Building a 1/4 Lamborghini

[lamboscales]

Hi everyone. I started my project two years ago. I'm building a Murcielago from scratch. I need advices and help from experts. This is something I've never done before. The body is almost done, there are several areas left that need to be finished. I will use fiberflass for the body (and I plan to use fiberglass for the technical parts like the engine, and the interior, the latter will be upholstered with leather).

But until then, there are some problems I need to solve:

- The first main issue is finding a perfect material for the lights/widows. The best material I can think of is plexid. I'm a little worried about plexid thogh, I don't know how can I bend the plexid (to have the lines of the windshield), and there are parts that need to bent at an angle too. And I'm worried, plexid will loose it's transparency over some time.

- The second are the tyres. Is there any way to make rubber tyres at home? I heard about some rubber material that is available here, but that has a light brown-ish colour, not black. First I thought I'll make the tyres of fiberglass too, but at a 1/4 scale it's disappointing to have plastic wheels.

Here are some pics:

My site:

lamboscales.1majorhost.com

[crispy]

Wow, incredible work!

Have you looked into R/C tires? You may be able find something in that scale. Those R/C guys are not unlike us modeler's in a sense they may be able to one off some tires for you.

Another option is a rubber like resin. I know that some tires in 1/24/25 scale have been done in some sort of black rubber like resin.

Windows, what about acetate? Or clear plastic sheets from evergreen or even vacu-forming?

That's about all I can add.

I hope you'll show us your work as it progresses! IT's a work of art to this point!

Chris

[MrObsessive]

Wow!................such an ambitious project!

I would consider clear acetate sheet for the windows since a Murcielago has no complex compound curves for the glass. I've had no problems with yellowing as I've had models built with acetate windows for 10 years now. Acetate can be found at the arts and crafts stores.............but they call it "clear stencil sheet".

For the tailights..............you can try red tinted sheet but you'll have to play around with the shapes as they're a bit more complex. Or maybe carve them out of clear red plastic forks or spoons. :wink:

If you can scratchbuild the basic tailight shape...............maybe you can try something called "Thermoform" to mold over the shape. Not a lot of hobby shops carry Thermoform (made by Squadron) but it can be found over the 'net.

Likewise, the headlight covers can be made using the acetate or the Thermoform as needed.

Not so sure 'bout the tires...................if you can make some out of black resin with a mold that may be your best bet.............some of the resin guys on here maybe able to help you with that.

Hope some of this helps...........keep us posted on what looks to be a sharp project!

[lamboscales]

Thanks for the replys guys...

The major problem is, I live in Europe, and most of the materials used in the US are not available here, or have a different name, or different characteristics. I-ve never heard of these materials: acetate, clear plastic sheets from evergreen and vacu-forming. Maybe acetate can be found here, but it would be hard to find. The second problem is, there are no model-shops in the area. not eaven in a range of 200 miles. In fact there are a few shops, but they sell only models. I will search for the materials mentioned above.

As for the tyres... I don't want to use RC car tyres (eaven if they would be available), because I want to make it as accurate as possible. They mst be a the right size and need to have the original Pirelli profile.

What is the rubber-like resin? Is it a material similar to epoxy/polyesther resin (2 composites, no special technique required)? Just how hard is it? Is it only an alternative for not using hard plastics, or is it smooth like a real tyre? Which stores should have this resin?

The taillights are simple to make as far as I find the perfect material for the windhield. I plan to make it 100% transparent and use some semi-transparent red-yellow films/vinyls/whatever. The only hard part is the bottom of the tail-lights, because they are bent at a sharp angle.

Thanks again, I already found some great help here. I will update my site as I go further with my project.

[lordairgtar]

I think acetate can be found anywhere in the world, just surf the net a bit. You can also find how-tos on vac-u-forming and how to make a vacuformer. Then all you need to worry about is making the wooden buck for the clear plastic (acetate or lexan) to form around.

[lordairgtar]

http://www.tk560.com/vactable4.html

Try this sight for the vacuform making. This one is large scale for star war geeks who make StormTrooper uniforms, but it's the technology you want to learn.

[lordairgtar]

http://www.gcip.co.uk/

Here's a European supplier of plastics.

[LDO]

Lambo-

That's a really fascinating project. I think you should try to find the books "The Complete Car Modeller" and "The Complete Car Modeller II" by Gerald Wingrove. He built models from scratch. They were almost all pre-war classics, but many of the principles are the same.

I looked in these books for an answer to your question about tires, but he says simply "silicone rubber". He has a website too, so I looked there. ( http://www.wworkshop.net/ ) Someone else asked the same question. He says;

"..the rubber I use is Dow Corning Silastic 9161 (which is white) with catalyst 9162 which can be obtained as a 0.5 Kg pack complete with a small bottle of Catalyst.

The pigments are black iron oxide 5.5oz and ultra blue .5oz per 0.5Kg of rubber, Sorry about the mixed measurements, it just happens that is how I work.

The pigments should be added a little at a time and well mixed in with a power mixer, then left to stand for a day or two and again mixed with a power mixer until there are no lumps at all.

The advantage of using 9161 is that it can be made to harden very quickly, so preventing air bubbles moving to the surface of the mould. I use an old fashioned glass and rubber eye dropper to add the catalyst to a measured portion of rubber as follows;

20 drops (from the eye dropper) = 1%.

3% of catalyst to rubber will set in 7 minutes.

4% of catalyst to rubber will set in 3 minutes.

You will need to check this out in trial and error for yourself as the room temperature can affect the times as can the size of the drop from your particular dropper."

