110 replies to this topic

[Pete J.]

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.

[Pete J.]

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 by Pete J., 22 January 2013 - 07:46 PM.

[Pete J.]

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.

[gray07]

Awesome work.

[Jairus]

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 by Jairus, 22 January 2013 - 09:53 AM.

[Pete J.]

You got my curiosity up and I did a little research. The reason the air ran through the crankcase was to warm it. Normally, heating the air is not what you would want to do, but keep in mind that this is an aircraft engine and one of the major problems with carbureted engines is that they can develop ice at the venturi. This can be a bit of an issue when you are in combat at 15,000 feet and your engine quits.

[Scale-Master]

Yeah, those tires were a SCORE weren't they...  Has it already been 10 years? 

[Pete J.]

Yeah, those tires were a SCORE weren't they...  Has it already been 10 years? 

March 2003 Mark.  Some times is seems like that was forever ago and other times like yesturday.

[cobraman]

Very nice work !

[Pete J.]

awsome job , a saw like that is on my wishlist still !

Here is the saw I bought. http://www.ottofrei....-Tension-3.html  I like it because it has a cam testioner that means I don't have to go through a lot of messing around when I change blades or take one end out to get it through a starter hole.  I also got this blade holder with blades as it seemed like a good starter set since I didn't know what I would need.  It really makes working with this stuff easier than I would have imagined. http://www.ottofrei....Wood-Stand.html

[Scale-Master]

March 2003 Mark.  Some times is seems like that was forever ago and other times like yesturday.

I'm going to blame that on the Sake.

Edited by Scale-Master, 23 January 2013 - 06:39 AM.

[Pete J.]

I'm going to blame that on the Sake.

Not to mention a Sapporo or two.  Great time.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[Pete J.]

Ok, I finished a couple of more parts.  I made a brass firewall using the plastic part as a pattern ...

 

 

...and it didn't fit because I made some mild modifications to the body.  So I made a new one that used the body as a pattern.

 

 

And then I drilled it for the fasteners and polished it.

 

 

Next, I turned the gas tank and gas cap.  The gas filler is a little slanted because the tank sits under a lip and the filler would be set forward of the center line of the tank.

 

 

Then I added some brass straps and fasteners.

[crazyrichard]

pfftt this is getting pretty insane



good insane hahaha





it

Edited by crazyrichard, 25 January 2013 - 11:46 PM.

[zenrat]

Great work, but will you risk disqualification if there is too little of the original kit left? 

[pandamonium2112]

I like this build!  Very creative. I'll be waiting for more posts..Keep going

[Builder]

Your metal working is amazing. All of it. The radiator really blows my mind.

[Dogfish_7]

That's some fantastic metal work!

[Pete J.]

Got a few more bits done.  I can see that I am getting close to a time to start painting the plastic bits. 

 

Here is the steering wheel.  I shaped the basic shape with brass with the jeweler's saw and finished it with files.  The center hub was turned and the black grips are just Tamiya enamal black.

 

 

I also got the head lights done tonight.  All turned on the lathe.

 

 

Now for the major change.  The original Red Barron does not have a windscreen.  In converting this I wanted to make this look like a WW 2 German soldier with googles.  I had a hard time deciding exactly how to do this and make it fit under the helmet.  In the end I decided I could take some styling cues from an aircraft cockpit as well and added the top piece accross the top of the bar.  This is all test fitting.

 

 

 

[crazyrichard]

its got glasses hehehhe looking awsome !!!