Miller WIP 10 year update

[pntmachine]

Doing a Bill Jorgenson Miller. Got the chassis pinned for suspension and added the front rods. Had to add some styrene to the frame that is molded on the Etzel chassis. Just some filling left. Almost ready to prime.




Kevin

[Patrick]

Millers are cool in my book. Have you picked a car/color scheme?

Patrick

[Art Laski]

I agree with Patrick. Looking forward to watching this one.

-Art

[racerbrown]

i'm ready to learn!
duane

[jamesharvey]

Thanks for sharing this. I have the same car from Bill and have been considering building it instead of the Ertzel kit I want to keep. You are off to a good start. Like the pictures and look forward to more.
Jim

[indy]

Gotta love a Miller build!

Jordan

[cobra276]

The Etzel Miller was the first resin kit I tried and hooked me into doing more. Can't wait for the progress pictures.

Dave

[pntmachine]

I got this out the other day and looked thru it to see where it was at and remembered I had started thread on this. Back in 2013 my parents had gotten to the point of needing help so I stepped away for a few years. I came back in 2016 after there passing and started getting back on to get myself motivated. Anyway I got back into this kit and going to post some progress. This is where I am so far.

I removed the .062 aluminum tubing I had on the front rail supports a just went with the .031 brass rod. I painted the frame and prepped the body. I’m missing a few pieces so I have to find some donor parts. I had a lot of filling on the body to get the gap between the frame to look right. There was a lot of missing rivets along the body a lost more during the filling so I removed the remaining. I decided to use some resin rivets on transfer film. I have had it for years but will give it a try. I know it’s used on rail cars and tanks so I’ll see how it goes. The tranny in the picture is from an Etzel kit and I won’t be using it here. I chopped the converter off of the engine case because it’s molded into the frame. I stacked styrene on the lower case to bring it down so it sat at the right height. I als put some on the underneath of the body and used it to help align the body on the frame. On the front spring I made a small frame bracket out of thin styrene to mount it to the frame. This is molded in the frame on the Etzel kit.

[kyledehart5]

Sweet!! I’m in to follow this

[jamesharvey]

Kevin,
I still have this kit from Bill and the Ertzel. What parts are you missing? Please let me know and I'll see what I can do to help. Glad you are getting back to this.
Jim

[pntmachine]

Jan 30, 2024 14:28:44 GMT -5 jamesharvey said:

Kevin,
I still have this kit from Bill and the Ertzel. What parts are you missing? Please let me know and I'll see what I can do to help. Glad you are getting back to this.
Jim

Thanks Jim I am working thru some of it now and I really appreciate that. I work out a gear box by modifying one from a plastic kit. I cut it off and filled it with bondo. Then took some rat tail files and flat jewelers file and shrunk it down some. I will have to mock up some pedals as well but I think it’s going to work. It didn’t have axles as well but had the rotors and front stub axles. I think I might be able to make those as well. Front will be a little tricky. The grill will be the hardest to come up with. I don’t know if ARM made a photoetch insert or not. Here’s a pic of what I have going on with the tranny. Got the body primed as well.

[kyledehart5]

Great work!! Everything is looking wonderful.

[jamesharvey]

Nice work and solution on the gear box. The body looks good on the frame. Chris Ertzel cast the grill shell and radiator separately in metal and the grill inset is photo etched so there are three pieces to it in his kit. Bill cast the grill shell as a solid piece in resin so there is no radiator. I don't think he did an insert. The grill lines are horizontal. I am not a perfectionist, so I have made photocopies of some grill inserts and of some photos, reduced to scale, to fill in blank grill openings. Not great but maybe better than a blank. Thanks for sharing your progress. Good on you.
Jim

[pntmachine]

I got the body and chassis painted.

I am working on the axles and linkage. For the front axle I telescoped a 3/32 tube over a 1/16 rod, bent the offset and crimped the tubing to form a hub to go in the stub axles. The steering linkage covers the bottom and the pitman covers the top on the left side. On the exposed top right I am going to add a cut off aluminum rod to fill the slot and look like a king pin in the hub.
For the rear I did the same 3/32 over 1/16 rod to and left a little sticking out for the knock offs to mount which I don’t have yet. I the created short stub axles out of 1/8 and inserted into the disks similar to the front. I then cut a 1/8 the length between the disk stops on an Etzel kit axle to sleeve over the 3/32 to form the stops. Seems like a lot but it kept me from have to glue the disks straight to the axle. The steering hardware came from a white metal upgrade package for a Kurtis from ARM. I just cut the loop open and formed a pin.


I got the tranny and steering box in and mocked up some pedals. Little larger in scale but was the smallest aluminum rod I had.

