Art Anderson

Automobile tires would not have been possible without the advent of the process of vulcanizing rubber, of course. However, given that almost nobody on these forums was around when natural latex rubber was the only game in town, synthetic rubber, first made from coal, then quickly afterward, made from petroleum byproducts. Latex rubber is milky in appearance, a fairly close cousin to the "milky" sap from the common milkweed that we in much of country see every summer, and once compounded with sulphur and a few other nasty chemicals, can be baked (vulcanized) to a fairly stable, yet soft and pliable material, it comes out a rather dark cream, or buff color. However, exposure to direct sunlight over time will bleach it out some, while at the same time breaking down the compound with cracks and also blisters of sticky, gummy residues which quickly dry out and crystallize. Anyone who has ever had a 10-speed bicycle from the early 70's to the early 80's will remember the cream or buff colored sidewall rubber on the tires--that was a band of natural latex rubber, over which, in the building up process, was overlaid with a strip of black synthetic rubber on which the tread pattern was molded in the vulcanizing process. Around 1910, tire manufacturers discovered that carbon black, the very same powder as used in black printer's ink, when added to latex rubber, added much greater strength, in addition to reducing (but not eliminating entirely) the effects of ultraviolet light. This resulted in tires that while not truly black in color, were at least a very dark charcoal grey shade, due to the milky cream color inherent in latex rubber. This lead to the fading of tires upon exposure to sunlight, bleaching them out to first a lighter grey color, and in junkyards, or on cars abandoned out in the "north 40" on a farm eventually to an almost white, yet completely rotted color. The confusion over the so-called "white tires", I have read, is due to the nature of not only the black & white camera film elmulsions used in photography before the more modern, and faster speed silver-nitrate elmulsions which became commonplace in the early 1930's, along with more primitive lenses. Those old cameras and the films they used exposed much more slowly, so bright sunlight reflected into them made for much greater contrast than those of a couple of decades later. This had the effect of darkening the colors on car bodies (even the fairly bright yellow of the 1911 Marmon Model 32 Inaugural Indy 500 winner appears to be very dark, which later black & white pics of the unrestored car taken in the 20's through the early 40's show that yellow as much lighter grey tones)while lighter colors often came out as if they were stark white. But, the process of pigmenting natural latex rubber pure white didn't come into use in car tires until the very late 1920's, and the advent of white sidewall tires. So, pure white tires just didn't exist, they were rather, a cream color when new, bleached out in sunlight, had a very poor lifespan--in the early 1900's a tire might last as far as a thousand miles before the tread was worn through, or the woven cotton cord casing simply rotted and burst. Even black natural rubber tires were exceptional if one got 10,000 miles out of them, certainly something that would not be acceptable today! Art

Chuck, I think you are right! The T-head engine used by Stutz was made by Wisconsin Engine Company. Art

Airfix may well have packaged the MPC Stutz Bearcat for sale in the UK and on the continent, as they and MPC did a lot of tool sharing back in the late 60's/early 70's. Art

One and the same, but it is a fully stock, quite accurate Stutz Bearcat, down to the massive T-head 4cyl engine, and the unique Stutz transaxle. And yes, Firestone NON SKID tires would be correct for the 1914 Stutz, if you can find a set! Art

Carbon Black began being added to latex rubber about 1910 or so.

For starters, there was no such thing as a white tire in 1914! What you see in black and white pics are natural latex rubber tires that were colored with carbon black, which made for more strength (carbon black actually toughens rubber, both latex and synthetic), but since latex rubber when vulcanized is a buff or dark cream color, the tires came out as a medium grey color. The primitive camera films and exposure times of the era made them appear white though. Actually, a far better kit to do that Stutz from "The Wings of Eagles" (one of my fave movies from boyhood, BTW--saw it in the theater when I was 12!) would be the AMT/Ertl 1914 Stutz (ex MPC tooling) which is full detail and in 1/25 scale. I am also sure that the engine is far more accurate, being a Waukesha T-Head engine, where I believe the Lindberg kit has the later Wisconsin engine. Art

Skip, Easy answer! The white solid rubber tires are actually .060" x .100" Evergreen strip styrene wrapped around the wheel, while the rear tires are black PVC ones from the Ertl diecast Knox that inspired this project (put on for expediency, for when I took the rolling chassis less engine, to MassCar last month). They will be replaced by the same method as the front tires though pretty soon. Art

