More Delage, fewer wheels....

The chassis for the 2LCV has now been run, and is to now come apart for a few modifications and improvements.

Work on the body is due to start over the next few weeks and is expected to take just as long as the chassis, completion next year sometime.

Wheels; A full range is no longer being kept in stock, and wheels will now only be made where there is some expectation that all will be used or sold.

Peter.

More Delage, more wheels more etc.

Work on the Delage continues, the intention/hope being that the running chassis will be completed before the cold months arrive.

With the chassis rails completed (and roughly set up in the picture) the next stage will be to align the chassis and solder the cross tubes.
The rear axle will be mounted in ball bearings, the motor will be mounted about amid-ships and the front axle is still in the planning.

Wheels. All wheels are now being done in batches, my intentions of stocking all sizes having been totally abandoned due to costs.
A limited number of wheels types are still available, as shown on the website.

https://sites.google.com/site/peters132wirewheels/home

The planned new wheels are still to be made, though may now be delayed.

It seems that some contributors cannot contribute due to the inability to log on. Queries might be addressed to Graham on GP Miniatures on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/GP.Miniatures.Aston?fref=ts

Peter.

With the wheel project having achieved all which was required and is now able to tick-over as and when, attention is now slowly being concentrated on the mass of projects on the go.

The latest car back on the table is the Delage 2LCV, started last year, but partially shelved due to other commitments.

A recent burst of enthusiasm saw the front axle completed in prototype form.

The axle is in steel, the drums, hubs and backplates are in aluminium.

The 'brake drums' are mounted on ball bearings which in turn are mounted on hubs attached to the streering knuckles, which are etched stainless steel.

 



The internals are pretty closely packed with minimal clearances, but all semms to have worked out pretty well. The rear axle is well on its way, whilst the chassis has recently been started.

 

 

Peter

Wheels. Out with the old, in with the new.

Things have been a bit hectic of recent with rather more wheel sales than I really want, though things are now settling down. One set a week suits me fine!
A lot of the old wheels are now done with with just a few of the slower moving or over produced wheel types remaining.

A new etching company has done some good work for me, a few hiccups but now hopefully a more consistent part will now be forthcoming.
All new parts now will be low volume compared to earlier efforts, with rarely more than 10 car sets made.

The latest wheels to be made are these, for the Mercedes SSKL. Not strictly correct, they should be 20" but are actually a scale 21".

As with most wheels, the 21" range are slowly being both refined and expanded. Originally made only for the advanced modeller to be built in 'open' form, solid centres have been introduced (which are fine for the cars with big brakes) and the standard 4mm rims are to be complimented by a small number of 5mm rims.

Another recently introduced wheel is one of the many fitted to the P3 Alfa Romeo. These are a later version as with the 1935 German GP car though seen a little earlier.

Consideration is being given making a few more 60 and 72 spoke x 19" Borrani wheels in a simplified form and thus at a slightly reduced price.

New wheels for both Mercedes and Auto Union with large rear wheels are soon to be available, whilst suitable wheels for early Auto Union, pre-war Delahaye, Delage and Talbot are now on the cards. In addition, wheels to suit circa 1930 Indy cars will be made, with a very small number of FWD Miller wheels available.

More in the not too distant future.

Peter.

The wheel project is continuing to shrink, with the last stock of 16" wheels slowly going. Small batches will appear from time to time, since most frets contain several wheels, so for example if I need 19" Borrani or some other wheel, I also get ERA and Austin TC.

The project also expands in other ways. The range of 19" wheels continues to expand, together with new 18" and 21" wheels. To join these, further 17" wheels are planned.

Most of the new stuff will be very low volume, thereby costing a little more and of course easing my workload. It is meant to be a hobby, after all...

Pictures in due course once the first 'production' wheels are built up.

Peter.

The wheel project has now passed its peak and is settling down to a somewhat reduced range. The 15" wheels are now effectively history and most 16" wheels will shortly follow.

Larger sized wheels will progress, with new wheels for bothEuropean and Indy cars with a pleasing increase in accuracy.

Plenty going on otherwise. A modest interest in racing has led to an improved George Turner MGC, as per the pictures. 