[alwaysindy]

Kevin:
This is an outstanding piece! I love the scratch building, and the paint is spot-on. Keep up the good work!
Tim

[jamesharvey]

Kevin,
Everything that Tim said. The axles are clever and look great. Your gold paint job is terrific. What paint did you use? The attachment points for the rear springs that you added on the frame are an example of real skill. Bill's kits take a fair amount of scratch building and you are doing great.
Jim

[Art Laski]

It's coming to life! Loving the progress.

[kyledehart5]

I can only agree with everything that has already been said. Absolutely brilliant work.

[pntmachine]

Feb 1, 2024 12:18:15 GMT -5 jamesharvey said:

Kevin,
Everything that Tim said. The axles are clever and look great. Your gold paint job is terrific. What paint did you use? The attachment points for the rear springs that you added on the frame are an example of real skill. Bill's kits take a fair amount of scratch building and you are doing great.
Jim

Jim I used Tamiya Gold TS 21 and I am going to use Gloss TS13 for the clear. I use the semi more than I do the gloss but on this one I am going full gloss. I agree Bill’s can be a challenge but it’s been fun. Thanks for the encouragement.

[pntmachine]

I decided to extend the look of the King Pins on the front hubs so it would look a little better. I used a piece of .060 solid rod on the right upper as I said before but on the other three I used.060 tubing so I could drill a hole easier to accept the steering linkage pins. Then filled the ends with 3m glazing. On the top pins I angled them out a little at top to give it a cambered look and rolled the axle back a little to give it a little caster.

[kyledehart5]

Stunning!! I love it. This is coming along really well

[jj66]

Fantastic work! And big improvement on the front axle

[jamesharvey]

Really stunning and clever work on the axles. Your finished product is really crisp. Never would have thought about the small pin holes in the brake drums and how you pulled that off. Thanks for the paint info. This car has always stood out to me in the IMS Museum. I understand that part of it is original but also includes pieces for other cars of that era. Did the wheels and tires come with the kit? They look great. Please continue to wow us.
Jim

[pntmachine]

I got the body painted and clear coated. Starting to detail it and got a first coat on the seat. It is not glue yet everything is just sitting in place to get linkage lengths. Got the dash glue in and mocked up the steering shaft length. Put a first coat on the steering wheel but still have to cut a section out. Got my brake lever and exhaust hanger made. The grill I am still not sure what I am going to do yet. I just have it pinned with a brass rod. It’s starting to take shape to me now. I ended up using the Etzel kit decals on this. They are strange at times you can see a dark blue black and others it just looks black.



I want to show a picture with a flashlight shining on it so you can see the blue in the numbers. Didn’t want you all to think I am seeing things.

[kyledehart5]

That is beautiful.

[pntmachine]

I have most of it finished now but the grill has been the one thing that has bothered me. Knowing I probably won’t find a photo etched grill I decided to make one up. I took some scale screen and shaped to form. Then I grooved out the grill edges with an exacto blade and rounded off the background a little to recess the screen.. I then made the outside wire supports out of .015 wire (guitar strings) and the center is .031 aluminum. Not perfect but far more eye pleasing. Should be posting pictures of it finished soon.

[alwaysindy]

Kevin:
I now appoint you as “Early Indycar Grill Master.” Please make about a dozen of these so we can update our old Miller and Duesenburg builds and kits!
Seriously, I believe you just hit a home run and it’s not even baseball season…
Keep it up: this is gonna be awesome!
Tim

[jamesharvey]

Really clever. It looks great. Your attention to detail is remarkable.
Thanks for sharing.
Jim

[alwaysindy]

Kevin:
Regarding the color of the numbers: I looked, but couldn’t find the thread. I believe it was Michael that knew the story(?). The car was NOT gold, but when it was sold right before the race(?) it was painted gold but retained the numbers that matched the original paint. It was a while back and my memory is hazy…
Tim

[alwaysindy]

Kevin:
From Indycals website…
“Although it was his first start at Indy, Meyer is not considered a rookie winner as he drove 41 laps in releif of Wilbur Shaw in 1927. Nevertheless, 1928 was the third consecutive year that a first year starter won the 500 - the only time in history that has happened, (the only other time first year starter won in consecutive years was 2000 and 2001).

Driving for car owner Alden Sampson, Meyer took the lead with 19 laps left to take what would be his first of three Indianapolis 500 wins. This was also the first year the winner got to take home the pace car.

This car was previously owned by Alfred Champion - founder of AC Delco and Champion Spark Plug. Prior to 1928 the car was being used to test an experimental new fuel pump for AC Delco. The 'blue and red' numbers were representative of the AC Delco company colors. When Champion died in October 1927, the car was sold to Alden Sampson and put into service for the 1928 Indianapolis 500.”
So I guess it was gold all along?

Tim