absmiami

So while I’m wandering around Pennsylvania I made my annual trip trek to the simeone museum in philly and I happened upon the 1963 lemans winner ...... just to enjoy the contrast .....

Or just flip my phone around ???

Guess things are a bit upside down right now really need to learn how to use my phone ...

Thanks for the post Good to hear from you wish I wasn’t 1500 miles away fr my workshop will try this when I’m back hope the photo fr my trip to the simeone loads right side up .....

Saturday at the simeone museum in philly. Amazing display of rare Ferraris owned by chinetti jr the bardahl Indy Ferrari the lemans winning Ferrari 250 p a gp Ferrari F2 without the body panels. I think a 212 GP and several others saw staff set up the cars for display today wetinthepants some photos next week go! go!

love that printed Cord dash …. the exposed valve springs which sit on top of the "head and Barrel" - that's what it's called in the parts catalog on line for www.worksracing.co.uk - made from .009 steel wire - wound around a 2-56 bolt and painted with a sharpie the springs are glued to a small clip-like part made from some evergreen with size 84 holes drilled for the stems of the valves per this same online catalog - the top of the engine - which I called a rocker casting - is more properly called a cam box ... not shown in the photos - there will be two more springs perched on the other side of the head and barrel ... even though the springs are very small - everything will be a tight fit and need part adjustments when assembled ... soon - I might actually start to paint some things ...

almost forgot.... don't try this at home balsa wood is indeed combustible ...

the tach line runs into the rocker housing in an elbow fitting made from .060 mm tubing soldered to a slightly smaller nickel rod - finished with files and sanding sticks and sharpie painted black OK the rocker housing is almost done. in between this housing and the top of the cylinder head are four exposed valve springs - two on each side - tickling the exposed rocker valves running down into the top of the cyl head I've always wanted to build an engine with exposed valve springs …. that's next ….

paper clips … big fan - though sometimes I forget how handy they are this one has a vinyl coating - which when painted will appear to be part of the rocker casting with the pins protruding down into the top of the cylinder head ...

made two pear shaped parts that sit on either side of the rocker housing made of filed nickel silver strip with two RB bolts can't do this w/out the small part holder ...

thank you Nitro: As was done on the right side of the crank case - I had to remove the wonderful finned crank case side plate because the 255's - or most of them - used simpler, less elegant plates. Hated to do it …. the AMT kit actually has the correct engine plate and breather on the chrome tree - but it is too short to use with Etzel's correctly dimensioned block …. In place of the fins - removed with a diamond coated rotary sander and an exacto blade - is a plate and breather made from Evergreen strips and bars - liquid glued together, filed and sanded - 4 pieces . to be painted or finished in a dark metal shade - maybe gun metal or darker - not sure this will be surrounded by bolts to be added after I paint the block ...

correction - the cap screws are .012 across they might also find there way onto some instrument dashes ….. that's very small

back to the Cooper F III engine briefly ... I had ordered the RB Motion 20th sc DFV valve cover detail set - which includes some absurdly tiny cap screws for the outer rim of the valve covers... they are 0.12 across -- with stem size is about .0010 …. anyone who orders these things and intends to use them needs professional help …. which is why I ordered two sets …. before tackling the DFV engine again I decided to use four of these things on the Cooper Norton cylinder head - which was sawed apart from the engine fin casting - which I discarded - and drilled/modified for bolts screws and other stuff the hardware is from RB Motion, Scale Hardware, and other random sources - the .060 MM screws have been sitting inside a small plastic box for years - can't remember who produced them ... - and brush painted w Floquil steam power black there's more to add - but this is a start - this part sticks up out of the engine bay - completely exposed - so I am adding as much detail as I can the small cap screws need special handling - and magnification installation was done over a black tray - because you WILL drop these things several times - so when the cap screws fall onto a black tray you just tweeze them up and try again …. - if you don't use a black surface the dropped screws will leave the planet - you will never see them again ... in case you were wondering what to do with those neat black plastic sushi trays that you get with your supermarket sushi - you can wash them first - but that is optional …..

Richard C ….. as I am chasing shadows and scattered projects - is it time to get to work on our Lotus / Ferrrari build blog ??? ??????

the renshape part ….

there are only a few photos of the engine intake plenum used by the Willard Battery team and the car was restored w/out it - so there is some guess work on the size and shape the white parts are Evergreen shapes and tubes - liquid glued -the ram tubes are .093 and just in place for measurements - to be glued later the intake "horn" is made fr renshape - shaped by random toothed files and bars and sanding sticks

below the fuel block I glued a small piece of plastic with a .012 post to mount a fuel injection arm using some modified linkage arms from my old sets of S & S photo-etch always liked this stuff - its at least 25 yrs old … but I'm running out of my favorite parts ... then some .031 banjo RB Motion parts and .06 MM alu tube - see Randy Ditton - to complete the supplemental linkage running to the fuel block so how does the throttle linkage reach the fuel inject unit ? not sure - I think it runs from the throttle pedal directly up the bulkhead to a crank at the end of the rod …..

the back of the engine casting has moldings on the bell housing that are drilled for support struts I used .022 nickel silver rod then I removed that wonderful crank case detail outlined in black - hated to do that but the 255 engine blocks were modified from the 270 engines - and as the racing years went by - those intricate crankcase covers were replaced with much simpler - and probably cheaper - covers will have to do this on the left side of the crankcase too …..

here's where I get to break some more of those .0012 drills ….. the Etzell casting for the Joe Hunt magneto is super I've got some good photos of the mag and am adding some features - holes, nuts, clips, and screws ... paint is old fashioned Tamiya gloss red - brushed on ... thinking about the Joe Hunt decal - clearly visible on all restored or vintage magnetos - not sure if the Jones car would have had the sticker on its mag - contemporary photos are not sharp enough to pick this out … anyone know ?? … did I mention that I have a magneto fetish ??

Does anyone within the sound of this internet have current contact info for the two gentlemen that operated American Racing Miniatures ?? As some of you know - they had obtained the Etzell line at one point in time ….. got some brass color onto the fuel line junctions and on to the spark plugs wanted to use RB Motion's wonderful spark plugs - but I need a secure attachment for the .013 plug wires so I am sending them into a 0.06 MM alu tube and using a corresponding nut and the RB distributor caps a little over-sized - but not much - and it will be secure ...

wait a minute you're printing carbs ?? hmmm ….

thanks ace - and I too was around at the tail end of the roadster era - saw my first Indy car race at Trenton in '69 [I think] - I was rooting for the rear engine cars / revolution - but I was a fan of Jones - I respected his willingness to jump from the roadsters to the radical turbines ….

the fuel line is the black Model Factory Hiro line designed for their 1/20 sc kits it's a little oversized - but close enough slow going - and a lot of oops, that didn't work ... the fittings are filed to a sort of square shape, added a small nut and coaxed the fuel line on to the end and to the junction box the fuel fittings will be painted a shade of brass - gonna try a sharpie have to do something for the linkage for the butterflies - not sure what yet once this is done I'll get to work on the plenum - which is attached to the manifold ….

ok 24 holes later …. some more bolts glued into the holes at the base and then I'm making some fuel fittings from bent .012 brass rod and a small strip of evergreen sawed a 45 degree opening or slot into the end of the plastic and glued it to the bend on the brass

Looking at the carb linkage... brass or silver? and material sizes? .012 wire with .022 tube ? and the nuts ?