1930 Bentley Blower by Aifix 1/12 build log [COMPLETED BUILD]

The car is looking great! But my creeping paranoia keeps questioning using latex to skin the body. From bitter personal experience it is NOT archival and will degrade over a few years. Maybe Gerald Wingrove in the Complete Car Modeler might have a suggestion:

The Complete Car Modeller 1: Wingrove, Gerald A.: 9781861266446: Amazon.com: Books

The Complete Car Modeller 1 [Wingrove, Gerald A.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Complete Car Modeller 1
www.amazon.com
secondhand copies are a lot cheaper. Neoprene (common in gloves) might be a better choice- the Museum folks object to it off gassing chlorine, which might not be a problem at home. Here are some latex horror stories:
www.vam.ac.uk

Disguising Degradation: The Treatment of a Latex Theatre Mask • V&A Blog

by Jacquelyn Peterson-Grace, MS Conservation student, Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation This full-face latex caricature of Edward Heath was part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s 2018 exhibition Censored! Stage, Screen, Society at 50...
www.vam.ac.uk www.vam.ac.uk


 
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I believe Pebbleworm is correct.
I'd also avoid glove/neoprene for the same reason.
Wingrove used to use very fine 'kid' leather, stained to colour.
 
Thank you for the info. Leather will not do, even very thin leather will be too thick. I need something around 0.5mm max thick. That's why I was going with a rubber balloon. I found a company called Zhik specialized in outdoor garments and thay use a 0.3mm neoprene to make wetsuits. I've asked them if they would sell me a small piece.
 
Did I bit of research and found this. It's the electrical diagram for the later bentley blower.
20230914_184154.jpg
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It clearly shows two 6 volt battery connected in serie. Which gives this
20230914_201621.jpg
My next interrogation is whether the wire connecting the plus to minus should be red or black. Not much info on this but the consensus in the boating world where serie connected batteries seem to be commun is red with a black tape applied at the neg end.
149827591.nHYL2XDp.jpg
So red it is.
I still wasn't sure of the under floor location but after searching thru my picture gallery, I found these 2 pictures (sorry, they're very fuzzy) that clearly show a battery in the frame so under the floor boards it will beimage134.jpg
image155.jpg
 
Did some more research and it turns out I was way off. The bentley I'm reproducing (the continuation series built in 2020 which is a perfect copy of Birkin's 1930 car) has a 12 volts battery mounted in a rack under the floor on the drivers side. So I redid the rack and the battery.
Setup on 1930's car
image134.jpg
On continuation car
20230915_190550.jpg
20230915_190422.jpg
And my take on it
20230915_190630.jpg
20230915_213121.jpg
20230915_212954.jpg
 
François said:
Did some more research and it turns out I was way off. The bentley I'm reproducing (the continuation series built in 2020 which is a perfect copy of Birkin's 1930 car) has a 12 volts battery mounted in a rack under the floor on the drivers side. So I redid the rack and the battery.
Setup on 1930's car
View attachment 395217
On continuation car
View attachment 395219
View attachment 395220
And my take on it
View attachment 395222
View attachment 395221
View attachment 395218
Click to expand...
Just in time, François. We will not call this a re-do ..... ;)
Regards, Peter
 
It never fails, you start on one thing and it leads you to something else. Yesterday, I started to assemble the brake linkage. But in order to continue, I need to install the rear axel. But in order to do that, I need to install the drive shaft. And that's where everything went sideways. The kit's drive shaft, while being ok, is not great. First it need to be made out of a straight tube, it should not be tapered at both ends. Second, it need to be telescopic and last, the bolting flanges (to bolt the shaft ends to the rrar axel and to the gear box are missing. So I set out to 3d model a new shaft and to test print the parts. Doing a new shaft helps me 2 fold, it will look a lot more like the real thing but more important, the telescopic action will aid the assembly. And once in place, I'll lock the telescopic tube together. If you remember, I added some internal gears in the differentiel casing so turning the transmission will rotate the wheels.

The kit's drive shaft
20230922_195730
My 3d model
20230922_213205
And my test shaft
20230922_211637
 
I woke up this morning asking myself, when is enough detail enough. Didn't take long to find the answer, never. Frankly, if I can do a specific detail, why not.

I'm saying this because today I decided to look at the clutch since it needs to fit properly with the clutch fork I made.

Now since it looks like I will have a brake pedal that actually activates the brake when depressed, why not have a clutch pedal that also does something. My idea is to modify the clutch housing by removing the moulded center spigot and replacing it with a spring loaded spigot that is in contact with the clutch actuating fork. Depressing the clutch pedal would push on the spigot and make it move. Sorry but that's where the mouvement stops, I don't plan on doing an actual clutch. I know it's alot of work for a very little mouvement but like I said at the start of this post, if I can do it, why not.

