Roger's handcrafted 1:12 scale models

[Randiego]

Roger,

 

Are there sources left that are NOT in China?  It sickens me to go to any supply company these days and very few products are not made in China.  "Made in Japan" use to be the bane, especially for the men returning from WWII.  Now Japan is the leader for quality and I have total confidence with their tools and parts.  My Makita tools are the best (one example). The USA use to be the leader in manufactured goods.  We are a shadow of our old selves.  I hope to live to see the return of our markets to other sources besides China.  

 

Roger you amaze all of us.  You took the tools and materials to France with you on your vacation, no less. A dedicated problem solver.  No rest till you figure it out.  I have total confidence that you will have the tire problem handled and we will see the tires mounted on their wheels soon.

      

[Roger Zimmermann]

When I ordered the machine, I had no idea where it was manufactured. Suppliers usually don't tell it! As the price was right (about $ 120.00), I did not search further.

My explanation was probably no very clear: I took nothing with me to France but, to avoid taxes from the Swiss customs , I ordered the vacuum tool when I was there and took it with me. The sole very small inconvenient: the electrical plug is one made for France; I have now to use an adapter as, of course, the Swiss plugs are different. We have the same issue using a Swiss electrical device in France: most of the time an adapter is needed.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Finally, I could clean the mess I inadvertently created. The use of soap and nitro thinner removed the uncured material.
This time I did the mix right and used the electric pump to removed the trapped air. It's impressive to see how the volume is increasing when enough vacuum is applied! I did also an interesting observation: when I had 25" vacuum, I stopped the pump. Of course, the vacuum diminished slowly; I restarted the pump to get at about 25", and so on. I was surprised to see the small bubbles on the upper surface, but almost none burst. Finally, I let the motor run and there was much more action! It seems that the removal of air is more efficient when the pump is running for a long time. in the situation, the vacuum is about 27.5" Hg.
Anyway, the black rubber part is perfect, but not usable. I need to modify the brass part to have a dam at the outside diameter. With the actual mold, I could only do a partial white wall as the exterior wall is lower than the inner hub. I had a long time to figure what was wrong and how I have to modify the brass part. This is the next task!

[Roger Zimmermann]

The third tentative for the white wall's mold seems to be the good one. The first picture is showing the little quantity of material was mixed with the catalyst and black paste (the used product is transparent). When some vacuum was applied to the mix, the volume expanded and expanded. I had to stop the pump to avoid an overflow. After some pump's cycling, I could let it run for a longer time. After almost one hour, I opened the vacuum chamber and purred the RTV into the mold; I used simple cardboard to create the wall. Then, back into the vacuum chamber. There was still air trapped, you can see on the third picture the elevation of the mix. After 1 1/2 hour, I saw almost no bubbles and I let the mold out of the desiccator. After 2 hours, the mix began to set.
This morning, I took the cardboard away; some plasticine was used to close the interstices between cardboard and brass mold. The crowning of the day: the black rubber is removed from the brass part. Now I have a perfect mold for the white walls, one at the time. 

[Paulie9fingers]

That turned out great

[Buicknutty]

 Good looking work Roger, success then!

[Roger Zimmermann]

The first white wall is born. It's good looking but the tire's dimension is somewhat weak, depending to the lightning. Still 5 to do!

[Luv2Wrench]

Seeing the tires again reminds me of the first posts some 12 years ago.  I vividly remember realizing that you were *making* tires and that this model was going to be at a level I'd never seen before.  I really had no idea such things were possible.  It has been a wonderful dozen years since and you never fail to impress.  Thank you so much for taking the extra time to share your passion with us.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Yes, it was be about 12 years ago! Times is flying...Indeed the comments and pictures I will publish the next few weeks are indeed déjà vu for some people. However, there are always differences and set-back...

[Pat Hollingsworth]

Roger, I wasn't in for the whole twelve years, but I read back to the front of the thread- so, I know the drill here. By the way, that wheel looks good after a bit of absence! Anyhow, in reference to your post above I just want to say that I have loved the differences, and equally enjoyed your inevitable solutions to those pesky setbacks. As my granddaughters say, 'you rock!'.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Pat, thanks for the kind words. When I'm sometimes searching something I wrote here, I have to scroll through many pages I know the time needed to just look at one page...

[Randiego]

Sacre bleu Roger.  Deja vu all over again.  The tires look amazing.  As I came in on the Continental's build right as you were doing the tires, it is hard to believe that 12 years have gone by.  So much in the world has changed but you are a constant with your artistry.  We watch and enjoy your craftsmanship.  Every time that you are up against a seemingly impossible problem, you solve it.  AND you explain to us how you did it.  

