1958 Vanwall, Merit, 1/24, Roy Cross Tribute

[cmatthewbacon]

On with the next installment of my Roy Cross (Illustrator and Airfix box artist ) tribute builds following his passing earlier this year aged 100. This one is the 1958 Vanwall, based on this Eagle comic cover from January 1963:

 

 

Since I was building display bases already for the Delage, I decided to get this one done early...

 

 

 

Which means now I have to build a car... this is the starting point:

 

 

Merit kits are pretty simple, but the shapes are generally good. The wheels need help, though, since they are solid with a transparent front onto which you are meant to apply a decal printed with the spokes. The bag at the left of the picture are some of the spare etch and white metal wheels and tyres I've accumulated over the years...

 

 

After a fair bit of rummaging around and test fitting, I think we are sorted. Vanwall experimented with cast alloy wheels instead of wires in 1958. They tried complete replacement, but it turned out that the steering and front-end grip were better with the more flexible wire wheels than the stiffer cast alternatives. For the Italian Grand Prix depicted on the cover, Tony Brooks drove with wires at the front and cast wheels at the back. As you can also see on the cover picture, there was a small scoop intake for the oil cooler on top of the nose...

 

 

I carved a master from balsa based on some decades old plans from the UK's contemporary Model Maker and Model Cars Magazine .

 

 

I've plunge moulded a few copies to make sure there's scope for errors while cutting, prepping and fitting!

 

best,

M.

 

[Bengalensis]

This will be another treat to follow! There is lots of potential to be unleashed from these old kits.

How is the windscreen in this one? In the little Cooper it was surprisingly good.

[keefr22]

Yes, fully agree, really looking forward to this one!

 

The base looks brilliant!!

 

Keith

[klubman01]

Looks to be a project with great potential.  Will be interesting to follow, if you don't mind?

Trevor

[Vesa Jussila]

Looks interesting project, I agree. I must say that I learned these Merit kits from this forum. Never saw those in Finland when I was building kits there.

[triumphfan]

Another project right up my street ☺️ Actually, a street I've walked a number of years ago now. I think the Vanwall was the first of the old Merit kits I tackled and I also think it was posted on this forum. Probably gone now as the photos were on photobucket.

I remember cutting the rear bodywork off and making the interior and rear suspension as a unit, al good fun. Also went with the wobbly webs on the back and spokes on the front. Think I got them from Dave at S.E Finecast back when he owned it.

 

Looking forward to seeing this grow. Certainly having my Merit and Autokits torch relit lately ☺️

 

Atb, Steve.

[Noel Smith]

There was a time many years ago when I worked for Vandervell Products at Maidenhead. Tony Vandervell the company founder ran the Vanwall Team and had an example of one of the GP Racers on display there for a while that had those unique wobbly shaped rear wheels on it. The factory specialised in making shell bearings for the automotive industry.I

 

Matt's Vanwall build will be interesting to follow and will be an excellent model when finished for sure.

 

I have seen some of Steve's  upgraded Merit car models at  one of Chiltern Scale Model Club's shows a couple of years back, and have to say he has worked wonders on them considering how basic the kits are.

[cmatthewbacon]

Progress is a bit glacial -- I'm feeling under the weather at the moment with a painful lurgy... but I have got back to the bench.

 

 

 

 

As I suspected, it took several of those scoops I moulded to get a good one that I didn't mess up cutting out, but I got there in the end. I'm not completely convinced it shouldn't be open at the back, but it's not shown that way on any drawings I have, and I can't find a picture of the rear of the scoop at all. It didn't last long on the real thing, and the only pictures I can find of the car with it fitted are naturally, action shots from the front. None of the surviving cars have still got it. So if anyone was hard evidence, I've still got time to open it up...

 

 

 

 

Time to start getting Tony knocked into shape, so this is the first of many trial fits. I've scribed the panel lines, too... my drawings say 1/10" panel gaps, so they are visible on the real thing (though don't worry, the horizontal seam is just the two halves sitting one atop the other...)

best,

M.

 

 

[triumphfan]

Coming along nicely. Looks like the driver is fitting in without too much drama.

 

Fernando Pinto produces a model of the Vanwall with the nose scoop. His has an open rear.

https://www.fppmodels.com/product-page/vanwall-f1-1958

Hopefully the link above will show this.

 

Atb, Steve.

[Neddy]

It's amazing what result can be extracted from the Merit kits in the right hands, this is developing a treat.  I always regarded the Vanwall as the last and greatest of the RWD F1 cars and it's good to see one modelled.

Sorry to hear the dreaded Lurgy has struck and hope it loosens its grip before too long.

[keefr22]

Some good progress there M, hope the lurgy has left you soon!

 

4 hours ago, Neddy said:

I always regarded the Vanwall as the last and greatest of the RWD F1 cars

 

Umm, I thought F1 cars were still rear wheel drive....??!!  

 

Rear engined maybe?! 

 

Keith

[Neddy]

Oooops!  Slip of the aged fingers, I meant front-engined as opposed to rear-engined (mid-engined) as was just about everything after the advent of the Cooper Climax.  I feel senility rapidly approaching!

