, and I'm very humbled by your words. They mean a lot to me. With the front axle installed and the rear wheels temporarily fitted with their axle, I could do some more serious testing with the front wheels and fairings early this morning. It soon became apparent that the mounting holes for the fairings that are present in the body casting are placed far too low. There is no way to fit the fairings correctly in height and concentric with the wheels that way. It would have been good to catch that earlier, but it wasn't clear until everything else got fixed. With no other option I carefully cut both location holes about 2-2,5 mm higher, luckily without any other damage to the paint. With that done I got the left fairing glued firmly in a good position with the wheel temporarily rigged. Now in the evening it still looked satisfactory, so I glued the right side the same way. Now it remains to touch up the paint under the mounting points, not much visible there luckily, and decide how to proceed from here. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 Looks absolutely stunning Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 That is looking truly stunning, I can recall these from the Look & learn magazine we got when I was a kid, the story of Malcolm Campbell & his various Bluebirds entranced me. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harveyb258 Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 That looks incredible. Even sat on the bench it looks like its going at 300mph+ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Thanks a lot, glad you guys like it. The front wheel fairing mounts have been touched up, not visible here, and the first part of some weathering is also done. I'm trying out the brake linkage to the front axle, it's not easy to decide the best way to create something reasonably plausible to connect them to up front, or how high they should end up at the front axle. However this is as low as they can end up on the model if I route them correctly over the steering arms and wheel fairing mounts. Need to study old photos more... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver911 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Simply superb rendition of an all time classic record breaker. Respect Ron 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 This is coming along soooo well... Every bit you add makes it (if possible!) even better. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pg265 Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Hi, just one word: WON-DER-FUL!!!!! Pascal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiet Mike Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 Just found this thread, and devoured it from the start, what a truly stunning build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFC Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 A question, if I may? I stopped the build of the Western Models 1/43 kit of the 1933 Bluebird because of my unhappiness with various details, eg the exhausts. You have built your excellent model with oval exhaust stubs rather than the rams horns supplied in the kit. An internet search yesterday failed to produce any photo with a clear image of the exhausts other than rams horns and photos of Bluebird on Daytona beach show this type. I should be very interested to see any photo of the oval type. Perhaps I can then finish my kit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 1 hour ago, DFC said: A question, if I may? I stopped the build of the Western Models 1/43 kit of the 1933 Bluebird because of my unhappiness with various details, eg the exhausts. You have built your excellent model with oval exhaust stubs rather than the rams horns supplied in the kit. An internet search yesterday failed to produce any photo with a clear image of the exhausts other than rams horns and photos of Bluebird on Daytona beach show this type. I should be very interested to see any photo of the oval type. Perhaps I can then finish my kit? Below is the photo that I showed earlier in the thread when I created my exhausts, it's a still from film from the Daytona beach run in 1933, see here around 5:18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxnDCm3OgwU Also visible here at 2:43: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKy0_wK-sJk And here at 0:37 (same as above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98c8hx3acJg It was the most definitive answer to the configuration at the record runs I found, and quite different from the long exhausts in the kit and early pre-Daytona run photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 I have done some more studying and now have a better idea of the front brake linkage routing. It should pass just above the forward steering arms pivot points, but under the wheel fairing mounts, and end up at around the same height as the main front axle beam. This is not possible on the model, as despite my modifications of lowering the steering arms and raising the wheel fairings, it is not enough; both should have been moved even further to achieve this. Here is a compromise of routing the linkage directly under the steering arm, which gives a line and angle quite close to the real thing, and I can make it end behind the front axle beam. It might be a reasonable compromise given the limitations of my model and the simplified front suspension. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 @Moa was right. It is a thing of beauty. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFC Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Bengalensis, Very many thanks to you for the info about the exhausts. It solves a problem that's bothered me for years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 I hope I'm not too late . . . I discovered these meshes the other day when wanting some for one of my projects: https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/product/mini20/ https://www.scalelinkfretcetera.co.uk/product/slf109/ Nick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 1 minute ago, Nick Belbin said: I hope I'm not too late . . . I discovered these meshes the other day when wanting some for one of my projects Thanks a lot. Not too late at all. I'm still stuck on this; the mesh that arrived from Spain being too coarse for my need, nothing arriving from Renaissance so far, and waiting for the Eduard mesh from Hannants ordered the other day. I may well order these too. One probably can not have a large enough stock of various mesh... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 More photo etched mesh now ordered. Hopefully something useful will arrive. Now awaiting deliveries from three sources. Enough is enough. The brake linkage is now permanently fixed in the best way I can achieve given the circumstances. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 A little more weathering done. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted May 2, 2020 Author Share Posted May 2, 2020 The rear wheels have been fitted, now with glue for the last time. The rear floor panel goes in next so the interior can be finished. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klubman01 Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 Looking really good. BTW, what paint did you use for the tyres? They look so realistic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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