We all await your next post.

 

[Roger Zimmermann]

A Randy! Nice French sentences! 

The white wall fabrication is going well, about one each day. A fourth is to be separated from the mold soon.
On the post dated March 18, I was pouring white silicone into the mold. As you remember, it created a mess as I used not enough catalyst. I did this job again and, today, I removed the plasticine from the back. To avoid that the plasticine in going into the tire's grove, I used some masking tape to avoid it. I noticed that the tape was not sticking to the brass but did not thought more about that. The result: the silicone went between the tape and brass and filled up the groves! After painfully removed the undesired material and using wax, I poured the silicone into the other side. To tell the truth, I'm not at all confident that I will succeed. I will see that this week-end when the new material is completely cured.

[Paulie9fingers]

Fingers crossed (the ones I have 😉)

[Roger Zimmermann]

There are good days as well as bad ones, it's life. Today is the second category: yesterday, I did another white wall; thinking there was still enough wax on the mold to avoid issues. There was not, white wall destroyed, fortunately, the mold is not damaged by taking away the sticking white material.
I opened this morning the negative tire's molds. One half is so-so, the other one some tread was ripped away. The material was more or less bonded on the brass at the recess to hold the white wall. Usually RTV is not sticking to metal but this time it did. I have a possible explanation: when I cleaned the uncured RTV, some stayed on the brass and, generally, there was still a trace of that RTV on the whole brass surface. With the proper catalyst added, this uncured RTV acted as a bonding agent between brass and the fresh RTV. 
The result: back to the starting line...

[Cizu]

Car people or not, they can't help but appreciate the craftsmanship. 

[drhach]

I feel your pain Roger. I used to make a plastic headed key blank for BMW motorcycles. It was very tricky and even when I thought I'd perfected them, I still had failures. Making these things is as much art as it is science. 

[Roger Zimmermann]

It's better to put things aside until better days when it was a flop! As there are enough to do, this is just a temporary set-back. Last month, I began the shock absorbers; it was the right moment to continue with them. The design was more or less performed during the assembly of many parts all silver soldered; this bad method let me do some errors later corrected. As pictured today, they are far from finished, but I'm confident I will have working shock absorbers. 

[Paulie9fingers]

Roger have you decided on a way to achieve the dampening ?

[Roger Zimmermann]

Yes: on the shaft, there will be a blade immerged into the product I will use. I have this Hivis (the product's name) in two viscosities; probably the thicker one will be OK.

[Randiego]

Roger,

 

You did not put a quarter next to the shock absorber bodies for us to compare how small they are!  See what you have done?  You have conditioned us to "look for the quarter" to see how small the parts that you are making are.  🙂    And to know that they are going to be working shocks........just amazing.

 

This last weekend, we had the La Jolla Concourse  Motorcar Classic here in San Diego.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  This was the first one back in La Jolla since the pandemic hit.  Two years were skipped and the show was missed by all of us who love to see the fabulous early marks.  I would love to attach all the pictures that I took but that would be impossible.  I have attached two here.  In the first one is Cameron Richards with the 1931 Bugatti Type 51 Coupe.  It won 1st in the Bugatti Category, which was the featured mark of the show.  Cameron is the Great Grandson of JB Nethercutt, of the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, California (Los Angeles) that I talked about in the previous thread.  The second pic is of me (yellow shirt)  and  flanking Cameron is Malcom, a fellow member of our club, "The Secret Car Club" here in Sandy Eggo.  This Bugatti is a stunning car.   You can see this car live if you go to Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube.  Jay features the car, and he and Cameron take it out for a drive on the streets and freeway in L A.    

 

As I have talked about this museum in the past, they have just lifted the restrictions regarding masks and limited days that they are open. Now I will be heading there to rephotograph the RR Chassis that I told you all about.  That will happen very soon.  I will post those pictures here.  It will be remarkable to compare those pitucures of a "naked" chassis and to see similarities to Roger's Cadillac chassis.

 

Randy

[Roger Zimmermann]

2 hours ago, Randiego said:

Roger,

 

You did not put a quarter next to the shock absorber bodies for us to compare how small they are!  See what you have done?  You have conditioned us to "look for the quarter" to see how small the parts that you are making are.  🙂    And to know that they are going to be working shocks........just amazing.

