Roger's handcrafted 1:12 scale models

[Laughing Coyote]

9 hours ago, Paulie9fingers said:

I now find myself looking at the parts to see if I can figure out how and where you used individual pieces to create the whole parts.

I look at a quarter and think "how in the heck can he make this stuff so small." Just truly amazing to see.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Martin! Well, I can do them so small with a lot of experience and good eyes...

[Roger Zimmermann]

The next job was to do the float bowl; each one is constituted with 5 elements silver soldered. By looking at the drawings/pictures, both elements are not at the same level, therefore I had to make a tool allowing me to screw both elements on the tool for final soldering.
Both pictures are showing one assembled carb and the other one on the tool as well as both carbs. 
There are still numerous small details which will be either silver or soft soldered. 

[Paulie9fingers]

So realistic I can almost smell the gas fumes 😂

[Roger Zimmermann]

The main body from both carbs are ready. Some cleaning finishing will be necessary before paint. Now, I can continue the throttle bodies as the main bodies will be a guide to attach what's still missing on the throttle bodies.
Of course, I still will have to fabricate the external elements like metering pin, inlet etc.

[JamesR]

On 10/25/2021 at 5:05 PM, Laughing Coyote said:

I look at a quarter and think "how in the heck can he make this stuff so small." Just truly amazing to see.

 

Now Roger will probably inform us that the quarters he's photographing are 1/12 scale, too. 😄 The scary thing is...I think he'd actually be capable of that.

[John S.]

Just amazing work all the way around. Roger, this is model making at it's best. 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Finally, I could finish the "casting" from both carbs. As I wrote earlier, some minute details were skipped. One of the most difficult element to be added to the throttle bodies was the accelerator pump castings. Thanks to the main carb on which the position of the accelerator pump was well located, I could do a fixture with a long screw giving the location in the space for that small "casting". This is the first picture.
As the accelerator pump casting was threaded, it could be vertically located at the right place. Then, it was a matter to do a spacer, adjust it at the proper dimension and silver soldering it on the throttle body.
Now I can do the various element which will be screwed on the carbs.
 

[Paulie9fingers]

They look great

[Pat Hollingsworth]

The carburetors are going to be superb- like the rest of this build. Can't get enough of your work. It's one of the high points of any day to see your latest achievement. 

And, I must say it's nice when we see the old 'eagle' quarter appear with the model. 

[Buicknutty]

Wow, just amazing work Roger!

Keith

[Randiego]

Roger,

I've been away for a while and when I returned to the thread, the carbs are almost complete.  WOW.  To get the carbs duplicated in this scale is Herculean !   What effort was expended to get the carbs to mimic the originals.  They wil be stupendous once painted.  Will you get the I D tag(s) made up that covers the float bowls?  That may be "over the top" as they may be too small to duplicate.  The original carbs from  Detroit Lubricator Company are a work of art.  I am sure that Cadillac gave them the criteria to produce them in that fine finish with nickel plated parts.  Beautiful.  Roger, I am sure that you will "fine tune" them and they will be "minature masterpieces" as is all of  your work.  It would be a shame to cover them with an air cleaner. 

Randy   

[Roger Zimmermann]

Randy, thanks for your comments! Don't worry about the air cleaner: they are not on the carbs like you can see on the first picture. By the way, not only Cadillac used that kind of carb: Packard used them too. The cover over the float is just different. On my carbs, I will use a decal.

 

Carbs making is not very exciting. Plus the sale of one of my cars was a real "distraction" for more than one month. Anyway, I did some small additions like the accelerator pump, which is in my case just a rod as well as other small details you could maybe catch on the attached pictures. The float's cover is attached by fake screws.
I still have to make the butterfly shaft and levers. 

 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Finally the carbs are over. I skipped some details as well as all springs because they are so small it makes no sense to add more complication. The actuating lever is a strange one, its shape is dictated by the exhaust manifold. Nothing is moving on the carbs; shaft, accelerator pump lever, idle lever and actuating lever are all together soft soldered . Once the carbs are installed, almost no lever can be seen as they are facing the engine.

