1935 Morgan

First report on the Minicraft 1935 Morgan.


Being my first venture into one of the larger scales, I really intend to do a nice job since it'll also be a rare, for me, out of the box build.
My first thought, before I even got into it was to replace the plastic spokes with wire. Two things affected my decision not to. The kit's spokes are not all that heavy looking, I have seen 1:25 thicker than these. The other is that the spokes are cast all on one plane with not much hub to drill into that would let wires pass each other where they cross.
There  is a hairline flashmark on each spoke, so due to wanting to do as good a job as I can, I started to dress them off. Finding out that it's not a job for an impatient modeler. Figured two wheels and one new #11 xacto blade would be all I could handle for each session.
 

I have gained a noticeable difference in the spokes being thinner.  Top row are trimmed while the lower row is stock.



Here's where my good intentions for a nice job are getting a real test. Laying off the spokes, I took the main engine parts off the chrome tree and ran them thru some oven cleaner. The plastic for the chrome tree stuff is milky white and on the soft side. Reminding me of the horrid 40 Ford that Lindeberg stuck in the L700 truck kit.
I wanted to clean up the  fins on the cylinders where the two halves go together. I'm having a problem getting a clean cut with the soft plastic.
Doing the best I can with new xacto blades, sandpaper and files. This sucks cause I really want the engine to look especially good.

Good news is that the wheels and rest of the plastic in the kit is grey normal looking styrene.

That didn't take you long to dig into Clay. I hate that milk jug plastic as well. You just cant work with it very well, but I am sure you will get it. I know that the early Morgans had a wooden frame, does this kit have a texture on the frame?

Ha ! I'll have to let you know, Sam. I haven't even looked at that part yet...... well, at least paid attention to .  

Looking forward to what you do with this Geezer. I know it will be spectacular.

JohnJ wrote:Looking forward to what you do with this Geezer.  I know it will be spectacular.

Don't get yer hopes up, John, Not my usual scale. Probably just be an assembly.

May I ask what scale this is please, sorry I can't see the size anywhere, also, is this one going to have a skull or will it be skull-less...

Scale is 1/16, so it's big. I think that's one that has been released numerous times over decades. Here's a link to one place selling them. I'm sure if you look, there are others too. http://www.modelcars.com/minicraft-models-1935-morgan-three-wheeler.html

Glad to see this one hit the bench.

Not much progress from last post. I cleaned up one more wheel, and got the cylinders and crankcase cleaned, figured out, matched up, and painted.
I'll tell you, if someone tends to assemble this kit they better know this engine or find out about it. All engine parts are on that chrome tree and the plastic is crap! Parts do not match up well and are hard to clean up. Instructions are very minimal, so you have to know what's what and how it is positioned.
Blurb at front of instruction sheet says most engines are J.A.P. 980 CC V-twin. The Matchless MX2 was another popular option. Inside where they show approximately how it is assembled, there is a little notice that says the engine is a Matchless MX2. That helped me Google a couple of other good photos. Most all fotos found only showed the front of the engine, so I'll have to guesstimate where other stuff may go.

And, SAM, the frame appears to be tubular.

I think it maybe wasn't until the 4 wheel Morgans (plus 4s), that they made the frame rails from ash tree wood. They kept the ash frames well into the 1960s at least, if this old memory holds true.
I'd forgotten about the brand of engines they used. Until the Internet not many publications had great fotos. Only the pricey subscription hard cover, Automobile Quarterly, had good pix and stories.
The fact that the kit is, I believe, from the '60s and from Japan, makes the old fit-and-finish standards less than later. Even the Tamiya's back then were less than detailed in instructions and molding quality.

I suppose I've whined enough about the chrome tree plastic, so I'll try to curb that down.
 
I brushed across one of the heads and one of the spark plug tops rubbed off, so I'm replacing them both with straight pin material..
Here I have the basic engine parts together.



Have a couple of delicate parts to deal with yet. The rocker arm springs and the push rod covers. Hope I can clean those parts off and not have to replace anything.

Whine away!  You manage to put up with my whining, so it's your turn.

Cool build, I like this one.

I had a friend who was into old Morgans, and president of the local Morgan car club. He had a 50's vintage one with the straight 4 Triumph engines in it, and was in the process of restoring it.

As he was working on the body framework, out of ash wood, I remarked that this is one of the few cars that you need to be a carpenter to restore and work on it!!!

Pete

When I first saw this kit I thought "Oh man I want one of those". Now I don't feel that way at all.  Maybe if I found one at a super cheap price I might pull the trigger.

It's looking good Clay.

I had this one a few years back but lost interest and sold it on.

It had horrendous mold lines on the line idicated IIRC. Is yours the same?

Skid, That just looks like a body contour on both sides of mine.

I got into the rockers and rod covers this afternoon. 'Twas nasty!  Being unschooled in this, I tried following the instructions as a guide. Mistake ! The rockers were mislabeled in the instructions, which only showed the left side. Supposedly the right was to be a mirror assembly.
Things didn't work out so well and I had to do some drastic adjusting. I went to do the other head, and when I went to the tree for those parts (which were on the other end of the tree), I found they were different and the part numbers on the tree  weren't even mentioned in the instructions (  C-3 & C-4).
I really had to work over those. You can see on the model That there are additions on the bottom of the rod covers. I had to build some new pieces for the right side rockers also. Should look better when I get them cleaned up. SIGH!

Regarding the speculations on the frame, this is how the kit's frame is to be laid out. I really hadn't gotten there yet.

That engine doesn't look all that bad. I expected worse.

I wouldn't want to discourage any one from this kit.
I think I'm gonna end up with a pretty nice model !

I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning some reasonable flash from the chain links and sprocket teeth.

To be a little verbose, I'll explain that my man cave is in a shed on the opposite side of the carport from the house. That safely insulates it from my sweet Christian wife who has spent 99.99% of our 15 years in Florida, excluding to and from the car, avoiding the outdoors. So, saying that, I figured if I broke this chain, any pretense at all of religion would be totally abandoned. My man cave lets me properly admonish evil inanimate objects.

Fortunately all turned out well, the chain and tranny assembly are safe and in primer.

Looking good Clay   Have you googled it for reference info ?? I did and got a very interesting history on the 1935 Morgan

Yes I did, John.
Just not many shots of the engine other than the front.
I picked out one foto that I really like for the color. Might try the yellow.


Note the two hoses coming from the heads and going under the radiator shell?' These are not in the kit. The kit is an air cooled Matchless engine. The kit lists the its radiator that's behind the shell as an oil cooler. I will probably try to make those hoses.

Interesting, those barrels on the yellow car have water jackets instead of fins. Aftermarket parts?

Nice colour choice Clay.

Try doing a Google image search using the string: JAP * engine

You should get lot's of hits.

BTW, JAP stands for John Alfred Prescott, the designer of the famous JAP engines.

stevegt738 wrote:Interesting, those barrels on the yellow car have water jackets instead of fins. Aftermarket parts?

I noticed the lack of fins, John, Caption on the foto I grabbed, identified it as as 1937 Super Sport
I may just add some oil lines somewhere to route to the cooler. I will probably have to resort to my beloved Imagineering to add a bit more detail. I guess I just can't help but muck things up a bit.
 

Skid, J.A.P. was my first search before I tried Matchless. Not a whole lot of difference info.

The Yellow looks sweet on the car. Good choice.