Hi all, slowly finding all my old pictures. Here's a 1/24th scale model I did for a client on Jersey. She wanted a model of her husband's beloved Derby Bentley for his Birthday.
I had to fly to Jersey, measure the car up in a lock-up, staying out of the way in case Himself came home from the Mainland by surprise and fly back.
The job included getting photo-etch artwork done, the tching and all the plating PLUS get the rest of the model done in 3 weeks and 3 days.
I did it, flew to Jersey with the model, said HI, here it is, took a nice fat cheque and flew home within 15 minutes. I guess he liked it!
The body was carved in pearwood, then a copper shell beaten over it. The core was removed, hollowed out and formed the door liners, dash and interior generally then put back in the copper shell for strength. The wings were hammered over pearwood hammer forms and all soldered up into a one piece shell. A chassis was made with just the visible bits in scale. The wheels (6 of 'em) were built up using 4 photo-etched discs each into and onto brass turnings for rims and hubs. Then tyres robbed from some old kit had to be used as there was no time for making them in rubber and she wouldn't pay for that anyway.
The body was sprayed in cellulose lacquer and polished and a mahogany base made with a 1/4" plate glass case. Nothing, whatsoever, went wrong. Sometimes you just get one like that!
Hector
Here's one of the engine. The bonnet was made as a lift off, but the louvres in the sides were punched with a special tool and could be seen through.
Hector
Beautiful work Hector. With all that flying around, you'll become our official 'Jet setter'.
Barry once told me the story of Jim Hall (Chaparral) having some friends call from JFK in New York that they has just arrived in the U.S.. He sent the Saber Liner to New York and flew them to Midland for dinner, then flew them back to JFK.
I always thought it a major treat when I could just fly my little Cherokee 250 to Solvang for lunch.
John
Hi John, thanks. As to the jet-setting, that's all finished. My passport has run out and I won't be getting another at ?70 and too many damned questions. At least JFK didn't have that problem. Is Midland in Texas? So if he flew from Californicate to Midland that was like me flying to Germany! Which I used to do every two weeks. Hated it.
Hector
Hector
Midland is in the middle of Texas. Miserable place but has a lot of oil. Chaparral was located there. Jim Hall and his partner made their money in oil. JFK is in New York so the Saber Liner made four trips from Texas to New York just for dinner. At my level, it is a treat to go out for a Big Mac.
John
John, forgive my poor geography. At least I knew Midland was in Texas. No idea why.
I managed to escape yesterday, ostensibly to get photocopying done, but sneaked off to my old mate's garage for a cuppa and a chinwag. Those little moments are priceless.
Hector
Rich, ain't the space centre Cape Canaveral again after being Kennedy for so long?
What was so special about the ugly Irish f***** anyway? I was 11 and politics stunk even then.
Hector
Quote from: Nurser on February 03, 2008, 09:24:00 AM
The job included getting photo-etch artwork done, the tching and all the plating PLUS get the rest of the model done in 3 weeks and 3 days.
Three weeks and 3 days :o :o - that's outstanding work in such a short time. Beautifully done Hector.
Bill
Thanks Bill, it's obviously easier for someone who has all day (and night sometimes) to work on a project, but I was doing 85-90 hour weeks on that one. Saw less of the family than when I worked abroad! If the slightest thing had gone wrong, I'd have been lost.
While I was in Jersey I was accomodated by a friend of the client, who turned out to be the new editor of the famous Motor Sport magazine. He showed me his collection of vintage Bentleys. Lawyers, eh? I never got any more work out of it though. C'est la vie
Hector
Hi Rich, well now I can show off at dinner parties. Hmm, no invites...wonder why?
Well. I'm interested anyway, mate. I didn't realise there were so many parts to the Canaveral area.
Thanks, mate.
Hector
Kennedy did command a very small boat which got sunk and managed to cheat on his wife with some pretty good looking movie stars. He also got us into Vietnam. Is it no wonder we name things for him?
Hector, I'm quite taken with your pounding copper over wood patterns. Can you tell me more about the copper?
John
John, I had some copper sheets in about 15-20 thou thickness. Got them from a load of stuff I inherited from an old model engineer chum.
The absolute necessity is soften it constantly. Play a big flame over it till it shimmers on the edge of cherry red, Let it cool and get bashing. But don't bash for long before you soften again. It sounds tedious, but it's worth it. The stuff can almost be pushed round with a thumb at first. The hammer I use is a slug of Lignum Vitae. It's actually the end of a rolling navigator's rule. I hold it in my palm and it doesn't mark the copper. It's the hardest wood you can get. They use it as bearing material on ships' prop shafts.
At some point you'll need to cut and solder where the curve is too much. Silver solder is the answer there as it'll soften the material as a bonus. Try to keep the shape as close to the hammer-form as you can, constantly trimming the excess so you're not clobbering that unnecessarily. I wouldn't say I use the hammer forms as absolute patterns. I use them more as a try-pattern with use occasionaly as an actual hammer form. Cleaning up is then done with the hammered part on its hammer-form for support. I wouldn't use anything thicker than 15 thou. for something of the Bentley's size.
