Adventures in Soldering: The Maserati BirdcageTipo 61 update Bodywork 12/17/22

[Codi]

I know it might seem like a "small" update Randy, but I know all too well the time you've got in it so they're perfectly positioned etc.  I'm in awe man of what you're doing here.  My hats off to you sir.

cheers, tim

[superbike-shaun]

Hi Randy,checking in,,,wanted,to run something by you,,,back in the early  60's Ferrari Corsa built a similar  run of Race,cars similar to the,Birdcage,The Ferrari "Testarossa,,????ring a bell??? Would be another one for u to Duplicate,in Stainless tubing,I have,the Aoshima,(or actually the Hasegawa kit),in Styrene. Lol,,not Really, a question,more an observation. Great progress here.looking forward to much more,,,,,,,

[Randy D]

Hi Folks,

   Hope everyone had some merry holidays!!!

  Hi Bernard,   WOW, the Conti family has built some awesome Ferrari models !!!   Thank you for the links.  The only one of the three that I was aware of is Sir Wingrove.

Thank you Mark

Tim ,  Thank you my friend !  Finally getting around to posting an update

Hi Shaun,  Funny you should mention that car,  I only have about a dozen plastic car kits in my stash and that is one of them!!

  Progress to report...

   A arms and shocks are next.....

Reference pic....

 

Straightened  some 14 gauge solid Nickel Silver wire and filed some flats on it for the A arms.

 

 

 

 

Pieces and parts for one side.   Using  threaded rod and nuts from  ' T2M'  and working shocks from  ' RB Motion'  Also the rather crude beginnings of the spindles.

 

 

 

 

 

Making up the lower A arm supporting structure....

 

 

 

 

I get a bit less than a 1/4 inch of travel...

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in !!

 

Randy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Codi]

I KNEW UPS had lost my Christmas present and lo and behold, it shows up today.      Thanks Randy!!! 

[MrObsessive]

Incredible Randy!!  

[Pete J.]

All Right!  He's back at the bench!  Nice work Randy.  Nickle silver wire eh?  Looks like I need to go on line again.  My gift to myself for Christmas this year was two 12"x12" sheets of nickle silver.  One .010" and one .020".  Going to be doing some slicing and dicing soon.  Thanks for the inspiration Randy.  Between you and Tim, you got me going again.

 I am going to fire up the mill and get to work on a couple of Bugatti engines.

 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Pete J.

[Lowlife ! !]

Wow er, okay I think I got it !   So you find a beautiful race car, something with a chassis that's made of thousands of little tubes, and a body with more curves than a super model, and you scratch build the whole thing....   Except not the easy route, oh no, you solder it together in metal ! ! 

Randy do you enjoy doing things the hard way ? Most of us here are still struggling with plastic kits, this is something way beyond that. Amazing work, a real amazing project...

Im just waiting for the last few pages of this thread, where you write   ' now the engine is running smoothly I think I might fill up the rad, bleed the brakes, and add the working cigarette lighter, then I'll call it done ! ! '

Some how I won't be surprised at all,  that Mr Wingroves a bad influence on some people.... 

[Lunajammer]

How you keep all that perfectly symmetrical and perfectly straight is beyond me. It does look kind of fun though for someone who would have the patience, confidence and skill.

[John Teresi]

Randy.......MY GOD!!!!!.......this is just mind blowing.........you, Tim and Dave are just Rock Stars......Rock on Brother

[afx]

Hugh respect for your skills and attention to detail.

[Mooneyzs]

Holy Smokes Randy.... that is some awesome and impressive work.  You continue to blow me away. And now you are making she suspension working?? I think it is time for me to pack up the funny car, put it away and start collecting rocks or something. You, Tim and Dave are just too darn good with metal.

[Belugawrx]

Cool stuff Randy !!

[geetee66]

Phenomenal!

 I trained as a silversmith/goldsmith and I would hesitate at embarking on such a complicated project!

Fascinating stuff. Your soldering is very tidy, as well.

very inspirational 

Makes me want to reconstruct my workshop and start making metal parts for my builds.

[Foxer]

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jaw

[Ace-Garageguy]

Seriously fine work. 

