1/8 scale woody

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hope your eye heals quick, nothing worse than wonky peepers!

Still, good to see you modelling in the summer, you are getting my Pocher juices flowing

[jbwelda]

that is some incredible building there Harry.

jb

[Harry P.]

that is some incredible building there Harry.

jb

Thank you.

[Harry P.]

Lots of progress to report. I'll have new photos up tomorrow.

BTW... I was at the opthamologist last Tuesday... she used a swab to take culture samples from my eyes to send to the lab so they could figure out exactly what it is I have. That was last Tuesday. The doctor called me Friday, said the lab results hadn't come back yet. Called me just a little while ago (Saturday evening) to tell me the lab never received the cultures.

So another whole week goes by with no treatment. My eyes are a mess... red, swollen, teary, can hardly see a darn thing. And the lab "lost" the cultures. Now I have to go back to the doc on Monday and do it all over again... and hope the lab doesn't screw up again.

Man, I can't catch a break on this whole eye thing. Going on nearly two months now, and no end in sight. The doc says it's probably viral, but wanted lab tests just to be sure it wasn't anything worse. And they won't prescribe anything until they get the lab results... so here I am with two practically useless eyes. Sheesh...

[Harry P.]

Here is the floorboard, with the extended rear floor and finished wheelwells, with fenders installed. A little Bondo on the fenderwells to smooth things out. And I covered the floor with some corrugated styrene sheet to represent ribbed rubber flooring. All of this will eventually be painted flat black (except the fenders, which will be gloss black)

This is the stuff I used to simulate the ribbed rubber floors...

[Harry P.]

The firewall as done by Pocher is wrong. The bonnet rub strips are in the wrong place, and the "walls" of the firewall are incorrect... the firewall itself is only a thin piece that gets bolted to that "shroud" that should actually be part of the cowl sheetmetal. First step was to sand down those incorrectly placed bonnet panel rub strips and fill in that incorrect channel with styrene strip. Also, that "cutout" at the top is wrong and needed to be filled in as well...

Next, a razor saw was used to cut the "shroud" away from the firewall. Due to the shape of the firewall and how it's molded, I also had to use the back of my knife blade to scribe certain areas to release the firewall from that shroud...

[Harry P.]

Now that I had the firewall in pieces, it was time to rebuild it to look more like the real thing. Here is the rebuilt firewall with sheet styrene added to "fill in the gaps" resulting from cutting it away from the shroud...

[Harry P.]

And here is the shroud part, with incorrect areas filled in. I also had to redo the top arced section to match the contour of the cowl. If you build this kit out of the box, there winds up being a huge gap between the shroud and the cowl, which is wrong. There should be no gap at all, since this piece is actually part of the cowl sheetmetal...

[Harry P.]

Here is that shroud attached to the cowl. This will eventually all be painted body color:

As you can see, I've cut away the windshield header and added length to the "A" pillars. To my eye the kit windshield looks chopped (not sure if it is, but is sure looked like it). I didn't like the "mail slot" look of the windshield as is, so I will "unchop" it to a more normal looking height.

[Harry P.]

And here is the firewall, almost finished. Still need to add the linkages that control the starter carburetor and the radiator shutters. I scratchbuilt a new steering column plate, the kit piece is way wrong. I also added a scratchbuilt fuel filter and several other doodads and valves and solenoids and general "stuff," based on photo references. The fuel filter could be mounted on either the left or right side of the firewall (my reference photos show it done both ways). In this case, the filter would have been a really tight squeeze on the left side, I think the magneto would have interfered with it, so I moved it to the right side where there is a lot more open space.

BTW... that vertical cylinder is the oil tank for the "automatic" chassis lubrication system. All you had to do was press a small foot pedal to send oil out to various points on the chassis. And that other large black gizmo is actually the fuel pump. RR called it an "autovac." It had a large outer tank (the part you see) and a smaller inner tank with a piston/float mechanism inside. That inner tank sucked the gas from the main gas tank by creating vacuum. Then the gas was transferred via an internal valve to the outer tank, and from there to the carb. I added a scratchbuilt drain valve at the bottom, the two fuel line fittings at the top, and the fitting at the bottom for the fuel line that runs to the fuel filter, and ultimately to the carb.

I also added a scratchbuilt bracket for the radiator support rod at top center (the kit had the support rod going into a hole in the firewall, which is wrong). And I added flanges along the edges of the firewall where the bonnet rub strips will go.

[mike 51]

For someone having trouble seeing (or even with perfect vision) you do amazing work..thanks for sharing.

[Harry P.]

This car had floorboards made of actual wooden boards. The Pocher piece has a pretty decent woodgrain pattern embossed on the underside of the floorboard, but I covered up the battery box because I don't intend to bother with working lights on this model, and I cut away a depression in the floorboard that was meant to house the rear fold-out auxiliary jump seats' hinges. Cutting away that depression left me with a big hole in the floor that would have to be filled. Both that hole and the battery box hole are covered on the top side with my ribbed styrene sheet "rubber" floor, but the patches were still visible from below. So since I had to cover up those two floor patches with something anyway, I figured what looks more like real wood than real wood? I used 1/16 balsa that I cut into "boards" or planks and covered the surface. Those strips in back where there is no balsa are areas where the tops of the frame rails are flat and come in contact with the floorboard. I wanted to keep those areas bare plastic so that when I attach the floorboard to the frame, I can use not only the kit's nuts and bolts, but also some glue in that area. I want as solid a connection between chassis and floorboard as possible.

