Airfix 1/12 Bentley Blower

[Bugatti Fan]

The body covering appears to be a bit of a dilemma still.

There has been a number of suggestions on here, so it will be interesting to see what Francois finally does to replicate it.

[François]

I'm back on the Bentley.  Did a bit of prep work on the resin print batch i received.  I should do a bit of painting later this week.

Here are a few pictures. 

Brake compensator shaft assy

Front brake lever shaft hub

Wheel hub assy with knockoff(It really screws on!!)

 

[louis Carabott]

This one heck of a model.....My compliments Sir

regards

Louis

Malta

[François]

As I was preparing the frame for paint,  I realised that I forgot to install the battery box support. I could not find any info for this on the continuation series recently built and not much more on the original ones. So I winged it a bit. I  also based my design on a previous built done back in 2012.

I added 2 'c' channels that will hold an aluminium battery box. 

the 2 cubes will eventualy be the batteries onces dressed up.

Edited September 13, 2023 by François

[Big John]

6 volt no doubt.

[François]

Big John,  I know a lot about the mecanical aspect of cars but praticaly nothing about the electrical. I'll take your word for it that they are 6 volts. 

I finished the batteries today, quite happy with the result. 

my inspiration for these batteries came from John Teresi's bentley built back in 2012. I did change a few things from is design. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by François

[peteski]

You don't have to be an electrician to understand lead-acid car batteries.   They are made of multiple cells connected in series.  Each cell produces 2 Volts.  Each cell has a cap on top so  it can be filled with electrolyte.  To figure out the battery voltage just count the number of caps, then multiply it by 2.

These batteries have 3 caps, so 3 x 2 = 6 Volts.  12 Volt batteries will have 6 caps.

Do you have any photos of the batteries in the 1:1 Bentley?  I'm asking because it is possible that those two  6 Volt batteries are connected in series, for a total voltage of 12V.  If that is the case, you would have to wire them differently to accurately depict the 1:1 car.

Edited September 14, 2023 by peteski

[François]

That's part of my problem peteski,  I can't find any pictures of the battery setup on the 1:1. When you say connected in series, you mean one connecter to the other and from there going to the starter and whatnots ?

[peteski]

11 hours ago, François said:

When you say connected in series, you mean one connecter to the other and from there going to the starter and whatnots ?

Yes, exactly.  If you could find technical specs for this car, you could tell how the batteries were connected together, even without seeing any photos.  I'm also assuming that the batteries you made (with 3 caps indicating 6 Volt battery) would be accurate for that car.

Edited September 14, 2023 by peteski

[François]

Thanks peteski

I found this. It would seem that the two 6 volts battery in series is correct. 

Should the wire going from the positive to negative be black or is red ok?

I still don't know where they were located but under the floor seems like as good a place as any. They certainly were not in the engine bay, that would have been very easy to find in pictures. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by François

[peteski]

Good research François!
I'm not sure what color cable would have been used for the interconnect between the batteries. I would probably use black  wire, but it might have been even another color (or maybe red).

Sometimes batteries are located under seats.

Edited September 15, 2023 by peteski

[Big John]

As memory serves, most all British cars, until recently, ran on 6V systems. So it would make sense for Bentley to use two 6's to get their 12V. 

[François]

 Not much info on the web about the wire color but in the boating world, where serie connected batteries seem to be commun, the consensus is red with a black tape applied at the neg end. So I guess I'll leave it red. 

As for the location,  I took a closer look at my picture gallery and found this.  It's very fussy but it clearly shows a battery located in the frame. It would have been under the floor boards.

[peteski]

Good research!

[François]

Thanks peteski ,I've searched a bit more and have found out that the Tim Birkin car, on which my ref car is based, had only one 12 volt battery mounted under the floor on the drivers side. I'll mull it over tonight but I'll probably redo the battery tray and make one 12 volt battery.  What bugs me the most is that I had just painted the frame yesterday. Oh well, live and learn!!

[François]

Ok, so after about 5 minutes of mulling, I redid the battery and the rack. Here's what it looks like on the continuation car (and Birkin's also)

The 3d remoldeled 

And the new battery and rack 

I based the battery on a vintage part offered on a Bentley spare parts site

 

[François]

I finaly solved another mystery mecanism (a mystery for me at least). The infamous brake ajuster. It's a set of 3 pulleys, the center one being ajustable. I couldn't figure out where the cable running on these pulleys came from or went to. It turns out that the cable replaces the tie rod going from the brake pedal to the long actuator lever. I imagine that the mecanism permitted the driver to ajust the brakes while driving. As if the driver didn't have enough to do already,  double clutch, ajust retard/advance, look at the gazilion gages,  try not to die...

[Bugatti Fan]

Francois, I think that besides the models, you and Nick could get a book printed of all your Bentley 3D renders!

[François]

I fabricated the steering link and steer rods out of aluminium tubing.  The kit parts are not that bad but they lack threaded studs for attaching and frankly,  It more fun to make new one than simply paint the kit part.

Also did some prep work on the steering column.  I already modified the column a few months ago to incorporate a worm and gear. Now, I added some details so it looks more like the real thing.

First, here is the real column.

And here is the kit column 

I printed a flange to simulate the curved end of the casting and since the real column is made from an aluminium tubing, I added an aluminium tubing over the plastic kit part. I also added a nut and disk on top of the casting as per the real thing.

I should paint it tomorrow. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by François

[Bugatti Fan]

Francois, I just thought about your battery locations. I saw a build on this forum by John Teresi and I seem to remember the battery(ies) on his model being located under the floor between the front and back seats. Might be worth looking at his build photos. He may have researched the battery positions and wiring, so may be able to further help you if you send him a personal message.

Pete's advice he posted looks pretty sound to me though.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Bugatti Fan

[François]

As nice a builb as John's was,  his batteries were not correct. At least not if reproducing Birkin's or the continuation (which wasn't built back then). I posted pictures showing the real battery tray and reproduced that. Thanks anyway Bugatti fan !

[François]

Here is the finished steering column 

By adding a 1/4 dia aluminium tubing over the plastic casing, it actually brought it to the correct scaled dimension. The tubing is 3 in dia, which scaled down 1/12 comes to 1/4. I also added the clamps at both ends.

Here's a real one

I 3d modeled the steering wheel flange mount and center cap whit the proper throttle and ignition identification.  Not sure how it will show up after printing.

[louis Carabott]

Brilliant work Sir (y)

[François]

Started the assembly of the brake linkage, another step towards working brakes!! I'll need to incorporate a return spring somewhere,  not sure how it was done on the real car and I can't find in info on it. Here's what my linkage looks like do far.

 

[François]

It never fails, you start on one thing and it leads you to something else.  Yesterday, I started to assemble the brake linkage. But in order to continue, I need to install the rear axel. But in order to do that, I need to install the drive shaft.  And that's where everything went sideways. The kit's drive shaft, while being ok, is not great. First it need to be made out of a straight tube, it should not be tapered at both ends.  Second, it need to be telescopic and last, the bolting flanges (to bolt the shaft ends to the rrar axel and to the gear box are missing.  So I set out to 3d model a new shaft and to test print the parts. Doing a new shaft helps me 2 fold, it will look a lot more like the real thing but more important, the telescopic action will aid the assembly.  And once in place,  I'll lock the telescopic tube together. If you remember, I added some internal gears in the differentiel casing so turning the transmission will rotate the wheels.  

The kit's drive shaft 

My 3d model 

And my test shaft