Be prepared to beat smaller parts of a final shape and solder them together like the real bodies.
I hope that helps, John. Have a go, it's easier than it sounds.
Hector
Hector,
Thank you for the info. That gives me a whole new tool for building things. I gather from the constant softening that it work hardens as you hammer it. It appears that I will have to find a different sort of hammer.
John
John, if you have a very smooth, i.e. polished , light planishing hammer, you should be alright, but I find the palm lignum vitae type just the right weight.
I was clearing out the garage today and found a lovely untouched lump of it AND a big piece of unsawn Steamed Pear, so I should be OK for wood for years!
Hector
I think I have a dolly that might be just the ticket. Smooth, slightly rounded and you hold it in your palm.
John
Used your technique yesterday. I made a toolbox for the front of the K-27 from .005" brass. Cut a box from pearwood the right size and hammered the brass around it. Then clamped it to the wood and soldered it. It is coming out quite good. Incidentally, in one of these threads we discussed saws. I bought a 3 in diameter by 3/64 thick slitting saw with 30 teeth. Made a mandrel to mount it in my mill. My mill has a digital readout on the Z axis, so I dialed it down and cut the most beautiful .020" thick by 1/2" wide wood strips you ever saw(ed). I'm going to go crazy making planks.
John
John, I like the sound of your saw. I have to make a wee table saw for my model boating work and have lost my old Minicraft. What did you use for a table for your slitting saw job?
I can't afford today's prices for tiny tools, so I have to make 'em all! Thank Gawd I already have a lathe or two.
For a box, BTW, I'd have just folded up sheet, but if your'e happy with the beating, good on yer.
Hector
Quoteso I dialed it down and cut the most beautiful .020" thick by 1/2" wide wood strips you ever saw(ed). I'm going to go crazy making planks.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D I need a lot of planks for my O scale mill ::)
Jacq
Hector,
There is no table. The saw blade is in my mill head and the wood is held in the vise. Since I have a digital readout, it is really easy to dial in the thickness of the blade and the thickness of wood I want. That pearwood cuts so well, it just slices right off. I'll bet I could hold a couple thou.
John
John, that all sounds beyond my equipment. Digital readouts? Is that when the TV re-adjusts to BBC?
Sorry!
Hector
No! It's for us people who are not like old boat builders who work in 'cubits'.
John
And bushels, roods and perches, fathoms, chains and knautical miles. God luv 'em. Now I no longer make silly car masters I can relinquish metric for ever!! Yeahhh.
It's Queenlies all the way and Napoleon go hang. Oh, frabtious day, caloo callay!, he chortled in his joy,
Hector
Hector,
do you know this modelbuilder ?
A collegue knows him and showed some photo's. Some photo's of the Duesenberg show the use of wooden forms and I thought direct of your "clinic" of pearwood shapes.
http://www.geraldwingrove.com (http://www.geraldwingrove.com)
regards
Jacq
Jaqc, yes I know Gerald Wingrove (or Winnie as we call him). He's a very pleasant, very helpful chap and his books have helped a lot of people get going in scratchbuilding for sure. I find his models lacking in "soul", so pretty perfect are they, but his workmanship is beyond rebuke. His Deusies are perhaps the only models where there is some soul, simply because he has a personal passion for that era of American car, but if you look at his 250 GTO Ferrari it's not so good because he has no interest in them. I'd be the other way round entirely! But no Porsches, can't stand them!
I understand Winnie had a stroke recently and no longer works. A very common cause of modelmakers' debility, strokes. I know three professionals who died from them.
Winnie sold a lot of his models and they didn't fetch anywhere near their original price, barely breaking 5 figures, yet when they were originally built they went for around ?17,000- ?23,000 a piece, which frankly was too much for a 1/15th scale model which had no exclusivity as he always made at least 5 of any product.
Hector
Hector,
sorry to read that he is not able to model anymore.
Funny you mentioned "soul" with his models and especially the Deussies. Those were the only models I looked at as they attracted my attention.
Jacq
Jacq, soul will shine through, eh?
That's why I can still enjoy the work of Henri Baigent and Manuel Olive over the perfectionists like Winnie. Even Rex Hays and Cyril Posthumus, despite their relative crudity. That's also why Roye England's original work for Pendon Museum is still by far the best, with George Stokes the absolute Meister!!
Hector
I'm not familiar with those guys and what they've done. Their stories and examples of their work might be good subjects for Uncle Russ and his Modelers Annual to tell us all about them.
John
John:
Here are a few links for you: Pendon Museum http://www.pendonmuseum.com/index.jsp (http://www.pendonmuseum.com/index.jsp), Manuel Oliv? Sans http://www.olivesans.com/ (http://www.olivesans.com/) and FP Models http://www.fpmodels.com/English/index_eng.html (http://www.fpmodels.com/English/index_eng.html). Some of the early issues of the British mag Model Railway Journal have articles on George Stokes and Roye England. A couple of other builders worth looking up are Tony Reynalds and Martyn Welch (his book The Art of Weathering is well worth a read).
