Cato Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 Harry, Superb job. Combine a talented guy with voluminous reference and this caliber of work results. You're putting on a clinic here. Really should be in the magazine. Just a possible word of caution: I built mine in the '80's and I remember it being somewhat 'rickety' on its wheels. The detail you're adding is also adding weight. Mine survived our house move four years ago but the cycle fenders and front axle pins seem way too fragile. You're probably past that build point but maybe some gussets, brass tube axles in the uprights and .045" wire for the fender attachments would make for a more solid base. I'll someday re-kit mine and shoot for a build like yours and incorporate some of the strength-adding features. The aircraft guys do it all the time with white metal landing gear and such. But it sure won't look a fraction as good as yours.
sjordan2 Posted July 8, 2011 Posted July 8, 2011 Harry, Superb job. Combine a talented guy with voluminous reference and this caliber of work results. You're putting on a clinic here. Really should be in the magazine. Just a possible word of caution: I built mine in the '80's and I remember it being somewhat 'rickety' on its wheels. The detail you're adding is also adding weight. Mine survived our house move four years ago but the cycle fenders and front axle pins seem way too fragile. You're probably past that build point but maybe some gussets, brass tube axles in the uprights and .045" wire for the fender attachments would make for a more solid base. I'll someday re-kit mine and shoot for a build like yours and incorporate some of the strength-adding features. The aircraft guys do it all the time with white metal landing gear and such. But it sure won't look a fraction as good as yours. Yes, those fragile points need to be addressed. Our cleaning lady managed to pick up mine to dust the shelf and snapped off three of the cycle fenders flush at the frame rails. Trying to figure out how to fix this.
Cato Posted July 8, 2011 Posted July 8, 2011 Our cleaning lady managed to pick up mine to dust the shelf and snapped off three of the cycle fenders flush at the frame rails. Trying to figure out how to fix this. A. Build glass cases for your prize builds. B. Re-assign said cleaning lady to bathrooms only...
Harry P. Posted July 10, 2011 Author Posted July 10, 2011 A little more progress... A racing plate and a street plate? What's up with the "belt and suspenders" approach? Well... that's how a few of the cars in my photos are set up, so that's how I'm doing mine. Was this a race car that was also street-driven? Who knows? I'm just copying my reference photos! I lost one of the taillights, so until I find the other one (that is, if I find it!), this car will be a one-light wonder. I made "bezels" by sawing thin rings off of aluminum tubing. After I sanded the cut faces smooth I laid each bezel down on a piece of polyethylene plastc (that "greasy" type of plastic that nothing sticks to)... and I put a bit of 5-minute epoxy in each bezel to make the "lens." Once the epoxy cured, I painted the back side either transparent red and then silver (the red taillight lens and the two reflectors on either side of the car) or white (the two side lenses in the taillight):
Harry P. Posted July 11, 2011 Author Posted July 11, 2011 You do really nice work Harry! Thanks, Jeff! I try!
sjordan2 Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 I'm sure many didn't see Harry's now-missing post with the tragic news that the kit fell off the table and smashed everything except the engine. I just wanted to say, don't give up, this is one of the best builds I've ever seen of this kit. (Or is this something like "the dog ate my homework?" )
Harry P. Posted July 14, 2011 Author Posted July 14, 2011 Sadly, no... the model is still, uh... "disassembled"... But I have managed to fix the front axle, fix the broken rear spring and reattach the front axle assembly, the rear axle assembly and reglued the body back into position on the chassis. After the fixes, no visible evidence that anything ever happened. Now I have to try and fix the gas tank and remake a few of those PE mounting straps. Then after that, reattach the two small windshields and the front brake rods and remake the exhaust hanger and reinstall the exhaust system and the belly pan... and I'll be back to the place I was before the fall!
sjordan2 Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Sadly, no... the model is still, uh... "disassembled"... But I have managed to fix the front axle, fix the broken rear spring and reattach the front axle assembly, the rear axle assembly and reglued the body back into position on the chassis. After the fixes, no visible evidence that anything ever happened. Now I have to try and fix the gas tank and remake a few of those PE mounting straps. Then after that, reattach the two small windshields and the front brake rods and remake the exhaust hanger and reinstall the exhaust system and the belly pan... and I'll be back to the place I was before the fall! What have you been using to put this together? Rubber cement?
