First steps "Big Tub"

[Rick]

Nice work Bill. For help scratchbuilding an engine, talk to Ken as he's scratched several engines for his sprint cars. If you want to get really serious, talk to HFC about his scratchbuilt Olds or Bill about his scratchbuilt SBC.

By the way, when posting scratchbuilt items, a little "how to" would be appreciated. Thats how we learn from each other.

[hot ford coupe]

Looking good, Bill. I made one like it for my Olds engine before it fell off the shelf. As far as the 3 restarts goes, that's par for the course. If I had a dollar for every restart I did, I could rebuild my entire workshop. In fact, the tutorials that show the restarts and the booboos are the best ones. They teach not only scratchbuilding but problem solving which to me is the heart of scratchbuilding especially when you're blazing new territory. Keep up the great work.

[Ctype]

Thanks guys

I wish I could make a tutorial about it, but the truth is I had so much to learn I was pretty well making it up as I went along. I did learn a few, probably obvious to veterans, important points.


[LIST=1][*]Make a plan, even if its just a sketch, to put all the important dimensions on. I was measuring pictures and estimating size as I went from section to section. A really bad idea when I think back on it now. Wonder if anyone else ever did it that way? Just impatient I guess.
[*]Have at least one surface you can measure every other point from. My first try I just made ithe main case too small, on the second I formed each end independent of the other. Looked OK from the side, but was twisted from front to back. On the third start I made one surface, the top of the case, as true to flat as I could get it. Then checked as I worked to be sure it all stayed square. Well, square enough for me at this point.[/LIST]
I've also decided that bondo isn't a very good material to use to build up areas. It never really gets hard. It seemed kind of soft and rubbery when cutting it with a knife. Even when you do get it shaped right, bumping it on something leaves a mark. On the other hand I think Milliput is great. Just have to wait 24 hours for it to dry, but it's easy to work almost to a finished shape when soft, and it's very hard when dry.


I used a piece of broom handel for the tail housing. I just wanted to see if wood was good to work with. I think it is, but not soft pine like a broom handle. Need a hard wood like all those books told me to use.


One thing I did do that worked out real well. I was having a difficult time getting the shape of the rear of the case, the support housing, and mounting surface for the tail housing right. I found some pictures of the gaskets, re-sized them to what I needed and used them as templates. I Just glued them on to the styrene and cut it down to size. Unfortunately, with my endless playing around, some of the shape was lost, but I think I'll use the idea again.


Now I need to learn how to make a mold and cast.parts. I'd like to cast it in some low melt metal which I hope will give a less than perfectly smooth surface to the part. The real thing has kind of a pebbbled look to it that I want to reproduce.

It was fun to make, and I discovered many new skills I need to develope. Nothing wrong with that.

Bill

[EstebanLoco]

Hey Bill,

I love your enthusiasm and I make it a point to check this thread every day. Don't worry about doing a full tutorial at this time. Your occasional tips and anecdotes as you progress are more than enough for now. You obviously have caught the "bug" and I have a feeling, from following your posts, that someday we'll all enjoy and benefit from a full tutorial based on one of your builds. You have obvious model building skills and automobile knowledge combined with the desire to move forward in your chosen hobby without the fear of failure. You're also not afraid to share your acquired knowledge along with things you may have recently discovered or learned. Plus, you're open to asking your friends for help when you reach that occasional bump in the road.

I know that most, if not all, SMC members will agree - we are happy and privileged to have you as a fellow member.

Keep up the good work. We all have something to learn from you Bill.

Steve