|
Post by Jean B. on Oct 2, 2022 11:17:18 GMT -5
Hello Gentlemen, hope you enjoyed the last summer days... I've had some days off, and now it's time to start a new thread, I guess. To be honest, I've already started the new project and was so involved that I forgot to take lots of pictures, but perhaps the first steps are not that interesting... I continue my line of Horch roadsters, and now I want to make a pair of the well-known and gorgeous Spezial Roadster of 1938/39, one of the most desirable luxury cars in Germany shortly before WWII. Horch was at that time the biggest German manufacturer of 8-cylinder cars, ahead of Mercedes, did you know? The "855" was actually the popular type 853A, shortened by 15 cm to a wheelbase of 330 cm. The coachwork was made by Horch, Erdmann & Rossi and Gläser, all showing a design of the Horch design department in variations.
That's what I'm talking about:
Designed already in 1935 and presented on the IAMA 1938 it immediately attracted the public as the incarnation of a high-end luxury roadster, a dreamcar for the happy very few.
A while ago I tried to create a kind of "genealogy" of the only six or seven Horch 855 roadsters, which is not easy! However, I found out that the common conclusion of "3 still existing cars" cannot be correct, but I could not verify my researching by know...
In the well-known book by Rupert Stuhlemmer we can see that there was a roadster, built by Erdmann & Rossi, which showed the exact same design, on the same wheelbase, but with a passenger compartment pushed forward:
The chassis number is lost, and so is the car, as it seems (as it seems, I say, that's the point of my research...)
You know my preference for building impossible model cars, and so I decided to make a double feature, consisting of the "classic" Spezial Roadster and the one with the changed proportions, giving the opportunity to create two striking painting schemes .
The model is the classic one, made by Western Models resp. Danhausen/Plumbies. Meanwhile TinWizard adopted the old moulds and enhanced the model slightly with additional photo-etched parts. However, it's an old model, and unfortunately it shows many, many "false" details which I like to correct.
A second issue, of course...
The first difficult challenge: To fix body and baseplate and inserting the axles. The model has a slightly to long wheelbase, and all parts (body, baseplate, axles) must have a defined position, independent from all other parts.
The brass strip defines the wheelbase, and the rear wheels must be moved forward. That means that the front end of the rear fenders must be extended...
Here's the result for the first one: All parts firmly joined, correct wheelbase, extended rear fenders.
Making the second one...
To be continued...
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Oct 2, 2022 11:39:57 GMT -5
Ah, the 855- my all-time favourite Horch. I have the Minichamps model and I know you can make something better. Will follow with the usual pleasure.
|
|
|
Post by WallOfCars on Oct 2, 2022 15:44:11 GMT -5
Really enjoy the workbench photos! Fun to see a master at work
|
|
|
Post by DeadCanDanceR on Oct 2, 2022 18:30:39 GMT -5
Cool!
I have two Minichamps models of that gorgeous Horch, in two different colours, so it’s going to be very interesting to see what you’ll do with yours!
|
|
|
Post by reeft1 on Oct 3, 2022 0:49:22 GMT -5
That’s a lovely looking motor. Will enjoy this build as always.
|
|
|
Post by Jean B. on Oct 10, 2022 11:26:20 GMT -5
Ah, the 855- my all-time favourite Horch. I have the Minichamps model and I know you can make something better. Will follow with the usual pleasure. Great Perhaps you remember that I already built this model, perhaps six or seven years ago. I still love it, but meanwhile I have tried so many new techniques and found detailed information about the car, that I decided to make an "improved" version However, it reveals that I want to change so countless details that I'm really scared at the moment about how everything will come out... Really enjoy the workbench photos! Fun to see a master at work Haha! My workbench is always quite a mess! Funny, because I'm generally a very, very tidy person... For any explanations, please ask my psychoanalyst Cool! I have two Minichamps models of that gorgeous Horch, in two different colours, so it’s going to be very interesting to see what you’ll do with yours! Yes, it's a wonderful car, especially when you study the vintage promotional photos of this car. It shows so awesome and exciting details, it's indeed a work of art! That’s a lovely looking motor. Will enjoy this build as always. Feel invited! Originally I planned to have these two finished until X-mas, meanwhile I wonder which year... Well, much work, few time, but here is the present state: Honing the fenders with polyester putty, always controlling the height. Shaping the front fenders newly means that the foglights have to be removed. I still don't have an idea of how I could create new ones. To have a small reassurance, I make a mould of the original lights... ...from which I could possibly - and hopefully - make separate foglights... We will see... The front fenders need a completely new conture. For that reason I made p/e templates, defining the arch. The main shape is made, now the wheel arches have to be renewed. A template helps making appropriate wheel arches. Several massacres later, the front wings have their new shape, almost symmetrical and authentic. The differences compared to the original kit are hardly visible, but important: The newly made front wings are a little bit shorter, have more ground clearance and the rear tip goes upwards. The rear tip has a slight "kick" at the end, as well. Here you can see the lifted rear tip of the front wing. A really terrible work is to apply new relieved bottom edges all around the wings. They can only be made by soldering 0.3mm wire exactly to the wheel arches. It's easy to become insane while doing this...
