1961 BRM P57, Graham Hill, Auto Kits 1/24: Roy Cross Tribute

[Matt Bacon]

Getting back to the bench with the next in the series: the Auto Kits BRM P57 driven by Graham Hill.

Although Auto Kits did make a kit of the 1961 car with the "stack pipe" exhausts as in the picture above, the kit I have is of the 62/63 car which has normal horizontal exhausts. I don't mind too much, since I prefer the look of the more familiar layout, although trying to figure out the way they intertwine and join to the engine promises to be "interesting".

This model will be my first use of low temperature soldering in anger. The rear fairing and head rest are two separate parts from the body and they were held firmly in place and soldered on. The liquid solder flowed nicely to fill the gaps, and could be remelted easily to smooth it our and remove excess. The grey you can see is the remains of the primer I used to check for holes and gaps. The whole car has had a very thorough clean up and sand to get to this smooth surface -- there were some pretty rough mould lines and pour stubs on both top and bottom sections. Both half-shells have been "adjusted" for as close a fit as possible.

The suspension is pretty well detailed, and the geometry fits together really well. There was a bit of a pause because my kit had two rear left upper wishbones and no right hand part, but the nice lady at Squires Tools fixed me up with a replacement part in a few days. All eight exhausts have to thread through that rear suspension behind and below the shock absorbers and under the half-shafts...

Thought I'd better check, but with no further adjustment, it does sit with all four wheels on the ground. Phew!

Next job is to at least make up the exhaust clusters for each side, though I may not fix them permanently in place until after I've closed up the body and painted it to make masking the suspension easier... I also need to figure out whether Graham can go into the cockpit and be adjusted to grip the steering wheel from above after the body is joined, or whether I need to get him built and painted first.

best,

M.

 

[Pierre Rivard]

Another cool one to follow!

[Dave B]

Saw this one race in Tassie Matt, looking forward to seeing it built.

Dave B

[1959scudetto]

Looking forward to this one, too. Another GP classic!

[Rich Chernosky]

Got this one in the stash (actually have both the hi and low exhaust versions) and recently had it out. Just finished an Autokit so I will be very keen on how you do yours. Thanks for putting this up Matt. You are off to a great start by the way...luv those springs and shocks. 

[Matt Bacon]

Thought it might be interesting to show the low temperature soldering in progress... In the absence of bottle sealing tape, I've gone for strong and sticky electricians "gaffer" tape to hold the halves together.

I'd agree it looks a bit messy and unpromising.... I'm not practiced at the technique at all. But the most important thing is to flux the seam well, and make sure there's enough molten solder to fill and join it. One advantage of this technique is that it is done after a few seconds, when the solder sets solid again... no need to wait for epoxy to cure fully, or for filler to set solid.

However.... after a few minutes work with some Swiss files and sponge sanders this is the result on this section. The join is virtually invisible. Obviously the whole thing will need sanding through the grits before applying primer, but I'm happy that the shell will be solid -- and seamless -- by the time I've finished.

best,

M.

[Pierre Rivard]

PERFECT!

[Matt Bacon]

That seems to have worked OK. I'll need to tidy the wheel openings when the masking comes off but other than that it looks good to me. One additional top tip for the low temperature soldering approach. If you don't have the finesse just to get it into the join (which I don't.... see pics above) then using a Stanley knife/box cutter as a seam scraper results in a LOT less material to sand away. It's brutal, but it works...

Drilled out the holes in the wheels. They are pretty deep in the castings, but actually drilling them through makes a big difference. I'm not going to try to replicate the "turbine wheel" inner faces which helped to cool the brakes.

best,

M.

[Bainford]

Another cool project, Matt. Nice work on the body seams. Do you use a torch or a soldering iron?

[Matt Bacon]

7 hours ago, Bainford said:

Do you use a torch or a soldering iron?

Soldering iron. This low temperature solder works the opposite way to regular soldering. You don’t heat the parts being joined at all, but melt a blob of solder on the iron and carry it to where it’s needed. When you touch the blob onto the fluxed seam, the solder runs into and along it. Then you can use the iron to smooth and spread the solder along the join line. As you can see above, because the solder is basically the same material as the cast parts, they really become one piece when they are joined. Best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

In which I take one step forward and two steps back...

Well, that looks nice and shiny, doesn't it..?

These were, not to put too fine a point on a it, a right pain in the proverbial... There are actually eight different exhaust pipes. You are supposed to be able to tell right from left by a small saw cut in the inner end on the rights, and front to back by a small saw cut in a different place on the underside of each, such that the cuts line up when you have them in the right order. The front is nearest the side of the car, the rear the furthest away, as well. My kit was missing some exhaust pipes, so I'd got four as spares from Squires. They are of course, all numbered Part 16. Also, the castings were a bit lumpy,. especially at the ends, and needed cleaning up. All of which added up to a lot of trial and error to create two sequences of exhausts when the "identifying marks" were not clear in the first place, and without being 100% sure that I actually had two sequential left and right sets to work with in the first place. However, I am quite happy with the above. Or was until I tried test fitting them having de-masked the body. They did not fit. At all...

Then the "Aha moment":

These words did not mean what I thought they meant. In the kit was a part that fitted to the engine with two serrated wings (I mean they really look like feathery wings) which support the stack pipe exhaust arrangement. The instructions do not show them on the part, so I thought this was telling me that I had to cut them off the engine part so they didn't obstruct the fit of the body and exhausts later. To be fair, that DID need to be done. Because this kit was one of a bargain stash of second hand ones, I'm never quite sure if they are exactly as they should be, and this one shows some evidence of being a bit of a mish-mash of the 1961 car kit and and the 62/63 kit, whether confused by its original owner or when it was packed all those years ago. However, what this note  really means is cut off the sides of the lower rear body, along the lines marked with tape above.

