Converting the Red Barron to the Black Knight

[Shardik]

Pete,

I like the innovative approach to the I-beam axle. Also, very clever jig for the spindle mounts. All in all, with respect to perfecting your artistry I would say you've got it in spades (or should that be Spads? ).

Regarding the engine details; it sounds like I should be hitting you up for details instead of of offering my two pfennigs worth .

(in fact, I may be hitting you with a p.m. before I start my next Albatross project )

Again; Beautiful and inspirational work.

[Pete J.]

Hi guys! Well I am back with an update. So, what have I been up to for the last four weeks? I have been working at my modeling desk. Building models? No, working at my desk. You see, years ago when I was building the modeling desk in my garage, I ran out of bucks for the plywood and drawer glides so it when unfinished. I had some really nice drawers on the right side and an open hole on the left. I had a tool chest that I made do with for all that time. Here is what it looked like.

So, I retired a couple of month ago and was digging through the shop and found the drawer glides that I pickup on sale some time ago and got to thinking that I needed to straighten out the mess that I called my work bench. So out came the table saw, router, chop saw, nail gun, glue and a host of other tools(my other passion is wood working) and several weeks and two sheets of plywood later, I now have a nicer place to work. Amazing how much space 5 new drawers adds. The old tool chest is now under the desk as a reserve space and the top of the desk is now a place for work, not storage. Oh, the photos make the new drawers look almost white, but they are the same baltic birch plywood as the old ones. They just don't have the patina of age.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Pete J.

[Pete J.]

Ok, so back to the Black Knight. As I think I mentioned, I am not really happy with the model. I got my hands on another kit and after hours of careful cutting with photo etched saws, the frame in now separated from the bucket. I am going to rebuild the model and do the frame in brass this time. I will salvage most of the parts off the old model and this time I plan of having a bit of fun with some new parts. Here is the start.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Pete J.

[Scale-Master]

Can't wait to compare next month! Solder on!

[Pro Wrench]

Hi guys! Well I am back with an update. So, what have I been up to for the last four weeks? I have been working at my modeling desk. Building models? No, working at my desk. You see, years ago when I was building the modeling desk in my garage, I ran out of bucks for the plywood and drawer glides so it when unfinished. I had some really nice drawers on the right side and an open hole on the left. I had a tool chest that I made do with for all that time. Here is what it looked like.

So, I retired a couple of month ago and was digging through the shop and found the drawer glides that I pickup on sale some time ago and got to thinking that I needed to straighten out the mess that I called my work bench. So out came the table saw, router, chop saw, nail gun, glue and a host of other tools(my other passion is wood working) and several weeks and two sheets of plywood later, I now have a nicer place to work. Amazing how much space 5 new drawers adds. The old tool chest is now under the desk as a reserve space and the top of the desk is now a place for work, not storage. Oh, the photos make the new drawers look almost white, but they are the same baltic birch plywood as the old ones. They just don't have the patina of age.

Man, I am MAJOR jealous! I wish I had enough room SOMEWHERE in my crackerbox of a house to have someplace like this to build. Not jealous of that chair, though. I couldn't sit on that thing for more than about 20 minutes without my back screaming at me.

[Pete J.]

Curt - I have owned four houses since 1977 and this is the first one that I had space for a separate model building area. Good things take time! As to the chair, it is special even though it doesn't look it. It has had many coats of paint on it. The original owner was my grandfather. The center of the front lip was carved out with a pocket knife by him to relieve his arthritic leg. It is surprisingly comfortable. I really should do something with it as I am sure it is probably 75 or more years old.

By the way two of the houses I owned were located at East 10918 26^th and South 2914 Bates Road in Spokane. We lived there for 10 years. I have been in California for the last 24 years.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Pete J.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Interesting build and very nice machine work and fabrication. Also, thanks for pointing out that the engine is way underscale. I'd bought a couple of these as gluebombs to use the engines in fantasy dry-lakes streamliners, and it never occurred to me how tiny the engines were compared to the Mercedes F-1466 (D.III) I believe is represented. You saved me from a stupid mistake, prodded my research along. Thanks again.

Is that a real GT-40 in your avatar? Maybe an ERA or CAV car?

[Pete J.]

