Auto Union C - Vanderbilt Cup 1937

[89AKurt]

Drove myself nuts with rivet decals.  ?

For the mechanical parts, am going to use various Alclad paints.  Thought Model Master gloss black would work with Testors thinner, NOT! ?

Edited December 7, 2020 by 89AKurt

[Danno]

2 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Drove myself nuts with rivet decals.  ?

 

BUT . . . did you count them??

??

 

[89AKurt]

37 minutes ago, Danno said:

BUT . . . did you count them??

??

 

You bet, equal on each side.  ?

First time I have used Splash Paints, two part primer.  I must have done something wrong, hate the result.

[absmiami]

Yikes. Paint it orange and

just pretend it’s an orange ??

pressure ?  Or humidity ? Or just too heavy a coat ???

[89AKurt]

11 hours ago, absmiami said:

Yikes. Paint it orange and

just pretend it’s an orange ??

pressure ?  Or humidity ? Or just too heavy a coat ???

Super low humidity ("exceptional" drought conditions).  I asked Splash what the problem is, they said 20-30 p.s.i. is needed.

Painted Alclad, two different aluminum.

Edited December 8, 2020 by 89AKurt

[afx]

Hans Stuck en route to winning the 1938 Großglockner Grand Prix in an Auto Union Typ C. 

[89AKurt]

On 12/8/2020 at 1:32 PM, afx said:

Hans Stuck en route to winning the 1938 Großglockner Grand Prix in an Auto Union Typ C. 

Cool vintage photo.  Look at that brick road, and the landscape.  I'm wondering if the grill was touched up (old school Photoshop), doesn't look right.

I have now been trapped in the take-one-step-foward-two-steps-back stage.  Having to wet-sand the body, started on the engine cover and front cover (it's not a hood is it?).  Also noticed I screwed up the engine, had a nice crinkle texture that would look great on a Ferrari valve cover, need to experiment with that so it can consistently be duplicated, ON SOMETHING ELSE!!!!  Something I didn't notice, the engine has a bunch of tiny holes, what is the trick to fix that, on the next project?  It was easier to just remove all the bolt heads to sand those covers, glued on different Grant Line bolts that show up better, and some were re-located according to reference pictures, so that was an improvement, since I'm going to the extra effort.

Painted flat black on the engine, masked the valve covers and painted with Model Master aluminum.  Tried Silly Putty for the first time, it seems to have a shelf life so it was a little stiff, but warmed up with kneading, to mask the differential.

I'm finding it difficult to know what colors to paint everything.  The instructions only say matt grey for the seat, nothing else is indicated. Black & white pictures do not show brown.  I've seen brown steering wheel and seat on current museum cars.  One color cutaway shows olive drab seat.  Cutaways show aluminum valve covers, pictures show flat black.  Some exhausts are flat black, some are steel.  Hard to tell in the race pictures.  One little detail I spotted, the fairing cushion was missing during the race, so I need to remove it from the model.  I'm to the point of doing what I want, accuracy be damned.  I figured that using every aluminum paint I got will add some interest to the look, much like airplane builders do.

[89AKurt]

Wet sanded the crappy primer job, which lost the rivets that I added.  So I redid those, which was fun because the primer and rivets are exactly the same color.  ?  I noticed there are hood latches, if photo-etch parts were to be done, this would be a nice detail.    Used copper wire, aluminum plate, and styrene, and many tools.

This time I added thinner, which helped.  Took forever, did quick light coats.  Still some orange peel, so will have to lightly wet sand before the silver.  Questioning what the big deal about this paint is, costs more than Tamiya primer which I'm very happy with.  To put up with the toxic fumes, it should be like the most awesome stuff around.  Model paint covers better, this was like a clear with tint, the latches are hardly covered.

[89AKurt]

This is why some builders don't do WIP topics.... ?  I'm now hating on this kit.

Wet sanded the primer, I will say it sands really nice, doesn't gum up the sandpaper like other paint.  Lost some of the rivets, but oh well.  Now Splash Paint aluminum is really nice!  Straight out of the bottle, high pressure, quick light coats, didn't screw it up.  Also did the other exhaust pipe set with tubing, and painted flat black with just a tiny bit of silver.

Russell Cook gave me some photo-etch screen, this worked perfect for the intake scoops.  Also fabricated the aluminum plate divider, bent an edge with the photo-etch tool.   I also did the carb air screen filter, which was a waste of time, found out the engine can't be installed with that much more in length.

