Cooper Bristol T20 '52

[WFE99]

After following this forum for quite a while, I'm finally ready to start posting my first WIP. The subject is a 1/43 K&R Replica model of a 1952 Cooper Bristol T20 MK1. As I love these old F1/F2 cars, this was a must. The simplicity (more on that later) of this kit kind of lured me into into it.

In addition, the shape as shown below is just wonderful. By the way, although a simple kit, the body looks great. Just needs a bit of cleaning and filling.



So, as said, a fairly simple kit, but with some flaws ... the first one that I will attack is the entire front suspension assembly. As you can see, it is rather crude and not at all realistic. So this means scratch building new dampers and leaf springs, control arms and brakes.



So, quite a lot of detail work in the coming days or weeks. Will post the progress.

Wim

[Ettore]

You must be building that front suspension in brass? Challenging, but it can be done.

[WFE99]

Originally Posted by Ettore

You must be building that front suspension in brass? Challenging, but it can be done.

Ettore, indeed. Brass or alu are options for the leaf springs. A styrene prototype, see below, is just not looking good. The glue melts the styrene too much, leaving more a blob than individual "leafs".



So, of the brass sheets and the soldering iron... .

[Ettore]

I'm working on a project similar to yours. I only build in 1/24th scale. It is a Bugatti "Baby" ( also called type 52). It is an electrically powered child's car that is 1/2 the size of their type 35 racer; so it is effectively 1/48th scale. Body is resin, that I sanded and dremeled to shape. Front suspension is brass, constructed over corian, a hard countertop material. I apply heat with a pencil torch, which is such a small flame, the pieces can be taped down and the solder will melt before the tape catches fire, sometimes. I am now waiting for the wheels so I can make the axle. The wheels I designed in Sketchup and are being 3d printed by Shapeways.

[Ettore]

Here's a few tips about brass: lightly sand the pieces, and apply flux before soldering. Don't use a soldering iron - use a "pencil" torch. It can apply a very small flame to a very small area. Not much solder is needed ; the solder I use is about .5 mm in diameter. Cut off a small piece and place it on the joint. Brass is available in many different sizes of strips. You should be able to find it in width and thickness that you can use, without going to the trouble of cutting each piece. With springs, make the one that connects to the axle of brass, all others can be plastic, which saves a lot of tedious soldering. If you need to bend an axle but the brass is too hard, heat it, allow it to cool and that will soften it. Then you can bend it easily. After bending, reheat it and immediately plunge it into water to cool it. That will make it hard again, this is called "tempering". If you have several joints near each other and when you solder the second joint, and it melts the first joint, get from a jewelery supply some hard, medium and soft silver solder. Hard solder has a high melting point, medium is less, soft is lesser. Make the first joint with hard solder, the second with medium solder, which because has a lower melting temperature, will not melt the first joint. Solder will flow toward heat, so heat the area you want the solder to go to; usually the larger piece, which needs more heat, anyway. Good luck!

[Ettore]

I am unable to see the two images I posted yesterday. Why is that?

[Ettore]

Now if I am not logged in, I can see the first image but not the second. If I am logged in and cannot see either image. This is confusing, can anyone help?

[rallymaster]

Are you hosting your pics on AF ?
I can only recommend you to host them elsewhere. Also please don't post thumbsnails, full size pics are better.
first one appears full size but second one is posted as thumbsnail...

[Ettore]

Try again.

[Ettore]

No luck, this is frustrating.

[WFE99]

Ettore,

thanks for the tips. Indeed, trying it with a soldering iron didn't work out so I fell back to styrene (tried other types of glue, which seam to work better). However, your idea about the pencil torch is interesting. Will get my hand on one and try. For the brass strips, I wasn't able to locate sizes which are in scale (my measurements require +- 0.75mmx0.25mm (sorry, I'm metric ;-) ) strips. So I'm making my own (which is possible with a bit of precision measuring and cutting).

To be continued.. .

[Ettore]

Now when I'm logged in I can see the second image, but not the first. Can anyone else see it? How odd. Anyway.... a pencil torch is the best way, you can heat in very small areas. K&S Engineering makes brass strips as small as .5mm X .6mm.

[WFE99]

While I'm still working on the front wheel assembly ... a small three in a row of the working queue. One of them might end as a paper weight :-).

[WFE99]

From WIP to RIP ...

After fiddling around at - in my perspective - subatomic levels of suspension components, I have decided to give this a rest. Goal of this build was to have a quick (relative) result and finally build something, but at some point, I lost sight of this goal :-)...

So, results of the work over the past few weeks (al lot of Trial and error and getting my hands on raw material and tools - the mini-torch is awesome by the way ...) is shown in the picture below. Not bad, but not yet at a level I wish to get for some of the parts.



The final "drop" in making me stop this for the moment is the result of some 'last minute' cleaning of the body, adjusting a small bent...



Not a dramatic problem, but just enough for me to give up this one. Many lessons learned (which is good) ... and maybe I'll give it another try in a couple of months/years/decades ;-).

Up to something else (1/24 scale this time).

[Ettore]

You've discovered why I only build in 1/24th scale. Actually, you've done very well, considering how small the parts are. Had you considered carving that body in wood? It's fairly simple and shouldn't be too difficult. Here is a pic of my progress, I have simplified the suspension.