And all through the body not sitting on the chassis square. The last shot is the best in my opinion as there's just a hint of opposite lock. Graham.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Zagato at Goodwood
Mooching through the camera card at some of the other photo's that i'd not really looked at, I came across these and just thought, Jim Clark, Goodwood. A few "action shots". Well sort of.
And all through the body not sitting on the chassis square. The last shot is the best in my opinion as there's just a hint of opposite lock.
And all through the body not sitting on the chassis square. The last shot is the best in my opinion as there's just a hint of opposite lock. 
Saturday, 24 July 2010
A Complete Zagato
Well I guess it's been quite a while coming, but it's finally finished and it looks very pleasing. The final touch was to just nudge the side glazing a little more so that it fitted snug and flush. Anything else and the photo etched frames wouldn't have sat right. The front and rear screen trims require a little bending to get them to seat properly too, but the material is very receptive to being curved between thumbnail and forefinger.
The idea of the window frames was to hide those awful gaps that are found on most kits. It's a feature that I find always lets down a model, along with windows that sit too far in. I started out with the intention of correcting these faults and I think i've achieved my aim.
The trademark Zagato "Z" on the side of the car is to scale and is an exact replica of the real thing. Windscreen wipers although very delicate, have a half etch just below the blade, allowing a ninety degree bend enabling them to sit against the glass as they should do. Amazing what photo etching allows you to do.
The grill is a two part piece, with the vertical bars being half etched again. This gives the illusion that they are actually behind the horizontal bars, again, just as they should be. To finish it all of, the interior mirror gives a nice three dimensional touch.
When John Bolster road tested the car in the early sixties, he described it as being "fierce beyond belief. I'm not sure I agree with his sentiments, but it certainly has a prescence. Job done.
The idea of the window frames was to hide those awful gaps that are found on most kits. It's a feature that I find always lets down a model, along with windows that sit too far in. I started out with the intention of correcting these faults and I think i've achieved my aim.
The trademark Zagato "Z" on the side of the car is to scale and is an exact replica of the real thing. Windscreen wipers although very delicate, have a half etch just below the blade, allowing a ninety degree bend enabling them to sit against the glass as they should do. Amazing what photo etching allows you to do.
The grill is a two part piece, with the vertical bars being half etched again. This gives the illusion that they are actually behind the horizontal bars, again, just as they should be. To finish it all of, the interior mirror gives a nice three dimensional touch.
When John Bolster road tested the car in the early sixties, he described it as being "fierce beyond belief. I'm not sure I agree with his sentiments, but it certainly has a prescence. Job done.Graham.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
E Type
Pit Schwar over in Germany produces some glorious models. Here's his latest offering. As usual, the level of detail, fit and finish is just astonishing. Blue and red don't normally work well together, but Pit has managed to pull it off on this. The paint combination being particularly appealing.
The model is built from a 1/24th scale Gunze Hi Tech kit although a fair number of few parts have been re-made. Pit informs me that the wheels are manufactured by a friend of his at quite a ridiculous cost, but as ever, a good set of wheels will finish off a model.
Interior detail is up to Pits usual standard too, along with the compulsory driver. Not sure about he blonde hair though Pit.
The photograph above shows the unique shape of the E Type off very well, enhanced by that stunning paint finish. Pit has his own website showing a lot more models. http://www.phoenixracecars.de/ is the place to go.
The model is built from a 1/24th scale Gunze Hi Tech kit although a fair number of few parts have been re-made. Pit informs me that the wheels are manufactured by a friend of his at quite a ridiculous cost, but as ever, a good set of wheels will finish off a model.
Interior detail is up to Pits usual standard too, along with the compulsory driver. Not sure about he blonde hair though Pit.
The photograph above shows the unique shape of the E Type off very well, enhanced by that stunning paint finish. Pit has his own website showing a lot more models. http://www.phoenixracecars.de/ is the place to go.Graham.
Friday, 16 July 2010
1/24th scale Aston DB3
Mickey Gossett over in Hutchison, Kansas seems to have picked up the carving bug. His subject is a 1/24th Aston DB3, designed to run on a Carrera E Type Chassis.
The method of laminating the layers of wood, which in this instance is basswood, which I believe is lime, is quite inspiring and it's good to see someone else having a go. After all if we don't show these things, the possiblity of these skills being passed on to yournger guys might be lost.
The shape is coming along very nicely and i'm sure with some minor adjustments, will end up looking pretty good.
Although I havn't spoken to Mickey in any great detail I would imagine that each piece is cut with a bandsaw or similar. The square cut of the wood tells me that they've not been cut by hand. If they have, then I take my hat off to him as I know how tricky it is to get a cut like that manually.
