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Post by bevital on Nov 6, 2019 8:44:22 GMT -5
Hello! It's time to share with you my current WIP... the subject is the 1956 BRM type 25... this car played a minor role in that Formula One season, but I always loved its curvy lines and its elegant dark metallic green dress... For building this model, I used the only 1/24 scale kit available, from the glorious Merit brand... I have most of this lovely kits, but the BRM was the only I got as a glue bomb... So, the first step was to disassemble the model...
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Post by jamesharvey on Nov 6, 2019 10:06:09 GMT -5
Nice job in getting it to come apart. Many of us are not so fortunate. I agree with your description of the car's appearance. Some of these late '50s cars were quite striking. Looking forward to your progress. Jim
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Post by alwaysindy on Nov 6, 2019 10:49:01 GMT -5
At least you don’t have to worry about the tires!!!!! Tim
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robh
Race Winner
Posts: 520
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Post by robh on Nov 6, 2019 21:31:04 GMT -5
Oh boy! I'm looking forward to this one.
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Post by bevital on Nov 9, 2019 15:37:58 GMT -5
Thank you very much... Tim, regarding the tires, that's what you think... The model was hand-painted with enamels, so the first step was to strip the paint, that's what I've done with brake oil... after a wash in alcohol, the body halves' plastic was as new... the nose, instead, was sanded...
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Post by bevital on Nov 9, 2019 18:14:08 GMT -5
The next step was to re-engrave the gaps between the body and the panels, and between the body and the engine hood: being a model from the '50s, the gaps were molded in relief: I re-engraved following the reliefs and helping myself with a piece of Dymo label machine self-adhesive ribbon for the straight lines... after, I sanded carefully the whole body; I engraved also the gaps for the engine air intake (that was applied and riveted), as well as for the rear brake air intake (this one was also opened). I opened also the exhausts' outlet on the engine hood... Sorry for my English...
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Post by indy on Nov 11, 2019 10:11:14 GMT -5
Great job on the build so far and your English is easy enough to follow. Thank you for sharing the pictures of this build as you are working on it.
Jordan
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Post by bevital on Jan 2, 2020 16:45:18 GMT -5
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EV'RYBODY! continuing with the BRM's building... I engraved also the engine air intake's edge, using a pre-shaped piece of Dymo label machine ribbon... after this, I glued together the two body halves, using a lot of plastic liquid cement, in order to get a putty-like action... Sanding, puttying, sanding and then I cut a "platform" from the lower half....
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Post by bevital on Jan 25, 2020 10:23:22 GMT -5
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Post by bevital on Jan 25, 2020 11:18:17 GMT -5
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Post by indy on Jan 25, 2020 11:56:32 GMT -5
Impressive results. Keep at it, this BRM keeps getting better and it is so much better already than the glue bomb you started this build as your basis.
Jordan
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Post by 2lapsdown on Jan 25, 2020 11:58:24 GMT -5
Those rivets make a huge difference, nice touch
John
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Post by bevital on Jan 25, 2020 17:10:03 GMT -5
Thank you very much, guys.... I went on by working on the suspensions and the "platform" The kit's front suspension was very basic... don't forget that we are talking about a 1958 kit... I cut the lower arms and I made two triangles with Evergreen square rods. Then I drilled and worked the upper arms to make the upper triangles
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Post by bevital on Jan 26, 2020 4:59:21 GMT -5
For the rear suspension and the frame, it wasn't easy to make something correct and realistic... there's very little documentation on this early Type 25 version... it raced very rarely, and at the end of '56, all the cars were modified following the Colin Chapman's indications, changing the rear suspension from a single transverse leaf spring to a double coil spring dampers layout, together with a new body, with a more faired cockpit... Then, most of 25 mkII were cannibalized to build the Type 48, the first rear-engined BRM... Below, there's all that I found for chassis and suspension
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Post by bevital on Jan 26, 2020 5:09:19 GMT -5
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Post by jimhamill on Jan 26, 2020 10:47:17 GMT -5
Really nice work - I'm looking forward to you next update
Jim
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Post by bevital on Jan 26, 2020 14:28:56 GMT -5
Thank you Jim.... the next step was to make the front disc brakes with their calipers... the car featured a single rear disc brake, placed behind the gearbox (that was in the tail as the transmission was transaxle type). after, I painted the chassis/suspensions unit, with the seat, that I re-painted in dark red, with some weathering...
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Post by alwaysindy on Jan 27, 2020 11:32:27 GMT -5
Beppe:
Man! You are sure making that old Merit kit into a beauty! I just wish it had wire wheels so you could show us how to do them! At least you didn’t have to worry about the correct tire size! Keep it up; I am enjoying this WIP... Tim
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Post by bevital on Feb 3, 2020 16:37:46 GMT -5
Thank you Tim! After this (as I said, I decided to make a curbside model), I mounted the body, painted in dark metallic green... The BRM green has always been a great issue, as in the old photos it seems black, dark blue or dark green, but I've read in a Formula one forum a Doug Nye's statement that said that the BRM colour was a very dark metallic green... Nye is one of the greatest journalists and a great historian of motosport, and so I trusted him... I changed the wheels... when I puchased the model I had in my mind to keep the kit's wheels, making the necessary improvements... but some months ago, my friend Michele (great modeller and kit producer) gave me some beautiful Dunlop rims, cast in white metal, and this was the reason for which I decided to start this project... Here below there is the kit's wheel... And this is the WM wheel, fitted with a Dunlop tire, taken from the Revell Mercedes 300 srl Mille Miglia kit...
