absmiami

If you refer back to the pg 1 photos - there is one pretty good shot of the ignition distributors - two large assemblies perched on curved perforated trays at the front of the engine these are much larger than modern distributors - but they work more or less the same this was the first racing 12 cyl engine - and although the engine itself was compact - at least for it's time the distributors certainly were not ! so I'm going to make these from diff size evergreen tube, rod, and strip the assemblies will be about 4 scale inched wide and 6 scale inches tall the separate parts will be easier to finish before assembling hard to see well here - the detail will show much better once these are made and painted.

time for a small update thinking about the spark plug wires ..... they are clipped to the plug tips at a right angle so I got some photo-etched rings made by Keyser valley models - they seem to cater to train modelers the rings are quite small - the opening in the ring is about .020 I soldered .013 silver rod through the opening to make the attachment clip - the ring is then glued into the open end of the plug wire with a 0.7 mill sleeve slipped over to hold the assembly together... the silver rod will slip into the end of an 0.60 mill tube with a nut - this will be the spark plug ...... using .016 dia plug wires - pretty close to scale accurate gotta make 12 plug wire "clips" made 6 so far ...

most of the shaping was done with files made by www.perma-grit.com these have random toothed surfaces that are much better for working with renshape than regular files also used some sanding sticks the initial shaping is done on the renshape "stalks" - just easier to shape while they are attached ..... pic 906 is the third of four that I have to make - this has about the right shape - I'll tweek the others to get close to this .... the carbs attach to the bottom of these manifolds - there will be some guess work here - there are no good shots of these carbs as they sit down along the chassis rails - ...

wait a minute, Tim - the workbench photo was taken AFTER I had cleaned it up .... the restored car - you can refer to the engine shots page 1 .... - used Zenith carbureters feeding 2 branches of manifolds to the cylinder heads subsequent cars used super-chargers - as did most other GP cars til the second world war ... so I am making the manifold pipes - out of renshape - per the pics time consuming - the first one wasn't quite right - I have to shape the manifolds so that they bend down - so the carbs do not interfere with the run of the chassis rails the white pegs are evergreen plastic - .035 - which are stuck into slightly larger holes drilled in the cylinder heads - the printed engine has accurate ports to locate the holes ...

wondering of Ryan Reynolds is looking for some additional set designers for Dead Pool III what do you think ?

the bolts are resin bits made by Master Club fr Russia they also make some neat "castle" nuts that I will use on the supension

the engine sump - strips of evergreen plastic mostly the fins are alternating strips of 0.10 by 0.40 - and 0.15 by 0.20 - all liquid glued - this allows for some alignment while the glue sets

thanks to Bill JC and Tim - fr the middle of Pa ..... Pico - the mesh for the radiator core - is ACS24175 1/24th sc mesh hexagon - mite still be available - check the usual suspects don't know where I got mine - I'm sometimes lax about tracking that - if you strike out I'll send you some .... also going to use "Finisher's" photo-etched No 11 screen for the engine panel openings once again - forgot to market the package with the internet source - maybe it just floated into my workshop one day a few years ago - who knows anybody seen the announcement for a super/luxury/vintage car show in Miami next February? as part of the Miami Beach art basel weekend - google Grand Basel car show ... you'all are invited - or inverted .......

the engine is that really cool printed part that I posted at the beginning of this thing it was designed and printed without crankcase or sump detail - but I am adding this - as I think this car raced with an engine compartment opening in the undertray so I filed away the lower portion of the printed engine and sawed up some renshape for the crank case and then I'll make me an engine sump ...

so back a few months ago I was working on the engine bonnet panels ... now that the radiator shell is attached to the frame I can check the panel fit - which needed a lot of trimming and tweeking - this is a little closer to what I had hoped for also a lot of work on the frame - but the changes are not as obvious now I can start to mess around with the driving compartment and the engine bay ...

.... tiny update acu-stion also makes a photo-etch pattern that is correct for many pre-war racing radiators cores such as this Delage and your typical bugatti etc - maybe Millers also - gotta check sort of an egg crate shape - way different than modern racing radiator surfaces this will get painted or sharpied black and used in the front and back of the radiator core ....

the screen needs some more cleaning/fettling but it will sit in front of the shell on some small pegs at the base and two protruding from the top of the rad shell and I'll add a photo-etched radiator pattern to the front and back of the renshape radiator ... and merry Mother's day ....

the screen is photo-etched pattern made by Acu-Stion it's cross-hatched and has some three dimensional etching - it's got the best scale appearance that I have found they make a series of different patterns - good stuff then soldered to the silver frame - with some initial cleanup some pooled solder on the top and the bottom - have to live with this - I can't heat it and "flow" it off the screen - that's OK

the radiator screen - the 1924-25 car had one - and the restored car does also don't know how the '25 grand prix winner managed without .... started with heated .020 nickel silver rod that was bent around a pattern made from evergreen sheet - it has a dark appearance due to the heat treatment had to try this twice - got a more correct shape the second try - and used the tip of some brass strip to solder the tips of the rod together

filed and sanded the surfaces and added a backing plate for the badge - somewhere in my accessory drawer is a good Delage badge - now I can figure out the radiator screen ...