Roger's handcrafted 1:12 scale models

[Roger Zimmermann]

For a week now I painted the body. Some imperfections could be sanded down and polished; I’m far from ready. The problem is I don’t know how thick the clear coat is and I don’t want to get to the color coat, it would be a disaster!

In between, I painted the frame. The quality standard must not be the same as for the body; it was a light job. I began to assemble the many parts waiting; the first “victim” was the rear axle.

I believe that the Bible is saying something like “the last ones will be the first ones” (I was not too keen at those stories). I did that too: the last part to be fabricated was the antenna; it’s the first to be installed on the front fender! The mast will be added at the end, too dangerous during the assembly!

 

[jpage]

Roger, 

        

    Your work just amazes me! The level of detail and scale is wonderful. I just don't know how you manage to make those small parts in that scale! Beautiful work!

[ScrapJunkie]

Oh, this is exciting! Final assembly begins!

[Roger Zimmermann]

1 hour ago, ScrapJunkie said:

Oh, this is exciting! Final assembly begins!

Exactly! However, it will not be easy...

[Paulie9fingers]

As excited and happy as I am to see the assembly of all of these amazing pieces begin, it also brings about a little sadness, this means that the project will be coming to an end.

[Alex D.]

 

Final assembly

[Roger Zimmermann]

It will take some time to finish: to insert the first  screws inside the body, I had to make a special tool...

 

@Alex: my assembly line is not looking exactly the same way!

[Laughing Coyote]

Don't let Roger fool you. He has little helpers for the assembly process. You can see that same quarter on the floor.  

 

I can't wait until it starts getting back together. Just so cool.

 

 

 

[Roger Zimmermann]

3 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said:

Don't let Roger fool you. He has little helpers for the assembly process. You can see that same quarter on the floor.  

 

Ah! Here it is! I was wondering where that damn quarter was...Glad you found it!

[Buicknutty]

 I can understand your sadness when the build comes to and end, as I will be as well. I so much enjoy seeing your progress, and how you overcome the difficulties of the construction.

However, on the flip side, i will be awesome to see the finished product.

Keith

[Roger Zimmermann]

The last few days, I assembled the large components on the frame and some on the body. As the parts were done a long time ago for most, I have to be careful with the installation sequence. The hand brake lever is made with 2 parts; logically I attached the first one (a support) to the body, just to notice that a screw attaching the lever to the support cannot be inserted. Remove the whole and began again. Then a screw broke…Fortunately, I could extract it without drama. Once all was into the body, I just noticed that the lever can be pushed back, it does not hold! After removal, I saw that the lack of lubrication was the culprit… The fourth tentative was the good one! In between, I had to fabricate a wrench to tighten the screws. Working inside the painted car is of course requiring more care which translates with more time.

 

The assembly of the large elements on the frame was straight forwards with one difference: not all elements were previously assembled together. I notice some interference between the brake lines at the rear axle and the transversal exhaust tube; some “massage” was in order.

 

The shock absorbers were done for 6 years, but were unpainted. Usually, those parts are black but, with a black frame and black underbody, some fantasy was needed: I painted them the same color as the body. The purists will jump; I can say that it was a special request from the owner! It was a challenge to insert the front shock absorbers at the hole in the frame because as they are not gas charged, the rod retracts if not exactly at the hole…

 

All is good? Not quite: I’m unsure if the hand brake will function. There is a provision to adjust the cable at the equalizer; on the real car this is done by removing a cover at the tunnel. Even if I would have done a removable cover, I would have been unable to turn the nuts…Another problem:  the cable which is emerging from the frame (on the frame picture, this is near the steering box) must be attached at the shiny lever which can be seen on another picture. This can only be done when the body will be mated to the frame with all elements in the way, like engine, battery support and so on. Maybe I will be able to connect both with the help of a special tool, who knows…

[Paulie9fingers]

I'm always at a loss for words to be able to express just how cool and amazing this really is.

[ScrapJunkie]

I'm with Paulie. Whoa. That frame picture is incredible. If you didn't know any better, you just might be fooled into thinking it's the real thing.

[Pat Hollingsworth]

Those pictures of the frame assembly are so stunning, Roger, that I think you'll have restorers of the actual autos using your construction here to build the real cars. Life imitating art? Could happen.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Maybe Pat, maybe! Over the years, I restored 3 Cadillacs from the fifties...When my last one was ready, about 2001 or 2002, I said: never again! On the attached picture, this is my workplace. Almost everything is done here, except the paint which is done in the kitchen.

