DonW

Hi Jairus No offence meant, the old aero engines are passion of mine too...! Anyway, I hope this build goes ahead in whatever shape or form.

Yeah, will it end with all the parts stripped and stuck back on the sprues, bagged up inside the sealed up box?

I don't know what the first piston engine to give over 2000hp was but the Rolls Royce 'R' type gave almost 2800hp in 1929, and the first Napier Sabre didn't exceed 2000hp until March 1938. Admittedly the 'R' type was a racing engine and the Sabre was intended for longer term use. From Wikipedia: The first Sabre engines were ready for testing in January 1938, although they were limited to 1,350 hp (1,000 kW). By March, they were already passing tests at 2,050 hp (1,500 kW), and by June 1940, when the Sabre passed the Air Ministry's 100-hour test, the first production versions were delivering 2,200 hp (1,640 kW) from their 2,238 cubic inch (37 litre) displacements The Rolls-Royce R was a British aero engine designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed from the Rolls-Royce Buzzard, it was a 37-litre (2,240 cu in) capacity, supercharged V-12 capable of producing just under 2,800 horsepower (2,090 kW), and weighed 1,640 pounds (770 kg).

Lane hogs are a problem in the UK too. The law here is that the outside lane(s) are for overtaking only but a lot of people seem to stick in the middle lane regardless, turning a 3 lane highway into a 2 lane. And there are some who resent it when you flash your lights or blow your horn to get them to move over, giving rude hand signs or even braking hard then accelerating...

All pros so far then!

You could even use the cockpit assembly with the coupe shell over the top of it, drop the whole lot into a suitably strengthened rolling chassis... and also complete the 'plane as a kerbside air racer with a cut down very dark tinted Perspex canopy!

Better luck this time around! Does the planned engine match your 1:1?

PM sent! Not my cup of tea, this sort of jellymouldmobile, but fun to search for. Thanks.

I was wrong but I'm kind of glad it's real! So - where are the tyre valves?

Fifty-fifty! A real (or model) cliffhanger this time...

Hopefully not the smell too! (can you do scale model smells?) My old 325i was first owned by a meat buyer for Sainsbury's supermarket, it took years to lose the smell from the boot (trunk)! Lovely Dodge.

I was going to post a picture or a link to the Lindner/Nocker lightweight E-Type - but then I remembered this is about the Austin. On the other hand,,,

Club Cobra website has an interesting discussion on Halibrand vs. Trigos wheels - I quote: 'Rod-will the valve stems be inside the web like Trigo or outside like Halibrand? Does that mean what I think it does? Never heard of this idea before but it would explain why the valves aren't visible on the outside! Trigo is apparently a Halibrand lookalike wheel. I still think it's a model though.

Yeah, I bought a semi-space-framed BMW 2002 rally car from a guy near Belfast in the early '80s - the whole thing was a total adventure including driving down the Falls Road in the vendor's MGA (scary!), then being stopped by the army outside the city for a 'routine check', rifle barrel horribly close to my left ear... but a lovely country nonetheless. The car was a complete wreck but had two 45DCOE Webers and LSD and looked totally fantastic with huge fibreglass wheelarch extensions like the old factory racers. It had apparently won the Circuit of Ireland rally in 1973. I never did get it going. it was pretty much rotten throughout but it did lead me to meet some racers in the UK and got me into the sport and I ended up bartering the salvageable bits for work on my first racer. No regrets then. You have to follow your heart or else be forever wondering 'what if?' Hope this helps you make your mind up, I know what I'd do if I had the cash and space. But I'd get that heater sorted! -Don.

Thanks Mark. It's a new one on me. I'm glad you're not treating it like some sort of sacred cow (can I say that?). I like your plans...! -Don.

I think it's a very beautiful model of a fantastic car, especially with the Halibrands and that injector set-up. There's just a few little details that don't quite look real. I wouldn't be too surprised if I was wrong though!

I like this a lot. The only Airfix E-Type I know is the kerbside 1/32, can you tell me more about the donor kit you're using, please? Cheers, -Don.

I see the VW bit, but to me it looks like a cross between a Mark 4 Ford Cortina, a '74 Toyota Corolla and a shopping trolley! The body is too big for the running gear. Bring on the next one!

Well I'm amazed! I picked up on the 3 wheelnuts but thought it was some kind of Renault 12/15/17 or Citroen based thing but that was as far as I got. And it turns out it was based on a Renault 12! Henry would turn in his grave... Good one Harry!

Well said, sir!

That's a shame, those Vectors are alloys! But you're right, this is a great job.

It's bigger than it looks and apparently could reach 50mph!

The Cooper S Broadspeed Mini with stage 3 conversion was sold with a guaranteed top speed of 120 mph, and road testers got slightly more than that out of it! A normal shape Cooper S with the same stage 3 conversion would reach 113 - so the fastback gave quite a few extra mph! Good model!

I own an E46 BMW 328i from the year 2000. It's the newest BM I ever bought. I like the engine, the 60% stiffer bodyshell over the previous E36 model, the brakes and the general feel of the thing, if the styling is a bit bland compared to the older BMs. But when I bought it, an old racing acquaintance commented 'never thought you'd drive a Rover'! Of course it was built after the merge between BMW and Rover. It shows. The electric window on the passengers side goes down when you press down, and when you press up it keeps on going down. To get it to go back up you have to either pull it up while you press up, and risk losing your fingers, or sit there for a few minutes pressing down then up so the 'intelligent' mechanism sorts itself out - then when the window eventually does go up, it usually pops out of it's runners. I've cleaned and greased the mechanism but to no avail. This after only 130000 miles. My 210000 mile 1994 530 Touring, made before Rover got involved, has never had a problem with it's electric windows. But worse than this, yesterday I left the 328 in the lane at the back of our house and went in to fetch my wife to go into town. We got back to the car, I put the key in the door lock and turned it - and it plus the barrel just went round and round, then the barrel came right out. There is no lock on the passenger door, the boot lock doesn't release the central locking and the remote on the fob has never worked (I never use remote locking anyway). So the car was stuck in a shared lane, preventing neighbours from getting their cars in and out as well as blocking my other car in it's garage! I called a couple of friends in the trade, but they had no ideas so I called the RAC - after half an hour the patrolman succeeded in forcing the door open far enough with an airbag to insert a wire, but although he hooked an inside door catch and pulled it, the door wouldn't open. So if people (kids, maybe) are locked in the car they can't get out. One of my friends said 'oh, you're not supposed to use the key much!' After the RAC man had left, I had one last attempt and re-inserted the barrel and the key, jiggled it all about and heard some bits of fine Rover engineering fall into the door bottom, as the door lock button popped up and I was in! As I opened the door all the windows wound themselves down. So the car is back in my garage, booked into my local independent BM specialist for repair. So that's what irked me yesterday, but it could have been worse! Apologies for my going on at such length, I feel better now!

I love this, especially the colour!