I'm still here!

I'm still here guys, but working away in the background. I was so pleased with the way the Zagato turned out, that I decided to re-work the DBR1 and 214 with a view to having them two part moulded and then cast professionally. The bottom line is that i'm not keen on resin casting other than for prototyping. The production of slush cast bodies is just not for me. It's messy and unpredictable and is much too time consuming. So if someone else can do it, that's fine by me. The 214 is ok and just requires the mounting posts inserting and then it's done. The DBR1 is however a completely different kettle of fish. Who the hell keeps fish in a kettle??? Anyway, it's main problem is that it's too big as we all know and I guess it's affecting sales. If it were to be entered into any sort of competition, it just wouldn't get through scrutineering. So right now, i'm searching (in vain it seems!) for a suitable resin that shrinks. Polyester resin did actually shrink by around 5% some years ago, but from all accounts, this seems to have been cured. It still shrinks, but by nowhere near what I need. I'll keep looking.

At the same time i've been gazing at the DBR1 body and although it's a massive improvement over the original and in my opinion is still the best representation in model form available right now, there are areas where it can and will be improved. The original Scalextric model was as most know, a clam shell design, with the chassis and upper body joining pretty much about half way up the side and running along the bottom of the doors The front and sides are/were ok, but the way it's designed meant that the rear of the car was too high. The rear wings should sweep down much more than they do. I gave this a lot of thought and really didn't fancy modifying the rear of the car in my usual way. I then thought that heating up the resin in the area required, just might allow me to "bend" the whole shell. Well, in a nutshell, it worked and worked very well indeed. Holding the shell under a spotlamp and applying pressure where it was needed, the resin started to "give". All very controlable too. As soon as the material began to soften up, I took it away from the heat source and held it for a minute or two. The alteration was a huge improvement and the only mod needed was to open out the rear arches to the shape they were before. Job done. The picture below shows the difference. Much more swoopy! On other fronts, the DB4, GT and DB5 all have the same one problem that's causing me grief. Front screen surrounds. As it's a common part (or should be) my guess is once i've cracked it, all three models should be not far off from launch. But solving the problem is taking time. I need to make a template that sits over the screen, with the edge following the outer edge as closely as possible. On the Zagato, I did this with a self adhesive label, but the Touring bodied cars have this wrap around screen that was so popular in the late fifties. The problem I have is that I can't seem to get the label on the screen without wrinkling. When I remove it and lay it flat, it just won't give me a true shape. This one is really testing and as I can't think of an alternative, I think I shall just have to persevere. No pain, no gain as they say.
Graham.