absmiami

I hate when this happens ... just as I was recovering from my U joint fever , I obtained some really cool white metal castings of a long lost French Grand Prix car - from the twenties It's a Delage - and it's been on my "to build" list for years So the Cooper has been put back into the barn for a little while so that I can begin this project - with apologies to John Cooper .... off we go ...

what a nice find never heard of Fador - do you know what else they produced I've got a similar kit for the Allard sports car made in the late fifties - but I have never seen this !

yes - the photo of the soldering on balsa should have come with a warning - something like "don't try this at home" there are better, safer soldering pads available - but I seem to be stuck in my ways - as you know ..... and about the rear suspension - yes - excellent and thorough hx - I oversold this Cooper's innovations Ferry Porsche has to be considered the Father of the modern race car J Cooper would have seen - and studied - the Germans at the pre-war British Grand Prix races and like Chapman - he was anxious to try his own designs after the war .... anyhow - I've got a U joint fetish - let's keep this a secret ..

some more shots to illustrate gonna make one more or three more undecided - the joints either side of the transaxle might be faked as they run under the frame and are difficult to see anyway

some more shots to explain the process my first attempts used U joints made from solid brass rod but I wasn't satisfied with the plastic yokes - which had to be made in halves so I then made the joints fr tubing - which had to be filed and sawed to tiny joints that would fit into the yokes as close as I will come to brain surgery on this project ...

"three little pigs"... time for some U joints this Cooper was one of the first race cars with indep rear suspension - using U joints they are relatively compact - they don't have to be as hefty as later U joints on car w larger engines So I tried several different methods of construction - using U joints soldered from brass my first attempts were too large - and a re-check of my photos led to some construction changes I will use the top one in the photo - the U joint is made from 1/32 brass tube - soldered and drilled - with .019 brass pins through the yokes the yokes are filed drilled and sanded from .60 x 1.00 evergreen stock, with some discs from round stock

klean !!

Glad to see you're not working by candlelight. : ???

Aber Chains : sold out on the BNA Model World site (Australia) have a look around - I purchased these w/in the last yr - can't recall which internet seller check the major model sellers catering to military modelers photo: current model assembly bench it takes one of two events to force me to clean my work bench first: an act of Congress second: a major hurricane this time it was the hurricane ..... Merit kits: got any un-builts left ?? which ones ??

back to the suspension for a moment the kit rear uprights will be used as modified with evergreen bits and the rear suspension arms from the Deeks' kit will be used as modified

post-Irma ........ note that there is a small bike chain sprocket in the picture of the crank case shown above the chain travels to the transmission - alongside its casing - and then runs back to a sort of transaxle casing difficult to machine these - so an internet hunt before the storm turned up ETSY - which sells old watch parts in bulk some of the parts will be used for the sprockets -which are different sizes on the crank case and the trans case some of the smaller gears will turn up in a later Bugatti project ..... the chain will be simulated with photo-etched "chain" links made by Aber they don't match perfectly with the watch gears but it should look okay - will probably try to solder this together

some more detail - including some structural webbing cast into the crankcase - added w bits and pieces of evergreen strip the head removed for some more mods and the crankcase sides lacked the cast fins or slots added with sections of evergreen railroad siding sheet

have you ordered your Resin Jag D yet fr Profil 24 ?????? oh, the storm ... luxuriating in air conditioning 100 miles north of Miami - house will be fine - whenever we get back - florida "gold coast' did much better than the Naples ft Myers area ...

these are some internet images of the Norton engine - showing the driver's left side of the engine

so the casting did not include the bottom of the crank case - which I am adding - it will poke out of the bottom of the engine bay - just some evergreen strip and liquid glue - then sanded and filed to shape and some initial crank case details - again fr bits of evergreen stock

hunkered down in Jupiter and still w power so here's an update w some work that was actually done a couple months ago the kit engine casting - a Norton Manx - is a two piece affair that shows its age but it's a start ...

oops gotta take an Irma break ! see you on the - other side .....

http://www.permagrit.com/index.php?cPath=80_82 free plug I use these files and rotary sanders to shape renshape they work fast and do not clog .... renshape doesn't like metal files .... accept to leave file markings for bead welds etc

the engine - where's the engine ? - needs an oil tank the tank in the Cooper Mark IX sat on the back of the frame - with it's cap peeking thru an opening in the tail as with the fuel tank - it was made from Renshape - shaped with files and sanding sticks the cap is one of the Deek's kit white metal parts

could you tow this to the Atlanta NNL South event this year ? would like to eyeball it thanks

the fuel tank sits on the frame rails with the fuel cap poking out of back of the nose cowling made from the block of renshape - files and sanding sticks .... brackets supporting the tank are made from evergreen "H" and "L" shaped stock - liquid glued renshape has no grain - so I can paint it alu or use some sort of foil - probably gonna paint

now have the front suspension brackets attached

now that the nose is sawed apart - you can see the difference in thickness of the merit molded plastic compared to the casting made by Guido of Scalekraft, once I did some thinning with some sanding drums easier to thin Guido's resin castings than the injected molded plastic used by Merit - and this allows me to add all this other stuff .... just viewed Randy's brass carbs in his GT40 build YIKES

attn. gramps ... have you perused the Profil24 website lately ? they are making a certain Jaguar kit you mite find tempting ... and in the correct scale ....