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1924 Delage GP - a what ?


absmiami

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So, the lab-metal paste dried well and is sandable - but it was not  fine enough to grip the small surface imperfections

I ended up sanding most of it off and applied some more soft solder to the surface to fill in the larger surface pitting ...

working - just have to be careful not to apply too much heat to the metal 

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pix still loading wrong - oh well

the car has rows of copper rivets - like everywhere

working here on the rivets that attach the hinge on either side of the fuel tank cover

rivet rows lined up with scribed lines and a brass gadget that is bent from rod to locate the holes properly

holes are .021 with corresponding copper wire clipped in and sanded

rivets are close to scale and are just visible once all the sanding is done

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working my way around  the  fuel tank cover with the rivets - just glue the copper wire in and clip close - but not too close - to the surface of the body

with the rivets in place in pic 3 - but not yet filed - has a sort of steam punk look - maybe try this on another project

in pic 4 the copper wire protrusions are filed and then sanded flush with the surface

got lots more of these to make - already broke one #75 drill bit ...

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the great pix on the first page show that the driving compartment body-work is edged in  brass trim

in the deepest darkest depths of my workbench tool chest I located some brass  "L"  angle  bar

it's been sitting in a pile of misc brass and alu stock that I've had for years - well actually - decades

the stock is .050 in height/width - just over a scale inch - which is close enough

the brass was heated so I could bend it - using a grabber and pin vice on either end

then super-glued to the body in sections - the first sections are shown - I'll work my way around the opening with 6 or seven lengths of this stuff

then filed to shape

now back to those rivets ......

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rivet rivet  ...

rivet rivet  ....

Q for 1500 GP  (and thanks for the compliment)

the brass trim around the driving compartment on the restored car appears to have a weathered or aged or slightly darkened finish

do you agree - do you know whether the restorer was able to use the original trim - I doubt it

probably took care to finish and present the trim in a "vintage" look - do you agree  ??

got some chemical darkening agent that I can use on the trim strip  ...

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so having broken my last  #75 drill it was off to the local hobby store for some more provisions

yes - there is still one lonely hobby store - specializing in trains - in Miami -

Ready to Roll - for you train fans - and they carry a good assortment of scratch-building supplies

for the remaining rivets on the body I'm trying some phosphor bronze wire - .020

the gadget in the picture  marks the metal at .100 intervals, and was made from this wire - holes drilled with #76 drill

gonna use some drill lubricant - so I don't break all of my #76's ...

these rivet holes will crawl around the cowl and down the length of the body  - as the body was riveted in this manner to the chassis

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13 hours ago, absmiami said:

rivet rivet  ...

rivet rivet  ....

Q for 1500 GP  (and thanks for the compliment)

the brass trim around the driving compartment on the restored car appears to have a weathered or aged or slightly darkened finish

do you agree - do you know whether the restorer was able to use the original trim - I doubt it

probably took care to finish and present the trim in a "vintage" look - do you agree  ??

got some chemical darkening agent that I can use on the trim strip  ...

 

 

Yes, you're right, I doubt too ... so I agree ...

I'll ask to Patrick Delâge in Retromobile next friday ... but I remember that the story about this restoration/reconstruction was not very clear with the original used parts ... :wacko:

What a good job you do on this model with so detailled parts , I'm falling of my chair ...

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with the rivet holes drilled it's time to make and attach the lip along the bulkhead line that retains the bonnet

re-profiled the under-side of the cowling with a steel cutting tool

cut some .015 evergreen plastic strip to glue - epoxy - to the underside of the cowling

the tape along the edge of the strip is temporary - just there to help align the strip while gluing ...

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with the strip glued in place I have to re-drill the rivet holes and glue in the wire for the rivets

most of the stems on the underside will stay there

they will help locate the bulkhead - which will probably be plastic with thin sheet aluminum glued to the front

busted a couple more drills this weekend - even with the drill lubricant ...

next is the rivets for the instrument panel frame - gotta do this together with the frame support so that everything is aligned ....

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Andrew, I spoke with Patrick Delâge last friday in Retromobile.  So I have documents on the 2LCV to scan for you and I have the complete story of the restoration/re-construction of this car ...  please, send me your Email on PM ...

... and, for your information, I bought this fabulous book (and dedicated by the author) ...

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bet Frederick has got some very helpful material .... looking forward to his post

meantime ... noticed that the shape of the cowl above the instrument dash needed correction

so I added low temp solder to the larger opening and removed some metal from the mechanic's side - I needed more balance ..

after some fettling, I've got a more symmetric shape, which will look better with the instrument panel installed - mocked up in the last picture

and with the panel taped in place I can run the rivets over the cowl and place the instrument panel frame

the instrument dash panel will be aluminum, probably glued over the plastic sheet mock-up

 

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small update

with the instr panel located I mocked up a support post inside the body - L shaped evergreen - to locate the run of the rivets over the cowl

and of course broke another #76   - got three left .....

still a couple more rows of rivets on the body and then back to the bonnet for more .... rivets

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

March update

more - lots more - rivet holes and rivets - following the outline of the cockpit cowling and the frame

two more # 76 drills have bit the dust

...next - gotta enclose the under-side of the tail and make some frame/fit adjstments

and make the perforated aluminum trim pieces that brace both sides of the cockpit

the Indycal tachs are a bit too big for the dash - they were designed for a Bugatti and probably larger in 1/1

but I will order some 1/32 gauges that mite do the trick  ...

off to the Philly NNL   .....

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  • 2 weeks later...

confined to the house for 72 straight hours - doctor's orders

so I got some stuff done - in between NCAA games ...

the inside of the driving compartment has perforated sheets of aluminum - for reinforcement of body-work (?)

these were made from .012 plastic sheet - to be painted

then back to work on the rivets - I know you wanted to see some more rivets!

these rivets attach the reinforcement sheets to the body work ...

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once these rivets were sanded flush I did some work on the tail

.047 brass tube was soldered to the rear fender flaps - the spring leaf will be attached to the ends

and I needed a metal enclosure for the base of the tail -

used a portion of the thick engine bulkhead that I had removed from the body - filed it to approx shape

- and then attached it with a bead of low temp solder

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the chassis is casted with the base plate in a single casting

the base is too thick - about 4 scale inches - so I sawed/grinded most of it off

to be replaced with some thin evergreen plastic sheet - probably  .015

test fitting the engine - is this cool or what!  and adding some notches to the casting for the engine mounting plates ...

if you refer back to the pix on the first page - you'll notice that the chassis is painted - so it made sense to cast this in resin - and it will be easier to modify ...

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