 

This last weekend, we had the La Jolla Concourse  Motorcar Classic here in San Diego.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  This was the first one back in La Jolla since the pandemic hit.  Two years were skipped and the show was missed by all of us who love to see the fabulous early marks.  I would love to attach all the pictures that I took but that would be impossible.  I have attached two here.  In the first one is Cameron Richards with the 1931 Bugatti Type 51 Coupe.  It won 1st in the Bugatti Category, which was the featured mark of the show.  Cameron is the Great Grandson of JB Nethercutt, of the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar, California (Los Angeles) that I talked about in the previous thread.  The second pic is of me (yellow shirt)  and  flanking Cameron is Malcom, a fellow member of our club, "The Secret Car Club" here in Sandy Eggo.  This Bugatti is a stunning car.   You can see this car live if you go to Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube.  Jay features the car, and he and Cameron take it out for a drive on the streets and freeway in L A.    

 

As I have talked about this museum in the past, they have just lifted the restrictions regarding masks and limited days that they are open. Now I will be heading there to rephotograph the RR Chassis that I told you all about.  That will happen very soon.  I will post those pictures here.  It will be remarkable to compare those pitucures of a "naked" chassis and to see similarities to Roger's Cadillac chassis.

 

Randy

 

 

Ah! the quarter...I will do it next time!

Thanks for the pictures; Bugatti is out of my league!

[Roger Zimmermann]

With one white wall every second day, I have now seven pieces. As spares are always good, I intend to do another one. Then, I will have to begin again the tire itself...
In parallel to the white walls, I continued with the shock absorbers. I added some cosmetic details; before closing both ends with the plugs, I did the shafts on which the actuating arm will be attached. When that was done, I silver soldered the blade which should render the shock absorbers functional. By looking at the size of the blade, I doubt that the shock absorbers will be really effective. Well, it's a fun design, even as a failure! The possible movement is about 120°, which is largely enough. 
There is a groove on the shaft: a very small O ring (I have some since many, many years) will be installed to prevent the loss of the Hivis. Of course, a closing plate will come at the back of the shock absorbers; some details are still to be added.

[Luv2Wrench]

I see you still have that giant quarter.

 

Stunning works as always!

[Randiego]

Guys,

 

I will be traveling to Sylmar to photograph the RR Chassis with my new Canon Rebel.  This camera shoots in very fine detail and therefore the files are large.  I have not had to reduce images for posting to the Forum in the past.  I see that there is a limit on the amount of pixles that the Forum limits for posting.  Can anyone direct or tell me how to reduce the size of the image so that I can get several shots attached?  I am not familiar with how to do that.  Thanks  

[Roger Zimmermann]

When I have very heavy pictures, I can reduce them in the "paint" system from Microsoft. I'm sure there are other tools but as I'm not curious in that domain, you will probably get more ideas from other users.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Finally, the front shock absorbers are ready. It took a long time to add the latest details; maybe no one would have notice if skipped!
Technically, those shock are ready for the viscous product I have. However, I will ad it when the actuating arm is soldered to the hub. The screw you can see will be the locking system, of course flush with the hub. I assume that the hub and arm assembly was originally pressed on the shaft. As my shafts are inserted from the back, I had to find another solution. The back is now closed by a plate and four 0.6mm screws. A short bearing is integrated to that plate; it should prevent a binding situation for the shaft.
Maybe I will have to add a paper gasket to avoid that the viscous material is oozing. 
I cannot finish the rear shock absorbers because I don't know the position of the actuating shaft at nominal position from the frame. The locking screw must be more or less at 90° from the arm and the relation between the actuating arm and inner blade must be right. I will finish the rear shocks when the suspension is done. 
I deducted from my pictures the the actuating lever is horizontal for the front shock absorbers; therefore I could finish them. 

[Roger Zimmermann]

In parallel to the shock absorbers, I continued with the RTV product. All white walls are now done and, finally, I succeeded to have a decent pair of negative tire molds. Technically, I could directly cast the definitive tires with those molds, but it's too dangerous. If one of the negative mold is damaged, I can redo the whole scenario. At $55.00 for one kilo of the white RTV, I don't take the chance. Therefore, I will continue with my "regular" process.

[Roger Zimmermann]

There is nothing now to report about the tires because in between I began something else: the front suspension. The shop manual is stating that the V-16 models have 10 leaves in the front; I did 10 leaves for each spring. As I could not buy spring steel the exact width I wanted, I had to make the material a bit narrower; I did that work in the  room where my cars and parts are stored. After drilling the holes for the central bolt (this bold is used to assemble all the leaves and to locate the axle on the springs), I installed the springs and axle on the frame. I discovered an error (this is not the first one nor the last one!) at the clips attaching the front axle: they are too short. I can hardly install some nuts, but this error is not that bad: with all the leaves, when I put a weight of 0.7 kg over the front axle, the springs are flexing about 1 mm! In the real life, a weight over more than 2000 pound would lower the front end by 1/2". Sure, those cars were not as comfortable as recent ones, but my springs are definitively too stiff, therefore I will remove some leaves until I'm satisfied. 

