1929 Open Wheel Racing--sort of....

[Deleted]

This is another of my projects. It IS open wheel racing, just a different type.

This is a Scalekraft 1929 Irving-Napier Special. It was better known as the "Golden Arrow." A very interesting car, it held the land speed record of 231 mph at Ormond Beach (now Daytona Beach).

One interesting fact--the car was not tested in England, where it was built, and was not run at all until it got to the U.S. Sir Henry Seagrave did one test run at 100 mph, then did the record runs.

The car sits in a museum in England today with a grand total of 18 miles on it.

The model is about 18" long--about 35 feet in 1:1 scale. I love the shape.

Too much stimulation--too many projects.

But I'm having more fun than I can stand.

Terry

[racerbrown]

wow! that is really cool! is that kit still available?
looking forward to seeing that one finished.
duane

[sandysixtysfan]

Terry,
Another guy interested in LSR cars.... ? Nice looking resin you've got there. That's one big model, what scale do you reckin' it is? I've got a few LSR cars and one of them was one of the models I actually finished last year! A big event for me. It's a Replicast 1/43 kit of Capt George Eyston's 1937 Thunderbolt. It ran 311 mph at Bonneville for a new LSR that year. It was powered by two Rolls Royce V-12 aircraft engines. There was nothing inside but a seat so I added the interior, (not that you can see much of it). I hope you don't mind me sending these non-open wheel photos in! Sandy

[Deleted]

Nice model, nicely done. All the references I've seen on Thunderbolt say it was polished aluminum. Do you have a shot of that gold paint job? That's really sharp looking.

Here's a couple other LSR models I've built or have plans to build. Like the Golden Arrow, they're all 1/24 or 1/25.



Etzel Speed Classics 1928 Stutz Blackhawk



Jimmy Flintstone 1965 Summers Brothers' Goldenrod



Scaleworks 1963 Spirit of America--the tire is a 1/25 scale passenger car Firestone to give you an idea of relative size. This is out of production, as are the Golden Arrow and Blackhawk.

The Golden Rod, Golden Arrow, and Spirit of America are all about 18" long, and again, they're 1/25 or 1/24 scale.

Terry

[sandysixtysfan]

Hi,
You're correct, it was polished metal by most accounts, (or possibly painted silver by some). My model is painted with Tamiya silver from the aerosol can. The camera was just acting stupid that day. Your LSR's are great looking. Too bad there's not more of them in 1/24-5 scale. I hope you don't mind me tagging my stuff onto your post. Sandy

[Deleted]

No, not at all--tag away. That T-bolt is beautiful. And sometimes these just kind of veer off in a different direction. I've learned a ton by reading the posts here, and some of them just cover other areas.

It's all racin'....

Terry

[lance]

Bob Clidinst has drawings for "Bluebird" , has anyone done a kit of it yet? Lance

[sandysixtysfan]

Hi Lance,
Which Bluebird does he have drawings for? Touchwood Models www.touchwoodmodels.com/ specializes in LSR models and Gran Prix Models www.grandprixmodels.co.uk/ has a good selection as well. There's been a number of Bluebirds and here's two I built in 1/43 (about 8"- 9" long) from Replicast kits. The owner of Replicast retired a few years back and sold the molds to Mach One Models. 'MOM' updated the molds and has re-issued them.
This is the 1935 Bluebird driven by Malcolm Campbell to a record of 301 mph, hey guys, it's Open Wheel!-
and this is the 1964 Bluebird driven by Malcolm's son Donald to a record of 403 mph-
HTH, Sandy M.

[herk56]

Well, Zig, in Sandy's defense, panel lines are kind of hard to highlight in 1/43 scale without going to the other extreme of having them appear HUGE. I think that if you saw the models in "real life" they would look pretty good. The lines just don't photograph well. On my 1/25 Goldenrod, I used ink to bring them out, in 1/25 scale that works well. Nice builds, Sandy. I have too many interests already but have been sorely tempted to branch into LSR cars. So far, I've resisted all but the Goldenrod!

Brian

[indy]

Both of the blue models have panel lines if you look carefully but they are not highlighted

Jordan

[sandysixtysfan]

Thanks for the comments. No ruffled feathers here. The '35 car's panel lines are there, but are very shallow and just don't show up well in the photo. With 1/43 cars the panel lines seem to vary from model to model, like very shallow (too shallow) on the '35 Bluebird to very heavy (too heavy actually) on the Thunderbolt. Here's Thompson's Autolite Spl which the company got the lines just about right-

Sandy

[Patrick]

These are so great! I have some plans for the Cadusis (sp?) jet car and want to try my hand at that car.

Patrick

[Deleted]

Got a little paint on the Golden Arrow. The '64 Impala gives you an idea of relative size. The structure in front of the Arrow is the chassis plate and the interior. The bulkhead drawings on the kit instructions don't fit the inside of the body, so I used a contour gauge to make new ones. The little half-moon is the dashboard. All of that has to be fabricated from sheet plastic (included in the kit).

This casting is FULL of pinholes. I bet I've filled about 300 of the little buggers. Getting close, though.

Terry

[Deleted]

Terry...

Don't you hate the pin holes? That sucker is HUGE!!!!!!!!!! What a brute! Looks good though.

Good Luck!

Russ

[Deleted]

Well, it's coming along. Got it up on its' wheels tonight. Still have a handful of little parts to add, and the big radiators. I had to give the wheels time to dry, though.



Terry

[Deleted]

That really looks nice, Terry. It's hard to imagine just how big those LSR cars can be.

Mongo