1/16th Ford Model A (Police Sergeant's Car)

I am transfering this WIP from ZMC.... so if things seem a little disjointed, bear with it please!

This is the 1/16th scale Minicraft kit:.....






I've made a start on the engine, by removing the molded in plugs and making my own.

They are made from a piece of 1.1mm styrene rod which was then drilled to accept a tiny piece of .49mm hypodermic needle tube.

The 'nut' at the base was made from drilled hexagonal rod. The ceramic section of the plugs, still need to be smoothed out with a little epoxy.





'Plug leads' on the 1:1 were flat strips of copper.

These I represented with copper wire. I'll see if I can flatten them before final instalation.

Awesome start Al. Nice work on them plugs.

Thanks guys.

Bad news. Without the instructions I'm having problems identifying how the stock suspension and engine mounts assemble.

Good news. Minicraft are e-mailing me the stock model A instructions and sending me two sets of stock tyres.

Well done Minicraft. They could give Revell USA a few lessons.

I've been pretty busy with outside work and work in the kitchen garden, in the last few days, so progress has bee a little slow.

However, I now have most of the chassis assembled. (It still needs a little cleanup)

BUT, methinks Minicraft have dropped a righ goolie in the instructions and in the missing parts dept.

The instructions call for the front of the drag link to be glued to the side of the chassis!!!!!!



I'm not overly familar with Model A steering but I think they also failed to include and accuating arm.

Would this be correct? Or am I missing something?

Another question.

I'm thinking about representing the brake acuating system. Now I believe the Model A had mechanical brakes but back in the day, there was a hydraulic conversion kit available.

Does anyone know anything about that? or can point me in the direction of how the mechanical system was set up please?



3 hours work has produced something a tad more realistic methinks.

I have to say, I'm pleased with it. Still needs a littlle clean up though.



Thanks Buck. Not perfect but at least a good and acceptable interpretation.



Got it installed tonight.



If anyone has any photos of the mechanical braking system, or can point me in the right direction, I'd be mighty grateful, cos I don't have much clue at the mo.

Nice job on the drag link Al. That's exactally where it is supposed to go.

IM no expert, but they set up you have looks like it should do the job. I have never built a Minicraft model before, how would you rate their kits?

This build is so sweet! Great work and excellent craftsmanship my friend.

Thanks guys.
Dan... this is the second one for me. The first was my 1/16th Jaguar SS100 that I made into a rat rod.
They are nicely detailed but being older kits do have some issues. Nothing particularly serious though.
Overall I'd give the two I have built 8/10

I'm stuck on the chassis until I can figure out the mechanical braking system so it's time to turn to the bodywork

As you can see, all the highlighted 'moldings' are a bit on the large side and have 'flash' problems. Time to get sanding methinks.

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I just found this diagram of a Rolls Royce mechanical brake system.



If the Model A system is as complicated, then there ain't no way I'm going to attempt it. Life's just too short. I'll convert her to hydraulic instead.

Been cleaning up the bodywork and apart from one area that needs filler, it's ready for paint.

Here's a mockup for size comparison:

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Procrastination, they say, is the thief of time, so tonight I made a start on the mechanical braking system

It's not going to be an exact replica but with Daves help with info, should at least be an acceptable facsimile.

The balance bar:



Brake rod levers:



I also made a start on the brake rods:

Here is where I'm at with the brake rods. The yoke was creates with a tiny piece of thin styrene, glued on the end of the rod, then bent to shape. It still needs to be slimmed down top to bottom to be more in scale.

Got one side completed. The rods look a bit bendy, which is why I normaly prefer working with piano wire.

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I've made a start on the brake and clutch pedal arrangements and as I suspected, not only is it going to be tricky to get everything lined up (The pedal levers have to pass through the lower part of the scuttle bulkhead) I will also need to have the finished engine installed in the finished chassis before I can make any progress in this area.

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One downside of the kit, is the amount of injection pin marks. Fourteen on the fenders and ten on the textured floor!!!!

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Not done but getting there:



The floor pinmarks were filled and sanded flat with the woodgrain, then the grain was cleaned out with the tip of an Exacto blade. Next the 'Pin mark filler' was given a little 'grain', again with the Exacto blade.

Two need a little more filler but I think by the time I do some dry brushing, they will be all but invisible.

That's what I was thinking/hoping.

It makes my life easier, as I can now fit the floor to the body before paint, in order to act as a jig and get the weird body construction to line up prorperly.

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The engines on the Model A seem to come in different colours but mst seem to have been an odd shade of blue,green,grey mixture.



So, not being the worlds best at colour matching I made up a custom mix of Tamiya paints in those colours and came up with what I think is a reasonable approximation of the colour. Bare in mind I am mildly blue/green colour blind. LOL

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I made some progress on the engine tonight.

The dyanmo, starter, top and 'side' hoses plus gear lever, are just mocked up for effect.

The dynamo and starter will be wired to a scratch made junction box which will mount to the front buklhead. The starter will also be wired to the battery.

A vacum advance tube will be added to the distributor and the plugs will be wired.

The carb will get a fuel line with scratched fuel filter, linkage to the throttle and a choke cable.

The mesh on the air filter was poorly rendered so it was sanded off and real mesh added. It still needs a little detail paint.

Minicraft molded the manifold and the first part of the exhaust system as one. Consequently, no joint clamp was included, so i mabe my own.

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This is as far as I can take the engine until after instalation in the chassis and body on.









There are several other lines/linkages which will be easier to install at a later date:

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A small but important detail. I made up and drilled a junction box for various wires.

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Dave, I'm by no means an expert on electrics so I'm just basing it on these:





If it's wrong, I'm more than happy to change it.