Anglia105E

Further progress with the driver figure painting today . . . Vallejo Burnt Umber acrylic for his shoes and the hat band, then Vallejo Black for his tie, hair and eye pupils. The eye pupils need detailing for added realism. Two floor panels have been coated with the same Vallejo Black acrylic . . . I like to use different shades of black, by using different paint products. My local model builder friend previously showed me a technique that involves stretching a piece of kit sprue over a hot flame, and this produces a thin strand of styrene. I am cutting four short lengths of this stretched sprue to 3 mm and these tiny pins are being super glued to the firewall on the engine side. Once the pins are painted in brass, the four spark plug leads can be attached to the pins and the spark plug terminals with tiny connectors . . . As you can see from the following photos, the Vallejo beige brown acrylic paint finish is easily damaged, just by handling the figure while painting, so these areas need to be touched up in due course . . . David

The blu blob that the figure is standing on is Blu-Tack, which I have on a piece of wood for supporting parts that I cannot hold in other ways. Yes, I suppose this driver figure does kind of resemble Henry in a way ! Here are two photos showing how another model builder has done the spark plug leads very nicely I think . . . David W.

Thanks Carl . . . I am quite pleased with my recent steady progress. David

Following an overnight drying period of more than 24 hours, the yacht varnish that I have applied to the firewall is still slightly tacky. While I am waiting for the firewall varnish to be fully cured before handling the part, I have done some figure painting today . . . The driver figure for the Model T now has a single coat of Vallejo Basic Skin Tone acrylic for his hands and face. Also, he has a white shirt, brown suit and hat. I need to drill some tiny holes in the firewall for the spark plug leads and mount the firewall on the lower body floor, behind the engine. David

I couldn't have put it better myself David . . . Certainly I begin to feel differently about this build, now that all four wheels are on the ground. From this point onwards it feels as though I am working on a real car, and I can visualise each process more precisely . . . David W.

Thanks Brian . . . The problem solving is all part of the scale model car building process for me. I shall probably add some spark plug leads from the top of the engine back to the firewall and the coils box . . . David

The red rubber tubing became split and broken too easily, and I believe this is because the tubing is from the 40 years old Gunze Sangyo kit. I gave the matter some thought over the next 24 hours, and a better method occurred to me . . . By heating the tip of a flat blade screwdriver in a tea light flame, I set about melting and flattening the outer hub of each stub axle. Having used the hot screwdriver technique with the Phantom III door hinges, I was confident that this approach would work . . . Sure enough, the wheel when fitted over the inner hub was free to rotate, while at the same time the wheel could not come off the axle. Now that each outer hub was melted into a flat disc, all I needed to do was fabricate four pieces of 3mm material from cotton bud stalks and super glue them onto the hubs . . . These new outer hubs have been given a coat of Humbrol 56 Metallic Aluminium enamel to finish off . . . We have a rolling chassis, and the ' car ' stands level on the workbench surface. David

Just approaching midnight here in England, so I shall be posting in more detail during tomorrow (Saturday), but I have discarded the idea of using the red rubber tubing and instead I have come up with a much more satisfactory method . . . All will be revealed in due course ! The material used actually represents the outer hub cap, and this will be painted aluminium, so not blackened . . . see photo below. David W.

Working on the passenger side front hub, I have managed to slide the wheel all the way onto the hub itself, and also enabled the wheel to rotate. While I was looking for a way to secure the wheel, I found a short length of red rubber tubing which was left over from the 1:16 scale Gunze Sangyo Rolls-Royce Phantom III build . . . My idea is to place the tubing tightly over the outer hub of the front axle, which will prevent the wheel from coming off the hub, while at the same time allowing the wheel to rotate freely. The rubber tubing can be cut off at around 3 mm once the wheel is secured, and all four hubs on the front and rear axles can be dealt with using the same method . . . Once the pieces of tubing are in place they can be painted with aluminium enamel, and they should only appear to be slightly larger in diameter than the original hubs themselves. David

Yes David I would say this can be described as an easy build, and if the build does take all of November to complete, it will simply be that I am taking my time and adding detail where I can . . . Certainly engaging and I am really enjoying this one . . . David W.