 

I did one of these cars a while back, but for a car I much admire, it needed a little more. A conversion was thus decided upon, and as one who is pleased with the Slot it productions, I went for a Slot it chassis, complete but slightly modified. GT is of course doing a Clubman version now, this car will be raced against such a car rnext month.

 

 

No great changes made except for the rear axle. The 312PB chassis used was just a little wide, so special wheels were in order. 

All is now looking good. The first tests are over and are satisfactory, the body now has colour, more in due course. 

Peter.

It's been a while since I posted anything on here due to numerous issues, but I think it's about time I showed something new. A selection of DB4 and DB4 GT shots below. The GT kit is available in very limited numbers as is the DB4. Eventually kits will be phased out completely as they have me running around like a madman for not much return. I'll be concentrating on RTRs as I love to build them up and putting kits together really doesn't do much for me. Add to that the fact that the weather and the lack of suitable space makes casting shells more of a chore than anything, i'll be glad to see the back of them.

The model above is being built for a client who asked if it was possible to put together a specific car. This is chassis no. DB4GT/0120/L which is the only GT ever to run in the Tour de France. The colour is Elusive blue.

A standard DB4 above finished in California Sage with clear lacquer.

A rear shot of a road going GT.

Another road version of the GT.

And a competition version.

Graham.

No posts, so a little chat.

I see that the old 'Slot forum' is under new management/ownership. We will see if any changes are made, and live in hope.

Spotted on eBay today was a GP Miniatures DB4GT, which hopefully means that Graham has completed the kit and it is now available. The GP miniatures site link can be found on this site.
Obviously not a model built by Graham.

The F1 Scratchbuild site approaches 100 members, though alas a full 30% have failed to make a post.

This scratchbuilder cannot find enough time, with countless projects on the go. The wheel project is at last on on the easy side of its peak.

No obvious means to post pictures now, so that is that.

Peter

The echo in here is amazing!

Some folks may wonder where all the entries have gone, others will already know. Two situations occurred at a similar time; A slight lack of contribution as has happened, will lead to a slight lack of followers, and so on. The second situation is perhaps the more important.

This new forum has created a great interest from scratchbuilders.

http://f-one-thirty-two.proboards.com/index.cgi

This forum is one which is specialised however. Originally created to cater for mid-60's GP cars, the list has expanded to both earlier and later times, with the following criteria.

Accepted cars are;

                            GP cars
                            F1 cars
                            Open wheeler cars
                            Indy cars

The periods covered include, well, all areas. as one who encourages pre-war contributions, potential contributors are reminded that;

                           Many pre-39 GP cars were 2-seaters
                           Some pre-war GP races were run as sports car races

Those who view this blog are invited to view the site, and join if it suits them.

The old Slot Forum International is under new ownership. The next few months will see if any changes are made. Methinks it tries to cater for too many areas, and specialises in none...

Peter.

MG K3 Magnette from GTM.

Along while back I was planning a build of the old 'Airfix' MG K3, so naturally the wheels were drawn up for this car and included on a fret. Problems were encountered, a re-draw was made, just in time for the GTM kit.

 

 

Few mods were made on the first model, a few more are being made on the next in the production line.

 



Although good old perpendicular English, it behaves quite well on the track, but probably needs more low down weight at the rear.

One of the best kits from George Turner models so far.

Peter.

Here are a couple of old projects which are now back on the table. The Aston DB2 is being dressed as the 1950 Le mans car of Abecassis and Macklin. It is by no means my favourite shape of Aston That's a close thing between the DBR series and the Project cars) but it was a successful car and is happily still with us today.

The body is Ocar, or should it be Ocar copy. The rear end looks kind of wrong, rear screen too low, wing line too low. generally ok though. I've lost the grille, so must make another, the earlier vertical slatted example found on only the very early cars. The chassis is from Slot Classic, so much better than the PCS copies, a bit more expensive, but the gears line up. GMC do a good package for a good price.

