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Roger's handcrafted 1:12 scale models


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Man, oh man! Those photos of the Toronado are awesome. The dashboard looks so like a real life-sized car, I can hardly believe it. If you were here I would give you a gold star.You ARE the man!!!!

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Thank you for the nice comments keiser31!

This morning, I got the news that I will have another Hydramatic transmission to repair, therefore I rushed a little bit and just finished the last assembly. You may ask if I'm doing a 6-wheeler? No, no, but it's always nice to have spares. Not a single wheelcover is so far perfect, I will have some choice to do when the car is ready.

And, what next? The fins? No, not yet: before I can start that last task, I have to do a device to assemble the covers on the wheels. Even by speaking politely with the wheelcovers, they will not jump at the wheels...

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Roger! I just checked out this thread and am amazed at your work. Wonderful! I never realized you did such precise work. I will be sure to follow it from this day on.

Thank you Paul! When the wheelcover will be finished, it will be more interesting; up to now, one does not really see what the end should be...

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Saturday, I got a 1958 Hydramatic to overhaul. Tomorrow, another '58 Hydramatic is coming for an overhaul; it will be the 5th Hydramatic transmission I'm overhauling this year...Plus an engine from a 1960 Cad which need some work. All these parallel activities are distracting me from the wheelcovers.

Finally, I found a reasonable solution for the fins. I will do slots on the wheelcovers; the fins will have a tail which will enter the slots. This method will simplify the assembly but will add some work to manufacture the fins; there is no free lunch as somebody said!

After trying to mill the slots on a test wheelcover, I realized that I needed better tools. Fortunately, some weeks ago I had a discussion with a Swiss member of our Cadillac Club. It happens that this man has a factory for dental tools. I could order from him some cutting discs covered with diamond.

This morning, I could do the slots to the first wheelcover. The wheelcover is held with contact cement on a modified die. The whole is installed on a divider tool; fortunately, I have a divider disc with 40 positions!

The third picture is showing a cover just removed from the form; there are still burrs which will be removed prior to the fins installation.

Only 5 to go!

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It took about 3 hours to do...OK, it's the first one, I had to fabricate a jig and I must improve the milling process to have less manual work after the milling. I expected to have no more than 5 minutes to do one fin; I can forget this optimistic value.

"Only" 239 to go! (there are 40 fins per wheelcover)

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  • 3 weeks later...

2 weeks of vacation = 3 weeks of inactivity to the model. It's amazing how much paper is coming when you're away!

Now that the most urgent matters are behind me, I could begin the mass production!

It begins with the shaving of the stock (necessary due to the lack of precision of my tool) as shown on the first picture.

The the stock is milled with a dentist tool, giving the section of the fins. The length is good for 8 fins. I cannot do more at once because of the limited length of the vice. I have 30 pieces to work at, giving 240 fins.

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as always Roger, you do everything well!

I was near from you 2 week end ago, at Reconvillier.

Maybe next time.

André Fitzback

Hi André!

Nice to "see" you here! For two weeks, I was probably still in France; we came back on September 15. Next time you come in Switzerland, please let me know. Reconvillier is at 8 miles from the place my cars are stored!

Is your Pontiac ready? Anyway, the frame is good looking!

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Yesterday, I began with the mass fabrication of the vanes. It seems that the month October will be busy with milling!

The first picture is showing the special tool I fabricated to keep the part to be milled at the proper angle.

The second picture is showing the birth of the tang which will be inserted into the cover.

The third picture is showing how I'm milling the sides of the tang. I cannot use the disc used in the picture nr. 2, because the machine is not precise enough and the milling tool is cutting on one side where it sould not. With a small diameter tool, the inconvenient disappears.

Then I'm cutting the vane from the ground material and the last picture is showing the end result. The lower brass part is now scrap. The vanes are not yet ready: the ends have to be trimmed at angle.

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Hi André!

Nice to "see" you here! For two weeks, I was probably still in France; we came back on September 15. Next time you come in Switzerland, please let me know. Reconvillier is at 8 miles from the place my cars are stored!

Is your Pontiac ready? Anyway, the frame is good looking!

I'll let you know, maybe this spring for a hockey trip.

Fitz.

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Now, I have to trim the ends. After that, each vane is fitted to the wheelcover; this last task showed me that I have to modify a little bit the position of the tab on the next vanes batch.

After the trimming was done, each vane is sanded and polished. Not an easy task with such small parts, but it can be done.

Then, the soldering of the vanes can begin!

