Tommy Ivo's Showboat 1/8 Scale

[Roger Zimmermann]

I am also married to a Silversmith with a BFA degree and taught silversmithing for 10 years at college level, so I have great access to tools, advice and criticism.

Well, I don't have this chance! I had to learn sometimes the hard way, but I think I'm still not to the level from your wife!
The cable is going Monday at the post office. I hope there are still planes going to the US. I checked the cable, it's virus free!

[xken]

Roger, thank you for the cable and yes I to hope it can get here as well. I to have learn the hard way and then she will tell me what I should have done. She is fantastic, she hammered out a cowl for the Sopwith Camel one piece 3” in diameter with full return using one piece of aluminum.

[xken]

While waiting for my order of brass to come I made the seat back with a piece of .016" sheet I had. I countersunk the hole for 0090 flat head screws per the original.




Once the brass arrived I was able to start the body work which consists of four parts; belly pan, forward cockpit, rear cockpit and rear deck. I started with the belly pan since it was one piece; as with all the parts I made a cardstock pattern, cut a brass sheet part and annealed the piece by heating with a propane torch and quenching in water. The trickiest part was matching the holes to the mounting brackets on the frame.




Next came the rear cockpit which consists of three main component parts. The bottom came first with a couple of notched saw cuts for a slight bend. Then at the rear several notched saw cuts to form the curve. The challenge for all the body parts was to maintain the .020" wall stock with butt solder joints. Both sides were bent to match the frame mounting points. The bottom then had a cut to index the bottom with the push bar from the frame. Then came the indexing and drilling holes to attach the rear bottom to the belly pan with threads tapped into the bottom part. I then made the side cardstock pattern to be used for both sides. The challenge here was match the opening around the brakes. Edges were formed to match the frame and the bottom edges cut to match the curve tangent on the bottom part with a tight joint fit for soldering. See the picture showing the inside of the joint line. Once the both sides were soldered together I then made a wood buck to help form the tight bend. Once the bend was done I then added the flanges for the rear deck to be attached to and will have threaded holes in it. I then added to pieces of brass to edge thicken the parachute opening to simulate an edge return; a 1/32" rod was added to the top of the bottom of the opening to replicate a tighter bend that I could not achieve and filled the curve with 50/50 solder, just some old time lead slinging.
























The rear deck is a small part with a series of straight bends that were formed using a 3-1/2" hand seamer. Holes were drilled to match the side flanges and the seat back which really strengthened the whole assembly. I then added glazing putty to smooth out curves and pits from the lead slinging.







Next will come the hard part, the front cockpit.

[xken]

"I'll send it to you early next week."
Roger the cable arrived today and looks great! Thanks again for your kind help.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Glad to know that the post office is still functioning!

[xken]

Yes and fast as well. Thank you again!

[xken]

The front cockpit was a bit of a challenge with multiple curves and small attached parts. Patterns were made for the top and side parts and transferred to brass sheet and cut and annealed. The center crease was made by first folding the cut part down the center line and then back out to form the upper curve. Then saw cuts were made at the bend to ease the bending process and the parts was slowly bent to form the lateral curve. Both forward edges were then hammered on the horn of an anvil to form the front curve tapering to the bend towards the frame parts. Then adjustments were made by hand to fine tune the fit.








The two sides were then formed but the parts were only annealed along the edges to be formed using the axle and front frame as fixed references for forming. They were then cut and adjusted to match the top edges. All the parts were then tack soldered to each other; then the joints were soldered with Staybrite solder for strength and 50/50 used as filler for surface matching.Joints were then filed of excess solder and then sanded with 150 grit sandpaper.















Next were the small parts for the front side frame covers and then the engine bracing rod covers were made using 50/50 to form the radii. Finally the right side was saw cut to make the curve surface that will mate with the firewall.

















Then all parts were glazed as needed, primed, sanded and painted Satin Black on the inside and Banner Red on the outside.

[gbritnell]

Truly remarkable Ken! I know how much time it takes to document a build so a big thanks for that.
gbritnell

[xken]

Thanks George, yes it does take a little time to document and post and hopefully it will help other builders learn and develop their skills.

[xken]

After completing the body panels I was able to make the firewall being defined by the bodywork. The original was in two parts bolted to the bottom frame cross member and to each other in the center. While appearing simple it definitely was not and Xray vision would have helped. I finally got cardstock patterns close and did the final fitting in metal. It required many times adding and removing both body panels and engines to get the final fit. It was then painted black and added to the chassis after it was painted.






While I had the body panels in place I fabricated out of wood the parachute pack and since it was bolted to the frame from the inside I made a tight fitting removable part that was removed to bolt the frame in place. I also had to make the push bar extension which located the bottom of the parachute that rested on the extension.






In the meantime the chassis frame was painted glossy Black per the original.


I also started polishing and copper plating all the parts to be chrome plated while waiting for other parts to dry. I am using red rouge to polish the parts prior to plating. I also ordered the materials to chrome plate since I ran out of my first container of Copy Chrome from Caswell Plating.


Next will come the seat.

[MODEL A MODEL]

Yes indeed! Thank you Ken! Thank you for sharing and for putting such effort in documenting and explaining your process! It is very much appreciated!

[xken]

The seat is an unusual configuration nestled between the rear axle and the frame seat back and side to side by the frame. First was to make a cardstock pattern and then duplicate it in .020" brass. The seat upholstery was made using sculpty. I cut 1/4" x 1/16" strips laid out inside the brass seat body; then with a sharp 1/4" x 1/16" wood strip and water burnished the strip edges then cut the pattern by pressing the sharp edge of wood strip straight down and burnished the edges. After that I smoothed the entire pattern with a wet Q-tip until satisfied and allowed to dry. I then baked the sculpty still in the brass body in an aluminum foil bag carefully formed around the seat avoiding to touch the sculpty. The bag is needed to contain the smell of the baking sculpty material. I baked it for 15 minutes and 250 degrees and then let bag cool before removing. The sculpty was then further sanded to smooth more from the forming process, primed and painted with Satin Black. Next the brass was painted Chrome to simulate aluminum. Then seat belt holes were cut in the brass to match the locations in the sculpty then seat belt straps were added using very thin supple black leather.

[MODEL A MODEL]

How did anyone ever sit in this?

[xken]

Remember Tommy Ivo was small in stature and fit into this well enough to drive.

[MODEL A MODEL]

Yes, he was, of course a "Mouseketeer" -but still, that is a very cramp cockpit!