Hello again!
I've spent the last few weeks continuing with work on the gearbox and associated parts. First up, I've added the horizontal web detailing on the gear cluster section of the 'box, various bosses and bushes, and the mounting tubes which will eventually support the tail brackets:
These two photos were taken a couple of weeks or so ago; in the last couple of days I've finished detailing the end cover with some oil feeds, extra webbing, hex nuts, etc:
...and a small oil pump down on the left-hand side:
While in 'gearbox mode' I also made the rear anti-roll bar and mounting blocks:
The aluminium crosstube section is in two pieces so the outer arms can rotate freely, rather than actually twisting the bar - what works in real life doesn't replicate in model scale. I've also made a start on the droplinks and the connecting arms which will be on the inner ends of the rear top wishbones, but these need more work when I've got the rear suspension in a more assembled state.
Next, I returned to the 'ox-bow' adaptor between the engine and gearbox. This has an upper cover section which allows access to the clutch mechanism and mounts the slave cylinder, ignition coil, etc. I made the baseplate for this early last year while making the rest of the ox-bow, but didn't need to do anything with it for a while...until now. Here's the plate, with some of the other component parts in the early stages:
...and after more work:
...and with some more detailing:
The little piece of painted mechanism you can see in the second photo is fitted inside the tube ahead of the slave cylinder, and is visible through the slot in the top. Another one of those little things that doesn't really need to be there and will only be seen properly by a handful of people!
The slave cylinder was one of a few small parts made in the last couple of weeks:
From the top moving clockwise: starter motor, starter motor 'bridge', ignition coil, clutch slave cylinder, starter solenoid end cap. The coil mounting varies from car to car - on some it attaches to a plate and then to the top of the ox-bow cover, on other cars it bolts straight onto the cover; I'll worry about this later.
The starter motor was one of those satisfying weekend jobs - begin on Friday night with a collection of bits of tube and some photos, and by Sunday night it's pretty much ready to paint. Lots of small bits of strip and detailing where the solenoid connects to the main body, provision for the wiring to connect, etc, and a secure pinned connection into the side of the ox-bow. The 'bridge' piece fits onto the side and covers where the starter pinion would be, reinforcing the ox-bow casting:
What next? I'm getting to the stage where I feel like a change from making gearbox parts - seems like that's all I've been doing all summer! I guess I can either go back into the cockpit - fuel pumps, fire extinguisher pipework, seat and seatbelts, etc - or make a start on the eight brake calipers, so I can then think about making some wheels. Or I give the radiators and intercoolers some serious thought - I really want to improve on how I make the fins on these, but I'm struggling to work out how I can do it (relatively) easily...and without losing my mind. If anyone out there can do custom photo-etch to spec, I might be interested in having a chat!
All the best,
SB