[neil morse]

Roger, you are insane!  (But I mean that in a good way.  😄)

[Paulie9fingers]

Roger they look amazing.

Once again I took a quarter out of my pocket to be able to visualize exactly how small these incredible creations are.

 

(Is it just me or is anyone else having issues posting ?)

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Paulie! For the moment, I have no trouble posting.

 

Well, I'm not totally ready with the carbs: I tried to install one under the manifold assembly; it's almost mission impossible to turn the bolts as the space is very tight for one bolt. Maybe studs and nuts could help, but I prefer the following set-up: the carbs will be attached with a central screw from the exhaust manifold when the intake manifold is not yet installed, plus dummy bolts. 

[Pat Hollingsworth]

However you affix the carburetors, they will still be bits of jewelry. But, then again, all of what you have been creating here is jewelry too. 

[Paulie9fingers]

Roger that was spoken like a true engineer. The poor mechanic that has to work on this engine will be wondering why the carburetor still won't come off after removing the visual fasteners. 😂 😉 (great mounting solution by the way)

[Randiego]

Roger,

HOLY MOLEY as my grandfather use to say when there was an amazing item he would see.  THAT IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT for the description of these tiny jewels !  Wow, you really cannot appreciate the work that went into the carbs until, like Paulie 9 Fingers said "took a quarter out of my pocket to visualize" how small and intricate these carbs are.  

 I could not even fathom how small the levers and springs would be if they had to be duplicated in that scale !  When you attack some element or item of the build, it is beyond the pale for the discerning public to even imagine what goes into the creation of the element.  But we all get to watch how you progress with the items that you duplicate in minature.  Truely a master, Roger. Very few have a PHD in "Brassology"  but you have written the book on that subject.

We, who have been watching since the beginniing of the construction of the Continental, have had a wonderful "ride" following the trials and tribulations with each hurdle that you clamber over.  Truely amazing and all I can add is;   HOLY MOLEY ! ! 

 

 I am planning to venture up to Sylmar (2 hours in one direction without traffic) to reshoot that RR P2 Chassis over the holiday. It will be worth it and I will post them to the forum for all to see.  It, like the Cadillac chassis that Roger is building, is a work of art.  It is a shame to hide all that intricate beauty with a body.  That is why the museum left it as is.  The engineering that went into these early thirties automobiles depicts a time when the automobile design was combined with art.  And the premium builders did not throttle their designers with "budget constraints" like the bean counters of today.  It was not about  "the bottom line".  Not only did they make the parts as best as the technology was at hand at that time, they incorporated the artistic touch in each and every item of the car.  No ugly parts back then.  Just look at the Cadillac V 16 valve covers.  (Lyons used that design element when he brought out the Jaguar OHV 6 engine).  Stunning.  And the engine was finished in the lusturous black finish.  I wonder if it was lacquer (or ?) that they used on those engines?  Heat sensative paint is standard today but in the thirties?  Hopefully, one of the forum members knows that answer and can enlighten us on it.

Randy

[Dileep Gopalkrishnan]

Hi Roger,

Saw a badly maintained continental in one of the vintage collections in Gujrat India,Never expected to see it here.

But other cars were in good shape.I remember you when ever I come across this model.Yours is a better model than this.

[Buicknutty]

 You continue to simply astound me, Roger. Such fabulously detailed work.

Keith

[Roger Zimmermann]

On 11/21/2021 at 7:18 AM, Dileep Gopalkrishnan said:

Hi Roger,

Saw a badly maintained continental in one of the vintage collections in Gujrat India,Never expected to see it here.

 

Yep, that car saw better days...Strange that such a car landed in India...Not a fabulous color choice for the green Rolls or Bentley!

[Roger Zimmermann]

HELP!

The carbs are ready, what can I do now? Yes, I know, there are still so many parts to do, I only have the choice!

I decided to begin the tires because it will something taking a long time. So, I began to search for 7.50 - 18 tires to replicate. As my machine park is very limited, I cannot do a complicated tire's profile. I choose a Firestone with a zig-zag thread which should not be too complicated to do, similar to what I did with the Mark II tires. By searching for real tires, I found many variations. Most 7.50 - 18 tires have a section width of 8.6"! I probably did the error to think that the first group of numbers, in this case 7.50, is the section width. Why are the tires effectively much wider? 