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Oct 10, 2022 12:37:23 GMT -5
But you managed to do a superb job anyway! That's the advantage of experience...
|
|
|
Post by Jean B. on Oct 16, 2022 12:02:53 GMT -5
But you managed to do a superb job anyway! That's the advantage of experience... ...seems like However, it's an adventure any time again! I wish something would work with a new model in the same way as for the previous one And finally all the wire surroundings are done - at least for the first of the two models... I managed to apply one single wire around both left and right wing including front. Starting with the "second", the "lost" roadster. Again with p/e templates, but this time the wings have a slightly different shape. The wings are cut into halves, the template stuck into the slot and fixed with metal glue. Then polyester putty is applied, and afterwards honing with sanding paper goes down to the top edge of the template. This way the wings get (almost) exactly the desired shape, left-hand and right-hand side symmetrically. General shaping of the wings completed. For this roadster, the bottom line of the front wings goes parallel to the ground, not lifted to the rear point as last time.
|
|
|
Post by DeadCanDanceR on Oct 17, 2022 7:56:12 GMT -5
Looking nice, Jean!
|
|
|
Post by Jean B. on Oct 23, 2022 11:43:46 GMT -5
Looking nice, Jean! Thanks , but it's such a "hard bread", as we say in Germany... I've seldom felt so exhausted like this time. Anyway, I'm determined to make something great out of these models, and so I'm crawling from step to step, hoping to reach the mountain top anywhen... As I've already said, TinWizard took over the old Western Models moulds and meanwhile enhanced them slightly. Among other features, the bonnet was made a separate part, obviously for making a two-tone paintjob easier. However, making a "two-tone" is rather simple compared to the things I'm planning, and so I fix the bonnet firmly already at this time. And now it appears that my new 853-radiator grille is narrower than the original kit part. Perhaps you remember, I made an average of all radiator grilles of all my Horch's and the grille for this kit was the broadest one. This circumstance leads to the very delicate work to narrow both vertical sides of the bonnet in a straight line from windshield to radiator, terrible! Milling, sanding, honing, cursing, hours and hours... And finally: rejoicing, when the job is done Both cars now have a newly shaped bonnet and my grill will fit (almost) perfectly to them. The relieved beltline had to be removed, but at least for the "second" roadster it must get a different shape, anyway... Feierabend!
|
|
|
Post by DeadCanDanceR on Oct 23, 2022 12:10:19 GMT -5
I admire your talents and enormous patience!
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Oct 23, 2022 12:29:37 GMT -5
This thread is not compatible with Dutch railways wifi Looks amazing, I can see that it's a tough job but you managed to pull it off perfectly.
|
|
|
Post by Jean B. on Oct 31, 2022 6:36:54 GMT -5
I admire your talents and enormous patience! Well, perhaps it's rather a combination of madness and masochism , but thanks for your uplifting words, I need them very much in this stadium...
This thread is not compatible with Dutch railways wifi Looks amazing, I can see that it's a tough job but you managed to pull it off perfectly. You've got railways in the Netherlands? In Germany we always think that you ride by bike all day long (sorry for the dumb joke) It really is a tough job this time! I knew it in advance, but it seems that the complete Horch line I'm planning reaches my model-building borders and goes beyond even though.
For the "second" roadster I have to push the complete passenger's compartment to the front. First I make a silicone mould of the rear part with the tarpeaux.
Making a quick resine cast...
...and finally making a white-metal cast from that.
This has now to be fixed app. 2mm forward compared to the original model.
# This is really monstruous, isn't it?
Generally fixed.
Now we can see the difference.
Lot to be fixed...
Something more pleasant: another bunch of new p/e parts.
Fixing the template for designing a new layout for the side panels, with longer doors, pushed more to the front for the "second" roadster.
|
|
|
Post by Tom on Oct 31, 2022 13:05:20 GMT -5
If all Germans thought we had no railways the train I rode on yesterday wouldn’t have been filled with people speaking German... I really admire your determination to get the proportions just right as they’re so important for the final result. Getting the cuts in the body fixed invisibly looks like quite the task, but I'm sure you'll do a perfect job.
|
|
|
Post by Jean B. on Nov 7, 2022 12:00:52 GMT -5
If all Germans thought we had no railways the train I rode on yesterday wouldn’t have been filled with people speaking German... I really admire your determination to get the proportions just right as they’re so important for the final result. Getting the cuts in the body fixed invisibly looks like quite the task, but I'm sure you'll do a perfect job. I guess all those Germans on Dutch trains simply like to experience riding by train. You know, in Germany a train either is cancelled or interrupted between two stations due to technical errors Thanks for your encouraging words! I really hope that I've meanwhile left the deep valley of model-building-caused depression and slowly proceed to the constructive work steps... The layout for the sidewalls is done, and now we can see the different, but very similar design on the same wheelbase. Approaching the rear end of the cars: First filling up the tail with metal putty, to have some "stuff". Then milling out the cylindric space for the future spare wheels. The Spezial Roadster gets a housed spare, so I made a master and casted this in white-metal. Not that bad - I hope... Ha - it fits Almost the same for the second car. The model is quite a nice one, however, when studying the vintage photos, you learn that hardly any detail of the model corresponds to the original car! The model's layout of bumpers, taillights and steps (for the dicky seat, in Germany we call it "mother-in-law-seat" ) has to be re-designed entirely. Therefore those integrated parts had to be cut off, leaving the bare bumpers for the moment.
|
|