Which I have now done. A "piercing saw" was invaluable here to cut between the two moulded cutaways in the body. Damage was relatively limited., but as you can see, there's a whole lot of remasking to do and a return trip to the paint booth is in order. On the plus side, with a bit of careful manipulation, the exhausts click into place as they should in a test fit, so there's that...

best,

M.

 

[Matt Bacon]

Back to more or less where I was three days ago!

There's one pipe out of the eight that's not quite right, but it's not very obvious, especially with the matt black finish...

The wheels are very sloppy here -- the centre spinners actually go all the way through and are what the axles really fit into, but I need to polish them up before they are ready to fit. It does look slightly odd with the wheels right at the back like that. On the third version of the exhausts the four headers on each side come together into a single stinger pipe which extends behind the tail of the car, which looks a bit more like you expect the back end of an F1 car to be. But I wasn't going to try and make that work with the parts I had!

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

I thought you might like to see my sophisticated stancing and wheel alignment jig for precision adjustment of toe-in and camber:

Clearance sale marble (heavy!) rotating cakestand from IKEA for $20 and a pair of $10 3-4-5 blocks from eBay. Look at the car from any angle, and hold the wheels and suspension in place with all four tires on the ground while the glue sets.

Which has got me to here:

The rear track rods which may or may not have been in the kit I got but are pretty fragile in white metal, have been replaced with lengths of piano wire.

Look at that distinctive and unique profile. The car's a striking shape as well....

Time to get Graham's arms sorted and fitted around the wheel. Hopefully I can do that and still get the unpainted figure out of the car, but if not I'll have to paint the arms and body separately and join them at the last moment. And I need to tackle the windscreen and mirrors, which are both a bit more complicated than on the previous white metal builds.

best,

M.

Edited January 9 by Matt Bacon

[MarkJ]

Wow, Matt. You are really doing an outstanding job with this kit.

[Matt Bacon]

Progress on the other essential component of the tribute -- the display base:

Graham's arms are now attached.... there may need to be a bit "adjustment" of the steering wheel...

best,

M.

[MarkJ]

Cool idea for a display base. Will you be giving Graham a mustache? Just sayin.

[Matt Bacon]

51 minutes ago, MarkJ said:

Will you be giving Graham a mustache

Oh, he's got one ;-P. When he's painted, he'll be pretty recognisable...

best,

M.

[MarkJ]

Great. That would not be right if he didn't. That would be like a clean-shaven Earnhardt senior.

[Matt Bacon]

I know 1/24 race cars are not the most popular subjects on this board, but if anyone is interested, I think the astonishing work that's gone into the Immense Miniatures range is worth acknowledging, especially since they are now available again from Colin at RSSlotracing in the UK. These are the Graham Hill heads I'm working with:

I understand that the sculptor, who is the wife of the immense Miniatures founder, created these heads as 1:1 maquettes, and then they were then 3D scanned and printed as masters. The likeness is uncanny, whether it be Graham Hill, Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney or Jack Brabham, all of whom have dedicated resin heads. They are works of art, portraits in resin.

best,

M.

 

Edited January 12 by Matt Bacon

[MarkJ]

Yes, even the hair looks right. 

[Matt Bacon]

A rather boring but essential small piece:

Perspex disk cut off a piece of rod, and sanded to 5mm thickness, which will support a lot of the weight of the car and protect the suspension from distorting over time.

My technique for these is making a slightly too tall cylinder of Blu-Tak and squishing it under the car until all four wheels touch down on the marble cakestand. Then I lift the car off and very carefully measure the height of the flattened remains. As you can see, from the side it's pretty unobtrusive.

Graham ready to take his seat. The white markings (representing the blades of the oars of his London rowing club)* are sliced crossways from a white "1" decal. I'd never have been able to paint them so neatly. Les Leston Dunlop fireproof racing suit. His face is painted with AK acrylics, the suit and helmet with Citadel. Goggles filled with clear epoxy again.

He's just dropped in here, but I can't get him out again until the gloss on his helmet has solidly cured tomorrow!

Taking the racing line through the final bend now before emerging onto the finishing straight, I reckon (I have also cut out the windscreen, which was making me nervous, but it's impossible to photograph off the car!)

best,

M.

(*) Damon Hill also used the same helmet design during his 1996 F1 World Championship run...

 

[MarkJ]

Excellent job on Graham. Looks just like him. I'll bet being a rower helped keep him in shape for driving. Good idea for keeping the suspension from sagging from sitting so long. Can't wait to see some numbers on this excellent creation you have there.

[Pierre Rivard]

Love that driver figure. Wish they were more available to customers. 99% out of stock...

[absmiami]

I too am an Immense Minis fan - always difficult to get a realistic finish for flesh - did u mix something fr AK paints or do they sell a “flesh” tone paint ?   And nice job on that helmet - 

[Matt Bacon]

@Pierre Rivard RS Slot Racing in the UK has the Immense figures back in production. Mail Colin Spark at rsslotracing@gmail.com and he'll tell you what's available... @absmiami AK have a range of "flesh" paints, which I mixed and blended, but broadly he's standard flesh with highlight flesh and luminous flesh. I have them all to hand for a large scale Marilyn Monroe figure, who obviously requires subtle and sophisticated flesh tones to do her justice (and don't get me started on painting platinum blonde hair convincingly....)

So, I think this is done, and ready for beauty shots.

Bit of clean up required, but I think that's it!

best,

M.

PS -- sneak preview of the final display model:

I popped it in the photo booth pre-finishing, with the snapshot camera, which if nothing else demonstrates the value of decent lighting!