Roger's handcrafted 1:12 scale models

[Roger Zimmermann]

Don, thanks for your comments! Hopefuly, your cold is now gone. Good luck with your Alfa engine!

Ah! The scale models...Recently, I bought a 1:24 1932 Cadillac V-16 dual cowl phaeton. I did know that the back is irrelevant, but I had problems with the front. Even if some details are skipped, some dimensions are rather accurate. And, having front fenders in 3 dimensions will facilitate the day I will begin them. In between, I did some progress on the hood:

 

When I began the hood’s sides with the ventilation doors, I expected that that idea would come to a good end. I got some thinking how to do the anchor point for the spring and, when I’m unsure about something, I’m delaying and delaying (somebody in your country is champion for that) until I’m packing the thing and do it. Fortunately, it went rather well. Then, I soldered the hinge I had with the various holes to a door and inserted the assembly, together with the female hinge. I shortened a bit the spring I did before and tried…I had to do a deeper notch at the frame because it interfered with the spring’s end.

The function is as I expected; the sole critic I could do is that the aperture could be more generous. For that I should redo all 14 male hinges; as the overheating from the model is questionable, I will let the things like they are.

Now, I can continue with the 13 other ventilation doors …

[Pat Hollingsworth]

Let me understand something. The doors on the original cars just opened and closed with a spring alone, right? The delicate 'fins' on the doors don't operate a latch or something, but serve as classy handles to pull on. Is that correct?

I was wondering about those large, flat surfaces warping, Roger. I guess you do too, and you have taken measures to avoid that if possible, rather than repair- sensible. Like I believe you always are. Thanks, as always.

[Roger Zimmermann]

That's correct. They look good, and are used to open each door individually. So, you can have only half open or the number you feel is needed. To close them, just push on the door. There is no axle, the doors are staying in place just with the push of the spring. If a spring should break, you would have probably to search for another one!

When I did the holes on that flat pieces, everything was under control. When I soft soldered the flanges, it was a nightmare! I could correct more or less the diformations; some bondo will be needed!

So you can see that I have sometimes unexpected difficulties...like most humans!

[Gunsmoke]

The shutters/vents are activated similar to the cowl vents for my 1931 Chrysler CD8 Roadster, except for mine, a pull handle on the inside opens them and closes them. The uniquely shaped spring (similar to Rogers spring) is neatly engineered as shown to both hold them open and also hold them closed. 

[Randiego]

Gunsmoke,

 

In my opinion, for the mid to lower ranged automobile back in the early thirrties, Chrysler engineering was at the top of the heap.  Duesenberg, Bugatti and Mercedez, Isotta, Hispano Suisa, and all the other "Hi End" manufacturers followed their own drum beat, only "borrowing" ideas that came along that they could integrate into their automobile designs, but with their "thumbprint" on those elements.  

 

Walter Chrysler's design studios/labs were cutting edge.  Every year, Ford, GM, Studebaker and other manufacturers, would purchase the latest Chrysler product, take it to their studios, dissasemble them to see what Chrysler did that year and apply their new designs to their products.

 

Through the eighties, Chrysler engineering was always ahead of the curve.  Cadillac could have used their hood ventilation port design's, integrating them into their models. I am sure that a follower of this thread will enlighten us to who was the first to use the hood ventilators/Iouvers in the 20's early 30's as I am not an automotive historian. 

 

Engineering a system to get rid of the heat in the engine compartment was always a needed element of the engine bay.  Even though the engines were not turning  as many revolutions as modern engines, they still produced a lot of heat from those large radiators.  Even the splash shields covering the lower engine bay to keep the road dirt from flying up into the engine compartment were "louvered' to allow water AND air to flow out.

 

Oh to have been a fly on the wall of the design studios back in the early thirties.  Books and publications give us insight but they only cover a fraction of what life and methods were like  back then. 

 

Today, it is all computers and everything can be tracked and documented.  A Slide Rule, French Curve and other "tools" of the designers are all replaced with CAD systems.  And in the near future, will  A I replace the designers?  Give me the old days when life was simpler. 

