Aston Martin DB15 ? Okay then... 3 DB5's. COMPLETED!

[hendie]

Well, this is a strange feeling... a WIP no less. It seems I haven't been involved in a WIP for forever, or even maybe a bit longer.  Over the last few months I've been heavily involved in 3D printing various bit of Wessi for parishioners of this parish. That took up pretty much most of my time and what little time was left, well, the mojo seemed to have gone on vacation.  

I'm not sure if it's returned or not, but what better way to find out where it's hiding than to start a build. Then being as dense as I am, not just one build, but a triad of builds. Surely nothing can go wrong there then?

 

You may or may not know but aside from the venerable Wessex, I've always had a thing for the Aston Martin DB5, and in particular, Mr. Bond's DB5. (actually that car and 2CV6's, but that's another story).  

I knew there was an ancient Airfix kit of 007's car but ebay prices were a bit over the top - generally going for over $300. Way out of my league. However, there was an alternate route when I spotted that Aurora back in the day released a "Super Spy Car" which was an unlicensed version of the Bond car. The Aurora kit was a bit cheaper and one of my first build threads on BM was the rebuild of a glue bomb obtained from the bay for the princely sum of $19 iirc.

 

 

Fast forward a bunch of years and I managed to obtain one of the old Airfix DB5's or rather, some of it. In my modeling innocence I thought I could repair/scratch build whatever to build the kit, but when it arrived and I had a good look, well, let's say it's been in the stash for coming up on 10 years now. More recently, Revell released a snap together kit of the DB5 and of course, I had to get one. Then, just to add insanity to the madness, at some point in the intervening years I had obtained one of the old Corgi 261's. I've even gone as far as dismantling most of it with the intent of refurbishing it. The only thing preventing that action was a cracked windscreen, and putting the ejection seat roof panel in a safe place, never to be seen again. Back to trolling auction sites and I managed to obtain another fairly decent Corgi recently for just over $7.  Bargain.

 

I now find myself in the position of having 3 different DB5's and thought, well, if I'm building one, is building 3 any more difficult?

Of course it is dummkopf! One is a snap together kit, one is a nearly 60 year old Airfix kit, and the other is a (revolutionary for the time,) die-cast model.

But what the heck... in for a penny and all that.

 

What are we dealing with here then?  Well, both kits are 1/24, and the diecast per standard is 1/43. Here's the two bodyshells. See if you can guess which is which 

 

 

Followed by the complete line up of combatants for this endeavor.

 

 

Please note that I do not intend to make these super accurate. I just want to have 3 completed DB5's at the end of the day, and am quite happy for each version to show it's heritage, and it's age.

How accurate are the kit's?  I have no idea to be honest. They look like DB5's but I have no access to data that would tell me one is more correct in any aspect than the other.  I would assume the Revell kit being more modern, is more accurate. Perhaps Airfix had access to the Aston engineers and their kit is more accurate. Who knows?

 

Lets start with the bodyshells.  At first glance they are very similar, but taking a closer look:  Look at the difference in the windscreen apertures - significantly different, aren't they?  Other obvious differences are the shape of the bonnet's, especially the front edge - more or less a straight edge on the Revell, but generously curved on the Airfix kit. The bonnet scoop is different as is the width and curvature of the front wings.

 

 

The difference in the front wings can be seen to more effect in this shot.  (I just know those Airfix headlamps are going to give me problems).

 

 

There are issues with the Revell kit also. For one it's designed as a snap-together, so I know there's going to be gaps and lots of filling in my future.  There's also a load of flow lines present on the kit and I just don't know how they are going to present themselves under paint.

Flow lines anyone?

 

 

I think one of the first jobs on the Revell kit will be to spill primer over it to highlight seams, sinks, and any other potential pitfalls. At least I know I have a full kit.

The Airfix kit on the other hand.  Some bits I have, and many other bits I do not. The engine is completely missing along with various other probably important bits. James himself is missing though I have his arms (? ) and the bad guy.

 

 

I thought I had two seats until I looked closely and realized that they are both passenger seats. 

While I managed to dismantle most of the kit, there were some bits that just wouldn't come apart despite all efforts, such as Bond's weapons tray on the rear parcel shelf.

Oh this should be a fun ride.

 

 

Snap-together... did someone mention gaps?

