My Merry Oldsmobile

[Harry P.]

Very nice work Harry!

i do have to ask, though, are the valve stems correct for 1904?

Most of the reference photos I have show valve stems. Of course, they are all restored cars, and with any restored car the absolute authenticity can be questioned.

However...

From "The History of Tires":

The first rubber tires appeared in the mid-1800s. They were solid or cushion tires in which the rubber itself carried the load, absorbed shocks, and resisted cutting and abrasions. The pneumatic or air-filled tire, which carried the load and absorbed shocks by the compressed air in the tire casing, was patented as early as 1845. Solid rubber tires were preferred over pneumatic tires because of their durability, so pneumatic tires fell into disuse. The popularity of bicycles in the late 1800s revived the idea of the pneumatic tire, and in 1888 a Belfast veterinary surgeon named John Boyd Dunlop obtained a patent for a pneumatic bicycle tire.

The first use of pneumatic tires for automobiles was pioneered by the Michelin brothers, André and Édouard. They equipped a car with pneumatic tires and drove it in the 1895 Paris-Bordeaux road race. Though André and Édouard didn’t win the race, they generated popular interest in pneumatic tires, and Michelin & Cie became a leading producer of tires in Europe. At the same time, solid rubber tires disappeared from the highways, mostly because of legislation that discouraged their use because they were hard on the roads.

For the next fifty years automobile tires were made up of an inner tube that contained compressed air and an outer casing that protected the inner tube and provided traction.

[f1ford48]

beautiful paint work on the body. I have 2 questions- 1-what material is used on the seats?[ Upholstery and stuffing]

and 2- how do you make the headlights look so real? another excellent Aurora for the collection. a very authentic build!

[Agent G]

Beautifully done Harry.

G

[Danno]

Exquisite.

[DR Dubois]

WOW! What else could one say!!

[Harry P.]

beautiful paint work on the body. I have 2 questions- 1-what material is used on the seats?[ Upholstery and stuffing]

and 2- how do you make the headlights look so real? another excellent Aurora for the collection. a very authentic build!

The upholstery is a vinyl material I found in the sewing section of Hobby Lobby. It has just the right grain to look like leather in scale. The stuffing is foam, cut from a larger piece that I also found in the HL sewing section. The material is actually brown, so I just use acrylic craft paint to paint it black after I finish making each cushion.

I show the whole process in this thread:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=80618&hl=

I paint all the brass-plated pieces with Rustoleum Metallic Brass spray, then I add either a coat of Testors Transparent Window Tint spray (it's meant to tint windows... it's sort of like a candy black), or a black wash that I make with Fuiture and acrylic black craft paint. Sometimes I use the window tint spray and the black wash... it depends on how I want the "brass" part to look.

[PARTSMARTY]

Absolutely spot on mint!!!

[Duntov]

Well done!!!!! I really like this one a lot!!!!

[Dominik]

Another one with no rear view mirror[...]

like those "veterans". well done Harry, very nice!

[w451973]

Beautiful work Harry. Thanks for pointing out that little assembly line point. As an Oldsmobile guy it always bothers me that Ford gets the credit for another mans work/idea.

Edited April 9, 2014 by w451973