Originally made for the DB3, the wheels are also fine for the DB2, or the early ones at least

The other car back on the table is the TVR Griffith 400. The original of course is something of a paradox, highly sought after today, when new the quality was bad and the reliability abysmal. I'd love one!
The Ocar body on which this model was based is equally bad with symmetry totally out of the window. This was helped when a 4mm section was removed to obtain the correct Griffith wheelbase from the original Vixen model. A few other lesser mods have also been made including a couple of piano wire strengtheners bonded in over the rear wheel arch.

 

The body was completely lacking in any form of rear mountings, so epoxy ones were cast in. Again, a Slot Classic chassis has been used.



 

The wheels are Scaley Lotus 7 (?), which are pretty accurate for a 15" wheel. These were machined to accept my Scaley urethane Sharknose rears, with standard Scaley up front. All need a little sanded off the diameter.

Peter.

My very first proxy race car

Quiet, so quiet here!
Well, something new from Germany: Invited by Mark Huber for the "Grand Prix de Garagista" I have built my first proxy race car.
Its a 1966 Ferrari 246, driven by Lorenzo Bandini in the Spa GP, wher he finished 3rd. I used the very good PP-kit of the Ferrari 1512 for conversion:

I hope, you enjoy!
Taffy

MGC GTS

This is one of George Turners kits for which I have been waiting for years. Martin of course was working on one when this came out. Most things are pretty well spot on, though some detailing seems a little oversize. I'll have to measure up sometime.
All the mouldings were good clean examples, minimal pinholes and whilst the castings were scrubbed before painting, I doubt they needed it. The screen frames were done with bare metal foil which I think was a waste of time.













The livery is actually wrong for this particular car. Too many replica cars around, this it seems is a combination of 1968/1969 liveries. The chassis is the resin one which came with the kit, the wheels modified Scalextric to take the Scaley GT40 tyres. I was pursuaded to build a car for magnet use on my newish Scaley track, what a waste, no fun at all.















I have two more of these kits to build, one will be an accurate model of this car, the other will be an out and out racer, modelled after the present V8 MGB's which take part in the MGB/C/V8 Championship.

Peter.

BRM V16 and Talbot Lago

Induced by Peters fabulous wheels (thank you very much, Peter!), that came to me as an Pre-Easter surprise, I had to start with the BRM V16 and the Talbot Lago - immidiately! Bodys are MacPinches´, Chassis: Penelope Pitlane, tyres: Ortmann.









The Talbot is Pierre Leveghs car from the 1950 Silverstone race, the BRM is Froilan Gonzalez´car from 1954 (note: the red mirror housings), Silverstone, too. Had to change the body in the front, so I had to weld a new radiator grille. Added also tire valves and the "BRM"-engraving to the wheel nuts.



Taffy

Wheel consolidation.

After what might be described as 'the disaster' of the last wheel fret, this item is now being re-drawn with several deletions and several additions.

With the project originally started to provide wheels for 'older' cars, this will continue to be the bias, with an emphasis on pre-war cars.

The new drawing includes for the first time wheels for beaded edge rims, primarily for a couple of future projects. These are modifications of the earlier 21" parts made, but not as yet used.

A wheel for the T59 Bugatti has also been drawn up. Not 100% correct, this cross laced wheel omits the cros laced spokes which still leaves a very crowded wheel.

One of the problems with the last fret was the K3 MG wheels, a total of three problems contributing to their failure. The problems have been corrected and variations to the type made to provide correct sets for ERA 'E' Type, both early and late versions.

All cross laced experiments have been deleted. I am advised that stainless steel as used for the etches is not reliable as regards finished dimensions, etching companies recommending drawing to plus 30% of finished size. Results have shown this to be good advice as for the drawn 0.008" wheel spoke (0.006 desired size) some results have been up to 0.010" with others on the same fret down to 0.004", resulting in burning when heat treated. Cross laced wheels need spokes to be narrow, and consistant.

Jaguar XK and HRG wheels are continued with the additional 16" Aston Martin DB2/3 wheel.

The 16" wheels for (primarily) Vanwall, Maserati 300S/250F and Maserati 4CL/CLT are being complemented with a 17" version, though the associated machined parts are in limbo.

With the earlier VERY limited vintage type steering wheels so popular, modified, smaller versions are being made for PVT cars. Spring spoke and wire spoke Bluemels, early and late Alfa and Mercedes GP are probably the limit as my computer is finding the file size more than it can cope with.