 

 

Before I even start any kind of assembly on this I have to figure a bunch of things out first.  On the Revell kit, the interior tub and chassis are meant to be assembled as a unit then slid into the bodyshell, with the front valance being attached afterwards.  That means there's going to be a horrible join line to deal with and I'd like to get the bodyshell completed and painted before the interior are shoved into it.

But... There's no way the chassis will pop in once the valance is fitted.  I need to check my solutions book and see if there's a chapter dealing with that in there.

 

 

On to the Corgi. Initial disassembly was easy - just drill out the single rivet holding the chassis to the body - then photograph it so I have a chance of remembering how it goes back together.  Sheesh, that looks complicated.  

 

 

It looks even more complicated now

 

 

A quick test shows that parts may clean up quite well.  How long they stay that clean is an open question. This is another thing I have to consider going forward. Will a simple clear coat keep them in shiny condition? or do I need to consider something else?

 

 

Interestingly, as I discovered when breaking these apart, Corgi seems to have modified or changed the molds over the course of production. These are both the Corgi 261 originals.  Both windscreens are different, as is some of the geometry inside the bodyshell.

More significantly though is the vent on the front wing. Note how the version on the left doesn't have the "chrome" divider present while the version on the right does. Also, the version on the right seems to sit just a tad lower than his still painted kin on the left.

 

 

Ehrr, not much progress for a WIP I'm afraid but at least I've put my stake in the ground. Now I just need to figure out what the landscape looks like. I think there will be a lot more destruction before there's any actual construction, not to mention and decent amount of chaos. The next post will be interesting, maybe.

 

P.S.  I have no idea where I'm going with all of this.  

 

[Anteater]

I bet £1 you're going to end up down a huge rabbit hole sorting that "snap together kit" out and you'll end up basically re-engineering the entire thing. I greatly look forward to it. 

[Hamden]

 

Looking forward to seeing the magic happen!

 

          Roger

[Spiny]

That sounds like a long and time-consuming project, but if your orange van is anything to go by the end result will justify the time spend on these.

 

With regards to the front valance, it looks to me as though Revell have put that (rather dodgy) join in a location such that it will be virtually hidden by the front bumper - is it worth test fitting that first to see how well it is covered before worrying too much about getting it smooth? (From an altogether lazier modeller!)

[Vesa Jussila]

Be force with you! I think you have a project ahead, but you will complete it. 

[hendie]

24 minutes ago, Spiny said:

is it worth test fitting that first to see how well it is covered before worrying too much about getting it smooth?

I think Revell have designed it such that it will be hidden...

 

But the devil in me will still be annoyed if I don't do something about it 

 

There's a long way to go though, so, anything can happen in the next half... wait! ... that was Stingray, wasn't it?

[keefr22]

5 hours ago, hendie said:

Look at the difference in the windscreen apertures -  

 

Seeing as how the experts say that Revell (I'm no expert so don't really know) got this bit way wrong on their recent E-Type coupe, AIrfix could well be ''right''.... !!

 

I had a gold Corgi one once upon a time, long, long ago - always wondered why it actually was that colour....

 

Looking forward to your future battles with these!

 

Keith

 

 

[giemme]

Wow, this is some project!  

 

Ciao

[hendie]

22 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

always wondered why it actually was that colour....

 

Legend has it that they tried painting it silver, but it looked just like unpainted metal, so in the end, they went with gold.

 

 

 

 

[Pig of the Week]

Great project👍

I also had the original gold one as a kid, probably around the time the film had been out.. didn't they do the silver version as a later revision or something? 

[Terry1954]

This looks like a promising mega project that I just have to follow.

 

Had the Corgi kit myself, bought from hard saved pocket money funds. No idea what happened to it!

 

I'm all eyes!

 

T.

[The Spadgent]

Well well well Mr Bond! I’ve been expectin…….. 😆

wow! This looks like it’s going to be great. I had the corgi car as a kid. The bullet shield, guns  and ejector seat were ace! I think it even had Ben hur wheels. ( but you had to pull them out yourself ). Looking at the springs in the dismantled versions I foresee the need of three or possibly four sets of hands. Really looking forward to the resin printed extras you’re inevitably going to produce for the Airfix / Revell kits. 
pop corn at the ready.  I can already see the goon in the passenger seat whizzing through the air. 😀
 

Johnny. 
 

 

[keefr22]

4 hours ago, Pig of the Week said:

didn't they do the silver version as a later revision or something?