Interesting build and very nice machine work and fabrication. Also, thanks for pointing out that the engine is way underscale. I'd bought a couple of these as gluebombs to use the engines in fantasy dry-lakes streamliners, and it never occurred to me how tiny the engines were compared to the Mercedes F-1466 (D.III) I believe is represented. You saved me from a stupid mistake, prodded my research along. Thanks again.

Is that a real GT-40 in your avatar? Maybe an ERA or CAV car?

The GT 40 photo was taken at the Holman-Moody shop in Charlotte N.C. several years ago. It is one of the few FIA sanctioned continuation cars that Lee Holman is building to original specs. He owns the license and all the original plans and paper work for the Mk 2s. Interesting story about those cars. I got to spend the day with him listening to all the history. He is also had the original gulf car in the shop for restoration at the time. The owner was a little touchy so I didn't get any photos of that car.

[Pete J.]

Just when you though this build was over, I am resurrecting it! Well, I have been waiting for a part to get here so I could really get into the build. I went out and bought the part today. Here is a photo of it in the box. I need to get it and all the other parts out.

Oh, yea! Let the building begin!

I have the first part laid out and ready to go. This is the chassis side rail. It will be the first parts cut on the new mill.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Pete J.

[Pete J.]

Ok, the mill is set up and the chips are flying! The first two pieces off the mill are frame rails. There is some cleanup left to do but for my first try with the mill I am happy. First thing I did was lay out the rail using the plastic piece as a pattern. I used two pieces of .030 brass strip and glued them together with super glue. I blued the top piece of brass and scratched the pattern into the blue with a diamond scriber.

After I did the design work, I glued it to a piece of Plexiglas so I could hold it to the tool plate. First operation was to bore the holes with a boring tool. Then I cut the pieces with a 1/8" mill end and ran some acetone underneath to brake them free. I left them glued togeather to clean up the shape so they would be mirror images. Now I have to file them flat and sand them to get rid of the file marks. Follow that with a little polish and I can start making cross members and engine and suspension mounts.

This is going to be fun. Love the mill!

Edited April 22, 2013 by Pete J.

[jeffs396]

Great work going on here Pete!

Brass is looking sweeeeet!

[Pete J.]

Ok, I have not posted in a while. It took me this long and a lot of metal scrap to feel confidant enough with the mill to move on the this part. This is the start of the new head for the new engine in brass. First of all, I must state for the record, once again, this is not ment to replicate a Mercedes D III which was suppose to be what was in the original Red Barron. It is no where close to the size of that engine in 1:24th scale. This is much smaller. For that reason I have decided to create a somewhat custom version of that engine, taking the inspiration from it and making it in a " of the style of" a 1900's aviation engine. This is the head. It is going to be a pushrod style with exposed valve rockers arms. Having said this here is the basic machining that I have done so far.

I started with a .5" X .5" X 2" piece of brass and cut it down to the size I wanted and laid out the basic positions of the exposed pieces. I then cut everything square but a lot thicker than the final piece will be when it is done. I then used a 1/16" ball end mill to cut the grooves on either side of what would be the central supports for the rocker arms.

I then cut the ends of the supports.

Then I cut the sides of each of the supports. I used a ball end to create a "cast" look. I also milled the sides where the hold down bolts will go to hold the top of the supports.

I then drilled the hole for the .025" stainless steel tubing on which I will mount the rocker arms.

I included this last shot to give it some perspective.

As I mentioned before I am taking classes to get my certification to teach ground school to pilots so this project is going slower that I would like, but I do need to study but Tuesday is my last class for the summer. Perhaps I can get a bit more done after that.

I hope you enjoy the work. I certainly am.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Pete J.

[BubbaJoe]

i'm always amazed by the quality of work done here....all i can say is WOW

[lower99]

Man........you are krazy!!!!!!

The best work I had ever seen!!!

[CrazyGirl]

^{very cool work , love it !!!}

[slowlylearning]

In awe of your skills mate, and your tools. Im gunna carry around a picture of a Sherline Mill and Lathe to keep me goin!

I just found the prices, eek! Theres tools are definitely a long-term goal!

Edited May 19, 2013 by slowlylearning

[Ognib]

Very nice work, Pete.

Watching you do your brass work just added another log to the fire of my desire to have a lathe & mill.