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Post by bevital on Feb 3, 2020 17:20:48 GMT -5
For the dashboard, I used the kit's piece... I only drilled the holes for the rev counter and the gauges and added some rivets... Then I made a steering wheel with a photoetched item and some Evergreen rod... here it's compared with the kit's steering wheel... ... but watching on Youtube a footage on the 1956 British Grand prix, I realized that my wheel was wrong... So, I made another one... the first wheel is of a very common type on the '50s racing cars, and I will surely re-use it... First of all, I drilled three holes at 120°... Then I made the rod and added the rivets... Here is a comparison with the previous wheel and here, all is in place...
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Post by 2lapsdown on Feb 3, 2020 18:31:05 GMT -5
You're doing a great job of breathing new life into this old kit
John
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Post by jimhamill on Feb 3, 2020 21:36:56 GMT -5
Really impressive modeling
Did Michele cast the wheels you used?
Jim
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Post by bevital on Feb 4, 2020 7:57:00 GMT -5
Many thanks to everybody... In fact, Michele Lauria made the prototypes (front and rear, there is a very slight difference) and sent them to a Northern Italy firm (we live in Sicily) to cast the wheels in white metal... For the exhaust system, I had the issue of the manifolds' layout, that was quite peculiar on this car... in order to keep it, I used the kit's piece, but I had to elongate the manifolds to let 'em go into the holes I prepared before... to do this, I first glued a soldering wire piece into a hole I drilled in each manifold... Then I glued on each wire a piece of soft plastic tube, more or less te same diameter as the manifolds' one, in order to have very flexible and adaptable tubes... I used a mix of super glue and vinyl glue to make some "puttying"... Later, I cut away the original main tube, that featured the anti-burns grille molded in relief, as well as the grille's holes, and replaced it with an Evergreen tube, a little longer... Then I made a new grille, using a bigger styrene tube piece, in which I drilled the holes; moreover, i milled the grille's ends to reproduce the gap between the tube and the grille itself.... Below you can see the grille already glued in place and painted with the whole exhaust system... Finally, I painted the grille with aluminium enamel ad added the fixing band... for these details, I use the aluminium ribbon for the air conditioners... it's self-adhesive and thicker than Bare-Metal, and it can be polished... And here, all the system glued in place... For the windscreen, I used the kit piece (too thick and too damaged) as a template; I cut a masking tape piece following the windscreen shape and dimensions, and I applied the shaped tape on an acetate sheet, fom which I cut the new windscreen; as I had drilled before the holes on the cockpit's edge, I fixed the windscreen in place with some tiny brass rivets...
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Post by jamesharvey on Feb 4, 2020 9:02:39 GMT -5
A masterful job in so many ways from your remarkable scratch-building skills to all the research. Good on you! Thanks for sharing the WIP> Jim
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Post by indy on Feb 4, 2020 13:07:29 GMT -5
The first steering wheel remake was magnificent work and your replacement once you realized it was not 100% correct is another great creation. Michele's rims are a great addition to the project, too. The transformation so far is inspiring. It looks very good. Looking forward to your updates.
Thank you for sharing, Jordan
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jj66
Podium Finisher
Posts: 344
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Post by jj66 on Feb 4, 2020 13:59:09 GMT -5
Improvements you are introducing in this old kit are impressive!
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Post by bevital on Feb 5, 2020 7:26:16 GMT -5
Many thanks to you, Jim... And now, it's time to finish.... This car had a very troubled life, as many BRM models... introduced at the end of '55, in 1956 it was aligned only in two GPs: Monaco, where two cars lapped in practice but didn't start, and the British GP in Silverstone, where three cars were entered for Mike Hawthorn, Tony Brooks (two of the most talented young British drivers of the era) and Ron Flockhart (two-times Le Mans winner). In that event, maybe also for the national pride, Hawthorn scored the third time in practice, starting from front row, and in the first third of the race Hawthorn and Brooks boldly led, making British fans to dream the first GP victory for an English car (Connaught had won already a FIA GP in Syracuse, Sicily, but it wasn't valid for the world Championship). But both Hawthorn and Brooks had to withdraw, the first on gearbox troubles and the second on a spectacular crash with fire, from which he came out with minor wounds. For the rest of the season the "type 25" was raced only in national events in Great Britain. After several modifications, regarding mainly the rear suspension, the car got his first GP victory in 1959 with the rough Swedish driver Jo Bonnier in Zandvoort, Holland, when it was already becoming obsolete beacause of the rear-engined cars advent. In the beginning, I wanted to reproduce the British GP version, but I had some problems to get the correct decals (I'm still not able to make my own decals on PC), so I decided to make the Monaco version... And this is the final result... Thank you everybody for your kind attention!
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Post by jimhamill on Feb 5, 2020 8:04:10 GMT -5
Great modeling!
Thanks for sharing
Jim
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Post by 2lapsdown on Feb 5, 2020 10:39:58 GMT -5
Truly a great job of detailing this old kit. It's beautiful. One question; where did you get the small brass rivets for the windscreen? Such a small detail that makes huge difference. Thanks for sharing the progress
John
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Post by indy on Feb 5, 2020 11:28:01 GMT -5
Fabulous result. I really appreciate the WIP to understand where it started and what it took to get to this point. It is a lovely replica and should look great on display.
Jordan
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