absmiami

layout marker ... not too big a problem for parts to be painted with a metal finish but will remove most of the markings - would be problem on the chassis rails - which will be primed and painted blue pedals - made from a strip of Evergreen "metal" scale siding - its the stuff used by small scale railroad scratch builders for structures ... glued to brass shafts that poke out of the floor-board slots check fit - just enough room - and they will not interfere with the steering column ... next to the hand brake and the brake "servo"....

so the floor boards are roughed out and in place to check fit ... then I sawed some slots into the leading edge of the driver's side board for the openings for the pedal brackets everybody's got some stray tools laying around the back of their tool drawer that they only use about once every two years or so - but when you need that particular tool - well - you need it ... the slots must be a certain width, and only this fine toothed metal saw blade would work - now the lonely blade will go back into it's dark corner for another long period of hibernation ....

the floorboards wrap around the transmission they are raised above the chassis plate about 3 scale inches using evergreen .100 angle used both Tamiya liquid glue and fast setting "cyo" glue

more trans details the driver side of the box has a kick plate made of - I think - plywood made this from thin renshape sheet scrap - to be washed w/ a grime finish and some dark stain then drew patterns for the floor boards onto thin evergreen plastic sheet

gaskets ... gaskets ... rats - I forgot the gaskets ... new parts are the housing for the base of the gear shift and the driveshaft casing ...

the gear box has a cover plate that is bolted down with castle nuts - so I marked the holes and drilled them and added some more features the box isn't done yet - but it was then liquid glued to the clutch housing and set in the chassis for a test fit the housing for the gear shift hangs off of the end of the box - gonna make that next - along with some sort of finned circular device that is attached to the end of the gear box and is attached to levers that do what? not sure .... but it looks cool ....

I have bookmarked the cratex site - but their discs are too large - unless they can be turned down - which I doubt gonna try to make a tool that will produce swirls - or something close to a swirl - that is no more than one scale inch - we'll see mean time - gotta make a transmission - more Evergreen .... the clutch housing is made from 1/2 inch tube and thin plastic sheet - filed etc with an added inspection plate and holes for retaining nuts then attached to evergreen bar stock - 6 scale inches wide and a little taller - for the gear box ...

renshape and evergreen plastic .... work begins on the seats and the drive shaft cover

think I forgot to post these pix I made a brass steering arm the will be glued to the bottom of the steering unit it pokes out of the bottom of the chassis and then is attached to the steering link what could go wrong ? remember - these cars were not yet racing on paved surfaces ... yikes Delage corrected this in their '27 GP car - sending the arm out above the chassis rails ....

the driver's compartment has interior trim that takes the rivets that attach the body to the chassis - probably visible on the Leno video - they are made fr Evergreen 0.60 L shaped stock that is marked for rivet dimples and then filed to shape - the dimples will do - as the trim sits down in the chassis rails below the dash I'll paint them after the chassis is spray painted - I wanted them in place to give me a solid attachment/glue guide when the body is attached to the chassis ....

engine turned finish will be easy ! I'm gonna make all the parts, paint the chassis and engine, and send the body back to Pico and tell him to do the engine turning !!! just kidding - maybe ..... just some test fitting the engine, exhaust manifold, and bulkhead are in place - its a tight fit but everything should be where it belongs ...

the space for the steering box is tight so the bottom tab has a peg that will slide into the black tube drilled thru the chassis rail it's a snug fit that will rotate but will stay put once everything is put together that way I can get the correct angle for the steering wheel post - which actually tilts up and in to its correct place below the dash the tube thru the chassis rail was then capped and sanded - as it should not be visible on the outside surface of the chassis rail ...

next is the steering unit made from some evergreen tube and strip with a prelim check of the fit within the chassis rail to make sure that is clears the right side cylinder head - and a black plastic tube has been drilled into the chassis rail to locate the completed unit

now to the engine bulkhead which is a sandwich of evergreen plastic sheets to create the trim around the edge which was cut out, glued, and then drilled for some resin rivets fr Russia's Master Club the black plastic rectangle will be the brass chassis plate ...

oops where did the summer go ? will be posting some shots of the summer progress the plug wires were finished about two months ago the spark plug ends have silver wire soldered thru the KV eyelets and I re-painted the distributor caps - something a bit darker - more like a bake-lite color ...

what happens if you try to use the photo-etched splash panels that are designed to sit under the bonnet above the wheel wells ? do they prevent the bonnet from closing by interfering with the top of the engine bay ?? bet they do ...

thanks for rescuing this 50 yr old kit reminds everyone of the potential in all of IMC's old kits ...

the Profil24 kit is better in a number of respects - including - I think - more accurate body and chassis and a better engine by far the Heller E jag engine and the Tamiya 6 cyl jag engines are also options but the kit engine in the Profil24 kit is quite good

McQueen owned an XKD sports car it was at Amelia Island three years ago really really really nice random thought: the profil 24 short note kit would make an accurate one - just add the windshield and modify the rear deck with the folded top I think more accurate than the old revel (?) kit I mite try it ....

I agree - went back for another look at the engine in the Leno video it probably is bakelite and is brownish red sort of - gonna have to fix that ! have you ever seen the Figoni bodied Delahaye at the Rev's museum ??

the guides or looms for the pug wires are made from Evergreen tube and rod with a peg at the base that sits into a .028 hole drilled into the valve cover the spark plugs are made from .06 mm alu tube and .042 alu nuts fr RB Motion by using a tube rather than a rod I can insert the wire that is soldered to the end of the plug wire for a secure right angle fit - a little over-scale - but no much .... each cylinder bank will have three looms and six wires and spark plugs

the pdf is to celebrate 5,000 hits leisure time well spent ( ?? ) been working on the distributors - one for each cyl head - about one dozen bits and pieces of evergreen in each distributor next the spark plugs ..... and the plug looms that sit on the valve covers ... dogfishhead.pdf

If you refer back to the pg 1 photos - there is one pretty good shot of the ignition distributors - two large assemblies perched on curved perforated trays at the front of the engine these are much larger than modern distributors - but they work more or less the same this was the first racing 12 cyl engine - and although the engine itself was compact - at least for it's time the distributors certainly were not ! so I'm going to make these from diff size evergreen tube, rod, and strip the assemblies will be about 4 scale inched wide and 6 scale inches tall the separate parts will be easier to finish before assembling hard to see well here - the detail will show much better once these are made and painted.

time for a small update thinking about the spark plug wires ..... they are clipped to the plug tips at a right angle so I got some photo-etched rings made by Keyser valley models - they seem to cater to train modelers the rings are quite small - the opening in the ring is about .020 I soldered .013 silver rod through the opening to make the attachment clip - the ring is then glued into the open end of the plug wire with a 0.7 mill sleeve slipped over to hold the assembly together... the silver rod will slip into the end of an 0.60 mill tube with a nut - this will be the spark plug ...... using .016 dia plug wires - pretty close to scale accurate gotta make 12 plug wire "clips" made 6 so far ...

most of the shaping was done with files made by www.perma-grit.com these have random toothed surfaces that are much better for working with renshape than regular files also used some sanding sticks the initial shaping is done on the renshape "stalks" - just easier to shape while they are attached ..... pic 906 is the third of four that I have to make - this has about the right shape - I'll tweek the others to get close to this .... the carbs attach to the bottom of these manifolds - there will be some guess work here - there are no good shots of these carbs as they sit down along the chassis rails - ...