As you can see, the frame is in the background!

[Randiego]

Mon Dieu ! ! !     (I don't spell in French too well),

 

Geeeez Roger, 

 

The frame with the detail and looking at the firewall of the Mark is so realistic.  If one did not know better, they  would think that these elements are being posed for the technical manual from Ford on the Continental.

It is getting exciting to see the frame come together with all of the elements that we watched you fabricate.  Now we get to see how they all fit together and the finished look of that part of the build. 

 

It is sad that the people seeing the car completed, even with the car inverted for pictures of the underside, will not see all of the painstaking detail that you have been through with this model.  I am in amazement, along with the rest of the followers of your thread, at how exact the 1:12 looks compared to the full sized components. 

 

I will save the biggest and longest  Bravo's till the car is complete.  You get the deserving compliments every  time that you post.  Many watch and do not add compliments but you must know that they are out there waiting to see the next installment.

 

Randy 

 

 

[ericmac]

On 5/5/2018 at 11:34 AM, Randiego said:

Mon Dieu ! ! !     (I don't spell in French too well),

 

Geeeez Roger, 

 

The frame with the detail and looking at the firewall of the Mark is so realistic.  If one did not know better, they  would think that these elements are being posed for the technical manual from Ford on the Continental.

It is getting exciting to see the frame come together with all of the elements that we watched you fabricate.  Now we get to see how they all fit together and the finished look of that part of the build. 

 

It is sad that the people seeing the car completed, even with the car inverted for pictures of the underside, will not see all of the painstaking detail that you have been through with this model.  I am in amazement, along with the rest of the followers of your thread, at how exact the 1:12 looks compared to the full sized components. 

 

I will save the biggest and longest  Bravo's till the car is complete.  You get the deserving compliments every  time that you post.  Many watch and do not add compliments but you must know that they are out there waiting to see the next installment.

 

Randy 

 

 

Randy is exactly right. I am a scale model builder in addition to a car restorer. Nobody i have ever seen anywhere in world is in the same league as Roger. I guess in every hobby, sport or avocation, someone has to be the best in the world,  right? In model building, Roger is that someone. I appreciate Roger taking all of us for the ride.

[Luv2Wrench]

It really is incredible, surreal even.  I see it, I know it is real, but it is still hard to fathom.  It is almost easier to believe that Roger has built a shrinking machine and is just shrinking down full size parts and fooling us.    AH, now I know... he has invented a shrinking AND enlarging machine.  He makes the small parts as rough reasonable facsimiles, then enlarges them so he can easily add detail and then he shrinks them back down.  Yes, that is the explanation.   I bet the "special tool for assembly" is just this... he momentarily enlarges the car so he can get in there and put a few parts in place and then shrinks it back down before the time/space continuum is disrupted. 

 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Luv2Wrench (see edit history)

[Roger Zimmermann]

Jeff, that would be a fantastic machine! The problem to attach the hand brake cable to the lever would be solved almost with closed eyes! I think I will order such a machine for the coming Christmas; why did you not come earlier with that solution?

[SiliconS]

I'm compelled to reply too. Roger, here's your chassis assembly:

 

 

Here's a photo of a real chassis (different vehicle!), mid-restoration:

 

 

You can see why people might be impressed by how unbelievably detailed your model chassis has become and how incredible your skills look. It's genuinely amazing.

Edited May 8, 2018 by SiliconS (see edit history)

[Roger Zimmermann]

...with one major difference: some of the steering nuts should be secured by a cotter pin, I cannot do that!

[Laughing Coyote]

49 minutes ago, Roger Zimmermann said:

..with one major difference: some of the steering nuts should be secured by a cotter pin, I cannot do that!

With the amount of hard work and detail that you are putting into this model, i'm sure it's not an issue with any of us on this Forum. Just amazing work Roger 

[keiser31]

2 hours ago, Roger Zimmermann said:

...with one major difference: some of the steering nuts should be secured by a cotter pin, I cannot do that!

Well, Roger....since the Continental will not be on the road, the omission of the cotter pins will not be critical. There are so many other awesome details to see, the average person will miss the "no cotter pin" nuts.

