Harry P. Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 In your earlier post, the tube that connects the intakes to the valve cover should be either black or wrapped in asbestos. Those are intake preheater lines ("vergaserheizung" = "Carburetor heater"). Some photos show the pipes wrapped, some not.
sjordan2 Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 Those are intake preheater lines ("vergaserheizung" = "Carburetor heater"). Some photos show the pipes wrapped, some not. I'm just going with the most logical common denominators in my research of cars that haven't been over-restored, and they're either black or wrapped.
Harry P. Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 Spark plugs installed on right side...
Harry P. Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 I'm just going with the most logical common denominators in my research of cars that haven't been over-restored, and they're either black or wrapped. I don't think they would have wrapped those pipes from the factory. I'm pretty sure people did that in an effort to keep those pipes insulated in the winter... the way some people put cardboard in front of their radiators in the winter to keep the coolant warmer (theoretically)... Just a guess here, but if the typically precise German engineers at M-B felt those pipes needed to be insulated, I'm pretty sure they would have been designed that way, and not left to the buying public to "correct" an M-B engineering flaw.
sjordan2 Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 I don't think they would have wrapped those pipes from the factory. I'm pretty sure people did that in an effort to keep those pipes insulated in the winter... the way some people put cardboard in front of their radiators in the winter to keep the coolant warmer (theoretically)... Just a guess here, but if the typically precise German engineers at M-B felt those pipes needed to be insulated, I'm pretty sure they would have been designed that way, and not left to the buying public to "correct" an M-B engineering flaw. Totally agree.
Cato Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 Just a guess here, but if the typically precise German engineers at M-B felt those pipes needed to be insulated, I'm pretty sure they would have been designed that way, and not left to the buying public to "correct" an M-B engineering flaw. Knowing German (over) - engineering (I owned 3 of their products), they may have been double-walled tubes. Pipe in pipe.
sjordan2 Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 (edited) Knowing German (over) - engineering (I owned 3 of their products), they may have been double-walled tubes. Pipe in pipe. That's similar to the way the exhaust pipes were made. The visible chrome coils were heat shields that covered the pipes. Neither this kit or any other Mercedes kit, even Pocher, have accurately depicted the beveling/razor edges of the exhaust coils, which were applied to every car with these exhausts from the SSK to the 540 K. Edited October 20, 2014 by sjordan2
sjordan2 Posted October 20, 2014 Posted October 20, 2014 As for color choice, just remember that this is an open car and the interior color will have a major effect on the look of the car. The partly built version I recently got didn't paint anything, and the combination looks great with black fenders, box-stock white body and brown interior. I've seen one build in black and yellow, and didn't like ti very much. You can see it in the Models folder in Miscellaneous of the CD I sent you. It's not helped by having amber headlights.
Harry P. Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 Knowing German (over) - engineering (I owned 3 of their products), they may have been double-walled tubes. Pipe in pipe. Exactly what I was thinking. If the German M-B engineers felt that those pipes needed to be insulated, they would have spec'd them to be insulated from the start, and not relied on sloppy methods like wrapping them with tape.
Harry P. Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 As for color choice, just remember that this is an open car and the interior color will have a major effect on the look of the car. Yes sir! I took plenty of color theory classes in college (they were fun, actually)... so I know a thing or three about color and color relationships. I like the yellow/black color scheme because it's so visually striking...the car looks like a giant bee! ... but if I go that route I'm not sure yet what interior color I'd go with. Maybe a deep maroon. Maybe a light tan. Maybe I'll change my mind 12 times before then and go with a completely different color scheme... I'm open to suggestions. But I've pretty much ruled out the box cover black and white. Too blah.
Harry P. Posted October 20, 2014 Author Posted October 20, 2014 Got the right side plugs done. No need for a photo... they were done in the same exact way as the left side plugs, and look exactly the same. Also got the major frame parts and rear axle/driveshaft painted today, so tomorrow I can maybe get the frame built and the engine installed.
sjordan2 Posted October 21, 2014 Posted October 21, 2014 (edited) Are you planning anything special to reinforce the suspension parts? I might add that everything you're doing is amazing at 1/16 scale. Edited October 21, 2014 by sjordan2
Harry P. Posted October 21, 2014 Author Posted October 21, 2014 Are you planning anything special to reinforce the suspension parts? Do you know something I don't know? How/why would you reinforce any suspension parts? Looks like a very typical '20s-'30s era model kit chassis to me... frame rails, longitudinal leaf springs, solid front and rear axles. I don't foresee any need to reinforce anything. Yes, the tie rod is very thin (and to scale, it seems)... but even so I don't think I'd need to replace it with brass rod, if that's what you mean. If you know otherwise, let me know.
