absmiami

The next victim is the header casting in white metal from the English Finecast 24th scale Indy Lotus. I love these kits they make great curbside models. Their dimensions and shape are very good. But about those headers...

Now a look at their ancestors ... first up is the IMC Lotus 38 25th scale headers. We’ll call this part “junior”.

The 25th scale headers are on the left and the 24th scale are on the right. There is a slight difference. I think these pictures will show this ...

So lets do some more obsessing... these are three main components with a minimum of clean up. The exhaust tip fits snugly into the collector after cleaning the tips

Yup. I’ll post a group picture of the exhaust headers w the corresponding lumps from the lotus and eagle kits. Later tonite .... since - like most of the rest of us - you’ve got nothing but time on your hands .... would you like to create a demo header tab in brass and post the results. I’ll try one in plastic ....

Gonna try something milder first ....

There is a film or residue on some of the parts - like the exhaust headers how would you suggest that I remove it ? mite try toothpaste and a toothbrush. Suggestions ?

posted the photos on fr the I phone but it is easier to tap out my thoughts on a keyboard So: Mad Mike is the creator of the Ford 289 indy engine that I wrestled with on page 2 ... He has now drawn and printed nearly all of Ford's mid-late sixties racing engines - mostly in 24th scale - some will fit with mods into your existing kits - you name it some will not - but these are worthy builds as stand alones …. in fact, this - as Pico reminds me - is the brave new world check out the Hewland script and badging on the back of the transaxle casing - yikes remember how impressed we were when we saw this on a large scale kit - this is 24th scale ! and I have made no effort to clean up the parts - how great will these look once and cleaned up and with some paint on it ? actually Mad posted a picture of his 24th scale build on the blog in the Big Boys Section on the 1/8 scale Ford Indy DOHC model that can be found back in the December postings - worth a look there will be a lot of clean up on the back side of the engine - from which the part is printed - or "grown" that's okay - the missing casting features can be added by the intrepid engine builder ... Now there are some scale compromises - but hey - we've got to fix - or ruin - something - right? the 24th scale exhaust headers are printed without the fasteners at the collector pipe joints - these thingies are called "header tabs" according to my google machine ... we'll have to make our own …. - but consider how much better this engine looks with scale accurate exhaust headers compare this part to the sad lumps that were created by AMT, MPC and/or Finecast when the Indy kits were first created in the seventies. not their fault - back then the defense department couldn't have done this either the 1/8 scale engine was printed with the a wonderful fuel injector link assembly that flies across the front of the cam cover - probably not do-able / printable in 24th scale - but Query Mad - when you did your assembly on the 24th scale prototype - did your print your assembly or fashion and assemble it from brass etc ? the valve covers have the FORD block letters down the length of the part - accurate for the later DOHCs - particularly ones used by AJ the Lotus Indys and the Gurney Eagles had earlier engines without this script - so those wanting to build an early DOHC engine will have to make this change - or perhaps pirate the Gurney Eagle kit valve covers for the 25th scale engine kits - just sayin' I've got some more thoughts on where or how these engines could find their way into a few kits - that's for a separate post - but assume that a 25th scale engine kit might be the answer for a correctly scaled 24th scale Indy kit wondering if the 25th scale engine might squeeze into the 1/25 '68 Gurney Eagle Indy kit - it mite the 25th sc Lotus 29 Indy kit ? dunno afraid that the 25th sc AMT Lotus 38 kit is a lost cause …. much too small … long post - I get paid by the sentence - right ?

Thank you for your concern. But my mental health is fine - l lost my mind years ago ... Randy at Model builders’ Warehouse will happy to send you some . However, there may be a small charge ....

I’m going to stop now. Let me know when your eyes stop watering ....

Some more ... if you are drooling on your i phone - be sure to clean it thoroughly before you text your response. - as we must maintain sanitary posts ...

More shots of the 24th scale engine ...

Oh wait - you want me to build these ??? On the left is the 25th scale ford DOHC engine fr mad mike models on the right is the 24th scale engine with some parts removed

love this car - I think I may have photos of it from the Amelia Island concourse maybe [?] four years ago ...

Whilst I ponder the airbrush mystery- I’m brush painting some tamiya flat aluminum onto the interior of the body shell - sneaking around the chassis tubes by covering them with strips of 3M parafilm. Working so far ...

The second coaT of primer is on got rid of most of the pinholes - glued on some body fasteners - will scrape the finish paint coat off them - but this should be cleaner than gluing them on after the color coat - have always been a fan of Veber’s photo-etch fasteners. He had them done years ago by Fred Holtzberg (?) in New York - he was best .... using the 20th scale finishers - seem like the correct size - ten total. Some light sanding and I’ll be ready for the color coat. Once I figure out what’s wrong with the airbrush - it’s either the water trap or the compressor - dunno ...

Seat time ... the merit kit seat has the correct shape but has nothing resembling seat cushions - so these were made from sheets and evergreen bar stock - .020 thick. Shaped with sanding sticks , an xacto blade, sanding drums , files etc. the evergreen was glued to the seat with liquid glue ...

Well. they have arrived ....

So the body panels are aluminum - the undersides are probably unpainted - so I’m thinking that I should paint the underside a shade of Alcad aluminum and then spray the paint finish on the surface with no masking and just allow a little overspray on the underside alu finish - thoughts ?

Why does it seem like it takes more time to correct things than to make things ? Puttied some of the joints to clean them up ....

Drilled and ground a recess into the nose for the badge which will be an 096 disc - either the nickel that is pictured or perhaps an aluminum disc - using a hand punch the other shots show some grinding and finishing for inside surface of the eng cover and the nose - trying to remove most of the tool marks and divots from thinning the panels and I’m smoothing the interior seems a little. Judges rant... judges don’t know much - but they can spot a seem from the other side of the contest hall - so here ya go, judges - best I could do. There. I feel better now ../.

?

Carpet in the - presumably- shared work space - not good - what would happen if you casually informed the spouse that you were removing the carpet ??

SUSPENSE

Oh dear ... mad mike is at it again ... incoming ...