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Post by Jean B. on Dec 16, 2023 12:57:10 GMT -5
Wow, you've actually managed to find a car-shaped model under all that filler! Very impressive, I've tried that once (wrong filler also, probably) and all I ended up with was a lump. ...and a "lump" was what I've expected, too, the last weeks... The Horch thing really is the most struggling modelling time I've had since I started all this! However, X-mas is coming, and it seems that the angels above have some mercy and allow a little progress, thank you!
Truely facinating read and view of pics. Your work is on another level. Love it so far Jean. Thanks a lot! And I am sure that you will have some more fun viewing this blog in future!
Well, life has become somewhat - let's say - "difficult" during the last time, and so I've hardly found a minute to continue this project. Sometimes I thought I had to abandon all this, but I am very happy that it now seems that things calm down a little bit and I can relax by cursing at the workbench, again So let's pick up the traces:
Using the - very expensive! - scribing tool by Tamiya I create the outlines of doors & bonnet. This tool is really excellent, highly recommendable!
At the same time I develop the trimline.
I hate wasting the expensive etching sheet, but sometimes I do need only a couple of important pieces and simply have not enough parts to use the sheet entirely!
Another problem: The top edges of the p/e templates with which I created the wings will permanently mark ridges through any paint, so...
...I have to mill them out...
...and close the gaps with some putty, then honed and sanded to get a smooth surface on the wings. Following that I applied the new, lower version of the front trimline.
The doors get a p/e part inside to have a solid base for the later door panels.
Furthermore the top edges of the p/e parts help designing the window line properly.
Here you see the window panels, consisting of two mirrored parts which will later contain the window panes.
Together with the already inserted door panels, I now have correct measurements on both sides of the car.
And of course we get a very first impression of the final proportions.
The side windows now provide a perfect base for finding the correct position of the windshield. All these partes are - of course - only fixed with some adhesive tape by now.
Really funny: This pic was taken accidentally, but you can see the most important part, at least for the moment!
This half-elliptic p/e part is attached in front of the windshield and will give the rear end of the bonnet, so that I can fill up the area between radiator grille and rear end with some putty.
Perhaps you can see what I mean...
The trimline now allows shaping the front skirting accordingly.
And now the bonnet got its final all-over shape.
Not that bad, is it?
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Post by Tom on Dec 16, 2023 13:13:35 GMT -5
Understatement of the year, it's looking great already! Oh, and I know all about life being 'difficult'.
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Post by Jean B. on Dec 23, 2023 12:23:02 GMT -5
Understatement of the year, it's looking great already! Oh, and I know all about life being 'difficult'. ...thanks for saying that, you won't believe how helpful this is Tomorrow (in Germany) we have Christmas, but that's no reason for not building models At least I found some time for beginning with the top. My Horch book shows some really good pictures of the original car, taken in Berlin (and I indeed know exactly where!): These are the works photos of Erdmann & Rossi, recognizable due to water marks visible on the bottom right-hand corner. And it is likely that the then-owner of the car lived on the estate in the background, as this was (and still is) one of the most exclusive places to live in Berlin, suitable for the owners of the company of Polensky & Zöllner. I always love plain side views, they can be easily scaled exactly to the model's size and combined with my InkScape drawings. These cutouts then help a lot finding the correct shape of a part, in this case the top. The model top has a nice shape and I like to keep it, as the top is so rounded in any direction that I cannot make it by myself with photo-etching. On the other hand, the model's top is much too big in any way, and so I first have to define a point from which to start, and then filling up the rear part with putty to shorten it - first - from the back. Only a week later the hood generally got its final shape. Anything had to be adjusted: bottom line to the body, side lines to the fragile window frames, front side to the windshield... believe me, it was terrible! And of course the hood should be detachable! No gaps between the side window frames and the hood. I almost got mad making the "sling joint" behind the doors! Well, Gentlemen, I guess that was all before the holidays! I wish you all a very, very joyful and happy X-mas time! Let Santa bring you lots of model cars - or whatever you need desperately! - and we'll see again here, perhaps by the end of the year...
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Post by Tom on Dec 23, 2023 13:18:28 GMT -5
That looks incredibly challenging but you've pulled it off! Have a great Christmas!
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Dec 23, 2023 13:24:39 GMT -5
Excellent job, as usual! May I ask you which Horch book is that? I’d love to have a good, pictured filled book on Horch in my personal library!
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Post by Jean B. on Dec 31, 2023 11:56:25 GMT -5
That looks incredibly challenging but you've pulled it off! Have a great Christmas! [/div] X-mas was a model-free time, as my family usually suspects me being completely crazy playing with toy cars... However, I've had a good time anyway and as soon as the mischpoke (yiddish for family) was thrown out, sorry: left my house, I returned to my workbench
Excellent job, as usual! May I ask you which Horch book is that? I’d love to have a good, pictured filled book on Horch in my personal library! Thank you, here you are:
I am pretty sure you'll have this one...
