1924 Fiat Mefistofele

[Harry P.]

I used the same techniques on the replacement firewall that I used to create the floorboards...

BTW... how ironic that a firewall is made of... wood!

 

[Harry P.]

Now we come to a real problem. The real car's body has dozens and dozens of rivets visible, connecting all the various body panels. Maybe hundreds in all. The kit body does have these rivets molded in, but they are so small and so tiny that they would be completely lost under a coat or two of paint. In fact, they are almost invisible on the bare plastic body!

So the question is... do I spend hours and hours and hours of my life... time I can never get back... drilling out each individual rivet and replacing them all with brass pins that will actually be visible? Or do I just let it go and let all the other detail of the kit carry the weight, and forget about the rivets.

Thoughts?

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hmm I seem to remember a certain someone pointing out how important safety wiring was on a Bugatti T35 and how the car would be lost withought that detail.

Now I am not trying to be a smart ass here, but the same may apply for this Fiat

Often when we ask a question out loud, we know the answer already

[Harry P.]

Hmm I seem to remember a certain someone pointing out how important safety wiring was on a Bugatti T35 and how the car would be lost withought that detail.

Now I am not trying to be a smart ass here, but the same may apply for this Fiat

Often when we ask a question out loud, we know the answer already

Point taken!

[JollySipper]

Hey, Harry.... been watching your progress on this one, Amazing! Do they make resin rivets in this scale? you could lay them a string at a time and not have to do them individually

[Harry P.]

Tim... don't know. I'll have to look into it, now that Scott has called my bluff!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Sorry Harry, had to do it.....come on, it is only plastic you have to drill out 

I am kind of making my bed for the future me thinks

[Cato]

So the question is... do I spend hours and hours and hours of my life... time I can never get back... drilling out each individual rivet and replacing them all with brass pins that will actually be visible? Or do I just let it go and let all the other detail of the kit carry the weight, and forget about the rivets.

Thoughts?

Here you go Harry. Other builders of this car have used them to great effect. Dunno what size tho ...

http://www.archertransfers.com/SurfaceDetailsMain.html

 

[plastic-mechanic]

 

the larger the scale, the more detail that needs to be introduced to be convincing.

[Dann Tier]

I use Rustoleum "Specialty Metallic" #1937830 Metallic Copper, comes in an 11 0z. can. I don't remember what it cost; I bought it several years ago to use on my 1911 Christie pumper..

Thanks, Harry, I figured that's what it was

[bobthehobbyguy]

Harry gotta say add the rivet deatail. It will make a big differehce in the finished model.

[Foxer]

Here you go Harry. Other builders of this car have used them to great effect. Dunno what size tho ...

http://www.archertransfers.com/SurfaceDetailsMain.html

 

I'd be going down Cato's road. These are very credible and work well. If the rivits have to be brass color, it might be your drill needs excersizingg.

[Zoom]

Beautiful engine and floor boards! 

 

[Twokidsnosleep]

Have used these in the past, come in wide variety of sizes and styles of rivets, bolts etc Tichy Train Group 

Edited July 25, 2016 by Twokidsnosleep

[cobraman]

As hard as the rivet detail may be I think if you don't add it you may regret it when done. I could not look in for a while because I was up in the mountains and had spotty service at best but wanted to add that your wood parts look so much better.

[bill w]

Add the rivets, it's a must.

[Harry P.]

Add the rivets, it's a must.

I've decided against it.

The rivets molded onto the body are very small, but looking at my reference photos, they are actually pretty much in scale. I'm going to use a black wash to highlight each rivet and panel line.

[da Speedinger]

I've decided against it.

The rivets molded onto the body are very small, but looking at my reference photos, they are actually pretty much in scale. I'm going to use a black wash to highlight each rivet and panel line.

use prototyping, as we IT-guys do. with this i mean to add some rivets to a spare part and then compare your result with the molded rivets. you should see then which one you like better.

Edited July 27, 2016 by da Speedinger

[plastic-mechanic]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/8566579/Goodwood-2011-the-mighty-Mephistopheles-returns.html

[Harry P.]

Been slowly plugging away. New progress photos tomorrow (Sunday).

[slusher]

Been slowly plugging away. New progress photos tomorrow (Sunday).

You have made lots of progress Harry since i last check. Hope your getting some rest. Looking forward to the photos...

[Harry P.]

Minor progress. You really can't see them in the photo, because they run behind the chain guards, but I installed the rear brake cables. I used heavy-duty gray thread to simulate steel cable. Once the wheels are on, you won't even see the cables at all... but at least I know they're there...

[Harry P.]

For some reason that I don't completely understand, the car has wooden "caps" that are installed on top of the frame rails between the body and the radiator, where the lower edges of the hood side panels rest. Maybe as a buffer between steel to steel contact between hood panels and frame rails? Don't really know. But following my old "nothing looks more like real wood than real wood" theory, I used the kit pieces as templates to carve replacements out of basswood...

Then I stained them. Here is where they will attach to the tops of the frame rails. The cutouts in the front are to provide clearance for the grille shell...

[Harry P.]

There is no real positive attachment point inside the body for the floor. So I calculated where the floor should be, and used strips of cardboard and a Sharpie to mark the location of the floor on the inside of the body....

Then I glued some square styrene rod in place. The floor will rest atop these locator strips and give me a solid ledge to glue the floor to...

The car has a full belly pan, so none of this will be visible once the model is built.

[Harry P.]

Also got a few scratchbuilt details installed on the floorboards...