1932 Cadillac V16 scale model

[Bill Young]

Thank You Gentlemen for your kind words. I have Loved Cadillac's especially of the 50's , 60's and 70's all my life. I am now 65. I as well as Ocean Liners also Love English Showmans Engines , New York Central Steam Locomotives , Turn of the century steam tug boats and Mahogany Motor boats.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Recently, I added a small shaft for a brake lever at the front brake shields as well as the insert for the bolt limiting the steering angle. One challenge was to drill a 0.4mm for the cotter pin. It's good to practice now because there are a lot of cotter pins on that frame! Then, I began the lever which will be actuated by a cable. I'm adding a picture showing the set-up for the front wheels; the picture is from a restored 1932 V-8 brake shield assembly, which is almost identical to the V-16 one.
To replicate cast parts is taking a lot of time; I was aware of it! As I cannot cast small or large parts, I have to do them differently. The second picture is showing the lever and limiting bolt from the RH brake shield, + the parts which are constituting that lever: a shaft, 3 "bearings". The smaller ones are drilled entirely, the large one only up to the middle. The assembly is done with soft solder. After that, the final holes for the various pins/shaft are drilled. Finally, the width of the assembly will be corrected; to facilitate the construction, the "bearings" are larger (or longer if you like).

[Lexi]

Roger that is incredible work. Love the updates. And Bill, that ship is awesome. I love all that stuff and always admired those who had the ability to build models like that. Lots of talent in the Club. I always wanted to build models of cars and ships. I did get into some serious builds though. I built a functional life size replica of a 600 year old spanish/moorish/gothic coffered ceiling in my old house. Three years and 1,000 hours labor and more than a quarter of a ton in weight. Solid oak, some oak veneer and lots of ornamental plaster. Did all the woodworking and plaster model making and castings as well. That occupied my time in between vintage Cadillac ownership. These model making and molding & casting skills are relevant to the vintage car restoration world as we often require replication skills to manufacture car parts that are no longer available. Don't think they will pull Bill's Normandie model pics down as there were a lot of Cadillac owners on that ship! Clay/Lexi

[INTMD8]

WOW!  Every time I open this thread I'm amazed.  Beautiful work 

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks for the comments!

[Michel 14]

Bravo Roger je m' instale

[Roger Zimmermann]

Cars from this time were rather simple: many parts, pure mechanical devices. Probably not all were so carefully build like Cadillacs were: for example, the lever I pictured recently was installed with a needle bearing on the brake shield. Probably cheaper cars would just have a bronze bushing for the same configuration. The solutions retained were rather logical but to reproduce them on a scale model is another matter.
As an example: I began to reproduce the large lever you can see at the right on the picture of the original assembly. It has a strange shape, but it was very ingenious: the nut at one end was used to finely adjust the brake shoes. This nut pulled or pushed a rod connected to the splined hub, modifying the position of the hub in relation to the lever. 
As my project is to make a rolling frame, many details will be seen. Therefore, I had to reproduce the splined shaft & hub. I will not add the provision to adjust the brakes, because this detail would ad too much complexity at this scale.
The question was: how to do the splines? By chance, I had a milling cutter with the appropriate width. I imagined that I could do a shaft in brass and broach a piece of brass 1.5mm thick. To my satisfaction, the splined shaft was good looking. With a pilot hub, I entered the shaft into the hole of a scrap piece of brass, put the assembly in the wise and put pressure. I saw small bits of brass and was thinking that life is good, the tool is making its way. When the shaft was through, I pushed it back and, to my dismay, I saw that the teeth were just shaved! Obviously, my solution was not good. I reluctantly took a piece of mild steel and did the splines on that shaft. Contrary to my fear, the milling cutter had no trouble to work on that mild steel.
Another hole, another test: still no good: the teeth were still there, but pushed back, creating a bulge. Not good for a part which should have a snug fitting!  I came to the conclusion that broaching can only be done with a tempered steel shaft. My milling cutter will be instantly destroyed if I make an single attempt!
Another brain storming was needed. By chance, I have a large stock of dentist milling tools; the shaft's diameter was near to the desired shaft diameter!
I removed from that milling tool what was not needed and, with a diamond covered disc, I made an approximate splined shaft which was to be used as a first pass. The definitive splined shaft would then finish the female splines.
This time, the whole process was a success. With the tempered shaft, I could do the approximate broaching; the final treatment was done with the shaft which will be used on the model. There is an inconvenient with this method: shaft and lever must be indexed and will not be interchangeable as my machining is not precise enough. This add a bit to the complexity, but as there are only 4 shaft and lever pairs, it can be done. And, fortunately, the parts are the same for the front and rear brakes. 
On the pictures, that lever is just an approximative shape. I wanted first to be sure of the broaching process before doing the final shape.

