Bentley 4 1/2 litre Blower in 1/12th scale - may contain Airfix.

[nick]

I thought I should start a separate thread for this now.

 

This won’t be a standard build, I’m using the kit as a loose base to develop a pretty full transkit for. I’ve made a start on a few things already.

 

here’s the things that jumped out as needing attention first;

 

 

not exhaustive, but what caught my eye. 
 

so far I have tackled the wheels:-

 

 

next I’m tackling the engine

 

Big thanks to Malc2 for sharing his amazing photo references.

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nick]

 

Latest render

 

Nick

 

 

[keefr22]

That's all rather impressive!

 

Keith

[s.e.charles]

yup; might sharp!

[nick]

Here’s a quick cellphone shot of the prototype wheel and spinner in paint

 

 

Just a few more adjustments needed and they will be ready. 
 

Nick

[Dancona]

Absolutely perfect, bravo, you have done the world of large scale model cars a great service, arise Sir Nick 

[nick]

Amazing to think that back in the 1920's Bentley engineers designed their crankcase to EXACTLY fit an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro print bed when scaled to 1/12th that wouldn't be invented for another 100 years. Clever blokes.

 

 

I'm going to need a bigger printer for the 1/8th one then. oops did I just say that outloud?

 

Nick

[nick]

Here's the latest renders of the engine progress

 

 

First 3D test prints are coming off as we speak.

 

Regards,

 

Nick

[JeroenS]

Nice job and an original picture too. 

[Dancona]

Bloody marvelous, looks perfect to me, BTW what is the bit sticking out just under the water gallery flange ? I've only ever seen the thing before on a picture of an unblown four and a half, it looks like a drive coming off the front of the crankshaft, but I've always wondered what it was for, !!

 

Cheers

 

David

[nick]

19 minutes ago, Dancona said:

Bloody marvelous, looks perfect to me, BTW what is the bit sticking out just under the water gallery flange ? I've only ever seen the thing before on a picture of an unblown four and a half, it looks like a drive coming off the front of the crankshaft, but I've always wondered what it was for, !!

 

Cheers

 

David

My response to that is if you don’t recognise it, then it probably shouldn’t be there! I picked it up off a reference image I got from somewhere, could easily be a 4 litre. I shall delete it then. 
 

Nick

[nick]

3 hours ago, nick said:

Amazing to think that back in the 1920's Bentley engineers designed their crankcase to EXACTLY fit an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro print bed when scaled to 1/12th that wouldn't be invented for another 100 years. Clever blokes.

 

 

I'm going to need a bigger printer for the 1/8th one then. oops did I just say that outloud?

 

Nick

Actually forget that, I’m so used to scaling to 1/8th for my F40, I did it here. This is 1/8th not 1/12th, so it does fit. 
 

just sayin. 
 

Nick

[Dancona]

The idea of a pile of finescale four cylinder Bentley bits in 1/8th scale is giving me mild palpitations at the moment, going all Mystic Meg for a moment  I get the feeling a very large 3 litre (as well as a slightly smaller blower) will feature in my future (when I've finished my aircraft carrier that is) !!

 

 

[nick]

Hmm. Looks like a gentleman’s scale to me.

 

 

Nick

[Dancona]

Woah !!!! that looks good, you are really nailing this !!

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Oh wow,  this is a fantastic start, it does look great.  The wheel looks gorgeous as does tge rest of your work.

Chris

 

[nick]

OK, here's the engine putting in an appearance in the real world - this is the first prototype so still lots of improvements to make:-

 

 

The cylinder block has closed cylinders at the top as they should be, you can just see the light shining through the the 4 ports per cylinder.

 

 

 

I haven't modelled the valve guides and I don't intend to replicate the inside of the cam chest either.

I modelled the inlet/outlets largely so the cylinders can drain during printing.

 

The CAD is around 80% complete now for the engine, more renders later.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Nick

 

[nick]

The devil, they say…

 

 

I’ve got enough to hang the good bits onto now.

 

Nick

[s.e.charles]

now THAT was a productive four hours!

[Dancona]

This is looking better and better, now the only thing I can see that doesn't look quite right yet is the shape of the cam cover, the real one has a roundness to it, as does the upper part of the cam gear casing at the front, as you can see below, but apart from that (and I know it is still early days) it is looking cock on !!

 

 

 

I think a Knighthood is not really enough, an Earldom is perhaps more appropriate !!

 

Cheers

 

David

[nick]

34 minutes ago, Dancona said:

This is looking better and better, now the only thing I can see that doesn't look quite right yet is the shape of the cam cover, the real one has a roundness to it, as does the upper part of the cam gear casing at the front, as you can see below, 

thanks for the kind words,

 

That's a good shout re the cam cover, missed that, mine is like the Airfix one ie wrong.

 

I can't find any images of the back of the blow-off valves and I'm also struggling to get a clear view of the enlarged Birkin sump, specifically the near side where one or more cylinders extend down from the large flange? don't suppose you have either lying around?

 

Nick 

[Dancona]

 

Hi Nick,

 

Don't know if you've seen this, some good shots of one of the continuation cars engines

 

https://www.carscoops.com/2020/09/new-bentley-blower-engine-comes-to-life-in-crewe-on-specially-built-testbed/

2 hours ago, nick said:

don't suppose you have either lying around?

I will have a dig around, the cylinders will be oil filters I reckon, some seem to only have one, and others two, typically Bentley, no two are the same !!!!

Keep up the good work !

 

Cheers

 

David

[Dancona]

Hi Nick,

 

There are some useful photos of assorted Bentley bits on this website, plus a four and a half sump, it looks to me as if the blowers used a sump that looks as if it may be off a standard 4.5l car.

 

http://vintagebentleyblog.weebly.com/45-litre-engine-page-1.html

[Brandy]

Nice work so far! The details you add will depend on what you are modelling: the Birkin cars had quite a few differences from production Blowers. One of the most obvious is on the chassis where the Birkin cars had bolt heads and the production cars rivets.

The kit firewall and steering box are also wrong, and note that the auxiliary fuel tank was not connected to the firewall, it sat on a shelf which was braced with rods.

 

Send me your email address and I will forward the shots I have as reference for my build here.

 

Ian

[nick]

Here’s a thing, someone has just asked me about a 1929 speed six version. To the untrained eye (mine) this looks very doable, it appears to be the a common chassis/body with a straight six engine. OK bonnet, radiator shell etc, Bentley guys, is it really that simple? If so, do you want one? Is there demand for this?

 

Regards

 

Nick