This paint dried really quick, so started to assemble.   This is where things went wrong big time.  ?  I had glued on the rear brake drums, then realized the spats (aerodynamic wing thing) need to go on first.  So I screwed up the axles pulling it apart.  The instructions have no suggestion of order.  Now I don't see how this will ever go together, without enlarging the hole in the spat.  Perhaps the trailing arm should be glued in first inside the spat?  Anyway, this is going to be fun, the sort of cluster ?[censored]? that gets a project thrown into the box.  More scratch-building because the other axle went flying into the black hole.

[peteski]

What you are experiencing is what steered me to preassemble and test fit as many things as I can, prior to painting.  I use white glue and masking tape to hold things together. I also often pin parts together (but glue the pin to only one of the parts, so they are removable.  Pinning parts also assures perfect alignment after painting.  Yes it all takes extra time, but it saves a lot of aggravation (and wasted time) fixing things that don't fit rigth, or are installed in the wrong order.

[absmiami]

write this down and post it above your workbench:

IF EVERYTHING WORKS THE FIRST TIME ...

     IT'S TIME FOR A NEW HOBBY ...

and by the way - the engine is turning out really nice ...

 

 

[89AKurt]

On 12/13/2020 at 11:44 PM, peteski said:

What you are experiencing is what steered me to preassemble and test fit as many things as I can, prior to painting.  I use white glue and masking tape to hold things together. I also often pin parts together (but glue the pin to only one of the parts, so they are removable.  Pinning parts also assures perfect alignment after painting.  Yes it all takes extra time, but it saves a lot of aggravation (and wasted time) fixing things that don't fit rigth, or are installed in the wrong order.

I do that, most of the time.  Funny how the parts I don't do, end up being the problem.

On 12/14/2020 at 2:04 PM, absmiami said:

write this down and post it above your workbench:

IF EVERYTHING WORKS THE FIRST TIME ...

     IT'S TIME FOR A NEW HOBBY ...

and by the way - the engine is turning out really nice ...

Yea yea. Should stick to Tamiya, box stock.  ?  Thank you.

[sjordan2]

I'll guess you may have seen color photos of the Type D at the Tazio Nuvolari museum.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/tazio-nuvolari-s-museum/aQG4AoJxHLujEQ

Here's video of a restored Type C with a decent engine shot.

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by sjordan2

[Bainford]

It's coming along Kurt, despite your struggles. That primer seems a real nuisance, especially as concerns the rivets. Stick with it, man. It's going to be cool.

[89AKurt]

On 12/21/2020 at 10:17 AM, sjordan2 said:

I'll guess you may have seen color photos of the Type D at the Tazio Nuvolari museum.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/tazio-nuvolari-s-museum/aQG4AoJxHLujEQ

Here's video of a restored Type C with a decent engine shot.

[...]

Have not.  Don't know what that car is, so much wrong with it, no radiator exhaust vents, no windscreen, mirrors, and looking at the suspension it looks painted grey.  The video is the D, exhaust joins together through the suspension is the easiest clue, shape of the front and rear are not as pointy, fuel filler on the side, etc.  But basically the same glorious sounding engine, still listened to it again.

Now that I'm in the mood for fixing mistakes, tackled the rear axles.  Cut short lengths of the aluminum rod for each end of the new aluminum tubing.  Wrapped thick aluminum foil around the end, using the resin part for a guide.  Cut off the trailing arm, glued to the axle.  Thinned the inside of the spats to clear the axles.  Needed to refine the fit of those spats to the body, then painted the inside aluminum.  Also made a piece for the brake drum, sort of the shape seen on the cutaway drawing, that the axle fits better in.  The Splash Paints silver is holding up really well with this extra handling.

[89AKurt]

The sadomasochist is coming out today.  First up, finding out there are issues with the exhausts.  Even if I didn't modify, they would still be a RPITA.  Because I added the lip along the engine bay, that pushed them inward enough to not allow clearance with the hood.  This is the other side when one fits.

Then a double whammy, not long enough.  I based the length on the original part.

I wasn't really happy with the tubing used, picked the next size up that I was smart enough to get.  Wasting some with much more than needed, can't grow these longer.

Something I knew wasn't good enough in the beginning, thought I had fixed, but there was a HUGE gap at one of the spats.  Glued on some of the thick aluminum foil, and tried to blend in.

Was burnt out by the end of today, so did what I still know how to do, decals, and mirrors.  The dash decal was one piece, instructions say nothing about cutting apart, which is required since the tachometer is raised.  I contemplated making 4 tiny bezels for the other gauges, but since I'm hating this build, blew it off.  The mirror is something I found in a coffee can lid.

[89AKurt]

Made good progress today.  Spent hours on the engine, one of the valve covers was glued on crooked by Pinto, so that threw off the right exhaust.  I boogered it on with gobs of superglue, but it's sort of hidden by flat black.  Glued in the engine with Tacky glue, so it could be adjusted.  No pictures, not that happy about it.  Got the front parts on.  Had glued the suspension arms on, but they were too long, the instructions showed them long, so had to cut apart and correct.  The radiator and nose went on well.