Harry P. Posted July 14, 2011 Author Posted July 14, 2011 What have you been using to put this together? Rubber cement? No, the usual stuff I always use... CA and liquid cement. But that floor is hard. And the problem is, almost all the glue joints are tiny little fragile pins and things like that... no large surfaces to glue together. That's probably why the engine held together–larger glue surfaces between the block, the manifold, etc. But the tiny little spring shackle mounts and the shock mounting pins and things like that didn't survive the fall. Same with the gas tank, it's only connected to the frame by four tiny pins, so it broke loose... The model is really fragile. Every time I pick it up to turn it over or on its side or whatever to give me access to what I want to do, I think something's going to break off!
sjordan2 Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Is there anything that snapped off flush at the pin mounting points? I ask because I have to put the cycle fenders back on without the fix being too obvious.
Harry P. Posted July 14, 2011 Author Posted July 14, 2011 Is there anything that snapped off flush at the pin mounting points? I ask because I have to put the cycle fenders back on without the fix being too obvious. That's mostly exactly what happened... the mounting pin stayed in the hole but the part broke away from the pin. I didn't have the fenders installed yet, so at least I don't have to fix those, too! If I had to reinstall the fenders, what I would do is first, drill out the mounting holes on the chassis rails if there's plastic stuck in them. Then I'd use the plastic fender stays as templates and make new ones out of K&S brass rod. Try to get the bends and the shapes as close to the plastic part as possible... epoxy or CA the new brass pieces to the fenders, repaint the fenders, and CA the new fender mounting rods into the opened up holes in the chassis. You can always make minor adjustments before you glue them back on by slightly bending the new brass rods as needed. It's not easy getting the mounting rods attached to the fenders in the exact correct orientation, there are no positive locator pins... you'll have to eyeball it a bit.
sjordan2 Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 That's mostly exactly what happened... the mounting pin stayed in the hole but the part broke away from the pin. I didn't have the fenders installed yet, so at least I don't have to fix those, too! If I had to reinstall the fenders, what I would do is first, drill out the mounting holes on the chassis rails if there's plastic stuck in them. Then I'd use the plastic fender stays as templates and make new ones out of K&S brass rod. Try to get the bends and the shapes as close to the plastic part as possible... epoxy or CA the new brass pieces to the fenders, repaint the fenders, and CA the new fender mounting rods into the opened up holes in the chassis. You can always make minor adjustments before you glue them back on by slightly bending the new brass rods as needed. It's not easy getting the mounting rods attached to the fenders in the exact correct orientation, there are no positive locator pins... you'll have to eyeball it a bit. Yeah, that's the way I should have done it in the first place. Is that your plan for this build? I would recommend it. And if possible, the same goes for the headlight mounting brackets, though they're not as exposed as the fenders. Somehow, my plastic brackets have managed to survive five moves over the last 35 years. But putting stone guards on the headlights could involve extra stress on the mounts. My scratch-built (and embarrassingly bad) stone guards disappeared years ago.
Harry P. Posted July 14, 2011 Author Posted July 14, 2011 Yeah, that's the way I should have done it in the first place. Is that your plan for this build? I would recommend it. And if possible, the same goes for the headlight mounting brackets, though they're not as exposed as the fenders. Somehow, my plastic brackets have managed to survive five moves over the last 35 years. But putting stone guards on the headlights could involve extra stress on the mounts. My scratch-built (and embarrassingly bad) stone guards disappeared years ago. I'm staying with the plastic fender rods because A, I already glued them to the fenders, and B, I don't plan on dropping this model again! The headlight mounting brackets are incredibly fragile. This whole model is like that... all spindly and fragile. I wonder how long the real cars lasted before they just started falling apart??? I made stone guards for the headlights by using the kit pieces, removing the "mesh" part and just leaving the rim, and then gluing on more of that window screen mesh. I used the kit parts because they have those four mounting tabs that fit onto the headlight bezels molded on them... scratchbuilding the guards and those four mounting tabs would have been a nightmare. My "semi-scratchbuilt" guards look pretty good, I think. I'll have to post photos.