...and this is the latest issue (only in German) of the same book, but with additional text and even more photos.
This book is considering all Horch types ever produced, with some excellent and previously unseen photos...
...but I guess it is written for the "Horch technician" rather than for design freaks, as it mainly refers to all technical details.
However, not uninteresting...
Hard work, but finally I could remove all photo-etched assisting parts and made everything neat & proper from the underneath.
There was a large cutout at the end of the baseplate which I filled with some polysterene card.
And I also used polystyrene for making a rear wall behind the passenger's compartment to avoid "look-throughs".
Long holes were drilled into the fenders for attaching the bumpers.
And another center hole for fixing the two spares.
And so we are very slowly coming to the final overall shape of the roadster.
I made a very clumsy construction mistake with the rear spats , so I had to cut them out (very carefully!) and make separate ones to be fixed after the completion of body and wheels.
Difficult to see: the thin line below the top edge of the door.
The front end of this line goes through different parts of the original kit, and one of those made of nickel-plated white-metal. Scribing a thin line throughout all this was quite a job!
Well, I guess these were the last works for this year! Here in Berlin it is almost 6 p.m., time enough to prepare a quiet, yet festive New Year's Eve, watching "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in a completed and restored BluRay issue projected onto big screen in my humble living room
Wherever you are, either East or West of Greenwich, and so already having shot your fireworks or still having breakfast , I wish you all a joyful and healthy start into the New Year, may all your (good) dreams come true!
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Post by Tom on Dec 31, 2023 12:09:07 GMT -5
That's another marvellous job already, with lots of attention to detail. Have a great New Year!
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Dec 31, 2023 12:48:35 GMT -5
Great job, as usual! And, thanks for the book recommendations!
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Post by Jean B. on Jan 4, 2024 1:43:40 GMT -5
That's another marvellous job already, with lots of attention to detail. Have a great New Year! ...it can only get better, I guess you know what I mean... At least this project is getting ahead, that's most important
Great job, as usual! And, thanks for the book recommendations! You're welcome! Collecting books is a hobby of its own, and so I try to buy only the absolutely necessary ones which contain pictures of "my" cars...
I hate making large parts twice, but this time the former door panels had a small "mistake", and furthermore the frames got bent while working with the body...
The rear window...
...with the challenge to fit it into the top without "standing out".
And the... well... in German they're called "Storm Rods (Sturmstangen)", a really hilarious construction! I guess that's the reason why the original seems to not have had a tarpeaux...
Lots of "watchmaker's labour" still to do...
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Jan 4, 2024 1:53:46 GMT -5
Amazing, absolutely amazing!
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Post by reeft1 on Jan 4, 2024 7:21:11 GMT -5
Crazy level of craftmanship
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Post by Tom on Jan 4, 2024 14:50:12 GMT -5
Fantastic work so far! Those hinge bars are called 'landau irons' in English, BTW.
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Post by Jean B. on Jan 9, 2024 11:57:19 GMT -5
Amazing, absolutely amazing! ...and that was only the first attempt - meanwhile I've refined all those tiny parts to make it a little bit more elegant
Crazy level of craftmanship ...not at all, only the result of many sleepless nights thinking of "how to"...
Fantastic work so far! Those hinge bars are called 'landau irons' in English, BTW. Ha! I'm sure you already told me that years ago, at least I've recognized this term, thanks!
All photo-etched relieved parts are attached, and afterwards the edges are painted with self-made filler: Revell primer 01 mixed with aluminium powder.
The hood got a 0.3mm wire around all edges. Horrible work
YES: time for a first priming layer, just to see what's going on!
Already similar to a car, isn't it?
Blurry! It's so cold in my workshop (we have an arctic winter right now!) that my hands are trembling !
Things to come...
Stay tuned!
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Post by Tom on Jan 9, 2024 13:47:13 GMT -5
Yes, strong easterly winds and -6°C with the sensation of -18 when I cycled to work in the morning. Quite painful for my feet and hands. Happy to arrive at work and get a hot coffee.
The primered body looks great already, through I know that getting rid of the final imperfections will take hours of work.
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Post by oldirish33 on Jan 9, 2024 15:31:09 GMT -5
Once again I am awed with your detail and skill Jean! I can relate to the cold. We are getting hit with storms out of the arctic Alaska and Canada. The shop has heat, but the garage where I paint does not, so those projects are on hold. Great stuff coming out of your workshop, despite the cold!
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