Tommy Ivo's Showboat 1/8 Scale

[JunkGTZ]

Museum quality work Ken!

[xken]

"Congratulations to your son-in-law! A pretty young captain!"

Don, yes and a very good one! He has been the Captain of the Year for Maresk and also took the Detroit from the worst ship in the fleet to number 1 in a year and a half.
He also has some pretty interesting sea stories.

[gbritnell]

Hi Ken,
I have known you and your work for years and it's truly outstanding. I just don't have words for the Ivo dragster! What a project.

[xken]

George thanks! Yes it has been a fun project and learning experience. I now know more about dragsters than I ever did. I must acknowledge the great reference material I was able to purchase from the original builder Bruce Dydra that enabled the details and accuracy of this build. One drawing for example had all the dimensions for the chassis which was the foundation needed. Looking down the road the next great challenge will be the artwork to make the decals. I doubt that I will be able to duplicate the gold engine turning in the lettering of the original.
Thanks again for your kind words of support!

[xken]

The fuel injection linkage to tie the four engines together required quite a few small parts to be fabricated, especially the rod arms. The parts were chrome plated in the groups as they were made. The 2mm hex bars (ordered from Germany) were drilled and tapped to receive the adjustable tie rod ends bolted to the tapped link arms and then plated . One can see the bends in the aluminum gas lines for clearance of the arms. I have to admit that I was fooled when making the gas lines for the rear engines in that in the photo it looks straight, however the bent loop is not seen. I had to remake that one line on both engines with the bent loop up to clear the hex bar link. Last was the 1/16" center tube with the link arm soldered to it and the 1/32" rod linking both engines went through it. The adjustable connector rod with both ends adjustable was connected to the throttle rod down between the engines that linked back to the pedal. Looks complicated but once understood was fairly simple to fabricate just a little time consuming with few tight tolerances.
















Next to make a retaining spring for the gas tank. The original according to Bruce was a screen door spring.

[MODEL A MODEL]

Synergy, "the sum of the whole exceeds the sum of it's parts!"

Masterpiece time!

[Farmboy]

Man, that is some kind of workmanship, a level very few will aspire to. I do have a question...or two. I'm about to start Revell 's 1/25th scale issue of Ivo's showboat and was doing research to add detail the kit omits or over simplifies and The Force led me to your thread. Things like the oil pan mods are gold! If I could ask a question or two. Where is the water/coolant tank?...and how is it plumbed to connect to the engines? Also, the fuel lines. Your post says three lines go 'down' between the engines from the fuel pumps and are tee'd. I can -- and will -- imaginate the setup, but is there any chance of a diagram, schematic, or photo to narrow this down? I am re-reading your build once again and still can't take all your detail work in. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing, this thread is killer stuff!

[xken]

OK first there is no water tank hence the extra capacity oil pans since each engine was sealed individually.
Here is the sketch Bruce the original builder sent me. I hope this helps; the upper line to the gas tank is for the overflow the bottom line from the tank is the feed line.
Good luck with your build I have seen references that it was a poorly engineered. Post your build when you get going.

[Farmboy]

You are a man among men, Ken. That's exactly what I had been head scratching about. Thank you thank you.
Regards

Mike

[xken]

I re-chromed the exhaust pipes and thought I would share some of the experiences I have learned. The process of chroming is fairly easy and if one is neat could be done on the dinning room table. First two small glass containers for the solutions and one larger shallow one for water rinsing. The brass part if no solder joints can be chrome directly in the copy chrome solution. If solder joints one must copper plate first since solder shadows will have if no copper. Think of the copper coating as paint primer . The wand is wrapped with gauze around the anode on the wand. I found it is best to wet the gauze with the solution as it is being wrapped to pre wet and penetrate easy when added for the first time. Wrapping too tight can actually cause no solution penetration. Once wet the wand "heel" is used to regulate the amount of voltage to the part. The smaller the part the less of the heel in the solution. The mass of the part has a great deal to the end results.
The brass parts must be as clean as possible, especially any residue from polishing. Clean with soapy water or scrub with pumice and rinse clean. If possible wear latex gloves to avoid skin oils getting on the parts. This applies whether re-chroming of first time chroming. In the case of the exhaust pipe the alligator clip is attached first to the exhaust end and put in the solution; then rotated to the flange end which will result in the final finish. The time in the solution is based upon the size of the part and chroming starts as some as the part touches the solution.The part will look like dull aluminum and down right ugly when coming out of the solution. I then used a 429 Dremel Felt buffing pad. Several will be needed. I apply the RED Rouge I purchased at AutoZone and loaded up the wheel and started buffing working up and down and around half the pipe. The part will get warm to hot while buffing based upon the amount of pressure allied melting the wax carrier in the rouge turning it black. Use more rouge to remove. If you burn through the chrome finish and have a smooth transition re-chroming can be done, however, if you chuck out the chrome with a ragged edge one must sand the chrome off and start over. No sense pushing a rope just sand it off with 320 wet sandpaper. In the case of the exhaust pipe I polished one at a time since they were unique to each location.
I would encourage anyone to give chroming parts a try, the chrome finish and luster just cannot be duplicated with paint.

[MODEL A MODEL]

Thanks again! Ken!

Have you ever tried to Electro-strip? a platting?

I assume the polarity is reversed?

[xken]

Thanks again! Ken!

Have you ever tried to Electro-strip? a platting?

I assume the polarity is reversed?

No I have not. The plating is thin enough to easily sand off the pipes. I have only ever had to sand off two parts due to residual rouge and not cleaning the part as good as I should have. Just part of my own learning experience.

[xken]

After polishing the exhaust pipes my order of felt pads arrived and I moved on to polishing the wheels. Again using the Red Rouge I carefully polished both the inside and outside. Dancing Bear Components did a fantastic job on the custom design of the wheels, but the polishing took them to the next level. I also converted the rear wheels to being attached with studs rather than the 0-80 bolts that was used while building. Next came the valve stems with a locating pin to fit into the 1/16" holes in the rims and painted black.
I have also ordered the 1/8" I.D. clear shrink tubing for the gas tank retaining spring. I also revised the artwork for the decals and have ordered them as well. In the meantime I have a wooden base in the works and ordered a glass display case.
I will take some random pictures of the build to date.

[MODEL A MODEL]

Congratulations!

A very nice build! -it holds up very well zooming in.

Regarding a previous mention of the Gold decaling? I'm guessing it has some of the "Engine Turned " appearance? There is a book, GOLD LEAF TECHNIQUES 4, on page 110, describes creating that effect on GOLD Leaf . Using Velvet chucked up in a drill? Perhaps a short , 'soft-ish' brush could be used? -Anyway, the 'spun' effect can be made onto the GOLD Leaf . Clear coat that, and mask off to paint, or apply a decal with a open space? -showing off the spun metal finish?

All the "?" are to indicate that I have not tried this technique, yet.

But you seem to be a brave soul!

Just an idea?

Again, beautiful model! Thank you for sharing!

[xken]

Yes the background is gold engine turning on the original. I actually have pictures of the painter applying it. But that tiny the best the decal supplier can do is a gold dapple; which is better than just plain yellow. As for engine turning, I have done 1/8 scale engine turning on aluminum sheet using a Dremel straight wire brush and then seized the wire almost down to the ends of the wires. Then using my mill turned a section which came out great and looked the real deal. I tried finding a picture; but my filing system is great however, my retrieval system sucks. If I ever find it I will post it. Now just waiting for the 1/8 shrink tube, decals and decal setting solutions to come perhaps in a week or two.