Best

[Alyn]

Cool stuff, Pete.

I like that you're modeling an open valve train engine. That will add some great detail.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice machine work, fun to watch.

[Randy D]

Hey Pete, Just realized I have missed some progress on this one. Like the cabinet work !! Looks like you are having fun with your new mill

Really going to be cool watching you create this engine!!!

Randy

[Pete J.]

Good afternoon to all! Thank you for the nice comments. The mill has been a steep learning curve with a lot of mistakes before I got this far. There is a lot of planning that goes into making this thing function and I have a lot of new found respect for those of you who make a living working with the full sized machines.

I have learned, or I should say relearned the lesson about measure twice(or three or five) times and cut once. This is a very small machine so taking a lot of little cuts is important. The cuts to cut the channels between the supports were ten passes taking .005" at a time. It is far easier to go deeper then to undo a cut that it too deep. Little cuts are better than big cuts especially with very small mill ends because they flex easily and distort the cut. Everything needs to be locked down except the direction you are cutting.

I have been using a lot of Zen with this machine. Thinking about the problems and how to do it every morning during my hour long walks. Mentally visualizing the steps is important in making it all work. I suppose that is not that different from how I build with plastic it just seems to be a bit more complex. Still it is fun.

Ray and KC- owning both a mill and lathe has been a long time in coming. I have had the lathe for over five years and just got to the point that there was stuff I wanted to do that a lathe would not do. As a incorrigible tinker and do it yourselfer, I have found a lot of other uses for the lathe besides model building. I have made and repaired a lot of things that I never would have considered without it. I am sure the mill will prove equally useful. At least that is what I told my wife.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Pete J.

[crazyrichard]

awsome stuff and i can imagine the planning that go's into making the machine do exactly what you want and getting the result your after .. seeing you work i'm sure you will maze us even more in the future

[Pro Wrench]

Good afternoon to all! Thank you for the nice comments. The mill has been a steep learning curve with a lot of mistakes before I got this far. There is a lot of planning that goes into making this thing function and I have a lot of new found respect for those of you who make a living working with the full sized machines.

I have learned, or I should say relearned the lesson about measure twice(or three or five) times and cut once. This is a very small machine so taking a lot of little cuts is important. The cuts to cut the channels between the supports were ten passes taking .005" at a time. It is far easier to go deeper then to undo a cut that it too deep. Little cuts are better than big cuts especially with very small mill ends because they flex easily and distort the cut. Everything needs to be locked down except the direction you are cutting.

I have been using a lot of Zen with this machine. Thinking about the problems and how to do it every morning during my hour long walks. Mentally visualizing the steps is important is making it all work. I suppose that is not that different from how I build with plastic it just seems to be a bit more complex. Still it is fun.

Ray and KC- owning both a mill and lathe has been a long time in coming. I have had the lathe for over five years and just got to the point that there was stuff I wanted to do that a lathe would not do. As a incorrigible tinker and do it yourselfer, I have found a lot of other uses for the lathe besides model building. I have made and repaired a lot of things that I never would have considered without it. I am sure the mill will prove equally useful. At least that is what I told my wife.

This statement right here is EXACTLY why I want a lathe and a mill myself. I find myself at least once a week trying to repair or build something on the job that I could use one or the other or both for.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Pro Wrench

[Ognib]

I have been using a lot of Zen with this machine. Thinking about the problems and how to do it Mentally visualizing the steps is important is making it all work.

The state of zen mentality is one of my favorite things about, not only modeling, but anything creative.

Clarity of mind in ones work is priceless!

[Pete J.]

Ok, got a little more done, but it took a little while to figure this one out. I needed to machine the back side of the head to accommodate the cylinder bores which are turned aluminum. With the machine work done on the top I needed to figure out some way to hold the head upside down securely without damaging the top. The answer was to machine a "square collet" that would squeeze the part when placed in the vise.

I clamped it in place and used a boring tool to cut the mounting points. The bores are .200"

Here is a shot of the cylinder bores. The four center ones are flat on each side to give the impression that they are a water jacket surrounding a bolt on cylinder. A very "old fashion" way of building and engine.

Next job is to cut channels in the bottom of the head to mount the exhaust and intakes.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Pete J.