 

I thought that too, but could be memory playing tricks! 

 

Keith

[hendie]

4 hours ago, Pig of the Week said:

didn't they do the silver version as a later revision or something? 

 

Corgi 261 was the gold version. Corgi 270 was a later silver version. The 270 model was a slightly different size with some different features. Then there was the Corgi juniors, or "Husky" version, which was actually a modified DB6 and only had the ejector seat, nothing else.

 

 

[Terry1954]

47 minutes ago, hendie said:

only had the ejector seat, nothing else.

 

 

Wot, no safety pins? 

[Pig of the Week]

As I recall, my gold one had ejector seat, flip up shield at the back and spring out MGs on the front...

shame it's long gone, my mum unilaterally gave all my cars away to some dippy kid who lived next door unfortunately 🙁

[Noel Smith]

Saw a re issue of the Corgi JB DB5 as a full page ad in a national newspaper about a week ago.

Done in Gold like the original die cast toy.  About £25 or thereabouts I think.

It's probably up on the internet somewhere, so if anyone wants a trip down memory lane?

[Jo NZ]

I have the silver re-issue from 6-7 years ago(?) It has the machine gun/front overriders on the front side button, ejector seat on the rear side button, and bullet shield on the exhaust pipes. AND, as I've just discovered, rotating number plates! (3 different plates) I don't even remember that on the original.

[hendie]

Wow, thanks for all the responses folks. It appears that this crazy little endeavour has captured folks attention - let's see if I can continue and keep it mildly interesting.

I've spent the last few nights looking over the Airfix kit in more detail and for the first time, really noticing what is missing, what's usable, what isn't, and starting to go over in my mind some different ways to address the kits shortcomings. I should state up front that I am not going to go into super-detailing this in the same way I did my VW T2 build - that was a real labor of love and I'd been waiting years for a kit like that to come along. Not this time I'm afraid. I'll be adding some detail but I'm not going to go too crazy on this build. (I think).

 

The Revell kit?  I've cut a few bits off the runner tree haven't even started to think about that one in any detail yet.

The Corgi DB5?  Well I know I wanted to refurbish the nearly 60 year old model and while I wanted to keep the character of the "toy" I also wanted it to look a bit more refined and so, to that end, I spent some time removing mold lines and cleaning up edges and I think it looks the better for it. I will be ordering new tires as the originals had pretty much disintegrated and I'll also need to order a new "baddie" as the original occupant was ejected into the void many, many years ago. 

I also have a crazy idea or two that I'll need to investigate a bit further, but more on that when the time comes.

 

This episode will be spent concentrating on bits of the Airfix kit, or what remains of it. I mentioned I wasn't going to go all out on this and after much mulling and faffing about, I think I want to treat this DB5 as more of a rescue/refurbish effort. This kit is never going to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I think I want the finished model to retain something of it's pedigree and show it's age gracefully.  

There are some aspects of it which are never going to pass muster (headlamps for one thing), but there are other aspects which try as I might, I just can't ignore.  Take the interior for instance... Airfix provide a blank wall with a phone perched on top, while the Revell kit provides at least a nodding resemblance to the 1:1.  I just have to do something about that blank canvas staring at me.

 

 

Out with the plasticard and a template has been drawn up to aid in the design of some printed parts later.

 

 

More time was spent inspecting parts for damage and where necessary, styrene inserts (ok then, scraps) have made their way into big gaps and filler has sufficed for the smaller gaps and the standard ejector pin marks.

 

 

 

***  DARN IT!!!  the forum just went and ghost posted on me again. I thought we'd seen the last of that.

 

The parts which (at the moment) are causing the most concern are the two seats. For a start, they're both passenger seats, than to make matters worse, a major portion of the seat back is missing and I don't have the broken piece.

I never realized 007's DB5 had a commode installed for the passenger. I didn't think he was that bad a  driver.

 

 

Stage one in this rescue effort is to start filling up the gaps with scraps, and I'll try to make something resembling a seat out of the mess that's about to happen. This is going to take a few rounds of filling and sanding before it's going to be usable.

 

 

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about those glue marks though. There are glue marks all over the kit and some parts have bubbled, while other parts stained. Yet others have bubbled and stained. 

It's very hard to tell what the actual condition of the part is, and I won't know how bad they are until I spray some primer over things.

