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Yeah, Mark, you make it look so easy!

Michelangelo said, “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

Mark is the converse. He sees bits and pieces and things and glues them together until they look to the rest of us like a Seven.

B)

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Michelangelo said, “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

That's machining. The parts are in there, the trick is knowing what part wants out of what piece of aluminum...

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I use talc mixed into my paint for the texture, ratio varies depending on the desired results.

The cast portions that make up the gearbox and tail shaft assemblies of the transmission are built and have had some texture applied.

The top of the gear case has been shot with a cold galvanizing coating.

The trans is pinned together to help with future painting and assembly.

More parts need to be machined to round this part out, but most of them are just hardware items.

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A lot of it is simply that, (basic shapes). Looking at the core structure and not being distracted by the perceived complexity the details create. Not caring how long it takes to make something helps too.

I started on the master for the Webers. The body is made from bronze I acquired from the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. A friend who worked there gave me a set of used pick up shoes (think giant slot car).

I machined the body to accept the venturi tubes; they are pieces of brass tubing. Soldering the bronze to the brass turned to be more difficult than I expected, and it doesn’t have much strength for hard edges either. It seems to be a porous and dirty metal, maybe from its previous life…?

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Next I added the bowl to it. Since the bronze needed far more heat to fuse other parts to it using solder than the brass, I opted to use styrene for these parts.

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Looks kind of like Wall-E…

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Mark-

Nice looking work. I especially like the transmission. You are right about the basic shapes. I learned that bit reading Gerald Windgrove’s books. You take it to a level I haven't quite got the hang of yet. I am learning from watching you though. Thanks.

I am a little intrigued by your comments about the bronze/brass soldering. There is not a lot of difference between the two and after reading a little more, I am even more befuddled. The only difference seems to be zinc vs. tin. I would think they should work equally well. I wonder if the fact that these were pickup shoes and had high voltage going through them in their prior life had any impact on what you are doing?

Great work. Keep it coming.

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Thanks Pete.

I suspect the high amperage electricity and probable subsequent heat had some effect, and also likely some type of lubricant became impregnated into the bronze during its use on the ride. It seemed like a novel thing to use, but it does not seem to be the best quality bronze for model making.

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gorgeous looking parts, Mark.

Back in my slot car days, I remember the oilite bronse bushings that you could buy if you didn't have the bucks for ball bearings. The oilites were, of course, impregnated with a lubricant from the onset. With a little googling, I've also found that bronze can be alloyed with a variety of metals including aluminum. That would make for an ugly soldering experience.

Looking forward to the next part masterpiece.

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What about using the gold brass pick up shoes from slot cars? or even the older ones that has not been gold plated?

For what exactly? I used the bronze because it was a large enough chunk to machine the carb body from. As I recall slot car pick ups (if they are what I think you are referring to) are thin like foil, not applicable for this project.

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Thanks Pete.

I suspect the high amperage electricity and probable subsequent heat had some effect, and also likely some type of lubricant became impregnated into the bronze during its use on the ride. It seemed like a novel thing to use, but it does not seem to be the best quality bronze for model making.

Seems to make sense. It is always nice to get something you can work with at no out of pocket cost, but sometimes there is a payback in there someplace. Just for my own info, did you try anealing it before you worked with it. If not, it may help the workablity of the metal, but I would be cautious about it. As you said, there may be some lubricant on board and heat may produce toxic vapors.

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