A lot has happened since last I posted this one. Axles have been built, springs located and soldered to the frame, axles soldered to the ends of the springs, wheels completed with new detailed brass hubs, and FINALLY! The engine was mounted in the frame this last week, and today I started the chain drive system. To this point, the wheels (although modified) and the chain drive sprockets and chain itself are the products of Grandt Line, the model RR detail parts house. Only the left side chain drive is mounted at this point, have to wait for the JB Weld Epoxy that secures the sprockets to the shafts to set up before I do the right side. But, finally, it's not just a growing collection of funny looking brass parts and subassemblies! Engine was installed last weekend, and today, the left side of the chain drive setup: It is starting to come together pretty quickly now, so stay tuned! Art

To fill this out a bit further: From the early 30's onward (Ford began with the Model 40 in 1933) American automakers began boxing frame rails, first by means of adding a telescoping length of channel into the otherwise channel section frame rails, then hot riveting those in place. At the outset, the side rails forward of the main engine mounts tended to be open channel, same at the rear, beyond the rearmost spring perches. Riveting was used, given that arc welding was still in its relative infancy, and wasn't really trusted, not to mention a great shortage of qualified welders. It was, I believe, AO Smith who pioneered the concept of welding two channel stampings together into a solid boxed frame rail, they having been the principal supplier of chassis frames for the Big Three by about 1950. Chevrolet used a rather curious "hat section" frame rail in their chassis from 1937 through at least 1948, relying on sturdy Fisher bodies to add stiffness to their cars, but other GM marques took to boxing rails by the same means as Ford did from 1933-48. Many frames however, well into the 60's still used open channel at the front, ajacent to the engine and where the front suspension mounted, but the open side of the channel faced inward, not upward where the model companies tend to do it (their's as Jairus points out, being a molding consideration), but that would be next to impossible to re-create in a molded styrene frame. Convertible X-members tended to be made from channel stock, with the flanges facing forward and back, until the end of such reinforcements by the close of the 1950's. Art

I might be willing to trust Christian's now-deceased, elderly German source though, if one wants to do a factory stock version. Reason? Almost every Mercedes of those years restored in the decades since has a black block and cylinder head, even black porcelainized intake and exhaust manifolds, which leads me to wonder if restorers, in their quest for concours d' elegance perfection, tend to opt for the factory "show car" look, or simply used black because it looks "better", more teutonic. Most concours restorations seem to be more focused on perfection of fit and finish, rather than absolute accuracy, and looking at the pic in Christian's post above, that machine gun green color is just plain bilious to my eye. Perhaps a post on the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) or the Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) message boards would get you a more definitive answer? You do have to subscribe to both of those forums, but if you are interested in factory stock prewar cars, those are excellent resources. Art

Damfino!

Check me if I'm wrong here, but isn't steel conduit actually "mild steel"? If so, nowhere near strong enough for a bicycle frame, particularly a front fork (not without some triangulation!). Most bicycle frames today are either aluminum alloy or chrome-moly steel, as I understand it. Both have their advantages, both have their disadvantages. Aluminum alloy, especially when used for the frames of discount-store price level bikes, has a nasty tendency to come apart at the welds--there have been numerous recalls of cheaper alloy bikes due to broken welds at high-stress points in the frame (notably at the stem--up front, where the top of the fork comes through, up to the handlebars, and at the bottom, where the bottom tube and the central vertical tube -- the one that holds the seat -- where they meet the crank housing--neither is a pretty thing if they break while one is riding! This is why alloy bike frames are made of larger diameter tubing, and often a lot of overlaid, welded in place, gusseting has to be used. Chrome moly tubing has similar issues, but at least this material can be re-heat treated after welding, which pretty much eliminates the cracking and breaking of welded joints in this material, as I understand it. Those classic older bikes from the 50's on back to the beginning relied on brazing the joints, particularly those with "lugged" joints between the various components of the frame, again as I remember it. This was certainly true of the early "English Bikes" that were first imported (such as Hercules, Raleigh and the like) and then produced here, again as I remember it. I've an acquaintance here locally who is one of the top touring/racing bicycle custom builders in the World (Cherry Bicycles). John, last time I talked to him, was still using chrome moly, welded, refused to even consider alloy, and for sure he does not use conduit. Art