Peter.

1:24 Formula racing

Last weekend the new season of "Classic Formula Days" started in Düsseldorf.
This 1:24-slotracing series is dedicated to the midengine formula racing cars of the sixties.
The series is divided into two classes: "Formula 65" and "Formula 70".
In formula 65 the 1:1 model must have been build until 1965, in formula 70 until 1970.
Formula- and Indy-cars are allowed.

I liked to start the season 2012 with two new cars and builded a Lotus 29 Indycar for the 65-class:





and a Ferrari 312 1966 for the 70-class:





(note: the cars don´t have to be exact copies of the 1:1-model,  so I use my freedom as artist...)

Bodys are resin, chassis is the SOLID formula chassis, FOX-motor, tires in front: material is free, rear tires are Sigma black magic-tires.

Taffy

Bugatti number 25

Some 5 years ago I started to build a series of Bugattis, all based on the Airfix kit and a purpose made chassis. The last one was completed a couple of weeks ago and was tested/raced over the weekend to see if the sums were right. This is the first car of what I hope will be an increasing number which are retained and used for racing.

The chassis is a modified version of that used for all cars built. 16 gauge aluminium is heat treated and beaten over a steel buck, providing the 'canvas' to which various parts may be added. The SCX motor was added for the hell of it, but actually works quite well. The axle runs in brass bushes, with the highly modified MRRC guide pivoted in a similar way.

The wheels are fully machined Airfix originals with Scalextric tyres at the front and urethane at the rear.

The first 'official' car in the stable, suitable companions are expected over the next few years.

Peter.

Wheels, rejected and embraced...

The recently introduced 16"Borrani wheels have done rather better than expected. Originally made for the 300S Maserati, they are inevitably correct for a number of other cars, though the one below is not one of them.

The Ferrari TR 59/60 should indeed have wheels similar to the above, but not quite the same. All wheels should be cross laced, the rears not noticably so, whereas the fronts should have a row of spokes anchored into the outer wheel rim. Still, not far off.

The recent tyre venture, whilst having proven a 100% success performance wise, is being cut back due to the labour involved. Existing purchasers of these tyres will continue to supplied.

Recent continued experimental wheels are a continued drain and are thus likely to cease, therefore the proposed Alfa 2900 wheel, due to expense and complexity, will be limited to the few sets made.

The present range of wheels will probably reach its' peak (30 different wheels) in the present year, after which production will be cut back to certainly no more than 10, readily available.

Peter.

Last of the DBRs.

The DBR1 was the first serious model I worked on. Reworked from the re-issued early Scalectric bodyshell, the shape was not bad. The fact that it was a little over scale has always irritated me a little and if it was photographed alongside any of the other Astons, it's size would become apparent.

So i've made the decision to delete it from the range. I had a dozen or so shells left and decided to built up three to represent the tean cars that ran at Le Mans in 1958. The paint on the first DBR1 was totally incorrect being California Sage. These three will be painted Ford Forest Green which looks much more like it.

The photographs show one of the cars dry fitted with a few details and a test of the decals. Hence the wrong number.

All three cars will be fitted with a front mounted motor in a nickel silver photo etched chassis. They are now sold and will be going to a collector.

Graham.

Production at last....

Having waited a long while for machined parts, they are at last with me and I am thus slowly finishing machining parts and making up wheel kits, whilst at the same time trying to find time to build up a few sets of wheels for my own use.
One of the long overdue 'new' wheels is that for the primarily the Alfetta 158/9, as shown in the picture below.

This wheel, like most is to some degree a compromise, as there were many different wheels fitted to this type of car.
The illustrated wheels are a scale 18" both front and rear, and feature 3 rows of 24 spokes. The front rims are 5mm wide, the rears are 6mm wide. The tyres are those I had made, and will soon be supplied direct from the manufacturer, though I will continue to supply tyres with wheel sets if requested to.

Also for Alfetta are alternative 60 spoke wheels (3 x 20 spokes) and for rear fixing only, 17" (x6mm) wheels, also with 60 spokes.

Decent pictures in the future.....

Peter.