[Mike Macartney]

Roger - The work looks great. Just a thought about the spring rate. Could you cut a slot in the area of the spring leaves that are hidden by the leaf below and the leaf above to weaken the springing? Mike

Edited May 20, 2022 by Mike Macartney
Needed to add some more (see edit history)

[Roger Zimmermann]

Hi Mike! I hope you are well! Thanks for the idea; funny, I got the same idea from somebody from Australia...I will however do differently: using flexible plastic leaves to have the proper look. I already removed 4 leaves; the rate is better but still rather stiff. Unfortunately, I have no driving experience with such kind of vehicle; I suppose the front suspension was not that soft. More like a truck, but I can be wrong.

[Pat Hollingsworth]

I think the plastic leaves is a clever solution to retaining authentic looks. I would have never thought of that. I have reduced the strength of some springs in firearms by thinning the leaf.

Also, don't overlook the possibility of friction between the leave due to burrs on the edges of the material. Just a thought.

It sure does look good, Roger. I wasn't expecting to see that! 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Pat! I tried to thinner the ends of the leaves; I quickly discarded this idea as unpractical unless I would have the proper equipment. The burrs on the edges are sanded away...

 

As the negative molds were successfully done, I could cast the material into the recess to get the half positive molds. Right now, I don't know if this further step will be OK as many factors could lead to a disaster: the material can be uncured (it can happen), stick to the mold or air bubbles. I'm waiting another 24 hours to attempt the separation.
People here already know the whole process; as I'm publishing this construction into the Cadillac LaSalle forum, members there are seeing it for the first time.

[Roger Zimmermann]

SUCCESS! This morning, I separated the positive molds from the negative ones. At first, it was difficult to get the edges being separated; once I got that, the rest was easy. No bubble, all the material is well cured.
The next step: doing the definitive negative molds with a product like polyester. The product I used to do the negative molds was no more available at the store I'm going; a different product is no offered. Will it be so good as the previous one? There is a fundamental difference: the old product got cured with the addition of 3% hardener. This product is used by mixing tow parts from one element to one part of another one. Certainly easier to mix with the right proportion, but how are the characteristics of the cured product? I will have to make a test with a very small quantity. 

[Paulie9fingers]

it's looking good  😎

[ScarredKnightfan]

Man alive ... this is still so dang awesome.

 

Sure wish I could see your work in person, Roger.

 

 

Cort, pig and cow valves with pacemaker
2003 MGM LS + 1981 cmc SC; need 1975 Chrysler Cordoba
"Why can't that be me?" | 3 Doors Down | 'If I Could Be Like That'
 

[Roger Zimmermann]

10 hours ago, ScarredKnightfan said:

 

 

Sure wish I could see your work in person, Roger.

 

 

Cort, pig and cow valves with pacemaker
2003 MGM LS + 1981 cmc SC; need 1975 Chrysler Cordoba
"Why can't that be me?" | 3 Doors Down | 'If I Could Be Like That'
 

Thanks! 

My door is open, just tell me a couple of days before your visit!

[Roger Zimmermann]

After having a too stiff front suspension, it was logical that the rear one would follow. This time, I did only 3 leaves per side and, indeed, the suspension is rather soft. However, the rear springs are much longer than the front ones! According to the specifications, there were 9 leaves at the rear; I will add some later.
As you can maybe see, the rear suspension is very unstable with shackles at the front and at the rear: the drive tube is the element which locate the rear axle longitudinally. As you can understand, some more work is needed to have a working suspension...
I will soon do a test with the new resin: I just read that it's dry to the touch after two days and completely cured after five days!

[Pat Hollingsworth]

As always, the modeling is stunning. So much craftsmanship there, along with dedication to accuracy.

But, at least as captivating to some of us has to be the introduction to the many, many parts of the Cadillac autos of this period. I was flummoxed by the shackle arrangement until you reminded me of the torque tube on this. I had already, in my mind, begun seeking far more complicated solutions to rear axle alignment. 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Pat! This pre-installation let me discover an error: the differential's nose is too low; it should be aimed at the transmission. The error? The shoes on which the rear axle is soldered on are parallel to the differential's pinion. I could cheat by modifying the shoes thickness at one end or try to unsoldered them and rotate them slightly. We'll see.