Exactly Ken! Frankly, separate chrome trim such as Harry suggests has almost NEVER been a successful way of doing it, short of making "trenches" in the fenders (necessarily overly wide, in order to accommodate a paint job--the thickness of the paint, or locating pins and holes. Either method would have meant filling the locating holes or recesses, and how may questions do we see on these very forums as just how to do that? Granted, this is neither a subject matter likely to attract very many 12-16yr old kids due to its age, nor is it one that most younger builders would have a high propensity for a really successful build--but it's wise to consider that not all adults are at the same high plane, skills-wise either--again, anyone who monitors these forums surely has seen the wide disparity of skills admitted to by posters here, or on any model car builder's forums wherever they might be. Being old enough to have seen dozens of 46-48 Chevy Aerosedans as a kid, I can tell you that relatively few of them were built (or sold--or equipped after the fact from dealer parts bins) with the speed streak chrome strips. Apparently most buyers back then, be they adults having experienced the Depression and the war's home front, or returning veterans seem to have been willing to buy such extra cost items. In point of fact, it wasn't until the advent of the Bel Air Sport Coupe in 1950 that any postwar Chevrolet came with loads of brightwork from the assembly plants--those were very much post-austerity cars for sure. Now, what is neat, is to see one of the VERY few Aerosedans equipped at the dealer with the "Sportsman" woodie trim on the doors and forward rear quarter panels--now those few were, and the one or two remaining ones still are, ATTRACTIVE to the max! Art

A bit more complicated, actually: The grille is different, twice the bars, each half as thick, and no, the body trim wasn't just painted body color, but rather one of several shades of grey, silver or tan, depending on the actual body color itself. Art

I've got 3 of the kits, plus a couple of the sedan deliveries. One of my Aerosedans is slated to be backdated to it's first version, the 1942--grille and trim change, then done as a December '41-January '42 "Blackout" version. Art

Andy, it is a '26-'27, but the giveaways are the hood and radiator shell, and the fenders. FWIW, just as with the VW Beetle, when a new part was introduced for T production, in most all cases with mechanical parts, it was readily adaptable to earlier models. I have seen '25 and earlier T's with 21" welded steel spoke wheels (and their hubs) bolted directly on earlier models--it actually happened quite a lot. Art

That's a '26-'27 T Fordor Sedan. Unlike the rest of the Model T lineup for those two last years of T production, the Fordor body was a carryover of Ford's first 4-dr sedan first produced in 1924. Art

Of that, I have no idea--although I am pretty sure the fabric technology was similar, if not the same. Weymann's wood structure and method of joining was, I believe, patented by them, then licensed out--so it is possible that Vanden Plas might have used the Weymann system under license. Of course, with the Bentley ("....the fastest motor lorries in the World"--Ettore Bugatti) one of their characteristics was an extremely stiff frame, and with that narrow touring car body, I doubt that what little chassis flexing there might have been, they could have gone with a fairly rigid wood framing for the bodywork. Art

I believe that has a variable ratio front (or midship idler) sprocket in it--those are infinitely variable, within the size/diameter, but are too heavy and two wide (thick) to be practical on a bicycle. Back during the middle 1970's oil crises, there was a brief fling with PPV's (People Powered Vehicles) and a local entrepreneur (whom I knew) was building them, along the lines of the rig shown, in addition to two seaters, and a wicked-fast single seater. He was using that sort of infinitely variable sprocket setup, which is what requires that ten-speed derailleur type spring-loaded tensioner on the chain at the rear sprocket. Only thing though, with the canvas top raised, the thing was very much a "sail"--with a strong wind behind you, it was a bear to stop, and going against the wind--top up? Fuggedaboudit! Art

Junkman..... I just remembered that I had this webpage bookmarked. It shows, in drawings (factory I think) along with text, exactly how the Weymann fabric bodies were constructed and finished. The drawings and images are of their US Licensee, Weymann-American Body Company, of Indianapolis Indiana. W-A made a number of low-production bodies for Stutz, as well as 3 or 4 for Duesenberg, both companies being located in Indianapolis (the old Stutz factory building still stands on the north side of downtown Indianapolis, now the Stutz Center, as a building full of office condominiums, WITH the original Stutz showroom completely restored, with always 3-4 Stutz's on display!) http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/weymann/weymann.htm Art

I'm on my third bike as an adult--first was a 1970 Schwinn Continental 10spd, bright lemon yellow--sold it to a nephew in 1997, as I was riding a Giant Butte 21spd mountain bike. That gave way to my current ride, a 2008 Iron Horse Maverick 4.2, three springer mountain/off-road bike, disc brakes, 24spds. Biking everywhere I can is one of my passions in life--keeps me pretty healthy and strong too. AArt

