Wednesday 26 November 2014

Mirror, mirror on the car...

You would think that having made dozens of F1 slot car masters, yes, dozens, that I would have at least a couple of mirrors left in a drawer somewhere, wouldn't you?
But not a mirror to be found for the BRM model I've just built for a client from an old FPF resin body.
As you can see, holes in the screen, but no mirrors.

So, off to the shed to lathe up a couple of mirrors.  No thin ally rod either (must get some), so I made them on each end of a stick of brass, because they're body colour, as it happens.
Back to the workshop to solder them onto each end of a stick of thinner brass wire, then mix up some enamel to paint them with.
This took no more than half an hour to do to this stage.  It's just a bit of a faff, having to make new ones.  It's much easier to solder them on to the thin stick before cleaning them up.  The mirror face, which will have some self adhesive aluminium tape added, as it's easy to tidy up, will need filing smooth.  After cutting the mirrors off the rod that I used to make them on, it would have been hopeless trying to hold them in my fingers, whereas once they were soldered on the thinner stick, they could be held easily and rested face up in the gap between vice jaws and filed up smooth.  They could also be painted easily on each end of a stick, finally to be clipped off the stick and glued in the holes in the screen.

Finally, with its partner Lotus 25 and Cooper Maserati, the three models will go to their new owner to join the other seven I've made for him.
Two more after these, a Ferrari 801 and an H-16 BRM, as promised and then that's it.  Too fiddly for the money paid and the work involved.




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