[absmiami]

any progress?? what sizes are the chassis tubing - main and secondary tubes are correctly different sizes - but can't quite tell the dimensions ... I've wanted to do try building the chassis for years - haven't yet found the time - courage - strength - insanity ......

[crazyrichard]

my god randy thats ...stunning ! , how did you connect the pieces of the control arms ? are the rods and stuff glued or soldered ?

[blunc]

they MIGHT be tightened down with really small wrenches...   

 

[Randy D]

Hi Folks,

  A big thank you to all that commented since the last update !!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Belated answers to a couple of questions....

  Andrew,   The smallest size so far is   .3mm    Albion makes the nickel silver thin walled tubing in  sizes from  .3mm  up to  .9mm   If I need anything smaller or larger it is solid wire.

  Richard,  It is assembled with actual threaded nuts and bolts so it will operate.    The smallest is  .5mm from Scalehardware   also  .7mm  from T2M.

   Mike ,   you are correct   I use the small tweezers from Laski Scale Specialties   to tighten them.

 

An update on bodywork......

 I posted my attempts at some bodywork ( fenders )   back at the beginning of this thread.  The material was tin sheet from K & S .   This was okay but I really wanted to emulate the 1:1 car and build the body out of aluminum.  The catch being that I wanted to solder it together.  Michael Gray had done some solder work using ally on his Bantam dragster build so i knew it could work.

 The criteria would be that I could do this at my modeling bench and use a small butane torch and my Weller 40w pencil iron.  The bodywork will be  .016" sheet stock from  K & S.  I also wanted to use some ally 'printers plate' , that my buddy Brad had provided me , that is about .008"

  The product I went with is a  Harris Company product called  'Al-solder 500 Kit'  

https://www.amazon.com/Harris-500K-Al-Solder-Aluminum-Solder/dp/B001HWFM9Y?SubscriptionId=AKIAIKOHFALUJCKC3KXQ&tag=bdyahoo-desk-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B001HWFM9Y&m=A3REPELT3CBVRK

You  get a jar of flux and a small roll of solder...

 

 Joining a flat piece and an angle piece of the thin printers plate....

 

The technique here is to heat the metal surrounding the area where you have placed the flux, not the joint itself.  You form your solder into a rod, when the flux starts to bubble and turn brown you run a bead of solder along the joint.   On my practice piece i moved left to right along the joint.  At first the solder did not flow but blobbed up. It worked like it was supposed to as I traveled to the right.

Tried 'tinning'  the flat piece and adding a small piece....

Used the pencil iron resting on the piece being added to see if it would heat the 'tinned' solder below and join the two.

results...

 

Formed a fender from the  .016 sheet stock using the Dapping block...

 

 

Joining the fender to another piece simulating a hood.....

 

Moving on to a full "practice"  body.....

 

 By no means am I an expert at this but having fun trying !!!!

Encouraged enough by this start of the "practice"  front clip  that I will build it up into a whole car.  This will give me chance to work on my skills before tackling the Maserati.

Thanks for looking in!

Randy

 

 

 

 

[Brizio]

Randy your work is simply amazing!

[Bernard Kron]

An overused expression these days, but that is awesome, but also inspirational. If you're going to do a whole car body as practice you're getting awfully close already to the original Troutman & Barnes special (precursor to the Scarab Mk. 1, the first Chaparral, the Sadler special, and all manner of Max Balchowsky's Old Yallers).:

The Troutman & Barnes Special (ca. 1952 - see http://tomstrongman.com/troutman-barnes-special/ ):

[Pete J.]

Hmmmm....... very interesting.  I have not seen aluminum soldered before.  It looks quite messy and like there is a lot of filing and sanding involved.  It also looks like I need to get a dapping block set.  BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH, another tool! 

[aurfalien]

Hi,

This IS obviously über hawt.

Wow man, wow!

[Art Laski]

Nice work, Randy! It definitely harkens back to how the real cars were made back in the day. It's very fun and inspiring to watch your amazing skills. Oh, and thanks for the plug . 

[John Teresi]

Randy.......looks GREAT!!!!!!......Skills my friend Skills