peteski Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 (edited) For many years a friend of mine and I were collaborating on his model of a carnival in N-scale (that is a model train scale of 1:160). He built the models and I animated and illuminated them. The scene resides on a pair of NTRAK modules which we display at the local model train shows. Here is an older video showing the original midway. Couple of years ago my friend wanted to expand the midway by adding another couple of feet to the module set. One of the rides was going to be bumper cars. Since there are no commercially available models of N-scale bumper cars I offered to make them for him. I decided to make a master and cast them out of resin. The carnival is set in late 1960s or early 1970s. I first gathered some photos of bumper cars. I then got some rough dimensions. These are the prototype on which I loosely based my model. I started with a piece of acrylic (Plexiglas) which I cut to the scale length and width of the car. The scribed mark denotes how high the car needs to be. Then I planned on how to get to the shape I needed. Next, using a saw, files, and dental grinding bits in a Dremel tool, I removed all the material which was not the bumper car's body. I then scribed the front grille and a trim line around the body. Finally, I polished the body using an 4-grit fingernail polishing stick. The steps which I didn't photograph (I should have) were milling machine operations: Using a 0.025" mill bit I made a hole for the electric pickup pole in the rear and holes for 0.025" styrene rod I would use for the headlight pods. Then I glued in the styrene rod and trimmed it to represent the headlight pods. I then separated the car body from the rest of the acrylic piece. Then, using a piece of 0.032" acrylic sheet, I made the "rubber bumper" base for the car. Base glued to the car body (using a methylene chloride based liquid cement). I then glued the master pattern to a flat acrylic base. Using masking tape, I created a dam to hold the RTV rubber and ... ...poured the liquid rubber into the cavity. Once the rubber hardens, I remove the tape and pull the rubber mold off the master. It is a simple 1-piece open mold. I just poured the resin until the cavity was full. Here is the first molding popped out of the mold. I also went a little nuts: I photoetched the steering wheels. Then I soldered them to a steering column made from a 0.010" brass rod. Steering wheels ready to be painted black. A finished bumper car. The body and the bumper areas were airbrushed with Scalecoat II paint and the seat and grille/headlights were brush painted (under a microscope). Here is a couple on a Nickel .... And a whole gaggle of finished models. Before you ask, yes, I had to cut off the feet of the figures before I plopped them in the cars. I'll try a 2-tone paint job on the next batch I'll make. I am totally nuts for making them this detailed, since they will be placed inside a covered arena, viewed from about 2 feet. But I just couldn't help myself... Here are the bumper cars placed on the track. And a night shot. Here is an overall view of the new part of the midway. This is an early photo, before the people figures and final detailing was done. This is a newer video showing the entire midway. Edited March 8, 2017 by peteski
Crazy Ed Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 To You and your Friend - EXCELLENT execution!! So........... when are the Bumper Cars going to be placed in Motion???
crazyjim Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 I like that! How about doing some in 1/25 scale?
wayne swayze Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 Bumper cars. Wow! That takes me back to my youth. I loved them! You've done a great job on these, considering their small scale!
Foxer Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 I know how small N scale is .. wonderful job!
Roadrunner Posted February 10, 2016 Posted February 10, 2016 I loved bumper cars. Thanks for the memories.
peteski Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 To You and your Friend - EXCELLENT execution!! So........... when are the Bumper Cars going to be placed in Motion??? Thanks everybody! I was asked about making the cars actually move. One possibility would have been to use some sort of vibrating floor to make the cars randomly dance around; like the old football game table. Another possibility was to use magnets on the cars and on a set of moving gears under the floor. But where they are located (and with the roof over the track) the cars aren't very easily visible to spectators. So it wasn't really worth the effort. Plus this is a portable setup, so there would be a good chance that the cars would fail out during moves and transport. We ended up modeling the time when people are getting on for the next ride.
Sixties Sam Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 Amazing! Great work - and in such a small scale! Wow!Sam
Mooneyzs Posted February 17, 2016 Posted February 17, 2016 Holy Crapola!!! That is so Dang Cool... I am loving it.
misterNNL Posted March 21, 2016 Posted March 21, 2016 Nice work!Now we need some entreprising soul to cast these in 1/25 scale!!Any takers??
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