All in all a very admirable project and Mickey tells me he has plans for a second model, the next one being an Austin Healey 100/6. By the look of the Aston, we have something to look forward to. Excellent work Mickey and keep it going.
The method of laminating the layers of wood, which in this instance is basswood, which I believe is lime, is quite inspiring and it's good to see someone else having a go. After all if we don't show these things, the possiblity of these skills being passed on to yournger guys might be lost.
The shape is coming along very nicely and i'm sure with some minor adjustments, will end up looking pretty good.
Although I havn't spoken to Mickey in any great detail I would imagine that each piece is cut with a bandsaw or similar. The square cut of the wood tells me that they've not been cut by hand. If they have, then I take my hat off to him as I know how tricky it is to get a cut like that manually.
All in all a very admirable project and Mickey tells me he has plans for a second model, the next one being an Austin Healey 100/6. By the look of the Aston, we have something to look forward to. Excellent work Mickey and keep it going.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Scale Hardware
A site i've recently been introduced to stocks some very interesting and useful items. Scale Hardware over in the US offers a wide range of miniature rivets, hex nuts and bolts, either threaded of simulated, washers, acorn nuts, taps and micro socket wrenches.
The rivets start at 0.4mm and are priced quite reasonably with a pack of 100 costing $10.00 plus shipping. What that is in real money, I have no idea, but it sounds good value to me. All items are available in either brass or stainless steel, with the latter costing a little more.
Chris Clark in Texas recently finished off a beautiful 1/24 scale Ferrari P4 and fitted nearly 500 rivets, with each hole being drilled by hand.
The uses are endless I would imagine and i'll certainly be giving them a try. One of the details I wish to include on the DB5 convertible is the fasteners around the soft top and tonneau. I think these guys have the answer.
The rivets start at 0.4mm and are priced quite reasonably with a pack of 100 costing $10.00 plus shipping. What that is in real money, I have no idea, but it sounds good value to me. All items are available in either brass or stainless steel, with the latter costing a little more.
Chris Clark in Texas recently finished off a beautiful 1/24 scale Ferrari P4 and fitted nearly 500 rivets, with each hole being drilled by hand.
The uses are endless I would imagine and i'll certainly be giving them a try. One of the details I wish to include on the DB5 convertible is the fasteners around the soft top and tonneau. I think these guys have the answer.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Lancia D24
I've just recieved some information from a guy who lives in Thunder Bay, Canada. Dave Knutson has been following the blog and watching the Aston builds and decided to share with me the build of the D24. Rather than me waffle on in my usual way, I thought i'd post the pictures along with the email word for word. Here it is.
Graham,
Here are the pictures to refresh the description.
I started with the BSR/ProtoSlotKit Lancia D24 and started by heating and remoulding the body
to get the tail droop, nose droop, wheel cut outs etc. about right. Although the model looks pretty decent "as-is" I couldn't quite get the compact but wide "feel" of the car as it appears in period photo's with the long appearance of the kit body. Shortening the snout and relocating the ventilation openings helped. Also the ProtoSlot Kit headlamps were removed and larger lights, more widely spaced was anticipated to help achieve this impression. The body at this stage has the headlights temporarily mounted and will require significant "fit-up" to achieve the integrated look of the real car.
The wheelbase adjustment rose as a result of studying those photographs and not being able to reconcile the appearance from a quarter view. Measuring the wheelbase revealed rather a large difference from the scale dimension.
The 7 mm has been removed between the rear wheels and the cockpit by cutting horizontally "tangent" to the top of the rear wheel opening, then laterally across /through the headrest. The headrest fairing was then cut out using a jeweller's saw, following which the balance of the 7 mm was cut from the (now separate) rear fenders/tail assembly. The tail was then "offered-up" to the front section, fitted-up and then glued in place, reinforced with glassfibre cloth. The rear wheel openings were then scribed for the 7 mm offset and cut to size. The headrest fairing was reworked and blended in.
After the surgery, I noted a variation in the tail -either there was a variation side to side in the original or I had introduced a small angular error when I reconnected the front and rear. This was resolved by grinding off the rear flank vents behind the wheel wells, tail lights, license plate mount, etc, reshaping the rear end and then adding new vents, lights, plate mount fabricated from styrene.
The more I look at it, the more variations I can see -hence the purchase of a second body kit- I've learned from the work so far but I'm reluctant to do too much rework on this shell. However, I think that this is getting closer to the natural beauty of the D24.
By the way, the chassis is a narrowed Slot-it HSR 2 with an offset motor mount- it looks like her "slip is showing" from the "worms-eye" view...
Anyway, I hope these are of interest.
Graham,
Here are the pictures to refresh the description.
