f1ford48

SUPERB Harry- I say it is the best Bearcat I have seen-looks like you shot the red on the underside of fenders as well-nice touch.

My thoughts exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks- I built the 1/8 to look like the car that was in the L.I. Auto Museum.

Heres a Hudson Miniatures OLD 16 that Tony Koveleski built. it sold at one of the Monterey auctions awhile back. this is more how the car looked back in its day-radiator shell painted and white tires.

on the top photo-for you ALFA fans-there is a clockwork P2 model- these are going for $5,000 these days- I saw a rare lavender colored one at the Turlock swap meet-guy wanted 8k!!!!! its nuts what some of this stuff goes for.

The top photo is Artist Peter Helck with model, 2nd photo on the left is Joe Tracy- driver of the real car and also Driver of ''OLD 16'' for the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup and Eliminations Trial. the man on the right is the model builder, I believe. the 2 black and white photos were taken in the late 40"s-early 50's the color photos were taken recently- so you can see how well the model has held up over the years. after studying this model it seems there was some pretty fantastic model car building going on 60 years ago!! this car was known as the 90 H.P. GORDON BENNETT RACER. and was actually offered in the Locomobile Catalog for $18,000! [1906] and of course it is the Predesessor of OLD 16. after Locomobiles Victory in 1908 the company pulled out of auto racing. the real car does not exist anymore-there is a rumor that it was pushed into the Long Island Sound when some workers were cleaning out a shed at the Locomobile Factory in Bridgeport Conn.

since we have a handful of Brass era afficionados here I wanted you guys to see this. this model was built by Peter Helcks neighbor in the late 40's-early 50s. it is mostly made of wood. Peters Grandson Timothy now owns it.

now that is a kit I have not seen-thought Id seen em all! I have a Revell 1910 Maxwell -all plastic that may have been the spinoff of this car.the body style is identical that Racer is a cool home built job looks like. is there really a motor in the HM kit-never seen that either [is it a wood block?!!!!]

I too would love to see a 1/8 Fiat-specially with big white tires. agreed with everyone else that I finally found a great site with mutually great people!

that might be the crank if its a view from the top of car on the plans.... the chain sprockets I used are #84789 and #84790 -2 each from the micromarktrains part of catalog- the chain is #84791 -sold by the foot. the Hudson kits are going for good prices now-I have bought old 16 for 20 dollars and up- but be careful as the most recent one I got had a Mercer and Stutz parts instead of old 16.

some images of the real car.

Thank You- Natural light has always been the best to bring out the realism....some guys complain about shadows but they add to the effect.

these Hudsons need tons of creativity- But you are just the guy to build them!!!!!

''looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffin glue!!!!''

a few pics of the Peter Helck car

Heres one of Peter Helcks Paintings.

final Pics

its been more of a creation than a build!!!- this took about 3 months in my spare time- but about a year collecting the parts and materials to ''build'' it.

those are Fuman MERCER wheels with the demountable rims shaved off. the tires are from the IMAI 1907 ITALA Race Car- which I will begin another thread with here soon!

a few more......

final shots......this could go on for awhile!

heres a shot of the underside-now complete

and today-more final touches..............top photo is brake shaft and gear shifter going in. the pins are holding down the top of the gear selector box. 2nd photo-the crank and leather belt, grease cups with grease residue around the king pins-this front end complete now. 3rd-makeing up the crank. 4th-these lil brass screws and nuts are what I used for detail on the chassis

Exhaust and electrical work are SUPERB!!!!!!

according to P.H. who restored the Mercer in 1941- it had set some records at Ormond beach back in its day. what they did was turned 70 pounds off the flywheel and lightened the rods-this made it quite a bit quicker.