It seems that the metric width on radial tires is effectively the correct section width: a 235R15 will be 235mm wide and not 250!

I did some search on that subject and found nothing very explicit about the designation and the effective dimensions for bias-ply tires. Who has an convincing explanation?

[Roger Zimmermann]

Last week, I ordered a large piece of brass (about $ 40.00) to make the tire pattern. As you can see, the stock I got is really the maximum which can be handled with this machine. The outside diameter is 70 mm (2 3/4") and the weight 1.47 kg (3 1/4 pounds)! There will be hours removing material and almost so much waiting time as the electric motor cannot run for hours without cooling from time to time.

[Paulie9fingers]

Roger I am no help as to the tire sizing, I have found that sometimes tires with the same sidewall designation can differ greatly in actual dimensions. I understand the process for modern tire sizing but have no idea how they came up with the early sizing, it seemed to have changed from era to era.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Paulie, thank to try to help! I did a lot of searches, but nothing came clearly. Of course, I cannot expect that the first dimension (the width) is exact at 100%. Some variations cannot be avoid, but such a tremendous difference is beyond my understanding. If the tires I'm looking for are 8.6" wide, logically, the nominal dimension would be 8.50-18! Such an incoherence... It almost like you have a  Dollar bill of $ 50.00 and at the counter the cashier say: ah, your bill has a value over $ 59.00!

[Luv2Wrench]

What is the size you want out of the stock?  Can you do a trepan/face groove to get the part out?  I just recently learned about trepanning and it is pretty cool, can save a lot of time and material.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Jeff, I don't understand what do you mean...The size I'm in the process to replicate is 7.50-18. Don't forget that my lathe is rather primitive and it's out of question that I'm buying fancy tools!

[drhach]

I recall this process from when you first started this thread. You're a brave man for taking the task on again.

 

[JamesR]

On 11/17/2021 at 9:54 AM, Roger Zimmermann said:

Amazing... Have you ever thought about making miniature mice to infest your models? But then you'd have to put lice on the mice! 😄

 

Seriously, though, it's amazing to think that up until I saw your thread a couple of years ago, I thought that those modelers who wrote those books (that I read as a kid) about building scale models from scratch were something from a distant past. Seeing your work is a little like discovering an artisan from a bygone era, like maybe the people who made Faberge eggs in the 19th century. My mom used to tell me about them when I was a kid. Great work and an inspiration to all of us.

[Roger Zimmermann]

14 hours ago, drhach said:

I recall this process from when you first started this thread. You're a brave man for taking the task on again.

 

Well, there is no other alternative. The tires from the Mark II have a smaller rim diameter and the brass tire used to make pattern was sent to the US to a collector. Making such a large piece of brass every 10 years is not too difficult. Just a lot of metal to remove!

[Roger Zimmermann]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

Amazing... Have you ever thought about making miniature mice to infest your models? But then you'd have to put lice on the mice! 😄

 

Seriously, though, it's amazing to think that up until I saw your thread a couple of years ago, I thought that those modelers who wrote those books (that I read as a kid) about building scale models from scratch were something from a distant past.

James, thanks for your comments! No, no animal are planed to make company to the models...And certainly not mice! I may imagine a cat or a dog, but how to feed it?

I also have the impression the way I'm making models is a thing of the past. Now, serious modelers are using 3-D technique. The end result is usually fantastic with minute details I could not reproduce. However, even if I were 20 years younger, I would not adhere to that because the only thing you have to master is a program from a computer.

[Pat Hollingsworth]

Roger, I can't say for certain, but from what I have seen you do, the modern imaging from computer generated stuff wouldn't appeal to you at all. While capable of making all sorts of things, it takes the task only to the technician level. True, craftsmanship is so much more precious. 

And, I also feel that the final product would only be a possession instead of your method that culminates in a well-earned sense of accomplishment. Bravo, Roger!

[John S.]

Beautiful work, as always, Roger!