 

In-between looking at things and shaking my head, I've started working on the digital bits.

The steering linkage is completely missing but luckily the Revell kit design is similar in some respects and at least gives me a starting point to work from. I've no doubt that there will be a couple of iterations on these parts in order to 1) make things fit, and 2) get the ride height looking decent.

 

 

The rear axle is present in the kit, but the molding is so bad I really can't live with it, so here we go again... (just a WIP at this point, with more work to do on this)

 

 

 

The tracker unit though present is badly damaged with a hole through the scope/screen and that was my excuse to draw up a new one

 

 

The weapons try is also present but is not much better than a small indistinct glue bomb and would be impossible to paint and make look decent so I spent a couple of lunchtimes drawing up the tray and contents.

Now before you say "well, that's a Mauser and we all know Mr. Bond used a Walther PPK", the Mauser looking thing was what was included in the original Airfix kit so that's me excuse and I'm sticking with it

 

 

... and a Google search on 007 DB5 interior throws up a few images of the weapons tray - oh look... a Mauser!  (yes, I missed the hinged cover on the butt stock)

 

 

That's all well and good but isn't it about time I started doing some actual work on one of these kits?

 

Okay then - I removed one of the windscreen wipers - is that good enough?

 

 

I'll get the printer fired up tomorrow and run some test prints, and maybe even get some modeling time to myself. I feel the Corgi is calling me again.

 

If we're lucky, I might have something to show before the weekend is over.  

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

I'm sitting here in my 60's swiveling egg chair wondering where that damned white Moggy has got to. Ah well, Might as well see what Hendie is up to nowadays....

[keefr22]

6 hours ago, hendie said:

Okay then - I removed one of the windscreen wipers - is that good enough?

 

 

For me that'd be about a week's progress, so yes it's a good start....!!

 

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Might as well see what Hendie is up to nowadays....

 

Taking over the world, one 3D print at a time....!! 

 

Keith

[Noel Smith]

Whilst anyone is contemplating doing a Corgi DB5 renovation I guess that as it is probably 1/43rd scale some might want to retro fit some Motobitz 3D printed wire wheels to their renovation.I

 

This article brings back memories of building the original Airfix JB DB5 when first issued, so following this comparable build with the latest Revell kit with interest. Their little 1/43rd scale kit recently issued looks nice too although not a JB version.

Edited May 11 by Noel Smith

[hendie]

5 hours ago, Noel Smith said:

I guess that as it is probably 1/43rd scale some might want to retro fit some Motobitz 3D printed wire wheels to their renovation

 

I'm going to try and keep the original wheels on the Corgi. They're not perfect, but the replacement parts I've seen haven't been very good quality at all. With the Airfix & Revell kits, I will probably do something myself - either print the entire wheel, or print hubs and rims and try spoking them myself. I may even keep the original Airfixe wheels and just upgrade the Revell as that may be a nice way to highlight the differences between the two kits. It's a long way away and all undecided as of yet.

 

 

[Brandy]

Ooh, this looks interesting!

I'm looking forward to seeing what 3d improvements you'll throw at these.

Beer and peanuts ordered, I'll watch from the bar!

 

Ian

[hendie]

Just a very quick update for this evening.

 

6 hours ago, Brandy said:

I'm looking forward to seeing what 3d improvements you'll throw at these.

 

Ehmmnnn...

I managed to grab a couple of hours me-time this afternoon and had my first go at designing wire wheels.

 

 

And no sooner had I threw these on the printer for a test print, I noticed I had a few things wrong. 

 

 

I'm still running the test print though - I need to know how well the spokes will, or will not print.  I've set the print up with three different orientations to see how that affects the outcome - I should find out tomorrow morning just how well these things turned out.

 

After spotting the errors I jumped back on the computer and made a few tweaks, resulting in this.

 

 

Which to be honest, looks pretty mundane. 

It's not until you look at the wheel from a slight angle that it starts to come to life.

 

 

Even better with a more acute angle

 

 

No doubt there will be several iterations of these wheels before they are fit for a DB5  - that's if I can get them to work at all.

Then there's the unenvious task of trying to paint them in a chrome finish.

 

FYI, the spokes are designed at 0.2mm diameter. I think that's pushing the limits of the printer but it's worth a try. A larger diameter looked a bit clumsy, but I may end up having to go larger to make it all work.

 

Always look on the bright side eh?