[Roger Zimmermann]

In fact, even wit my tools, this could be done. However, sometimes you have to say Stop! otherwise I could need 20 years for the completion!

 

Am I now in a pure assembly operation? Not at all! There is always something to adjust, modify or fabricate. By assembling the vent window frame, I noticed an ungainly space between the molding and vent window; on a real car the weatherstrip would close the gap. As a weatherstip for the vent window is absurd at that scale, I did a brass part, covered with black type to make the deal.

Then I inserted the 5 wires into the RH door’s conduit. I had the choice of color coded wires and red ones. Unfortunately, the color coded wires have a diameter of 0.8 mm while the red wires have a 0.5 mm diameter. I could insert 2 coded wires and 3 red ones. The other door is requiring 11 wires, but the aperture was done a bit larger on purpose. Would I succeed to enter so many wires? If I remember well, I could before, but the conduit was not yet soldered to the door. Anyway, I tried and I managed to even insert one color coded wire, but not two!

Of course, to recognize the wires, I will have to paint them at both ends, but on a short distance. I did not that before, because paint is taking space and would probably be wiped away during the insertion.

 

[Paulie9fingers]

One of the great things about this build thread, other than visually seeing your creation, is the details you give us as to how and why something was performed. It makes your build that much more amazing having somewhat of an idea of what you are doing to reach your intended goal.

[Roger Zimmermann]

For most people, by just adding pictures would be enough. The minority like to know how and why, plus see the result, of course! This is what I think; I could be wrong and not for the first time.

[jpage]

How in the world do you make those tiny hose connection and brake line fittings? Even in 1/6 scale, twice the size of your car, I was having trouble with the small parts! And those ball joints and u-joints. Just amazing and inspiring!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Somewhere in this thread there was the description how the ball joints are done. It must be at the beginning because the pictures are dated November 2011, a long time ago! For the brake line fittings...well turning some brass on the lathe with the appropriate dimensions. the challenge was to find something suitable to reproduce the brake hoses. I fund some rubber string with 1 mm diameter. The fitting is bored with a 1.2 mm bit; the rubber string can be inserted and stay that way without glue. By adding glue the insertion into the bore is sometimes difficult, but it can be done and this way the rubber string stay in place even if you are looking  intensively at it!

[Larry Schramm]

Roger,

 

Your work is incredible.  I wish I had the skills to do what you are doing on your model to do on my full size cars.

[Buicknutty]

 Roger, what you say about just adding pictures is true for the general population, though most of us on the forum here work on our own (full size) cars, so are mechanically inclined, to say the least. Some are engineers and mechanics, so knowing how hard it is to do some things on our cars, it is extremely interesting to see how you overcome the challenges to do things at 1:12th (I think you said?).

 Keith

[Roger Zimmermann]

3 hours ago, Larry Schramm said:

Roger,

 

Your work is incredible.  I wish I had the skills to do what you are doing on your model to do on my full size cars.

To make a model or restore a real car are totally different tasks. I restored 3 Cadillacs; I could not fabricate the bad or missing parts with some minor exceptions. Like you, I had to buy them!

[Roger Zimmermann]

5 minutes ago, Buicknutty said:

 Roger, what you say about just adding pictures is true for the general population, though most of us on the forum here work on our own (full size) cars, so are mechanically inclined, to say the least. Some are engineers and mechanics, so knowing how hard it is to do some things on our cars, it is extremely interesting to see how you overcome the challenges to do things at 1:12th (I think you said?).

 Keith

As I wrote: I could be wrong!

[Roger Zimmermann]

The doors are equipped with a link to hold the door open; these parts are done since a very long time. I noticed this morning that they must be installed BEFORE the vent window frame. Therefore, I will have to remove the frame from the RH door…

I checked also how bad the wiring from the LH door will twist by opening/closing the door. For that, I had to install one more time the LH door. I’m glad that I just have to insert 2 pins and not unscrew/screw the 8 bolts attaching the hinges to the body! Once installed, surprise, surprise! The 11 wires are twisting on their own axis without effort or binding; a good point for the Ford engineering. I like those surprises!

 

 

[Randiego]

Roger,

 

Your picture of the door with the wires looks to be about the size of the real part.  And looking at the wire, they are very small in diameter.  We look at the pictures in the thread and do not realize that sometimes the pictures are larger than what the real size is. 

