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Post by alwaysindy on Jan 8, 2012 13:33:57 GMT -5
I've put this off for 8 years...it will require a lot of scratch building...  |
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Post by kurzheck on Jan 8, 2012 14:15:34 GMT -5
I bought the same thing exactly and have been putting it off as long, LOL. What's your source for wheels/tires? They look right.
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Post by Calvin on Jan 8, 2012 15:55:40 GMT -5
Wow! I didn't know they (someone) made one of these.
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Post by drums01 on Jan 8, 2012 18:35:54 GMT -5
I always liked this car, but I was not familiar with this kit. I agree with your choice of wheels, they look like a good match for the kit. Does it come with the grill or the exhaust?
This is one that I will like to see the WIP and finished product!
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Post by kurzheck on Jan 8, 2012 18:41:50 GMT -5
I picked up both an A and C Type on Ebay Germany. I'm thinking they were intended as slot cars. Mine are just a body, chassis and dash as pictured.
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Post by Patrick on Feb 16, 2012 21:44:26 GMT -5
I musta been asleep at the wheel when this post came by! Damn that C Type looks great. My friend once made a record-car Auto Union.
Patrick
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Post by alwaysindy on Oct 28, 2014 13:54:38 GMT -5
Well, back to work on this...first thing is change the title to 1/24th...took Jerry's (1961redlegs) advice and read "Tracks: Racing the Sun"...a very interesting book, more about the drivers than the cars...I have always been fascinated by the Auto Unions...I will try to post photos with interesting info about the era, the cars, and the very brave souls who raced them...stay tuned...
Tim
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Post by racerbrown on Oct 29, 2014 6:05:52 GMT -5
i just picked up the pinto version of this car so i'm looking forward to anything you post on this.
duane
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Post by Patrick on Oct 30, 2014 22:30:22 GMT -5
The wheel/tire combo looks like Pinto 's work. I have a set to put with my old Hawk kit of a '39 Mercedes W159. This will look killer with that set.
Patrick
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Post by johnwebster on Oct 31, 2014 19:49:05 GMT -5
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Post by 1961redlegs on Oct 31, 2014 21:21:22 GMT -5
I'm glad you read the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but not as much as watching this build come to fruition!
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Post by alwaysindy on Nov 5, 2014 13:34:35 GMT -5
It is the early thirties...the new Nazi regime wants to showcase German superiority in engineering, so offers big bucks to any team interested in motor racing...Mercedes Benz jumps first in line but then, surprisingly, Dr Ferdinand Porsche talks the government into helping two teams...he has a design in mind (P wagon) and wants it to race...Horch, DKW, Wanderer, and Audi form Auto Union to compete in racing. All 4 manufacturers continued to sell cars in their own name, so none put out an Auto Union street car. Audi, the lone survivor, adopted the 4 interlocking rings and just changed the name from AU to Audi. Audi has moved mountains since the turn of the century to embrace the AU legacy. They have purchased cars and rebuilt cars and now have a D type, C type and a streamliner in their possession. The P wagon becomes the AU type A. It is an unusual design, similar in concept to a mid 80's Indy car:engine in front of rear wheels, then gas tank, then driver. It is a winner from the outset, winning Grands Prix and Hillclimbs... Then comes the Type C, which is this model. In the hands of Bernd Rosemeyer, a former motorcycle racer, it utterly dominates the 1936 Grand Prix and hillclimb seasons... The beginning...fixing the front outlets...   Working on Bernd...  Other side...  The wire wheels are a strange story...the first time I saw the large ones was with Bill Jorgenson's Novi many years ago. I then found these on EBay...they offered both 4 bigs or 2 bigs and 2 littles...I'll show and tell more as I go along... A mock up of where I'm headed...  Comments and questions are appreciated... Tim |
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Post by indy on Nov 5, 2014 13:43:09 GMT -5
Very nice start, looks like the driver is negotiating a tight turn. Maybe a hairpin on a hillclimb track?
Jordan
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Post by jamesharvey on Nov 5, 2014 17:13:27 GMT -5
These cars were amazing. Their appearance at the Vanderbilt Cups races in 1936 and 1937 were eye-opening in two ways. They introduced us to German engineering and Rex Mays to them. Can't wait to see your progress. Isn't this fun?
Jim
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Post by Calvin on Nov 5, 2014 18:03:57 GMT -5
alwaysindy WIP's are always really good!  |
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Post by Patrick on Nov 6, 2014 1:35:00 GMT -5
That looks so amazing! What a car and what amazing racers drove them! I think they were in reality, refined beasts! I missed seeing the type D at Laguna! I herd it was an amazing sound!
