ICM Model T Ford 1913 Roadster

[Anglia105E]

23 minutes ago, Bainford said:

Nice work on this one, David. I have been curious about these ICM Model T kits. I am quite enjoying your build. I think I need one of these.

Thanks Trevor, and good to hear that you are enjoying my build . . . You will not be disappointed if you do purchase one of these excellent kits, and I have been most impressed with each ICM kit that I have had the pleasure to build so far . . .

Compared with top quality kits by Tamiya, Moebius, Gunze Sangyo, Italeri, Emhar and Revell, these ICM kits are right up there with the best . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

The past couple of days have been all about very small parts that are fiddly and tricky to assemble . . . These include the horn, which has three parts, also the brass piping for the horn and the rubber bulb that goes on top of the pipe. Also, there is the steering column, comprising the column itself, plus the top bracket for the two tiny levers, one being the throttle lever and the other is the spark advance retard lever. Then there is the steering wheel, with the centre spokes . . . Finally I got these parts all painted, assembled and fitted to the car.

The upper body won't be glued to the lower body and rolling chassis until the driver figure has been sorted out, as I need to have access to the seat base and the floor . . . I am no nearer to solving the figure issue, and at one point I was leaning towards David G.'s brilliant suggestion to cut the driver's legs off and cover his lower body with a lap blanket, which I would call a travel rug . . . If possible, I would like to have the driver's feet near to the foot pedals.

Here are a few more photos of the current work in progress . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

There are the two headlamp casings in brass on this Model T, and each of the casings has two halves. The two halves are glued together, with the clear lens added afterwards. A mounting bracket is also painted in brass, and I found that the arms of the bracket grip the casing so precisely that no glue was needed.

The brass paint is drying overnight, and the assembled glued parts are being allowed to set. Tomorrow I should be able to glue the headlamp mounting brackets to the front of the chassis . . . As well as the two headlamps, there are three lanterns, and two of these are front side lamps, while the third lantern is a rear lamp.

The crank handle has been attached to the front of the car, immediately below the radiator shell . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

The two headlamps were carefully super glued in place, and these were difficult to keep in position while the glue took hold.

Next up were two sidelamp lanterns, which also required super glue as the styrene glue wasn't holding . . . Then a third lantern was mounted on the rear of the upper body. Fortunately, the three clear lenses were clipped into the lamp casings and not glued in place. This was fortunate because I realised that I had forgotten to paint the inside of the rear lens in red !

Moving on to the driver figure . . . The legs have been sawn off at the lower edge of the jacket. and I have fabricated a travel rug by using a small piece of white masking tape, which was coated with PVA glue overnight. Following this, the tartan pattern was created using Sharpies rather than paint. Once wrapped around the lower torso of the figure, I was able to see how the two sawn off lower legs and feet needed to be mounted on the floor, either side of the foot pedals . . . The absence of plastic material between the legs and the body of the figure will not be visible when covered by the travel rug.

At this stage I put together a mock up of progress so far . . . The main components of the model seem to fit together quite nicely, including the canvas top.

I am probably around one week away from completing this Model T Ford . . .

David

[David G.]

Wow David! So many tiny parts with this one, it looks like they all came together well enough. I especially like the steering wheel and carriage lamps. 

I'm gratified that you've found my suggestion useful, it seems like it should work out rather well. 

David G.

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, David G. said:

Wow David! So many tiny parts with this one, it looks like they all came together well enough. I especially like the steering wheel and carriage lamps. 

I'm gratified that you've found my suggestion useful, it seems like it should work out rather well. 

David G.

Yes I think the travel rug / lap blanket idea is working thanks David, and the right leg of the figure is not giving me too much trouble . . . The left leg however, is proving to be rather tricky, but getting there slowly !

David W.

[Anglia105E]

I carefully removed the clear lens from the rear lantern (carriage lamp), and managed to avoid breaking the lamp bracket. Decided to use red and blue Sharpies rather than paint to colour the lens from the inside . . . This was red facing to the rear of the car, and blue to the side, according to the ICM instruction sheet. The lens was clipped back into position, and the lamp looks good.