If you mean that Weymann and other high end coachbuilders used essentially pressed paper, no. Note that cotton batting (fluffy white cotton fiber between two layers of light cotton muslin--not unlike the cotton mattress pads sold in the bedding departments of large stores in the US--and I assume similar is used in the UK?), and multiple layers of cotton muslin (common woven cotton fabric), with the outer layer having been treated with lacquer after application, often (in the case of Weymann-American Body Company of Indianapolis IN) having been sprayed with a thicker lacquer (not thinned as much as say, for a high gloss finish on metal surfaces) which gave a "pebble-grain" effect (since thicker consistency lacquers don't have the time to "flow out" the individual tiny droplets blending smoothly together). This gave a slightly dull "faux leather" surface texture. There is at least one Stutz DV-32 with a Weymann American fabric body, I last saw it in the Gilmore Museum (the famed "Red Barns" at Hickory Corners MI, just northwest of Kalamzoo MI. This body is an original Weymann wood structure, but was completely restored using Weymann's patented techniques. It's my understanding that the legendary 3- and 4.5-liter racing Bentleys (as represented by the excellent Heller kit BTW) and Wolf Barnato's unique Bentley fastback coupe were bodied in this same manner. The now-completely-restored Dr. Samuel Mudd (grandson of the Dr Mudd who treated John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's assination) 1935 Duesenberg SJN "fastback coupe", body styled by J. Herbert Newport, coachwork by Califormia's Bohmann & Schwartz, has a steel body, padded and then covered in actual leather, even the steel hood panels having been covered thus. This car has the looks, but not the rather fragile nature of a Weymann fabric body though. As for pressed paper body shells, the only ones I have ever heard of, are those made in the former East Germany by Trabant--that pressed paper was impregnated with resin, then baked hard, before painting and final assembly. Art

Weymann bodies (and those built by both imitators and licensees of Weymann) were built up of lightweight wooden pieces, joined by means of single pin metal hinges rather than by the normal method of mortise & tenon (the way fine furniture and automobile coachwork (back in the day) is joined), to cut out the squeaks resulting from the flexing of body and chassis. I'll let coachbuilt.com describe the covering as they do it quite well: <<Large open areas were covered with chicken wire and the assembled framework was then covered in muslin, followed by a thin layer of cotton batting and finally a pigmented synthetic leather - usually a pyroxylin-coated fabric such as DuPont’s Zapon in much in the same way as the roofs of conventional bodies were covered at the time. Other brands of synthetic leather at the time were: Fabrikoid (DuPont), Drednaut (Chase), Elascofab, Meritas (Standard Textile), Rexine, and Tole Souple - The final step was to affix decorative aluminum moldings to the beltline and to cover any exposed joints in the fabric. The completed body was then mounted to the chassis with rubber insulators.>> For the complete story of Weymann and Weymann style body construction, read all about it here: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/weymann/weymann.htm (note that while the cars discussed in this article are American Classics, such as Stutz and Duesenberg, the famed LeMans Bentleys had bodies that were constructed in essentially the same manner.) Art

As said above, the quickest resource you have is the computer and Google! Try Google images (type in your search terms into Google Advanced Search, then click on the "images" icon at the top of the first page--any image in any web page Google turned up for you will be there, along with the image size). The next source, of course, would be car magazines, and Lord knows, there are a ton of titles, covering just about any era, any kind, any genre' of cars you can think of--the best sources for most of us is either Barnes & Noble or Border's Books and Music. The third source is books on the type(s) of cars you might want to build. These can range from "coffee table" books (sometimes the great photo of the car you dream of building shows up in something like that), to books about a particular kind of car (Sports Cars, Race Cars, customs, rods--all that), and then there are single marque books--those that cover say, the entire range of Mustangs, or perhaps one generation of such a car. In this, keep your eye out for books that go into great detail, such as books for restorers or those looking to hop up one. Another great kind of book to have, is the lowly shop manual from the factory--with the car show and swap meet season just beginning in most of the country, there are vendors of just those. In some cases, primarily with the most popular of GM makes, reprints of factory assembly manuals are out there--just think of them as instruction books for assembly line workers building the full scale models! Assembly manuals have easy to follow drawings of stuff most modelers never dream of adding to their builds! The fourth, and perhaps the most productive source is a decent quality digital camera--with one of the more modern ones, you can get memory cards that will hold literally thousands of pictures, and the best part is, the pics themselves are free--the only cost incurred is if you decide to print any of them off on your own puter! But the last things are the two P's, just as they are with building: Patience and Perseverance. It's patience that makes you hold off starting a project with only half-vast ideas here, and perseverance is the character trait that makes you keep on keeping on, until you find whatever reference you need in order to create that last, "gotcha" detail on your model. Hope this helps! Art