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Another task perfectly executed. Well done. The model will weigh as much as the real car with that much detail put into it.

Thank you all! The wheelcover is weighting 5 gramms. The completed model will certainly not be a lightweight; however, like I did on the Avanti, I'm looking that it will not be more than 2 - 3 kg.

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It gives me a headache just thinking about doing something like that.

I wish I had 1 10/th of your patience.

Danny

Danny, I'm very sorry that you are getting mad about me! In fact, I have the impression that almost everybody, if not fitted with 2 left hands, can do what I'm doing. The huge difference, as you noted, is the patience and tenacity I have.

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Not mad at you at all mate.:eek:

What you do impresses the heck out of me. :):)

Doing something like that would send me nutso.

I admire anyone with your skill and your patience.

I have low patience with life size.:P:p

Always looking forward to the updates.

Danny

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  • 2 weeks later...

4 wheelcovers are now ready. Enough for the car, but I still have 2 empty "dishes" requesting their vanes. After the second wheelcover, to mill all those vanes is really boring.

To polish the vanes, there is just one method: to pinch them between 2 nails and rub them on 3 different sanding papers: 400, 1200 and finally on a sanding paper I don't know the grade. I have almost no nails anymore...I'm glad it's over soon!

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No! the empty slot will get the LAST vane! Yes, the wheelcovers are ready! At the time you will read this, the holes for the tire valve are done. I intended to solder a valve from the back of the wheelcover but I will attach the valve after the plating is done.

Most of my nails are either broken or sanded; the polishing of the last vanes was rather difficult...

The next task? It will be the air cleaner. Just ONE piece, rather easy to do. I would prefer to begin the frame, but the Swiss man who has some Mark II is very busy; maybe I can go to his place in November to measure a frame.

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On the air cleaner, there is the word "FRONT" embossed on top of the cleaner body. I intend to add this detail to my air cleaner so I began today with some milling (see the picture). You don't see a lot? Me neither, the letters are really tiny: 1.3 mm high. I'm not yet sure if I can succeed; the answer in a few days!

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The top part of the air cleaner is done (in 2 pieces) and I could do the FRONT letters. Boy they are small! Some are good, others, like the "O" will need some rework when soldered on the top of the air cleaner. Anyway, as they are not constantly under the nose of the viewer, they could be acceptable as they are.

I have to solder the letters before I'm loosing them!

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...and it's this attention to detail that keeps me coming back to this thread every time you update it, Roger. Thank you for the latest photos.

You are welcome!

Just a little update. I soldered the letters yesterday; while doing this, I lost the "N" while holding it with tweezers. Of course, I search almost everywhere: in my hair (still have sthem), on clothes, on the floor, on the desk, no N. I decided to solder the backing part (letters are done that way: a piece of .3mm brass is soldered on another piece of 1mm, the assembly is milled entirely). Suddenly, something was shining on the desk: the N! From where it came from? Those damn things have sometimes their own life.

I did also the bottom part of the air cleaner as shown on the pictures. Is the air cleaner ready? Not quite: I have to install the air duct guide as well as the recesses for the thermostat housing and A/C fast idle speed-up control. The definitive form will be done once the engine is ready.

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I had to put the air cleaner on side for the moment as it can only be finished when the engine is ready, because of the tight fit of the air intake.

As the Swiss man who owns several Mark II has no time for the moment, I cannot measure a frame from one of his cars. Therefore, I'm beginning the engine. With the number of illustrations found in the shop manual (sorry, the technical data book), plus the pictures I took in June as well as the dimensions I measured on a real engine, I had the impression that it would be an easy task to establish the basic dimensions.

It is not: either my measures are not correct or the drawings in the technical data are inconsistent. The chase to details is also not an easy task: there is no picture of the engine block from the RH front or LH rear! My pictures are also mostly useless: most details are hidden behind the dirt of the removed engines I could photograph.

Anyhow, I began the fundamental work: the 4 sides plus bottom, see the pictures. Does not look like a Lincoln or Continetal engine? Wait a little bit! I can add some details wich will improve greatly that first step.

By the way, if somebody has good pictures from a '56/57 Lincoln engine block or knows that a friend did some pictures while overhauling his engine, please let me know.

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The engine is slowly taking shape. I'm spending almost more time to study the various documents I have than the constuction itself!

Anyway, I think I'm on the right way; details of the sides of the engine are still confuse; maybe I will find someday the right pictures

The attached pictures are showing the block from behind. No, there will be no pistons; the holes are just for fun! The hole for the lifter valley is not yet done; I still cannot determine it's length.

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