I forgot to take a picture of the clutch before I started to cut it up but fortunately, it was 3d modeled. So here's what the kit clutch looks like.

20230926_192937 1695780530387.gif
And the real thing

CLUTCH 1695780530447.gif
Here's what l'll be doing, replacing the moulded center spigot with a brass outter flanged sleeve and an inner spring loaded spigot. Since it's the clutch, via the square hole on the center moulded spigot, that drives the transmission shaft, I need to lock the new spring loaded spigot so it can still drive the trans while moving in and out freely. I made a small slot thru the spigot and will drive a pin thru it.

20230926_203216 1695780530502.gif
All the parts are done and ready for finish.
20230926_194517 1695780530555.gif

Here's a little video of the clutch fork activating the spigot.
View attachment 20230926_203350.mp4

1695780530613.gif
Another crazy idea a have is to install a micro gear motor where the starter would be and to hook it up to the ring gear. This would rotate the crank and pistons all the way down to the rear wheels.

I did a bit of research on micro gear motors but everything is to big. I would need something no bigger than 10mm dia x 25mm long. Does anyone know a source for small motors?

Here are some pictures of completed sub assemblies
20230925_190650.jpg
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20230925_165730.jpg20230924_215038.jpg
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The rear brake linkage is all installed and functionning !
Here are some pictures and vidéos.
20230928_155618.jpg
20230928_154538.jpg
20230928_154438.jpg
20230928_154426.jpg20230928_154355.jpg
View attachment 20230928_154850.mp4
View attachment 20230928_154605.mp4

I also started to install the handbrake and front brake linkage but am waiting a part and need to fabricate a small shaft with a universal joint à both ends.
20230928_192712.jpg20230928_192644.jpg
I received a small (6mm od) gearmotor that will be mounted in the starter housing. The idea is to drive the ring gear (as a normal starter would do) and thus drive the crank shaft and pistons all the way down to the wheels. Well, that's what my imagination tells me it will do...
20230928_201552.jpg
View attachment 20230928_155140.mp4
 
In order to complete the front brakes assembly, I need to fabricate the perrot shafts which are these things

Screenshot_20230929_152925_Chrome.jpg

And here is where they are mounted on the car.

Screenshot_20230929_153203_Photos~2.jpg

I wondered why they would name this part after a bird. It turns out it's actually named after it's inventor, Henry Perrot. Besides, the bird is a pArrot. Live and learn. Quite ingenous guy. This shaft transfers the rotation mouvement from the inboard linkage driven by the brake pedal to the shoe cam that activates the brake shoes. The reason it needs to be double jointed is to allow suspension and steering mouvement while braking.



Another fun fact. With a double universal jointed shaft, it's important for both joint to be rotationnaly aligned. This will reduce the speed variation from input to output. I did the mistake of rotating 2 joint by 90deg in one of the very first machine I designed back in 87... didn't work so good. I'm not sure it would matter all that much in this case since the perrot shaft does a max rotation of 15/20 deg only.
Screenshot_20230929_155326_Chrome.jpg


I'll be using 3/32 dia aluminium tubing to fabricate my perrot shafts. Normaly, they are hidden under a gator. Depending on how nice they turn out, I might cover only one and leave other visible.
 
François said:
In order to complete the front brakes assembly, I need to fabricate the perrot shafts which are these things

View attachment 397451

And here is where they are mounted on the car.

View attachment 397452

I wondered why they would name this part after a bird. It turns out it's actually named after it's inventor, Henry Perrot. Besides, the bird is a pArrot. Live and learn. Quite ingenous guy. This shaft transfers the rotation mouvement from the inboard linkage driven by the brake pedal to the shoe cam that activates the brake shoes. The reason it needs to be double jointed is to allow suspension and steering mouvement while braking.



Another fun fact. With a double universal jointed shaft, it's important for both joint to be rotationnaly aligned. This will reduce the speed variation from input to output. I did the mistake of rotating 2 joint by 90deg in one of the very first machine I designed back in 87... didn't work so good. I'm not sure it would matter all that much in this case since the perrot shaft does a max rotation of 15/20 deg only.
View attachment 397450


I'll be using 3/32 dia aluminium tubing to fabricate my perrot shafts. Normaly, they are hidden under a gator. Depending on how nice they turn out, I might cover only one and leave other visible.
Click to expand...
Dear François ,
the professional abilities you demonstrate are inspiring.
I admire your professional skills , it is simply an intellectual pleasure to follow your amazing work
 
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