Patrick
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Post by alwaysindy on Nov 25, 2014 11:34:12 GMT -5
First, the model...have great references, as you can see...   HOWEVER: turns out the drawing is for a different scale...had to blow it up 105.5% at Kinko's...now the wheelbase and track are correct on the drawing (1/24)...but the body had to be whittled on a little bit... Back to the story...the car is built to the new formula: 750KG (1,650 lbs.)w/o oil, fuel, tires, and driver...this formula lasts from 1934 to 1938, so the car is slightly changed but able to race for 4 years...the "A" has a 265.9 cubic inch engine delivering 295 HP...the "B" has a 302.4 ci with 370hp...the "C" has 366.8ci and 520hp...these were never supposed to get THAT big...the thought was, at that weight, a max engine of 183ci would be about as big as you could go, which is what Alfa,Bugatti, Maserati, etc. did    The V16 uses light weight alloys everywhere possible...the skin is so sheer, spectators are not allowed to touch it because it would bend...it is called "duraluminum" and Craig says "think folding lawn chair"...of the thousands of pictures on the net, you can see some "wavy lines" in several...  |
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Post by alwaysindy on Nov 25, 2014 11:41:43 GMT -5
Forgot model pictures...  Parts: mirror(need to make another),scoops, front suspension,wheelbacks, etc...  Working on exhausts and rear shock covers...comments welcome... Tim |
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Post by clm1545 on Nov 25, 2014 14:47:49 GMT -5
Awesome stuff, Tim.  |
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Post by Calvin on Nov 25, 2014 14:50:00 GMT -5
Wow we are getting an edjmucation !
I didn't know about duraluminum.
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Post by clm1545 on Nov 25, 2014 21:09:57 GMT -5
I saw a special about the prewar German cars several years ago, Calvin. Much of the "super alloy" parts were tested and found to be about the same quality as todays cheap lawn tables, and chairs. What was state of the art 80+ years ago, is not so much today. Those drivers had no idea, and most of the paid the price, here and abroad.
I think we need a pre 1950 F1 section. How about it, Jordan?
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Post by alwaysindy on Nov 26, 2014 18:18:26 GMT -5
A few neat things about the Type "A"...the space frame was used to carry the engine coolant...tiny weld cracks leaked and it was changed to the right side pipe that runs right by the driver's arm...that was the big change between the "A" and "B"...also, it got a limited slip differential, thereby solving the "A's" habit of spinning the rear wheels at upwards of 120mph...last but not least, the "A's" cockpit sides were made of doped fabric, like a WWI biplane.(go back and look at the pictures)....in the words of Patrick, "a true beasty"...
Tim
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Post by johnwebster on Nov 27, 2014 1:53:52 GMT -5
Look at the old film clips of these things on you tube. The driver is sawing away at the wheel as the car understeers into corners and then accelerates out in a series of slide and save oversteers.
The front wheels have the same camber as they move up and down. The rear wheels are on swing axles (early VW, Corvair and Triumph Spitfire) and have positive camber at the top of their travel and negative camber at the bottom. In addition the rear toe-in increased as the wheels moved up or down from level. Add in the flexibility of the tall wire wheels and you get handling that can best be described as diabolical.
That was standard suspension design for Grand Prix cars up into the mid fifties.
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Post by Patrick on Nov 30, 2014 1:32:05 GMT -5
Saw this today...  Patrick |
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Post by Calvin on Nov 30, 2014 9:42:33 GMT -5
All I can say is............very intimidating. |
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Post by alwaysindy on Dec 1, 2014 11:34:23 GMT -5
View of hand made exhausts...sorry for the lousy picture...  This view helps explain where the friction shocks are mounted, thus causing the fairings...  And the scratch made fairings...used Lotus injector covers...    Engine info...red line was 5,000rpm...it was supposedly driven around the Ring in one gear, just to prove it could...  Also required warm up spark plugs...run 2 laps, come into pits and change all 16 to race spark plugs...but the REAL crazyiness is the fuel...  It currently runs on methanol, nitromethane and acetone...in the 30's, they used nitrobenzene!!! ...(nitromethane was invented in 1958) and sulphuric ether (this was replaced with acetone today)...I thought it was very dangerous, so sulphuric ether must be REALLY bad...In the book, Nuvolari complains on his deathbed of lung problems from breathing this on race car grids for years...it supposedly burned everybody's eyes, so I don't want to know what happened to the mechanics handling this toxic "soup"... |
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Post by Calvin on Dec 2, 2014 3:20:30 GMT -5
I love WIP's that have a great history lesson with them....all my WIP's turn into Paint color debates  |
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Post by racerbrown on Dec 2, 2014 6:48:48 GMT -5
can you just imagine the sound when 5 of those bad boys went roaring by.
great job on the model. really using the old imagination on those fairings.
duane
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Post by indy on Dec 2, 2014 11:42:57 GMT -5
I think we need a pre 1950 F1 section. How about it, Jordan? Excellent point!! I just consolidated the decades sections after taking over the forum, without much thought to the need for earlier eras. Already created the section and I moved this thread into it. Jordan |
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Post by Patrick on Dec 2, 2014 15:50:25 GMT -5
Thanks Jordan! It may be time to pull out the Hawk M-B W159 or W163...what ever! Time to use the Pinto wheel/ tire combo!
Patrick
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