Alfa Romeo 8C 1933 Le Mans winner

[Pierre Rivard]

11 hours ago, absmiami said:

Betting you’ve heard of

the Don Lee Special   …

This is formidable Andy. So if I get this right, same car that won Italy in 32 but as it was when it ran at Indy in 46 &47.

Now the big question, will you do it as it would have been prepared for the race or current state as presented at Amelia Island i.e. full patina treatment.

I vote for full patina. Start date for my build is scheduled October 1, hope we can build in parallel.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thank you Philippe, Hanjo and Gary. I never thought about digging up for period artwork as reference. This Géo Ham drawing is great and I will look for more. This is so helpful.

[PhilX]

When you are interested in vintage cars, colors are always a problem when the car is gone.

The drawings offer a valuable aid if they are from the period and drawn from sight by the artist.

Another source of information is the print media of the time when journalists describe the car. But this is of course a long and tedious search.

 

[MarkJ]

If you're going by the black and white photo at the beginning of this thread, it seems to me if the red parts are truly red and I'm sure they are it must be a very dark red. The monotone shade of the wheels seem to be an exact match to the fenders.  Usually, a red in a black and white photo turns out to look like a dark gray just like a blue would. Just saying . But what do I know?  Too bad they don't have color YouTube videos of those races which I know is impossible but that's usually the only true source in trying to decipher color of a race car from the 50's or 60's. But those are even very hard to find.

[absmiami]

3 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

This is formidable Andy. So if I get this right, same car that won Italy in 32 but as it was when it ran at Indy in 46 &47.

Now the big question, will you do it as it would have been prepared for the race or current state as presented at Amelia Island i.e. full patina treatment.

 

this is a unique pre-war Alfa - the proud owners are English - it has been maintained mechanically but not not not restored - some changes fr the factory cars but not that many - stay tuned …

 

[Gramps46]

6 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

This is why I try to find period artwork to use as reference.  Thanks for posting.

FWIW - 1933  Artist 1 unreadable, 2 D. Picot though dated 198?.

 

[PhilX]

Artist 1 : Rob Roy ( true name : Robert de la Rivière ) .

[Dave B]

Hi Pierre, only just started looking at this thread, I'm sure you will do it justice.

I'm sure you have mentioned it somewhere but what car have you decided on building, sorry, shouldn't be lazy but it's easier to ask!!

Dave B

Whoops, sorry

Edited August 27, 2023 by Dave B

[PhilX]

.

Edited August 30, 2023 by PhilX

[Pierre Rivard]

So time to actually start this build. This is my first "date" with resin so no doubt I will learn a lot along the way. Any input from other builders will be more than welcome. I'll try stuff, make mistakes, you'll point me in the right direction and hopefully we'll have a few laughs along the way. Welcome to "Resin for dummies"

First task is to get the major body pieces cleaned up and fitted. I got the 3 pieces to finally talk to each other, but some fitting will be required.

First discovery is that the bonnet top is shorter left vs right at the front edge and some bending will be required. I have to figure out how to gently bend (some heat?) without breaking the part. Looks more brittle than the styrene I'm used to.

 I don't know what I'm doing...this is gonna be so much fun!

Edited September 9, 2023 by Pierre Rivard

[Gramps46]

Glad to see you have started.  The dry fit is a good place to start.

[MarkJ]

I'll definitely be watching this one, Pierre. The one resin I did came out terribly. There are so many builds that the only way to do them is to use a resin kit. The 58 Ford comes to mind. I always wanted to do Curtis Turner's but that's a lot to invest in a body if It's going to come out like the last one, I did.  I'm sure this build is going to be Awesome.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thanks fellows. Just finished today's session and I now have body/hood/chassis relationship reasonably defined. It does not seem like much but just these 3 parts needed quite a lot of work...and more is needed but I'm getting used to this new stuff. I don't know how this resin kit rates compared to others but it appears quite a lot of work will be needed to make all the parts fit and look correct.

Reassuring that Fernando thinks I only need this one page instruction sheet to figure this out. 🤣

 

[Chris Smith]

Hi Pierre, I have found on model factory hiro resin a dip into hot water allows the resin to soften enough to bend. 

[Pierre Rivard]

Going through my sequence process I'm thinking I need to get the chassis mock up done so that I can then figure out how to position the fenders (no defined method or attachment points)

Instructions show the chassis pan includes complete frame rails molded in but the front pieces actually have to be added. Thought I would need to fabricate these extensions but found them in a bag of small parts. Makes things easier. Got these cleaned up and epoxy glued the front chassis components.

Finally got to a decent dry fitted body and get a mockup done with the wheels on. I now have my foundation to figure out how and where to get fenders installed

 

 

[afx]

Mockup looks good. 

[MarkJ]

Wow, Pierre. It's coming together perfectly. So, I guess you're using epoxy to hold this creation together. Do you mix it in small batches or how exactly does it work. What do you mix it in?

[Pierre Rivard]

2 hours ago, afx said:

Mockup looks good. 

Thanks JC. I like to assemble as much of the vehicle in a dry mockup as much as possible before "commiting with glue"

Particularly when dealing with an unknown kit and more so with this resin stuff that is all new to me. I've already started changing a few things.

[Pierre Rivard]

23 minutes ago, MarkJ said:

Wow, Pierre. It's coming together perfectly. So, I guess you're using epoxy to hold this creation together. Do you mix it in small batches or how exactly does it work. What do you mix it in?

Yes, 5 minutes 2 part epoxy from Bob Smith Industries. I'm fortunate to have an amazing hobby shop in my area and they always provide good advice. The resin and hardener both come in 4.5 oz dispenser bottles and I can easily mix mini matches (as small as one drop from each)

[Pierre Rivard]

Next step is the positioning of the fenders. Fernando has them built with metal wires acting as brackets (nice, delicate, realistic) but positioning on the body side requires the builder to determine the location and drill holes, then making multiple adjustments. Not overly complicated but a third hand would be very handy.

Take note that the as designed track width is on the narrow side. I'll do the fender placement and then determine how to adjust the track.

 

[Pierre Rivard]

The fronts went in pretty easily. They attach to the chassis on four points. They then to sag a bit but will come up when I add the cross bar ahead of the radiator.

The inner fender profile curves into the tire too much. A trait seen on all four fenders relative to my ref pictures. I will need to grind that excess material

[Pierre Rivard]

The rears were somewhat trickier to get fitted but I made it through. These, unlike the fronts, attach to the body. They ride a touch too high for my taste but it's not a deal breaker. 

 

[MarkJ]

Wow, Pierre. This build just gets more and more astonishing as to how awesome the final result is going to be. I have to commend the kit creator for making such a well-engineered kit as far as the quality of the castings that he accomplished. Of course, I'm sure your skills are making the fit come together better than most of us modelers could do.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thanks Mark. I like the kit very much but it requires some thinking and referring to period pictures / artist drawings to see what it needs to look like since there  are no real instructions. Big challenge ahead is the resin surface preps and finishing. 

[afx]

Nice work Pierre.  Resin kits do take extra effort but they are worth for the subject matter.