[Roger Zimmermann]

It took two afternoons to get the large piece of brass to the shape it's now. Too deep a pass or higher rotation speed caused strong vibrations so it was a balance between low speed and moderate cutting deep. 
This rough element will be refined to look like a tire. 
My deepest concern was about the dimensions. The original tire was 7.50-18; those tires are reproduced as I stated earlier, but their dimension are strange. I found nowhere the correct dimensions from the thirties and the tires produced now are like overinflated with an exaggerated width and overall diameter. Why tire manufacturers are doing that now? I have no answer. Anyway, I was the "victim" of those practices when I was building the Mark II: I took the dimensions from my own 8.20-15 tires installed on my '56 Biarritz and reproduced the tires according to the dimensions I recorded. As a result, I was unable to fit the spare wheel into the trunk; I had to cut away a good portion of the thread to install it. Sure, it could also be that I did some errors and the space allowed for the spare tire was too small. 
Some years ago, a friend of mine discarded a restored spare wheel and the new tire installed over it because it could not fit the wheel well in his 1960 Corvette! Obviously, he got the same issue with an oversize tire. Strange.
As I noticed on several occasions, it's better to have parts a tad too small in scale model construction, I will do something similar with the tires: a compromise between the theoretical dimensions and the ones I saw on various advertisings. 

[Paulie9fingers]

Roger I went and looked on Coker Tires and saw this, this particular tire is referenced as a "balloon" tire, but I'm sure you've done your research and this is probably the tire you saw.
"This Firestone Balloon bias ply tire features a black sidewall. Sizing is 750-18 for luxury sedans from the 1930's, and the Firestone Balloon tire provides excellent ride quality and style. Authentic fitment examples are 1931 Cadillac V12, 1931 and 1932 Cunningham, 1932 and 1933 Lincoln Continental, 1932 Packard Twin, and 1932 Pierce Arrow. Exceptional car restorations demand authenticity and attention to detail. Firestone Balloon tires are made in original molds to maintain authenticity and feature genuine whitewall construction throughout the tire carcass. Firestone offers the world's best selling line of vintage bias ply tires. Authentic Firestone lettering embossed in the whitewalls where applicable, and these tires are DOT and ECE (European Community) approved where applicable and backed by our life of the tread warranty. Firestone Balloon tires are proudly made in the USA!"

 

 

Product Size	750-18
Tire Construction	Bias Ply
Sidewall Style	Blackwall
Width Bias Ply	7.50
Rim Diameter	18
Overall Diameter (in)	33.8
Section Width (in)	8.6
Tread Width	6.23
Rim Width (in)	4

[Roger Zimmermann]

Yes, I saw that. The section width should be 7.5" more or less, and not 8.6"!

[Luv2Wrench]

On 11/29/2021 at 11:31 AM, Roger Zimmermann said:

Jeff, I don't understand what do you mean...The size I'm in the process to replicate is 7.50-18. Don't forget that my lathe is rather primitive and it's out of question that I'm buying fancy tools!

I probably will not be able to explain this... but I'll try.  Let's say your stock is 8.5" in diameter and you want it to be 6.5" in diameter.  The typical thing to do is turn off 2" of the stock.  That can take a long time and, of course, turns your stock into chips.  Instead you can turn your tool perpendicular to the stock (face) and cut a groove in the face 6.5" out from the center.  Cut the groove as deep as needed and the part off the outside piece.  You'll be parting off a ring with an OD of 8.5" (the diameter of the stock) and an ID of 6.5" (minus the width of the cutter).  That then leaves your stock at the desired diameter.    Here's a picture from a video on it.  The rest of the video is here 

 

 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks for the explanation! However, Jeff, to do the same on my own part, a very strong/rigid machine is needed. On your video, aluminum was cut. Depending of the alloy, it can be soft or rather hard. The "ring" I had to remove would not have been possible with that method, because the cutting tool should be very long and thin. Breakage guaranteed!

You can just imagine the needed tool when looking at my latest picture: I went from 70mm to 10mm. Sure, this method would avoid a lot of chips and the "extracted" rings could be used for something else. 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Roger Zimmermann (see edit history)