As regards the driver figure, the right leg was mounted on the floor, using super glue on the heel and toe of the shoe, and this was just to the right of the foot pedal . . . Then the left leg of the figure was sawn off immediately below the knee, and a further 5 mm of material was removed from the lower leg area. The two sections of the leg were super glued together, which was followed by mounting the foot to the left of the foot pedals . . . Both legs were mounted in this way, and the knees were both at the same height. It was necessary to insert a small block of balsa wood underneath the heel of the driver's shoe in order to obtain the correct height of the knee . . .

Leaving the legs to set overnight, the travel rug would be added the next day . . .

David

[David G.]

Nice work on the carriage light lens David! I'm amazed how useful Sharpie pens have become to me in model building. There was once a time when "serious" model builders scoffed at the use of such "unserious" tools.

I don't recall if you've named the driver figure yet but I'm guessing it it wouldn't be Ol' Longshanks! 

Seeing how you sectioned that lower left leg makes me think it was way out of proportion to the other. Like the figure was sculpted to fit a certain application rather than just sculpted as a figure.

Nice update though, I'm really enjoying following this build.

David G.

[Anglia105E]

6 hours ago, David G. said:

Nice work on the carriage light lens David! I'm amazed how useful Sharpie pens have become to me in model building. There was once a time when "serious" model builders scoffed at the use of such "unserious" tools.

I don't recall if you've named the driver figure yet but I'm guessing it it wouldn't be Ol' Longshanks! 

Seeing how you sectioned that lower left leg makes me think it was way out of proportion to the other. Like the figure was sculpted to fit a certain application rather than just sculpted as a figure.

Nice update though, I'm really enjoying following this build.

David G.

Sharpies are an excellent product for model builders, and I am using a gold Sharpie for some of the smaller ' brass ' parts in this build. The gold colour is identical to the Humbrol brass enamel finish as it happens . . . No, the driver does not yet have a name, but at some point he shall be named ! ( I am not familiar with Ol' Longshanks . . . who was he ? ) . . .

I agree that the  driver figure was most probably intended for the Touring version of the Model T specifically, and with the Touring version being longer than the Roadster version, maybe the inside of the driver's compartment is different in some way? Certainly it was odd that the right leg was almost fitting well, and yet the left leg was substantially too long . . .

This build could well be completed within the next few days, and there are only three pairs of tiny parts remaining on the sprues. The upper body was glued into place onto the lower body this morning, as I confirmed that the figure and seat fit correctly over the gas tank and under the tartan travel rug.

David W.

[LennyB]

15 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

Sharpies are an excellent product for model builders, and I am using a gold Sharpie for some of the smaller ' brass ' parts in this build. The gold colour is identical to the Humbrol brass enamel finish as it happens . . . No, the driver does not yet have a name, but at some point he shall be named ! ( I am not familiar with Ol' Longshanks . . . who was he ? ) . . .

I agree that the  driver figure was most probably intended for the Touring version of the Model T specifically, and with the Touring version being longer than the Roadster version, maybe the inside of the driver's compartment is different in some way? Certainly it was odd that the right leg was almost fitting well, and yet the left leg was substantially too long . . .

This build could well be completed within the next few days, and there are only three pairs of tiny parts remaining on the sprues. The upper body was glued into place onto the lower body this morning, as I confirmed that the figure and seat fit correctly over the gas tank and under the tartan travel rug.

David W.

David, how do you think one of those Sharpies would work on some side trim? On the 57 Ford wagon I'm doing there are two chrome trim pieces on the side which have a narrow section of gold between them. I was thinking of brush painting it but maybe the Sharpie would be better.

 

 

And as far as Longshanks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England

[Anglia105E]

11 minutes ago, LennyB said:

David, how do you think one of those Sharpies would work on some side trim? On the 57 Ford wagon I'm doing there are two chrome trim pieces on the side which have a narrow section of gold between them. I was thinking of brush painting it but maybe the Sharpie would be better.

 

 

And as far as Longshanks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England

Thanks for the info Len regarding Edward I, and I just assumed that Longshanks  must have been an American guy !

You could certainly use gold Sharpie between the chrome trim pieces on your '57 Ford wagon, as long as the Sharpie has a finer tip. My Sharpies I think are one mm . . . Very often, the Sharpie can do a better job than the paint brush.

David W.

[David G.]