Got the decals on.  Used the weaker Microsol around the edges.  Where they go over seams, used the hotter Solvaset, had to be careful because that melts these decals.

Used guitar strings, N28 .711 mm and DY40 1.015 mm, plus a black wire for the radiator hose.

No it's not finished, have some more details on the engine to do, and the starter shaft at the tail.  The wheels are superglued on, but the spinners are attached with Tacky glue.  I was blown away that all four wheels sit on the bench!  Fabricated the windshield, used Bare Metal Foil.

[Mattilacken]

Great work there! Seems like a real struggle to get it to where you are! Keep at it!

[Beamerman]

Congratulation. A very good job. It looks amazing. It was nice to see how it runs step by step.

[Bainford]

Sorry to hear of your woes, but that thing is looking great up on its wheels.

[89AKurt]

7 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Great work there! Seems like a real struggle to get it to where you are! Keep at it!

I knew going in that it wasn't going to be a Tamiya kit, trying not to bag on it.  I should dump in the AMT Kits Suck topic.  ?  I shall preserver!

7 hours ago, Beamerman said:

Congratulation. A very good job. It looks amazing. It was nice to see how it runs step by step.

Thanks!  Just in case anyone wants to build this, hope it helps.

54 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Sorry to hear of your woes, but that thing is looking great up on its wheels.

I should do Snap-Tite kits from now on. ?  Thanks.

[Belugawrx]

It's looking good Kurt despite all of the problems ?

[89AKurt]

1 hour ago, Belugawrx said:

It's looking good Kurt despite all of the problems ?

Much appreciated!  I'm done hating on it.

Made the starter shaft.  I got the hypodermic tubing years ago at an IPMS show, need to hunt more down.  Also made an aluminum washer.  Four parts.

I had scavenged aluminum wire from a TV antenna, first thing I made with it.  Think it's the oil filler cap.  Used the portable lathe (cordless drill), shaped with sanding sticks, steel wool, , file, and polished.

The dreaded coolant header.  I'm amazed he could resin cast such a delicate part, wonder if the color is a stronger resin.  I had broken off one of the tributary pipes when test fitting, then broke one of the runs.  I didn't see how to get all 16 pipes in holes, so changed procedure.

I had this decoration "wire", got some time ago from a craft store, think the core is like cardboard and wrapped with chrome mylar (total guess).  Cut short pieces and glued into the engine, cut off the pipes on the header.  Used Tamiya tubing (from the 1/12 race car kits) at the end, the real car has a hose there.

Had to cut to narrow, that was one reason it was a pain.

Airbrushed that gloss black, then Alclad polished aluminum.  Glued into the bulkhead with Tacky glue, glued the hose ends, then applied superglue at each pipe, expecting the glue to bridge the gaps.  Worked SO MUCH BETTER this way!  Next was adding the fuel lines, two sizes of solder wire, more of the hypodermic tube, some other wire that is braided that I used for the first time.  Added a fuel pump that was an ejection pin from a chromed part.  Polished aluminum plate used for a clamp mount.

There are two parts left!  One was not cast complete, the other has a slight void, besides they are not the correct tapered tube used for the spark plug loom.  Stretched sprue, being careful not to pull out too fast (like a glass blower) got close to the taper.  Some sanding got it refined with the flare at the end.   Sprayed aluminum.   Used Detail Master wire.  No way am I doing each lead to ghost spark plugs.  I made dinner, now I'm off to finish tonight.

[peteski]

7 minutes ago, 89AKurt said:

Made the starter shaft.  I got the hypodermic tubing years ago at an IPMS show, need to hunt more down.

Instead of scouring model shows for odd sizes and lengths at often inflated prices, I highly recommend http://www.componentsupplycompany.com/  They  have full range of sizes and lengths of tubing available.  Years ago used to buy all my tubing from Small Parts Inc., but Amazon absorbed them and trying to find specific sizes became a huge pain.  Component Supply Co. is the closest to the old Small Parts Inc. I ever found.

[89AKurt]

2 hours ago, peteski said:

Instead of scouring model shows for odd sizes and lengths at often inflated prices, I highly recommend http://www.componentsupplycompany.com/  They  have full range of sizes and lengths of tubing available.  Years ago used to buy all my tubing from Small Parts Inc., but Amazon absorbed them and trying to find specific sizes became a huge pain.  Component Supply Co. is the closest to the old Small Parts Inc. I ever found.

Thank you, will have that bookmarked.

Got the wire looms installed.  Last step was weathering like it just finished the race.

DONE!