For the tail lights, I think the best answer would be to start with a real car tail light. It will be too thick, but that's ok, because you can sand down the reflective texture inside. Find one that has the proper curve that you need then carve, sand, and polish it to 1/4 Murcielago size.

[gasman]

I can't help you but wow, thats an amazing project. it must be huge

[SoCalCarCulture]

Wow, amazing project!

I'm sure you have tons of reference material, but if you need more all the Lamborghini Media images are in this album on my site...

http://public.fotki.com/wackydave/car_rela...ini-media-pics/

[Modelmartin]

Ambitious project! Looks real nice so far.

Devcon makes a great product that can be used for casting tires called Flexane 80 liquid. It is used for encapsulating electronics and it comes in black. I use it a lot and it is a great product. Search the web and mail-order it!

Lexan is polycarbonate. You might find it easier by searching for it that way. Also, plexiglass is acrylic. Both can be bent with heat gently applied but the Polycarbonate takes a lot of heat so I would recomend the acrylic or thicker polystyrene.

Not to pre-empt Jairus but what's your name and where are you?

[whatdeclet]

www.lateral-g.net

these guys are professional designers that might be able to help you out.

there is an r/c after market parts dealer that sell aluminum wheels and take special orders for the wheels to.

it's called jps

www.jpspro.com

hope this helps....

[Jairus]

That is quite a project and I hope you are going to keep us updated with the progress. I happen to know that I DO NOT have the room for storage of a project of that size but I wish you the very best.

Lexan is my choice for window glass.... and what Modelmartin says is correct. PLEASE put your name on your post. Forum rules require you to post your name when you register with a handle. Best way to do this is click on the Profile section above and look for the "Signature Text Box". Put your name in there and click "Update" or "Save".

As for tires, make your masters and then contact this guy Michael Ortmann at the link I provided. He casts rubber tires for slot cars. He could either make your tires or can help you aquire the materials to cast your own.

Thank you and good luck!

[lamboscales]

I can't help you but wow, thats an amazing project. it must be huge

Thanks

Wow, amazing project!

I'm sure you have tons of reference material, but if you need more all the Lamborghini Media images are in this album on my site...

http://public.fotki.com/wackydave/car_rela...ini-media-pics/

Nice collection of pictures you have! Yes, I have a huge source of images, but there are rare pics in your album.

Thanks.

That is quite a project and I hope you are going to keep us updated with the progress. I happen to know that I DO NOT have the room for storage of a project of that size but I wish you the very best.

Lexan is my choice for window glass.... and what Modelmartin says is correct. PLEASE put your name on your post. Forum rules require you to post your name when you register with a handle. Best way to do this is click on the Profile section above and look for the "Signature Text Box". Put your name in there and click "Update" or "Save".

As for tires, make your masters and then contact this guy Michael Ortmann at the link I provided. He casts rubber tires for slot cars. He could either make your tires or can help you aquire the materials to cast your own.

Thank you and good luck!

It is quite big (~ 48x20x9.2 in), and I have problems with space often. I was thinking if I had enough space, I would make all the Lambos I like, and some other cars in this size. I will think about this ONLY when my current project is finished AND I have enough room

Thanks for all the great help you guys gave me. I will look around where these materials can be found. Michael Ortmann seems a good deal to me, I hope the material he uses is easy to work with. Both acetate and Lexan sound promising, I have to try out both.

Here's a pic from yesterday. I'm correcting lines that are wrong. There are much more than it seems. I realized, if you want to make it accurate as possible, you have to spend more time just watching it than working on it.

[lamboscales]

Hi everyone. It's been awhile since I posted. The server that hosted my site disappeared, but I've found a better one. Here's my new link: lamboscales.110mb.com I added a few more pictures to "Stage 7"

I also tried to get some material for my rubber tyres and windhield/lights. I've sent two emails to Michael Ortmann, I've got no reply, and I contacted http://www.gcip.co.uk/ for lexan, and they didn't respond neither. I'm very disappointed. I understand that a Lambrghini owner refuses to help me by giving me some measurements, but I'm ignored eaven if I want to buy stuff from someone?

Edited October 10, 2007 by lamboscales

[Harry P.]

Hi everyone. It's been awhile since I posted. The server that hosted my site disappeared, but I've found a better one. Here's my new link: lamboscales.110mb.com I added a few more pictures to "Stage 7"

I also tried to get some material for my rubber tyres and windhield/lights. I've sent two emails to Michael Ortmann, I've got no reply, and I contacted http://www.gcip.co.uk/ for lexan, and they didn't respond neither. I'm very disappointed. I understand that a Lambrghini owner refuses to help me by giving me some measurements, but I'm ignored eaven if I want to buy stuff from someone?

Keep trying! Some people are slow to reply to emails.

[Jairus]

Colin Spark is the guy to talk to about the wheels and rubber. Did I give you a link to the web site?

By the way, it took me 3 weeks to get a reply to my email when I purchased a set of tires a couple of months ago.

Colin was on "Holiday" when I sent MY first request. The "we are on vacation" message was on the home page of his web site which I missed! Needless to say he was disappointed at my "rudeness" after he read my three emails accusing him of ignoring me. It all worked out eventually.

Anyway I just read the home page and he mentions that he and his buddy both work full time jobs so they may be slow to respond but are not ignoring you.

Just be patient.

As for the Lexan, I hear it is hard to find in Europe. I will ask around and see if I can find some friends over there who can connect you.

J

P.S. Nice web site!