Armortek model build

[8ntruck 7,093]

@Mickwhitt what did you use for the indicator lights on the dash.

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

The lights were turned from 1/8th brass rod. I made a form to to produce a slightly domed recess in the centre. Then painted them with Tamiya clear lens paint for model cars. Came out looking good I think

 

[8ntruck 7,093]

 I thought that they might have been glass or plastic jewels or similar.

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Phew,  been a hectic few weeks away from the build bench. 

 

Garden projects and holidays took far too much of my hobby time lol. 

 

Why is the rum gone?

Why is the rum always gone? Lol

 

And my favourite, courtesy of young Frankenstein.....

 

WHAT KNOCKERS!

 

Anyway, back to the build...

 

I've done some primer spraying on the chassis dear readers, but that's about as interesting as watching it dry.

 

So today I started to Nankle (technical term in Yorkshire) with the brake and clutch pedals. The original pre-production models had cast bronze pedal heads. But as it was just after the Second World War II, bronze was in short supply so they changed them to steel. I am copying a pre-production variant so brass it has to be....

 

 

 

The studs cast into the face were a puzzle for me to replicate.  So I drilled holes 1mm diameter and soldered brass pins in, which I then filed and polished.

 

This is a pic of the original pedal box...

 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 68,407]

7 minutes ago, Mickwhitt said:

courtesy of young Frankenstein.....

 

An excellent display of fine film making if ever there was one.  

 

 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

9 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

An excellent display of fine film making if ever there was one.  

 

 

 

 

If ever I need a laugh out loud movie this is the one I go to.  It would be my desert island choice.

Marti Feldman is priceless as Eyegore against Gene Wilders Froderick. 

And putting on the ritz fells me every time. 

I played that clip to a 20 year old recently and he just could not see the funny in it. 

What's wrong with young people today?

[Handy Don 12,467]

3 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

What's wrong with young people today?

Those young people ask “What’s wrong with those old folks?” as they cringe at some of the language which we’ve learned not to use anymore.

Not all humor ages well, IMHO. 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

After yet more obstructions to my building of the model I made a start on the wheel hubs .

The kit hubs were drilled at M2.5 to take plain bolts, clearly nothing like the studs and lug nuts that the full size vehicle has.

I decided to enlarge the thread to M3 and make wheel studs. Not a huge job but repetitive with 5 studs per wheel.

Then came the lug nuts, I used hexagon brass bar to make them. Turning a taper, drilling and tapping them M3 to suit the wheel, then parting off to length.

I'm quite happy with the look and when painted up they will be just fine. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Wheels finally done, valve stems and dust caps made from M2.5mm bolts.

Just got to make a suitable centre for the hubs now. The mode is designed to have a csk screw fitted as an extra way for retaining the hub. But it looks wrong so I'll make something to fit that looks the part. 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

The centre of the rear hub now has a turned cap screw as mentioned above.

Looks just like the original when painted up. 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Made a start on the front hubs. They have a distinctive star shaped flange in the centre which is not accurately copied on the model.

 

I decided to try and replicate this in scale and had to think about how I could do this.

I decided on machining a brass plate with false bolt heads on it and a brass grease cap with a stud set in it to screw into the stub axle.

With the wheel in place it looks good, just have to make 2mm headed bolts to sit in the holes in the flange.

[953 nut 55,827]

             Glad to see you are back out in the shop and sharing your progress with us.                  

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Made the 12 little bolt heads to fit on the hub spider. Fiddly little job but worth it to make things look better than the base kit. Paint next then move on to the next job. 

 

 

Waiting for the phone to ring with my test results is pretty trying, keeping busy makes it a lot more bearable. 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Just a little more progress on the wheels and hubs.

 

The false bearing cover looks pretty tidy I think.

The front axle is now mounted and the steering set up.

 

It's starting to look a little like a motor vehicle now rather than just a chassis. 

I will focus on checking the electric drive train is all working before I start building up the body work. 

I'm really enjoying the build and there is so much more I can do to detail it.

Maybe a tool box and tools.

Mick

 

 

[ebinmaine 68,407]

10 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

I'm really enjoying the build

 

Your obviously meticulous nature is really shining through on this one. Add to that the skill level you have and the skills you're refining to attain the desired look and you're at another level.  

 

Excellent work. 

 

The mental and physical creativity behind projects like this is fantastic for the well being.  

[Lee1977 6,803]

How about a trailer with a Wheel Horse on it. With the tools you have, I'm sure you could do it.

[Handy Don 12,467]

25 minutes ago, Lee1977 said:

How about a trailer with a Wheel Horse on it. With the tools you have, I'm sure you could do it.

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Started on the bodywork now, plenty of challenges on the tin work to make the kit look a bit more realistic.

The bulkhead is first to be fitted, but there are issues as regards fixings for the bonnet etc that need filling to hide them. So I have to fit the bonnet and to do that I have to fit the front radiator grille panel. To do that I have to make a completely new grille panel. 

 

The kit panel is fine but there are a couple of issues. It's very thin steel and needs to look like the cut edges of the panel have been pressed with a curve to give it strength. It also has a pair of cut outs on the lower corners,  these should have a radiused corner but they have been cut square. 

 

So an afternoon at the bench and a sheet of 2.5mm thick aluminium resulted in a new panel. 

 

Milling the openings in the sheet of the panel, easier than chain drilling and filing. 

Hopefully you can see the difference in the laser cut steel kit part and the aluminium part I handmade.

 

The metal just wasn't thick enough to profile on the cut edges, so had to be replaced if it was to look right. 

[ebinmaine 68,407]

14 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

Hopefully you can see the difference in the laser cut steel kit part and the aluminium part I handmade

 

Once one knows what to look for it's absolute night n day between the two. 

Very nice work here. 

Another excellent demonstration that having the correct tool for the job and skill to use it/them is invaluable.  

 

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Carrying on with the front grille I noticed the horn unit tucked away behind there.

 

 

I thought it might be nice to make a tiny copy of the unit and so i spent an hour on the lathe making a neat little facsimile of the Lucas electric horn.

it's only 15mm across so it was a stretch to make the domed brass nut at M2.5

 

[oliver2-44 9,872]

Amazing miniature work.

[8ntruck 7,093]

Nice work on the horn.  How did you do the lettering?

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

12 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

Nice work on the horn.  How did you do the lettering?

I have a set of letter and number stamps I had made many years ago when I was making miniature knives. The characters are only 1mm tall so they work really well in this sort of scale.

 

[Mickwhitt 4,720]

Few bits of progress to report...

 

I thought a nice set of tools would look good for the Landy. Just a movable wrench to make.

 

 

The front panel is coming along, I bought a smaller loudspeaker to fit onto the rear of the grille and it fits well. 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 68,407]

Like those tools.