Roger Zimmermann

Then you know more than me! I had also a misspelling when I began the Mark II adventure. An administrator modified the title. Good luck with your sixth Singer!

Yesterday, I began with the roof. I had the impression that it would be an easy part, ideal to gather experience, even if, when finished, it cannot be used immediately. Easy? well, not at all. I tried to form the curves with the method described by Gerald Wingrove after I did a small tool by crimping the edges. Well, probably my brass did not read that book because once the crimps were flattened, I had almost no curve. After trying several times, I came to my old method: cutting slices, do the shape and silver solder the cut. According to somebody from a modelling forum, I probably used the wrong material. In his book, Gerald is using copper, much softer than the mid-hard brass I have. Finally, I got a roof as you can see. It's far away from finished; I will spend some more hours on it and, if I'm not pleased, I will do another one with either soft brass or copper. If I'm doing another one with one of these metals, I will probably have to reinforce the roof. On the picture, the back of the roof is crimped; maybe I will get some good results as the curve to be get is light.

Bernie, I'm glad you found a new project. I noticed too that you let modify the title as there was initially an "r" which was strange to me.

John, you will have to replace them in pair if you buy them new. Or to find an old assembly where you could take the broken leave. If I remember well, the Avanti springs are the ones from the station wagon.

Saturday, I went to the man owning 4 Mark II with the buck to compare the shape. I was well inspired to do it: I saw many errors, some minors some not so: the hood and trunk lid were too square; the radii are much larger than what I did. During the winter I could not begin the work because it was too cold in my store room; now, it's almost 30°C in my flat! I'm glad that kind of work is almost over. It would be cooler in the store room, about 22°C, but I cannot move the PC to see all the pictures I have on it, as well as the documents I am refering to... To illustrate my comments, I'm adding two pictures (doing that let me cool down! from the back. The passenger side has been reworked; the modifications are less apparent than in reality. The picture from above is showing a disrupted line on the left side (to be reworked) when the RH side has a continuous line. That kind of details are hard to see on pictures; once I know that, some picture's reflections (from a real car) are now totally understandable

Nice car! If I do see right, no power brakes nor power steering!

European cars then had a lot of oil because they could be driven at high speed for a long time. It was not the case with US cars; they can go fast but for a short moment as the oil is getting too hot and the lubricating film is getting bad. With more oil in the pan (or an engine oil cooler), US cars could achieve the same

Pat, the Toronado and Avanti bodies were both made with polyester; with one small exception: the trunk lid and the panels in front and rear of the hood of the Toronado were made with brass. The positive form was for both cars a crude plaster form necessitating a lot of corrections on the final panels. There are also pits and all sort of problems to have a decent surface for painting. The assembly of hinges or other elements is also not quite easy with polyester. I should not have that kind of difficulties with metal panels. Time will tell!

By looking at the real car's picture I published as well as other photos, I modified the rear. The bulge from the trunk lid was too wide; the inner side of the "fins" too. I will anyway compare the buck to the real car when I have the opportunity and, of course, before I'm doing any panel.

The first idea was to form the panels on that buck. As I have no experience I may form the panels separately and use that buck for reference. I will try with the roof if my first idea is practicable. The material I will use is either soft brass or copper, .5 mm thick (.02"). Probably the first panel I will do is...the roof because it's a rather large surface with a regular shape. And, like the original stamping, the sail panels will be done separately for 2 reasons: to have less waste and for ease of construction. Honestly, to make a body with polyester would be much easier, especially if the mold is rather accurate. However, I intend to do it with metal; other can do it, I should be able too...

Well, maybe! The last job was to form the recess for the rocker moulding. Then I applied a "waterwhite" to the wood to see the shape better. That product is so old that it turned brown; a fresh one would be clear. The dark line which can be seen on the lower body is the Zero line; a reference line which is exactly at the top of the frame. The next task will be to compare the shape with the many pictures I have to find maybe a difference. If I'm interpreting the first picture below, there is a correction needed at the rear: the "catwalk" should be wider, narrowing the upper surface of the trunk lid.

The balls may be a litle bit worn, but the worm and nut too. I noticed that when I put new balls in a '56 Cad steering box, which is basically similar to yours. If you can find balls which are .001 to .002 mm larger in diameter, that would be interesting to try. From 1958 onwards Cadillac had 2 diameters for the balls: the black ones were smaller than the natural ones; this was done to reduce the friction in the steering box. They were inserted alternatively into the box.

No problem, Ernie: I told him that too, but he was not yet in the mood to do some paint on the car.

I would not do that. You may end with a bumper which is too narrow or too large. Further: with old iron, you may not have the perfect weld they did at the factory and ou may see some pits at the weld. To take a bump out a bumper is a small job: that material is soft.

The plater can do it for you: it's the reverse process of plating.

Dents in bumpers are easy to take out; the metal may be thick but usually it's rather soft.To simplify the life, I would first let dechrome the bumper, leaving the copper coat and then remove the dents and smooth the spot with a file.

I too need a rule to draw a straight line! I was myself surprised how easy it was to do that crease straight...I have to confess that a round file helped too! Anyway, thank you for your fidelity! The RH side is now (more or less) ready which is a good news. The bad news: the other side is not yet done...The pictures below are done with a different light.

Last year, I had the pleasure to be invited to the Cadillac GN in Florida. It seems that there were less cars as usual (especially the people from California were not there) which may be an explanation: compared to what I'm seeing here, there were very few Cadillacs built before 1935. Enjoy your stay and have a safe trip back!

Me, a genius? Oh no! just don't have two left hands! Anyway, thank you for appreciating what I'm doing.

The end of wood shaping is near! As you can see on the pictures, I'm working with chisels and files. The crease on the side is done with chisels, following by hand a scribed line. And yes, it's straight! The front fender is near to the final shape; the rear of the body is still crude. The second picture is showing the work with a chisel. It that stage, only a little bit is taken each time as the final shape is closed. As you can see, I'm working inside as it's too hot outside. Well, it's summertime!

With the info I had, I did recently the profiles in brass for the door, one for the front and one for the rear. Next to some maintenance work on my '57 Brougham scale 1:1, I continued with the lower part of the sides. They are more or less ready; now, I will continue with the upper part, above the crease.

Thank you Pat and keiser31! You are probably right because, according to the number of views, people are not yet too discouraged!

Some small progress: I have the impression that the hood is done. On the original car, there is a central rib. This will be added by soldering on the metal hood as it was not practical to include this element on the wood buck. I finished also the wheel apertures; it's time now to concentrate on the sides. For some viewers, the whole process may be too long. I'm myself satisfied with the "speed" of the work: for just 2 months, I was attempting to do the profile and, in between, I was away for 3 weeks.

The Pontiac is a Parisienne model, a product for the Canadian market!

It would be funny, isn't it? In fact, I plugged the screw's holes needed to glue some additional wood (see picture somewhere else on this page). Once the glue is dry, I will cut them! The hood is slowly taking shape.