Bill
Bill, thanks for the links. I can never get 'em to work. What's FP models, BTW.
Sometimes I think you aren't American at all, you seem so well versed in English matters. Model railway Journal is about as esoteric a magazine as any.
For an old Stokesite like me, the mention of Reynalds and Welch in the same post is anathema, especially the latter. Best PM for why, before I get into trouble again!
Hector
Hector:
FP Models is the site for Francesc Pulido, builder of an outstanding 1/10 Blower Bentley & Bugatti Type 59. He appears to have taken up where Gerald Wingrove left off - absolutely astounding work. All those links, by the way, are on the Roughboy site... ;) ;). RMJ is one of my favourite mags. I was fortunate enough to have built an almost complete collection of the magazine up through the late 1990s. Unfortunately since then, I haven't been able to afford it. I suspect though that the earlier issues were the more interesting much like one of the fine-scale modeling pubs in this country (and I'm not referring to Uncle Russ). Somehow I knew you'd have strong feelings about Reynalds and Welch :)
Murrican, huh... well, geographically only. I may live in California, but I'm Canadian. Moved to the US originally to marry my now ex-wife, but that's another sordid story. Both my parents' families emigrated from Yorkshire a few generations ago and I was raised in a fairly traditional family so our heritage played a large role. Father was stationed there during the war. I expect we still have some distant relatives oop nawth. Evidently one moved south and ran a pub (questionable joint at best) on the Haymarket through WWII and up until the mid 70s. I was lucky enough to visit it in the mid 70s (bastard wouldn't even give me a free pint :D) before it sold to a conglomerate and now is gone entirely.
Cheers,
Bill
I want to thank you for the links. So much to learn from those guys even though I'm many generations away from England. Barry and I refought the war many times.
John
Bill,
how did you even know about MRJ in the first place? I was lucky to find it by chance. It is now available in WHSmiths, our national newsagent and when I flicked through the latest one it was thin and full of uninteresting crap so you've saved your money wisely. It used to be all scratchbuilding, but is now all kit based. Assuming you have ?500 to waste on a Finney or Mitchel Pacific. It's too full of people whose faces are the current snug fit. Next year it'll be someone else. Remember that kite flying know-it-all Rice? I saw Welch's layout (it was his wasn't it?) Hursley at an exhibition. It was all out of a box with a bit of basic weathering. I could have built it in about 3 months. It sold for alegedly ?30,000. That sort of thing pisses me off, big time. Neither do I think Barry bloody Norman's scenery is up to much. I've seen his layouts. His trees are crap. I get very snotty about people when they imply or even tell me they're the best. If there's the slightest hint of less than perfection I tear 'em to shreds. >:(
If they just DO it like the guys on here, I'll sing their praises. Where scenic work is concerned I'm very fussy and I'm afraid Welch, et al don't come close for me.
I bin around too long, pardner.
Hector
Don't hold back now Hector.. tell us what you really think ;). I know if I could build a display layout out-of-the-box or not, in three months that was half as convincing as Hursley and sell it for ?30,000 I'd be a happy camper. Would leave me plenty of time to pursue the more esoteric modeling madness that's good for my soul at least. And I still maintain that when it comes to weathering, Mr. Welch is one of the few who has it down and I recommend his book (The Art of Weathering from Wild Swan Publications) to anyone who's tired of the overwrought caricatures that we see so often these days. OK... got that off my chest... ;D
I believe I picked up my first copies of MRJ at an international news agent in Washington when I lived in the DC area. After getting hooked, I was able to build up a collection through colleagues, a couple of dealers in the UK and the prodigious use of a photocopier.
Bill
Oh, I'd do it too, Bill and I could , with knobs on, but I don't fit! Welch fits because he drinks with the big boys at Wild Swan.
Don't forget I used to do it full-time, so 3 months wouldn't tax me. Hursley fitted the back of a single garage, which is not big in England. I queued for hours to get into the exhibition in the rain. It was the MRJ one-off show in Westminster back in 90-something. Last time I ever went to that stinkhole, London. And when I got in I had to queue again!! to see Hursley up on the stage. When I got there I couldn't believe how simple and thrown together it was. All the track, stock, locos and vehicles were out of boxes or kits if you prefer. Same thing to me. The weathering was very good, no doubt, but it was nothing special and no better than a dozen others I've seen, or done, for that matter and was left wondering what the hell all the bloody hoo-ha was. I then got clear of the over-rated train set and was allowed by the equally obnoxious Mitchell to hold a George Stokes model and it DIDN'T disappoint. 50 years old and still as fresh and wonderful as I remembered it from a boy of 8. That one glimpse of genius, real scenic and, yes, artistic genius was worth the trip, the cost and the wet wait. I glanced at some of the other layouts, bought some brass and buggered off home, vowing never to hear a good word about Welch or a bad one about Stokes.
Hector