 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Gunsmoke, thanks for your pictures.

Randy, you are forgotting something important: the above vent doors are located into the cowl. Easy to do a system to open/close them with a single lever.

Imagine now the hood which is a movable element only attached to the cowl with a double hinge...How will you actuate the vent doors with this configuration?

I don't know well the Chrysler products, especially from this period, but I doubt that this company could engineer a system to move the vent doors at the hood with a lever located into the car!

[Gunsmoke]

I agree Roger, the hood doors as you say must be opened from outside by some sort of handle (although I understood some makes may have tried to use one long rod and some linkage mechanism to open all of them at once), but I was making the observation that a properly designed "spring steel" spring like the one shown can serve the dual purpose of holding them open and holding them closed. I've seen these vents in use 90+ years later and the spring mechanism still working perfectly. I think the 1930 era LaSalle had a spring on each hinge that only held them open, and a series of chrome latching buttons on the hood to hold them closed.

[Roger Zimmermann]

As the cooling system was maybe not too efficient, the option to open or close the vents was probably accepted by the customers. A single lever to open or close the vents would add the weight of the hood; was that a concern?

As I always write, I don't know well cars from that time; I like to see them in pictures, but I would never own one. 

However, I like them as scale models and, as I had to study the details from that V-16 frame, the solutions used during that time are very interesting.

[Roger Zimmermann]

During our stay at the vacation house, I took two pieces of wood to remove the excess material, giving that way a rough shape of the finished pattern.

 

For that model, the body construction will differ to what I did before. Here, the first element to be ready will be the cowl, then the radiator surround. The exact length of the hood will be dictated by those two elements and will certainly differs compared to the original dimension.

 

The wood block on the frame has to be trimmed till I can shape the brass around it; the rough nose is in the background. As the hood’s sides are flat, only the top and the small end will be used to shape the brass.

[Pat Hollingsworth]

Whenever I see your model's engine or a photo of one of the real ones, I think how tempting it would be to remove the hood and share that wonderful engine with all its porcelain and other interesting features. How'd it look pulling up to the valet parking at the country club lacking a hood? 

Roger, even your bucks for shaping the cowl show your skills. So delightful to see all of these things. Thank you so much.

[Mr. Don]

Wait a minute! Thats not wine crate wood! It looks like Pearwood. Did you go out and chop down a tree?

[Mr. Don]

-and,

I truly do love to see your work progress.

[Roger Zimmermann]

For once, no wood from a wine crate! I ordered some wood from a woodwork, it's beech. The same kind of wood I used for the Mark II...

[Roger Zimmermann]

It’s always more interesting to begin something new than to continue and finish an existing project…The hood vertical panels were put on hold while I was playing with the wood.

Now, I had to finish this “project” by soldering the hinges to the doors and inside the hood. Not a difficult job, however requiring some attention to have the proper gap at the doors as once soldered, an adjustment is rather problematic.

The most annoying task was to make the tiny springs which allow the doors to stay closed or open. I did a jig to bend the spring steel at the right place, but it was a flop. I used the proven method with some tweezers which gave 14 more or less different springs!

Anyway, the ventilations doors are built as I intended.

[Laughing Coyote]

WoW!!! Outstanding as always.

[Mr. Don]

The only thing more frustrating than making a spring is making a small spring!

The only thing more frustrating than making a small spring, is making a lot of them!

[Mr. Don]

Once again, your hand manipulation of steel is second only to Superman!

[Mr. Don]

I still marvel at the springs you made for your Continental windsheild wipers!

 

YBFLB, Don

[Roger Zimmermann]

To continue with the hood, two elements are missing: the firewall and the radiator surround. Obviously, the first element which will lead the body construction is the firewall. On this car, it was mainly made with steel and some metallic structure. As a convertible, the firewall/cowl must be as rigid as possible; the outer panels will contribute to that goal.

On the short brass sill, there is a “pocket”; the sill will be made with wood and will start into that pocket till the end of the car. I will use soft wood as on the model as the sill will have almost no real function.