On 12/3/2024 at 11:51 AM, Anglia105E said:

 . . . No, the driver does not yet have a name, but at some point he shall be named ! ( I am not familiar with Ol' Longshanks . . . who was he ? ) . . .

 

David W.

That was one of Aragorn's nicknames given to him by the Hobbits of Bree in LOTR.  

=D-

[NOBLNG]

You’ve done a great job on this one David…including the macabre work on the driver.😬

Edited December 5, 2024 by NOBLNG

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

That was one of Aragorn's nicknames given to him by the Hobbits of Bree in LOTR.  

=D-

Thank you David G. and I continue to learn new stuff, which led me to Lord of the Rings, and this quote . . .

The name is in fact related to Aragorn's other name in Bree, 'Strider' (and was said to be one of many insulting names that Bill Ferny had heard for Strider). Shank in this sense means 'leg', so 'Longshanks' means simply 'long-legs', and relates to his considerable height and the long length of his stride.

David W.

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

You’ve done a great job on this one David…including the macabre work on the driver.😬

Thanks Greg . . . I did make sure that the driver was given some anesthetic during the process of sawing off his legs !!!

David

[Anglia105E]

Having fitted the two trunk lid handles in place, I then fitted the two brass windshield hinge bars, also the two brackets at the rear of the canvas top and finally the four hood panel handles . . . These handles for the hood are not shown in the ICM instruction sheet as being fitted, and there are no indentations or holes in the hood panels. Once I had created two indentations on each side, using a metal scriber, the four brass handles were super glued in place . . .

This Model T Ford is now completed, apart from three spark plug leads that need fitting in the engine bay, and also the rubber tyres need to be glued to the wheel rims using PVA glue . . .

Meanwhile, the A3 size print of the Highland Park Plant in Michigan was carefully mounted onto a sheet of Foamex board, with PVA glue used.

Some of the following photos show the Model T standing in front of the Highland Park background image . . . Several of these show the car in colour, with the MDF workbench surface in colour, and the background is in black & white. Some of the photos are in black & white, and these show the surface colour of the workbench to be very close to the actual road colour in the photographic image . . . I played around with the light source, so as to simulate the shadows and highlights with those in the background photo. There will be figures added to this composition at a later stage . . .

David

[LennyB]

David, great job on this it really represents the Model T well.  If I squint it actually looks real😆

[Anglia105E]

9 minutes ago, LennyB said:

David, great job on this it really represents the Model T well.  If I squint it actually looks real😆

I really appreciate your comments Len, and I hope to get close with the level of realism . . . This has been a most enjoyable build, which has taken me two months, from 4th October to 4th December.

David

[BK9300]

Terrific build, David - lots of new methods tried and many problems solved along the way - well done!

[Anglia105E]

9 hours ago, BK9300 said:

Terrific build, David - lots of new methods tried and many problems solved along the way - well done!

Thanks Brian . . . There is always something new in the way of challenges, and I am constantly surprised by the results.

I have to move this topic to ' Under Glass ', but also move it to ' W.I.P. Dioramas ' as well I guess ?

David

[David G.]

A cracking good outcome on this one David! I love the photos too, especially the final low angle shot. The street level POV goes a long way toward adding to the realism.

It looks as if the rest of the fellows agree! 

David G.

[Zippi]

That turned out really nice there David.  You captured the look.

[Anglia105E]

4 hours ago, David G. said:

A cracking good outcome on this one David! I love the photos too, especially the final low angle shot. The street level POV goes a long way toward adding to the realism.

It looks as if the rest of the fellows agree! 

David G.

Cheers David G., . . . The most important area of the small diorama is where the base meets the background, which at the moment is the background image standing vertically on the surface of the MDF workbench . . . It will be necessary to set up a short grey baseboard in the immediate foreground, whereby the colour and texture matches the colour and texture of the actual road surface in the picture. Possibly I could edit out the joining line in my photos, which many people would refer to as ' Photoshop ' the image, but I don't like cheating in that way, unless I have to of course . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

3 hours ago, Zippi said:

That turned out really nice there David.  You captured the look.

Thanks a lot Bob . . . This does seem to have turned out reasonably well  !

David

[Bugatti Fan]

Nice period car build.