Cato Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Harry, as I said earlier in the thread-I'd use wire, tubing and styrene gussets everywhere I could without being conspicuous. Once most of it is painted dark green it will mostly disappear.
Harry P. Posted July 15, 2011 Author Posted July 15, 2011 Stoneguards: The kit pieces are on the clear parts tree. I left them attached to the sprues and removed the "mesh" part with my Dremel and a small diameter grinding bit. I freehanded it and kept away from the outer edge. Once I had most of the material removed I switched to a larger diameter grinding wheel and smoothed out the "holes" I had created. Finally I wrapped some sandpaper around a tapered wooden dowel and finished off the final rounding by hand, going until I had a realistically thin outer rim. What I had left now was just an open ring and the four small mounting tabs on each guard. As you know, clear styrene is very brittle... it doesn't bend, it breaks. When I went to try and remove the first one with sprue cutters, the ring broke in three places. So I removed the other one by using a cutoff disc in the Dremel and going very slowly, with no pressure... and cutting through the sprue attachment points instead of snipping them. Once I put the broken ring back together, I cut circles of window screen mesh and glued the mesh circles to the back of the rings. The scale of the mesh is a bit off; it should be a little finer... but this fiberglass window screen is so easy to work with that I used it anyway. In my reference photos these guards are sometimes plated, sometimes painted.
Harry P. Posted July 15, 2011 Author Posted July 15, 2011 Well, I have the Bentley back to where I had it before the great fall. No need for photos, as you've already seen them!
John Teresi Posted July 16, 2011 Posted July 16, 2011 Harry......I am so happy to hear the good news......glad you got the build back together so quickly.......
Harry P. Posted July 22, 2011 Author Posted July 22, 2011 C'mon Harry-want to see how you handled the wheels... I need to upload some updated photos. I didn't do anything with the wheels. I used the kit wheels as is. Like I said up front, this is sort of a "box stock plus" build... I'm not going to go crazy on the details, just adding a little here and there; mainly the stuff that's either completely missing in the kit or totally wrong, like the stone guards up front.
Cato Posted July 22, 2011 Posted July 22, 2011 (edited) The wheels actually bother me more than the tank. You made a fine mod of that and yours is beautiful. The kit wheels---I wish one of the machinist guys was making those. BTW- been meaning to show you the Stanley Mann site-restoration specialist. http://www.stanleymann.com/showcar.asp?ID=250 Used to have multi-page ads in Classic and Sports Car (Brit) which you can drool over. Look at these wheels. He just lost a law suit over a resto he did for a woman that was essentially an 'air car'. About $800K worth. Edited July 22, 2011 by Cato
Harry P. Posted July 26, 2011 Author Posted July 26, 2011 I added the dashboard lights: And I made a tonneau cover to replace the kit piece: It's actually a lot darker than it looks in these pictures.
bsoder Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 Yes, those fragile points need to be addressed. Our cleaning lady managed to pick up mine to dust the shelf and snapped off three of the cycle fenders flush at the frame rails. Trying to figure out how to fix this. Well I don't have THAT PROBLEM...i AM THE CLEANING "LADY" So Harry when I read that you were going to forego sweating certain details and having seen so many of your projects W.I.P I figure this to mean it might not pass muster with an automotive historian/Bentley expert!! so be careful if you take it to a show really man that is looking just awsome to my eyes
John Teresi Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 Harry.......look`s Great!!!!......and that tonneau cover looks convincing .......AWESOME!!!!!
sjordan2 Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 (edited) Tonneau looks great. What is the material? How did you make the dash lights? They look perfect. Edited July 27, 2011 by sjordan2
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