sjordan2 Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 Do you know something I don't know? How/why would you reinforce any suspension parts? Looks like a very typical '20s-'30s era model kit chassis to me... frame rails, longitudinal leaf springs, solid front and rear axles. I don't foresee any need to reinforce anything. Yes, the tie rod is very thin (and to scale, it seems)... but even so I don't think I'd need to replace it with brass rod, if that's what you mean. If you know otherwise, let me know. If you look at the build journal folder in the Misc. CD I sent you, the builder was very concerned about the stress that the overall weight of the model put on the suspension. It's also easy to see on the partly built kit I purchased that the wheel mounting spindles are extremely thin, and one of the spindles broke off without ever having wheels put on it -- I think that's the weakest part. The entire front suspension fell away in pieces the second time I picked the model up.
Harry P. Posted October 23, 2014 Author Posted October 23, 2014 Not much building time the last few days, but I did manage to get most of the chassis built. It went together pretty well except for one problem. The gas tank mounts to the frame rails by means of a pin on each side that is at the end of a short extension that comes off the back of the tank. The problem is that if you try to get the tank's mounting pins into their respective holes in the frame rails, the front of the tank hits the differential and the tank can't be placed correctly. So I had so cut off the two short extensions on the gas tank, shorten them, and reattach to the tank. What that did is basically allow the gas tank to move rearward about 1/8", which was just enough for it to clear the rear axle. Other than that, all other chassis components fit like a glove. Of course, none of this will ever be seen once the model is finished... the fenders will completely cover the frame rails.
sjordan2 Posted October 23, 2014 Posted October 23, 2014 Terrific. As you can imagine, I am most pleased to see copper brake drums.
Cato Posted October 23, 2014 Posted October 23, 2014 Did you have to make improvements to the front suspension as Skip noted? It looks as though you have gotten the wheels positionable. Is it weak?
Harry P. Posted October 24, 2014 Author Posted October 24, 2014 Did you have to make improvements to the front suspension as Skip noted? It looks as though you have gotten the wheels positionable. Is it weak? The leaf springs are molded to the frame rails, and they're pretty hefty. I don't see where there is any problem with any of the suspension being "weak." No need to reinforce anything as far as I can see. And yes, the wheels are posable in the kit. Here are a few more photos of the almost-complete chassis. Can run the fuel lines until the firewall and auxiliary fuel tank are in place.
Harry P. Posted October 24, 2014 Author Posted October 24, 2014 As with most model kits, the wheels are supposed to roll, but I just glued them on and didn't mess with the little sleeves and retainers. I don't see any need for the wheels to roll on a model... I'm not going to play "zoom" across the floor with this... But the front wheels are posable.
Cato Posted October 24, 2014 Posted October 24, 2014 Very sharp. The copper looks great behind the spokes. Nothing to do with your work Harry but that fan looks ridiculous to me. Like a prop on an Evinrude...
Harry P. Posted October 24, 2014 Author Posted October 24, 2014 Very sharp. The copper looks great behind the spokes. Nothing to do with your work Harry but that fan looks ridiculous to me. Like a prop on an Evinrude... It is pretty beefy. Technically I think it should have four blades, but I didn't feel like messing with that. Once the model is built you're not gonna see it anyway. That must seem like blasphemy to a detail fanatic like you... but I'm not against cutting a few corners here and there, especially on a kit this small. If this was a 1/8 model, I would have corrected the fan, but as it is it's just going to be another one in my 1/16 scale used-car lot!
cobraman Posted October 24, 2014 Posted October 24, 2014 The wheels look great ! That fan does looks a bit undersized.
Harry P. Posted October 24, 2014 Author Posted October 24, 2014 I like to skip around when i build a model, so let's put the chassis aside for now and start on my favorite part... the dash! The kit dash has no gauge face engraving, and there are no gauge face decals in the model. Obviously that will never do. Here's the kit dash... pretty sad: Step 1 is to use the back side of my X-acto blade to scribe and remove the dash panel from the cowl piece: Next, I drilled a small hole in the center of each gauge face:
Harry P. Posted October 24, 2014 Author Posted October 24, 2014 Now I placed the kit dash panel on a piece of 1/32" birch plywood and traced around it with a pencil. I also drilled through the holes I made in the kit piece and down through the birch, to mark where the gauge centers will need to be on my new dash panel, then cut out the new dash with my X-acto: Then I used a drill bit slightly smaller than the final gauge opening diameter and drilled out all the gauge faces. I went with a smaller drill bit than the final diameter needed to prevent the wood from splitting or "tearing out" around the circumference of the holes. I then used a small round file and a conical sanding bit in my Dremel to carefully enlarge the openings to their final size:
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