Ultimately all the surfaces you see here will be painted black, and with the chassis in place it'll be virtually impossible to tell that those floorboards are real wood... but like I said, I had to cover the patched floor with something anyway... so why not real wood?

[Harry P.]

Here's a part that Model Motorcars doesn't offer, but should. The shift gate.

Pocher doesn't include it, so I scratchbuilt it. I took some sheet styrene, the thickness of which matched the thickness of the slots I wanted. There are seven layers laminated together here, with the shift pattern formed by leaving the appropriate gaps to form the slots. Then I used a Dremel sanding drum and hand sanding with a sanding stick to form it into the half-round shape needed. A little more fine tuning by sanding, then gloss black and finally "chromed" with Spaz Stix.

BTW... on this car reverse is left and up, 1-2-3-4 are to the right of reverse.

[LaughingIndian]

Great work Harry.

It's Monday ... how's your eyes? I hope they're good. I admire your patience with your healthcare providers. I'm losing faith in doctors. After decades of being the perfect patient, I feel like I have to be my own overseer of everything medical wise now.

I miss the days when I could go to a doctor and trust everything they told me.

Hang in there Harry. This RR is looking fantastic!

[Chuck Kourouklis]

You ain't exactly renowned for building wallflowers, Mr P, but even so, this is some pretty mighty work!

Hope the eye thing clears up for you, and soon.

[Tony T]

Very impressive work so far!

I hope you resolve your eye issue.

[Harry P.]

Thanks, guys.

I just got back from the opthamologist about an hour ago. I have undergone all sorts of tests, lab cultures, etc., and the good news is that all of the really scary stuff has been ruled out, He said my corneas are looking much better than they were a few days ago when I last saw him, and I should be back to normal in 5-7 days. Let me tell you, that was the best news I've heard in a long time!

Thanks to all who sent their good wishes. Anything involving my eyes and vision really freaks me out. I was very nervous there for a time. But fingers crossed, I should be ok.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Thanks, guys.

I just got back from the opthamologist about an hour ago. I have undergone all sorts of tests, lab cultures, etc., and the good news is that all of the really scary stuff has been ruled out, He said my corneas are looking much better than they were a few days ago when I last saw him, and I should be back to normal in 5-7 days. Let me tell you, that was the best news I've heard in a long time!

Thanks to all who sent their good wishes. Anything involving my eyes and vision really freaks me out. I was very nervous there for a time. But fingers crossed, I should be ok.

Great news. I think eye issues freak everyone out. They haven't figured out how to do transplants so you get only one set.

[peekay]

Glad to hear the good news, Harry - you're obviously someone who puts his eyes to optimal use.

Fantastic work on the Rolls.

[Harry P.]

Once again, I have a lot of progress to report. I can build just fine without glasses or contacts, but seeing the computer screen clearly is the problem. I can only take so much time on the computer before I give up in frustration, but I will try to post new photos tomorrow.

The doctor said I could maybe start wearing my contacts again by the weekend. I sure hope so. I miss them!

[blunc]

it's amazing how fast eye tissue heals...when it heals at all.

[Ramfins59]

Great to hear the good news about your eyes Harry.

Back in November of last year I was really nervous about having cataract surgery on my left eye, but all went extremely well and I find that I don't need my Optivisors as much anymore. It'll hopefully get even better when I have the same procedure done for my right eye.

Fantastic work as usual on the model by the way.

[Harry P.]

The toeboard part of the floorboard had three individual cutouts to accommodate the shafts of the gas, brake, and clutch pedals. But these cutouts were spaced differently than the actual spacing of the three pedals, so I cut away the portion of the toeboard around the pedals, then made a cardboard template, and finally a new toeboard with slots aligned to the pedals, using the same corrugated styrene sheet as I used on the rest of the floor. I also made the new toeboard bigger... there would have been a big gap between the firewall and the kit floorboard... this new, extended-forward toeboard gets rid of that gap.

And here is that new toeboard installed, and cutouts made for the brake lever and shifter. I will be using the kit's front seat frame/bulkhead panel, but not the kit upholstery, as I don't like how the kit seats are engineered. I'll redo the seats and upholstery from scratch...

Since the woody body will be slightly wider than the kit body, I needed to add some material to the bulkhead (the ends of which is where the door posts will attach). I also added some square styrene rod as reinforcement between the seat bottom and the bulkhead for added strength.

[Foxer]

Wow, Harry ... maybe I should look into getting some pinkeye to up my building!

[Harry P.]

Wow, Harry ... maybe I should look into getting some pinkeye to up my building!

No. It's no fun, believe me.

Anyway... here is the upholstered front seat. I have posted my technique for building/upholstering seats before, so no need to rehash that here. Note the little cutout on the right side cushion to make room for the shifter. Seat shell/bulkhead will be painted black.

Not sure about upholstery color yet. The car will have black fenders, sage green cowl, and of course the maple/mahogany colors of the body. I could leave the upholstery (and interior door panels) the color of the material as is... or go with black, deep red, or dark green. One of those four choices for sure, and right now I'm leaning to dark green.