KIT No. 98 BUILD

[mick whittingham]

OK. Here we go again.

After quite a break since my last Armortek kit I'm embarking on the Series 1 car.

I'm concentrating on getting the build area as clean and as comfortable as possible before I lay a hand on the kit itself.

It's an engineering workshop so all the machines have been cleaned down and tidied. The build table has been retopped in 18mm ply to give a nice clean surface to work on.

I've extended the central heating system into the shop so I now have two decent sized radiators keeping the place lovely and warm.

All my tools are laid out in a drawer unit so they are to hand when required.

Just a little more tidying and I will be happy to work in there whatever the weather.

I've ordered the transmitter system and that should be here next week.

So all looks set for an interesting build, but I'm still not set on what to base my model on. Still looking for a reference vehicle to copy.

Mick

[mick whittingham]

I'm still getting the build area up to scratch before I start on the actual kit build.
I made a tool carousel today, from a lump of nylon I had kicking around the shop.
I wanted to have the spanners and drivers to hand on the bench and thought this was the best way to do that.

Tool carousel

[mick whittingham]

I don't know how you start out on an Armortek kit build, but I like to get all the fastenings sorted so that I'm not searching through bags for a nut or bolt when I need it.

So I spent an hour putting every nut, bolt and rivet into compartment boxes ready for when I start to build.

I'm also looking at kit parts that I may need to add detail to as I go along. Planning to do machining is all part of the process.

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I'm also carrying on with some tools, setting up a 1 inch bench mounted belt sander to help with cleaning up metal.

I'm determined not to start the build until I'm absolutely ready and won't be distracted by other things.

I bought the series one owners club book today as well, this looks a well researched book and I'm itching to read it.

[mick whittingham]

Still in preparation mode I made a pair of vice jaw plates today for bending sheet metal. Simple angle iron works OK but I decided to level all faces on the shaper so that they sit perfectly flat and parallel in the vice.
A nice little project to pass an hour.

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I also found out the miniature plate folder I made when building the Centurion. This is a simple tool to put accurate bends in things plate. Very useful for doing the side cappings on the Series 1 body work.

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[mick whittingham]

The job of preparing the worksop continues.

I decided to have a look at the body cappings which are made of brass in the kit. I have some thin steel sheet which is galvanised and looks just the job to replicate the originals.
I copied the pattern onto the sheet, cut it out and bent it to shape.

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It looks quite neat so I may fabricate the rest of the cappings when the time comes.

Bought a couple of pairs of miniature pump pliers and they are just great for working on this type of project.

[mick whittingham]

The new radio gear arrived and it's as big a nightmare as I imagined it would be. I almost decided to send it back and do a static model instead.
Anyone you ask about these things suddenly stops speaking English and heads off in some unintelligible gobbledegook about ACCESS or Tx something or other.
So, out came you tube and some serious head scratching to get everything wired up as per the instructions.
I instantly got throttle and steering. But nothing else.
So it was a lot of messing about to set up the switches on the tranny to get sound and lights functional.
Crikey things used to be so much easier before all these computer based contraptions. My old 2 channel McGregor radio did sterling work on the British grand prix circuit in the early 80s.
So now I have a working electronics set up at least.
Oh I had to strip the back off the radio to release the ratchet on the throttle stick.
Broke off for a few days as the boss wants a new fire surround making, curse being good at DIY and metal work.

[mick whittingham]

I thought it would be good to get my eye in before making a start on the build.
The 3D printed steering wheel looks OK but it is a little bit flimsy.
So I fired up the lathe and made a start on the centre hub and wheel rim.

New steering wheel parts

1.5mm stainless spokes will be next. Just need to set up a drilling jig to accurately position the holes.

[Philip Capel]

I agree!! its not very solid steering wheel. Amortek could have supplied something better i think!

[Robert Reid]

I thought it would be good to get my eye in before making a start on the build.
The 3D printed steering wheel looks OK but it is a little bit flimsy.
So I fired up the lathe and made a start on the centre hub and wheel rim. 20240208_161059.jpg
1.5mm stainless spokes will be next. Just need to set up a drilling jig to accurately position the holes.

Guessing you'll be fitting wires to do a Banjo/Bluemels wheel? I have the same plans for mine.

Steering wheels are challenging for model companies. But that's just more fun for us!

I'll be looking forward to how you do it.

Cheers,

RPR

[mick whittingham]

I did a little looking at references for the steering wheel and found two different types on the early Series 1s
The one with the kit has four individual wire elements on each of the three major spokes of the wheel.
Very fiddly indeed so no wonder it was 3d printed.
I decided to use the simpler design which only has two wire elements on each major spoke.

I made the rim on the lathe, parting off a large washer of aluminium which I hand filed to shape for the three moulded spoke bosses. The centre was a simple turning job.
The spokes were the cause of some head scratching. I landed on 1.5mm due stainless wire. I bent this hot to form three "hair pin" shaped units. These were then glued into holes in the centre before M 2 screws were used to secure each to the rim.
Some JB Weld was used to soften the joins and allow a bit of sculpting.
I made the headlight dip switch from brass and when it's all painted and polished it should look good enough.

[mick whittingham]

I'm only playing at the moment, just flexing my muscle memory in doing the little jobs that struck me right off the bat when I first looked at the kit.
The radiator cap might seem insignificant, but I thought it deserved a little tweek.
It looked wrong compared to the photos I was seeing so I turned a new one.
Basically a little wider with a stepped stem so that the filler neck looks a little more in keeping.
I also filed serrations around the rim as a grip and marked an arrow on the face for tightening. That required a hardened punch to be made with a 1.8 x 1.0 mm arrowhead.

[mick whittingham]

Next in line are the anti Bog handles on the rear outriggers.

Not very scale to have them in flat bar, so I fabricated a couple from copper fuel pipe to see how they look.

Not too bad and pretty easy to make too.

[Charles A Stewart]

Nice mod, I may have copy that, you are right flat bar just isn’t right.

Cheers Charles

[mick whittingham]

A little more work on the steering wheel.

I broke out my pendant filing machine to blend the JB Weld into the alloy rim. Its a really lovely piece of kit, used by tool makers for filing and scraping tools and dies.

Makes short work of needle filing things and saves my poor old fingers.

[mick whittingham]

I've dry built the chassis to look at the requirements for any machining etc before I commit to final assembly.
The front bumper seems to be a contentious area; with different methods of attachment from pre-production through to production models.
I'm still not set on a vehicle to base my build on but thought I'd fit some fish plates to the bumper which seems to be the production standard, but the number one production chassis, JUE 477, seems to have the fish plates welded to the dumb-irons and bolted through the bumper section. I'm not sure if JUE has the original bumper attachment or if it was redone in renovation. Or if it's just such a jumble of parts attached to different models at different times during pre and production.
I did modify the starting handle diamond, it's not riveted on and it needs a keyhole slot either side to admit the crank handle.

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Also need to box in the ends of the bumper if required for my version, when I make my mind up lol.