The various tie rods, steering arms, drop arm and bracing struts have been glued in place on the underside of the chassis. These were quite tricky parts to handle, as expected, but turned out alright in the end . . . Moving on to the wheels, these needed the dried black paint removing from between the spokes. This was carried out using a scalpel knife carefully. I found this process rather lengthy, but I reckon I have removed all of the dried paint. Now the wheels can be test fitted onto the hubs of the front and rear axles . . . By scraping away some excess black paint, and with a little filing, the wheels should go on to the hubs and also rotate freely. There will have to be some sort of outer washer or shim to prevent the wheels from coming off the axle. Thinking ahead to the video filming stage, I want the rolling chassis to be exactly that, ' rolling ' . . . The wheels and tyres look pretty good on this car, and all they will need is some further touching up with grey paint for the tyres and black paint for the wheel spokes . . . David

That was a good idea of yours to feed a length of insulated wire through the radiator coolant hose, which made me think of my carbide generator piping on the Model T . . . I agree that you do want some sort of basic interior door cards, even if the detail would not be seen once the taxi cab is assembled. Well done with the black paint finish on this body . . . Black does seem to be the most challenging paint colour to get right. These Aoshima models are of nice quality, and they have a different way of assembling the kit to Tamiya, for example. David W.

Today was all about applying some paint to the interior surfaces of the body panels, using Vallejo Glossy Black acrylic, and also coating the buzz box / trembler coils box with a mix of Vallejo Burnt Red and Mahogany Brown acrylic . . . This ' cherry wood ' paint colour was then used to touch up the firewall, and the frame on the firewall was painted Glossy Black to match the exterior body colour. David

Speaking as someone who is not able to solder successfully, I have found other uses for the solder product ! David W.

Good result on this build of yours David G., and I see some interesting comments regarding the figures . . . Those model cars of mine that do have a figure with them, I do find that it adds to the realism of the car, in much the same way that photographing the model car within a diorama setting provides a more realistic feel than say a glass display cabinet might do. Having said that, I do understand why some model builders have zero interest in adding figures, and why they might not see the point of it . . . David W.

Moving ahead with this Model T Ford build in small steps . . . Today was a Sunday, and the clocks have gone back one hour for the Winter, so I had one hour extra sleep . . . After drilling a small hole in the side of the carbide generator, and a corresponding hole in the driver's side running board, I thought that I was going to use a short length of plastic pipe to connect between the two. However, the plastic pipe would not bend to a nice curve as I wanted it to, so instead I have used some 1 mm solder . . . This does the job much better. I shall paint the pipe a light brown colour. David

This would have been your view of the road ahead . . .

Kind words indeed Len . . . The process is a bit slow and and also a bit messy, but generally speaking I am happy with the finish. You can't rush a Model T. David

Many thanks Carl . . . and glad you like the paint ! Black is difficult to apply well, and even more difficult to photograph properly . . . David

Your rear bumper looks fine David . . . Interesting that you should have to admit to further impatience, because I too am guilty of repeated impatience syndrome, let's call it ' R I S ' . While test fitting the carbide generator to the Model T Ford and due to premature handling, I noticed my thumb print in the black painted surface of the running board . . . Ooops ! David W.

Many thanks Trevor . . . Yes, I really enjoy building these ICM kits, and I am sure that you would too. There is the Roadster version of the Model T, also the Tourer version, the Speedster, the Commercial Roadster that has the third seat at the back, the Delivery wagon, the Fire Truck and the Ambulance. I am hoping that with all the various different shades and textures of black, the body paint finish should appear to be period correct . . . ICM produce some really nice figures to compliment their car kits, and I am hoping that the driver figure from the Tourer will fit into my Roadster model once he's painted. The Revell version of this ICM roadster is slightly different, because the kit contains a decal sheet and the instruction sheet is in colour. David

Certainly it was a matter of taking a chance, and the end result relied upon the consistency of the paint, which was a brand that I have never purchased previously, also the decision to place the body parts horizontally, the unknown self levelling properties of this paint, plus the lengthy waiting for 6 days drying time. The jet black paint was applied over a coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Light Grey, which I considered to be important, rather than applying the black paint over bare plastic . . . I think the bare plastic would have caused the paint to run off more. I can tell you the most amusing aspect of all this . . . Somehow I have achieved a high gloss black finish on a Model T Ford that I was not able to achieve on all those Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud model cars over a 7 year period of trying !!! How ridiculous is that ? David W.

Cheers Bill, and thank you very much ! David

Yes, I did read a lengthy article on some website that detailed the entire process at the factory . . . I must admit, that I wasn't at all confident that I could simulate this process in 1:24 scale. Having decided to give it a go, I was pleasantly surprised . . . The Jet Black paint did take 6 days to dry, and I was tempted to use the heat from a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. I was reluctant to do that, and I do think it was better to just leave the parts to dry naturally. Here is the result . . . David

Thanks Brian . . . I wasn't able to hold the camera at the same time that I was pouring the paint from the plastic measuring jug, but the following four photos were taken immediately after the paint was applied . . . I am pretty sure that in the Henry Ford factory back in 1913 the body panels would have been hanging vertically, whereas my scale model panels are placed horizontally inside the four plastic containers. For both arrangements the excess paint flows over the edges of the body panels, and drips down below. David