[Spiny]

Hope the lurgy clears quickly, it's never fun being ill.

 

As for the scoop, I can offer no evidence at all, merely a bit of educated guesswork. And that would be that based on the Eagle artwork, which appears to show the rear of the scoop as being rounded rather than squared suggesting it being closed off. That would also tie in with the idea that it's a cooling scoop for the engine as the closed scoop should push more air into the engine than an open-backed one (assuming there is a good way for the air to exit the engine bay).

 

I did have the bright idea of looking for models of the Vanwall, but that was worse than useless as some show a closed scoop and some an open one!

[cmatthewbacon]

With thanks to Steve @triumphfan for the Pinto link, plus a detailed written description of the evolution of the Vanwall and its engine I found online, I've opened up the back of the scoop. The description talks about an additional small oil radiator mounted on top of the main radiator with the scoop feeding air through it, so I'm going to assume it's open front and back rather than feeding air into the engine bay or to the main radiator, and works a bit like the radiator or oil cooler ducts under the wing of a Spitfire...

 

best,

M.

[keefr22]

14 hours ago, Neddy said:

Oooops!  Slip of the aged fingers, I meant front-engined as opposed to rear-engined (mid-engined) as was just about everything after the advent of the Cooper Climax.  I feel senility rapidly approaching!

 

You're not alone, realised when awake in the wee small hours that my reply was completely wrong as I'd meant to type front engined - RWD! I can offer no excuse other than complete and utter stupidity (oh, and the age thing too!)

 

Apologies Matt for the thread drift!

 

Keith

[cmatthewbacon]

Next exciting question! What colour is the band at the front? Roy Cross has painted it a nice slightly orange-y red. However the only colour pictures I can find of the car at the Italian GP show it as dark yellow. But the colour reproduction doesn’t seem very reliable, since the car body is very dark green… black in at least one online image. Black and white pictures show it very pale compared to the car, but who knows what that means depending on the film. Other models have gone for a classic BRG/chrome yellow combo. I assume the three Vanwalls in the race had different nose colours to easily distinguish the cars and drivers, but I can’t find any note of what colour each driver carried. I’d just like to know before I have to make a decision about whether to simply follow the painting for the project, or produce a more accurate model of the Brooks car at the Italian GP…

best,

M.

[triumphfan]

Matt,

at the Italian GP, Tony Brooks had the yellow nose(#28), Stirling Moss car had the white marking(#26) and Stuart Lewis-Evans was unmarked(#30).

 

Hope this helps.

 

Atb, Steve.

[cmatthewbacon]

 

 

So here's Roy, eyes on the road and hands upon the wheel... and the scoop opened up.

 

 

The top half and wheel will also lift off out of his hands without disturbing anything. Time for some Milliput and shaping around the shoulders...

best,

M.

[stevehnz]

I'm really enjoying this Matthew. Like probably over half the assembled, I had a Dinky Vanwall & now have a much smarter 1/43 one, they are such a superb shape. This thread sent me off down a Vanwall rabbit hole yesterday, lots of lovely photos & stories, not many of the ones with the scoop though so good to see this rarer version being modelled.

Steve.

[cmatthewbacon]

Reasonable progress off-screen. First, the dash:

 

 

 

Primed with white, Tamiya semi-gloss black for the dials, AK matt black for the "crackle" dash, white markings scratched through the dials to the white primer, finished with Citadel 'ardcoat gloss varnish for the glass. The wheel rim is red-brown primer overcoated with Citadel contrast paint "Wyldwood" brown and varnished with Tamiya Clear Orange.. Body colour is Tamiya TS-9 "British Green."

 

 

A-Stand "White Aluminium" for the cast magnesium rear wheels and Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium for the front wires.

 

 

Tony Brooks in his seat. Colours are based on the only colour picture I can find of Tony in a Vanwall, possibly the previous year. The helmet is some kind of moulded leather or bakelite, I think. His goggles are not as dark as they look in this!

 

 

 

 

 

So, he can hold the wheel (which is not glued, to give a bit more wiggle room when we have to fit all the parts together)

 

 

And I've started the green for the body. The horizontal seam is mostly there as a panel line on the real thing. I've masked the rear shell, which doesn't have a seam, so I can glue it then clean up the seam and reprime and paint the rear shell separately from the rest of the car.

 

best,

M.

 

 

[SprueMan]

Great progress so far!

These old merit kits had a lot of charm for their day.

[klubman01]

Great work on the driver figure!  

Trevor

[ceeb555]

Great progress. Love the driver figure, very realistic and shows the attire they wore to drive back then.

Dash and steering wheel look fab

 

Chris

[cmatthewbacon]

Thanks, all.... a quick mockup to settle the seat and dash in place... and to see how it looks!

 

 

 

 

I went for Tamiya Camel Yellow instead of a brighter chrome yellow, as a nod to the orange in Roy Cross's original painting. The British Green is actually green, but you can see why it looks black in some period photos. Now to leave the paint for a few days to harden fully before joining the body permanently and masking to paint the rear shell, so the tape doesn't leave marks. Then it'll be time for a polish.

 

best,

M.

[Bengalensis]

Progressing very nicely Matt 👍