Pete J. Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I am sure many of you are familiar with Tom Danials Red Barron kit. It is a rather old kit, but our model club(San Diego Model Car Club) got a hold of a case of them courtsy of one of our members. It is now our common kit, club build for the year. Since I am not a resonable person, I could not leave well enough alone and decided that I did not like it as it was, so I decided to convert it into a differant but recognizable build. The color scheme will be black, brass and aluminum and I am going to add what I consider some retro-updates. The conversion is going to try to take it from WW1 into WW2 as a theme. Here is the start of the build. First thing that I decided to change was the stance and the tires. The the kit tires are a little dated. They are narrow and give a '50s agressiveness. I choose to go wider. I had some F1 rain tires that have been begging for a model for a while. I started by turning some rims to accomidate the larger tires. After that, I didn't like the low detail of the rear axle and so I turned a couple of differant axles and made a new set of springs from brass shim stock. Having done that, I really didn't like the engine which is a WW1 mercedes aircraft engine. To spruce it up cut off the old cylinders, and make some new cylinders from aluminum. Ok, that is enough for tonight. I will add more as I go along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 Charger Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Cant wait to see more you doing some good mods I liking the turned wheels I have one of these in a tin not sure I will ever biuld it though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 This looks very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Nice ! I'll be watching this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpiguy Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Recently picked up a Red Baron kit. I'll have to watch this one progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 thats awsome !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) Ok, so for Chrismas I gave myself(best santa ever) a high end jeweler's saw and decided to start hacking up some brass shim stock with it. My first piece was a radiator for this thing. Here is what the saw looks like in action. Notice how truely small the blade is. I have to get my optivisor out to see which side has the teeth in it and which way they are going when I put a blade in it. My first try got me off to a good start, but after I got it this far I realized that the front and back have to match exactly and be soldered to the edge at the same time. So what I did was to use super glue and glue two pieces togeather and cut them at the same time. And poof, matching pieces! Then we soldered them togeather with a strip of brass. By the way this is colored the way it is because of anealling. And finally we polished it up and blacked some brass screen and added a turned aluminum radiator cap. Edited January 21, 2013 by Pete J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Looking AWESOME ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Nice brass work Pete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 I like where you're going with this... Where did you get the F1 rain tires- kit-based or aftermarket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) I like where you're going with this... Where did you get the F1 rain tires- kit-based or aftermarket? They have been lying about my work bench for 10 year now. When Mark Jones and I were in Tokyo 10 years ago(doesn't seem that long ago does it Mark?) one of the hobby shops we visited was having a clearance on them for 100 yen each. Yes, that is about $1 and I think I got four or five sets of them. Edited January 21, 2013 by Pete J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iBorg Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 This is one I want to watch..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 They have been lying about my work bench for 10 year now. When Mark Jones and I were in Tokyo 10 years ago(doesn't seem that long ago does it Mark?) one of the hobby shops we visited was having a clearance on them for 100 yen each. Yes, that is about $1 and I think I got four or five sets of them. Ah... unobtainium at this point. Got it! It's good you hung onto them, they look great on the Baron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 BEAUTIFUL RADIATOR!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Nice brass work Pete! Thanks Mark. Not up to your standard yet but I'm working on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Custom Mike Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Man, that radiator shell is stunning! If you've gone this far at the start, I can't wait for the completed build! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalemodelworld Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Looks amazing. But to play the Devil's advocate... how do you stop the brass from tarnishing once you've polished it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy D Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi Pete, Good to see this posted! Just beautiful work so far on this, looking foward to your progress. Randy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
935k3 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 You can get the rain tires at http://www.mshobbies.com/servlet/Categories?category=ICON+AUTOMOTIVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 awsome job , a saw like that is on my wishlist still ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Looks amazing. But to play the Devil's advocate... how do you stop the brass from tarnishing once you've polished it? A very thin coat of clear lacquer will do the job. I still have some DuPont clear and I thin it about 6:1 thinner to paint and you can't tell it was coated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) The engine appears to have a supercharger in the crank case so I decided to play with an intake system. There is a little artistic license take with this, but then it is a hot rod and a show car so I guess I am free to do this however I like. Here is the first piece I made for the intake. It is simply brass sheet that has been bend around a piece of tubing and the ends solders shut to form a mounting system. I then added at cover from the crank case to the intake. And then you have to have a way to get the air into the system, so I turned a cover and added a little brass screen. I did clean up the solder after the picture was taken. There is still some detailing to do to really make it pop. Adding hoses and bolt heads, but that has to wait until the engine block is painted and I have a lot of other parts to create to get there. Edited January 23, 2013 by Pete J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi Pete, Good to see this posted! Just beautiful work so far on this, looking foward to your progress. Randy Randy- Thanks for the encouragement and for the help. I would be at a loss on some of this without your advise. I look forward to your next installment of the rat rod wrecker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gray07 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Awesome work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jairus Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Not a supercharger. But Mercedes did flow the intake air through the crank case through a couple of ports to the updraft carb. Not sure why.... but it was probably for oil cooling. The lower arrow indicates the air intakes. The upper arrow indicates the timing adjustment which allows opening the exhaust valves to get the prop spinning. Like a truckers "Jake brake" for the opposite reason. Edited January 22, 2013 by Jairus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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