 

Looking at the "Continental" letters that you got back from the plater, they must be TINY.  We all know that you hand carved every one of them.  No CNC lathe here, just diligence with a file and sand paper.  The wow factor is in every part that you make.

 

Amazed.

 

Randy

 

[Roger Zimmermann]

10 hours ago, Randiego said:

 We look at the pictures in the thread and do not realize that sometimes the pictures are larger than what the real size is. 

 

Looking at the "Continental" letters that you got back from the plater, they must be TINY.  We all know that you hand carved every one of them.  No CNC lathe here, just diligence with a file and sand paper. 

It depends about the size of your screen! On my PC, the doors are larger than on the screen. The wires are oversize: the smaller have a diameter of 0.5 mm which is 6 mm at 1:1 (about 1/4"). In reality, wires used in doors are smaller in diameter.

 

I used mostly milling tools to carve the letters and a file to cut the corners of the "C" and "O", but you are right, no CNC machine. The letters are 1 mm in height or 0.04".

 

Thanks for the comments!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Yesterday, I attached permanently the headliner to the body, this is the first trim part installed. I saw that my sequence to assemble the side/front inner moldings and sail panels is not the way it should: I must first install the sail panels and then the side moldings. Makes the whole assembly more difficult. In between, I put the bulbs into the tail lamp assemblies; as I expected, the LH tail light gave me trouble because all the tries I did were without the paint and without wiring, what a difference! The small spring to keep the tail lamp open or closed is way too weak; I’m not doing a stronger one, because the space is so tight. Anyway, the LH lamp is almost perfectly closed… with some persuasion. As you can see from some pictures, the electrical wires for the lamps are now in the way until the circuit can be completed.

The headlamps were installed too, as well as some accessories on the RH front wheelhouse.

The underbody coating is done too; it’s a mix between some underbody coating from Dupli-Color and black paint sprayed with low pressure to get some texture. The whole is not perfect, it will be hardly seen with all the hardware from the frame and exhaust.

 

[keiser31]

Roger....I must have missed the part where you did the headlamp bulbs! That is SO lifelike and looks so like a life-sized car!!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Do you mean the headlamp "glass" or the bulb? The headlamp was described in the posts 606/607. The bulb is from a store, diameter 3 mm (0.12"). My headlamps are not the sealed beam type!

[keiser31]

57 minutes ago, Roger Zimmermann said:

Do you mean the headlamp "glass" or the bulb? The headlamp was described in the posts 606/607. The bulb is from a store, diameter 3 mm (0.12"). My headlamps are not the sealed beam type!

I meant to say the glass. I guess I do remember you making them, but I am still impressed.

[Randiego]

Roger,

 

The parts are coming together ! !  They are so authentic, one has to remind oneself that they are only 1:12 of the original size.  The lenses on the headlights are just immaculate as is everything else that you are doing on this car, er, model.  The underside pan of the car looks like the original. 

 

I saw a 56 Continental here in Carlsbad over a year ago.  It was all original and the new owner bought it from an estate.  It was untouched with 18K miles on it.  Being in a garage for the last 60 or so years and barely driven, the new owner was having it checked out.  It was up on a lift and we were looking at the underside. Not a spot of rust, dirt or any discoloration  anywhere. The factory undercoating was "textured" and completely sprayed to cover the whole underside.  Continental builders did not miss anything when they were building their Marks.  Each one was perfection.  Ford would have it no other way.

 

I was hoping to get pictures of it but the shop owner was a jerk and told me that no photography was allowed.  ? ? ? For what reason I do not know but I abided by his wishes.  It would have been so cool to get the underside of this untouched car in such pristine condition.  The next day I came back and the car was on the ground.  The interior and head liner was as the day it was delivered to the new owner.  The mechanic told me that the paper floor protectors from the dealer were still in the trunk along with all of the original dealer pre delivery inspection reports, window sticker and tags off of the engine that only the dealer was to remove. They were kept for the new owner in an envelope and placed in the trunk.  The mechanic told me that the owners manual was still in its sleeve, untouched.  A complete car.  Blue with blue/white interior.  Just immaculate. 

 

I have been attending the local car shows to see if it shows up.  Shame that I could not photograph it.   I tried to find out who owned it and was met with the same terse reply.  He must have been under orders not to have the new owner's info shared with the public.

 

Randy