I started with the BSR/ProtoSlotKit Lancia D24 and started by heating and remoulding the body
to get the tail droop, nose droop, wheel cut outs etc. about right. Although the model looks pretty decent "as-is" I couldn't quite get the compact but wide "feel" of the car as it appears in period photo's with the long appearance of the kit body. Shortening the snout and relocating the ventilation openings helped. Also the ProtoSlot Kit headlamps were removed and larger lights, more widely spaced was anticipated to help achieve this impression. The body at this stage has the headlights temporarily mounted and will require significant "fit-up" to achieve the integrated look of the real car.
The wheelbase adjustment rose as a result of studying those photographs and not being able to reconcile the appearance from a quarter view. Measuring the wheelbase revealed rather a large difference from the scale dimension.
The 7 mm has been removed between the rear wheels and the cockpit by cutting horizontally "tangent" to the top of the rear wheel opening, then laterally across /through the headrest. The headrest fairing was then cut out using a jeweller's saw, following which the balance of the 7 mm was cut from the (now separate) rear fenders/tail assembly. The tail was then "offered-up" to the front section, fitted-up and then glued in place, reinforced with glassfibre cloth. The rear wheel openings were then scribed for the 7 mm offset and cut to size. The headrest fairing was reworked and blended in.
After the surgery, I noted a variation in the tail -either there was a variation side to side in the original or I had introduced a small angular error when I reconnected the front and rear. This was resolved by grinding off the rear flank vents behind the wheel wells, tail lights, license plate mount, etc, reshaping the rear end and then adding new vents, lights, plate mount fabricated from styrene.
The more I look at it, the more variations I can see -hence the purchase of a second body kit- I've learned from the work so far but I'm reluctant to do too much rework on this shell. However, I think that this is getting closer to the natural beauty of the D24.By the way, the chassis is a narrowed Slot-it HSR 2 with an offset motor mount- it looks like her "slip is showing" from the "worms-eye" view...
Anyway, I hope these are of interest.
Cheers, Dave K.
Well I like it!
Graham.
Saturday, 10 July 2010
Silver Birch DB5.
No, not that one. This is my convertible. Peter's kindly let me have a few sets of his wheels now, and as a fully built and painted set arrived in the post of Friday morning, I thought i'd better do something with them. The only Aston Martin that i'm currently working on that would have used fifteen inch wheels, is the DB5. The wheels are actually suited to smaller sports cars really, but are ok on the 5.
In the package along with the wheels were two tiny items replicating Borrani spinners. Left and right hand of course. Again Mr Seager Thomas has captured these to perfection and do finish of the wheels very nicely.
After fitting up the wheels to the axles, the chassis was lined up to the body, so it's all of a piece now. I thought i'd more or less managed to get the ragtop looking ok after taking a lot of material off, only for it to break into three seperate pieces. It happens. I moved onto the body and deciced to take advantage of the light and get some paint on the car with a view to taking some photographs. A tin of silver paint has been winking at me for a few weeks now so I thought this was probably the one to try it on.
Considering it's straight out of an aerosol, it's gone on quite well. I'm not sure if this will polish, but a quick rub over with a dry cloth gave it a little age, if nothing else. The paint is very flat with the sparkle being remarkably fine.
Front view showing wonky front bumper, and the paint showing the lines. This was probably the most single popular colour when this car was new. Apart from the obvious reason, I can see why. Silver certainly does show the car in all it's glory.
The last shot clearly shows Peter's fabulous work on the spinner. Only me, the most fussy, eye for detail nutter on the planet, could put the wrong one on!
In the package along with the wheels were two tiny items replicating Borrani spinners. Left and right hand of course. Again Mr Seager Thomas has captured these to perfection and do finish of the wheels very nicely.
After fitting up the wheels to the axles, the chassis was lined up to the body, so it's all of a piece now. I thought i'd more or less managed to get the ragtop looking ok after taking a lot of material off, only for it to break into three seperate pieces. It happens. I moved onto the body and deciced to take advantage of the light and get some paint on the car with a view to taking some photographs. A tin of silver paint has been winking at me for a few weeks now so I thought this was probably the one to try it on.
Considering it's straight out of an aerosol, it's gone on quite well. I'm not sure if this will polish, but a quick rub over with a dry cloth gave it a little age, if nothing else. The paint is very flat with the sparkle being remarkably fine.
Front view showing wonky front bumper, and the paint showing the lines. This was probably the most single popular colour when this car was new. Apart from the obvious reason, I can see why. Silver certainly does show the car in all it's glory.
The last shot clearly shows Peter's fabulous work on the spinner. Only me, the most fussy, eye for detail nutter on the planet, could put the wrong one on!Graham.
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