Started this one yesterday. The castings are well detailed but there is quite a bit of cleaning up removing casting tabs, fine part lines and planning mating faces. Nothing major but progress is slow. After four hours OR SO this what I have. Wrist pins joining the pistons and connecting rods. Crankshaft for 7 and 8 cylinders assembled and seated into adjacent big end bearing.
Looks very detailed.
Hi Francis,
What does the engine belong to....?
Some form of racing car, maybe?
Is this an "I know it's there" build?
Now then gents, the engine is a DFV Cosworth for the back of Jackie Stewart's Monaco winning Tyrrell 003/2 F1 car.
There will be a lot of 'I know its there' in the engine but after that pretty much all the details will show.
Thanks for the update Francis.
No doubt this one will be made as impeccably as your other models.
I do hope it turns out OK Kev. It's a big budget job so there's quite a bit at stake on this one.
Todays progress, the crankshaft and pistons are fully assembled. Next job is to true up the crankshaft so it will spin freely in it's bearings. An initial trial suggests it's close with only a little binding on the first journal, between piston 1 and two and the second row, pistons three and four. Thankfully all the pieces are white metal castings that will respond to gentle force.
This looks like a real labour of love,
Looks good so far.
Quite impressive mouldings there, especially in white metal. A bit of gentle brute force will probably make it obey.
Quote from: kiwichappers on June 22, 2025, 04:06:08 PMTodays progress, the crankshaft and pistons are fully assembled. Next job is to true up the crankshaft so it will spin freely in it's bearings. An initial trial suggests it's close with only a little binding on the first journal, between piston 1 and two and the second row, pistons three and four. Thankfully all the pieces are white metal castings that will respond to gentle force.
Any problems with it spinning Francis just hit it with a hammer hohoho always worked at sea ::) ::) ::)
This is definitely not a build to rush. Todays progress, crankcase assembled which on the face of it doesn't look like great progress for the time expended. Crankshaft with journals and pistons then added and trued up. Very pleased that the whole lot rotates fairly smoothly given that the castings are several orders below Swiss watch tolerances.
That looks intricate when you zoom in.
Quote from: kiwichappers on June 24, 2025, 09:25:25 PMThis is definitely not a build to rush. Todays progress, crankcase assembled which on the face of it doesn't look like great progress for the time expended. Crankshaft with journals and pistons then added and trued up. Very pleased that the whole lot rotates fairly smoothly given that the castings are several orders below Swiss watch tolerances.
Piston rings?
Probably not, that's way beyond my abilities so I never even contemplated correcting them. A case of ikit and most people will never see such details. Anyway the pistons of the kit only bear a passing resemblance to the real ones of a Cosworth F1 engine.
See attached; piston 3 from Cosworth engine CA098 M2099. At its deepest point, normal to the wrist pin the skirt is not quite 37mm which equates to a tad over 3mm at 12 scale. The defence rests.
This morning has been all about the clutch and flywheel.
Pretty intricate stuff.
Takes me back to the late 60's when I was doing my apprenticeship.
Bob c
Such amazing detail Francis. Excellent work.
Cylinder blocks in place and base coat of paint applied. Crankshaft rotation check and all working, whew!
Cylinder heads fettled and test fitted to the blocks. Ready for priming painting.
Soon be running at 200mph 8) 8) 8)
Quote from: MSea on July 08, 2025, 03:26:34 PMSoon be running at 200mph 8) 8) 8)
I thought Francis only ran at 200mph when the bar had opened or last orders had been called....... ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
Sorry Francis, very nice impressive work really
Impressive work.
Excellent work.
Bob c
Looked fantastic at the meeting last night.
A real labour of love.
I was amazed too. To see those pistons going up and down in the engine block was a marvel of engineering and modelling skill.
Thanks gents.
Dave I don't think it is any more a labour of love than all modellers commitment to whatever they are building. I'll acknowledge there is maybe a greater factor of endurance due to its apparent complexity.
Moving right along, work has started on the cylinder heads commencing with the left bank. An overview of the head with the valves and springs in place, all 16 of them and the first bucket tappets added for number 1 cylinder exhaust valves. A detail showing the tappets for number 1 cylinder exhaust valves.
We learn engine technology too, an added bonus.
Glorious detail. Ready for the annual competition then Francis?
Fantastic work Francis, it also shows you know a thing or two about the workings of engines.
Not sure if this will work but maty amuse if it does.
Work on the cylinder head for the left bank of cylinders. Today has been all about fitting the exhaust camshaft with most of the time spent fitting the camshaft bearing journals
Lovely work, pity it is all inside but as you said IKIT, and SDW(so do we).
My line of model making is IYCSIDB "if you can't see it don't bother" - but thats me all over hohohoho
Quote from: MSea on July 15, 2025, 04:54:47 PMMy line of model making is IYCSIDB "if you can't see it don't bother" - but thats me all over hohohoho
Out of sight, out of your mind usually!
Some progress, albeit not much as I've playing 1:1 cars over the last few days. The left hand bank has the camshafts fitted and the rocker cover fettled ready to be glued in place. The right hand bank has the tappets in place ready for fitting the camshafts and their journals.
One of the 1:1 cars from the last couple of days. This a very accurate Indian built replica of an 1890s Benz Motorwagen. Quite fun and much quicker than first impressions would suggest.
How fast would it go?
I always wondered how you got that dashing 'windswept' look Francis.
Now we all know....... ;D ;D ;D ;D
The Benz Motorwagen is capable of about 10mph but I'm told was only doing 8mph tops on Thursday. Still quite impressive, quite and fairly smooth riding given the large diameter driving wheels.
With the cylinder heads pretty much sorted I'm moving onto the timing gear for the valves. They're gears are definitely not replicas of the prototype straight cut ones or even Swiss watch quality. They do mesh and transfer drive from the crankshaft to the camshafts and on an ikit basis that'll do.
Blimey - that's some detail.
Lovely!
Camshaft drive gears in place and it all works. It's been a busy day at the workbench today and I'm off now to lie down in a darkened room.
You need it Francis and a couple of shots of RUM - its looking GREAT
This isn't just modelling, this is modelling with a great helping of engineering. Excellent work Francis, VERY impressed.
Moving on to detailing the rocker covers. The right hand one has the Ford logo polished and the holding down bolts added. The left hand one is freshly painted and will be detailed tomorrow, or the next day. Finally a shot of the right hand cover and the sprue of bolts for the yet to be detailed cover.
Magnificent!
Ditto
Timing gears enclosed and ancillary drive belt and pulley's added to the front end today.
Once again, almost a work of art!
I think a few of the modern day garages could do with a leaf out of your book Francis. The attention to detail is outstanding.
Fantastic work Francis.
I've moved onto the ancillaries and the last few sessions have been devoted to the those on the left hand side, hydraulic pump, oil system and associated plumbing. The pumps and arrangement of them seem to vary a lot and it's taken a while to pin down the those that relate to this car. Thankfully these will be hard to see in the body work of the car so I should be safe from all but the most pedantic of the know all brigade.
Could almost be the real thing.
This is fabulous work Francis.
Stunning!
Quote from: zak on August 18, 2025, 05:40:47 PMCould almost be the real thing.
This is fabulous work Francis.
Just like Dave said.....
Absolutely Fabulous........Darling.
Lost for words
And now for the right hand side ancillaries, similar to the left hand side oil pump but with out the hydraulic pump. Plus a bonus issue, the underside view of the dry sump and the ancillaries on both sides. Next up the action turns to the top of the engine and the fuel system.
Just lost for words.
Excellent work Francis
Just superb modelling and engineering combined!