[Roger Zimmermann]

The next task was to shape the levers for the brake cam actuation lever. Those tiny parts required a lot of work as usual. Both parts on the right side have some dots stamped on them as reference mark for the shaft as they are not interchangeable; the line you can see is for the proper indexing for the shaft for the same reason. Once installed on the brake shields, the dots will be on the inner side, therefore they will not be seen. The pins at the end of the shafts will help to locate the cams prior to silver soldering.
I still have to add one or two details to those levers; it will then be the turn to do the bearing for the shafts. On the real vehicle, the bearing is adjustable by loosing a nut and applying the brakes; I think I will skip this feature as the brake shoes will anyway be also adapted to each drum and brake shield. Sure, this practice is contrary to the one of Mr. Leyland; the purpose of my construction is not the same!

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

........also adapted to each drum and brake shield. Sure, this practice is contrary to the one of Mr. Leyland; the purpose of my construction is not the same!

I am pretty sure that Mr Leyland would be extremely happy with what you are producing, as we all are.

It is great to be alive and observing what you are doing.

Bruce.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Bruce, I appreciate your comments.

With the addition or a stud, large nut and the locking "spring" for that nut, the first actuating lever is finished. The equalization of the brakes could be done with the large nut at the end of the lever. I don't know if that locking spring was efficient to block the nut; I suppose it was the case as this system was used during some years.  Still 3 to do!

[Cadman-iac]

So Roger,  you mentioned just making a rolling chassis,  are you not going to make a body for it as well?
From what I've seen here, it would be a beautiful piece. Your work is fantastic!
I would be lucky to replicate stuff in the original size, there's no way I could do what you're doing. I suffer from FFS, otherwise known as Fat Finger Syndrome.
Keep up the good work, it's amazing.

Rick

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks for the comments, Rick!
If you go to my profile, you will see my age. That rolling chassis will take some years to be completed but you also know that humans may get ill, suffer from this or that and eventually be definitively away. As I explained somewhere, when I was finishing the Mark II, I decided that it would be the last scale model. After some times, I had enough to do nothing and I began this project which will be, as we say in French, a salami tactic: depending how I am when the rolling chassis is done, I may add this or that. Whon knows, at the end it will be a nice roadster!

Fortunately, I don't suffer from FFS; even if my fingers are no more so agile like they were 10 years ago, I still manage to held tiny parts or screws!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Still working on the brake system at the shields and it's not yet over! For those who are not familiar with these very old cars (I was not myself some months ago!), the brake shield at the right is showing how the system is functioning: a cable will be attached at the free eye on the right; to brake, the cable is pulling the lever to the left. The connecting lever is moving the cam lever in the same direction.
The brake shield at the left is seen from behind. The still unborn cam will be soldered to the steel shaft and, by turning, will push both brake shoes towards the drum. Easy!
Are the brake shields ready now? Not quite: still missing is a pin as anchor for an outside return spring; both shoes guides are still unborn as well as the anchor for the cable.
The rear brakes are practically identical. The sole notable difference is the actuation of the cam lever: it's not done with a cable but with a shaft and a lever.

[Roger Zimmermann]

On my other models, I did the brake shoes by turning a piece of brass. As only the emergency brake would be functional, I did only the rear brake shoes. On this model, I came to the conclusion that the same approach would create a lot of waste. I decided the make the shoes with flat brass. The picture is showing the parts which will eventually be shaped as brake shoes. The eight half circular parts were initially straight; to cut them with the correct shape from a brass sheet would also create a lot of waste. It took somewhat more time to shape them; time is free!
Now, I will have to shape them according to the original set-up and soft solder the sole (if that word is correct in English).
The brake system will not be a genuine replica of the original one; I have to take liberties and I'm simplifying the system. For example, the floating shoes were made with aluminum because its dilatation was greater than a shoe made with steel, therefore avoiding or retarding the fading of the brakes. I have some doubts that this theory was really effective; the fact is that later brake shoes were all made with steel.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Ah ha..... now I see why you include a US coin in your photos.   Not for a comparison in size, but the mandrel for the inner circumference of the brake parts.

Bruce.

PS.   Now I know why I am getting such a good price for scrap Brass.   You are creating the need for it.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Well, Bruce, I'm in fact using a different method to make those curves: the flat brass is held firmly into the wise; the edge is getting a good hammer blow. This procedure is repeated a number of times until the shape is more or less good. Some rework with a file is needed, of course! With this method, the scrap brass will decrease its value!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Adding functionality to a scale model means that the time spent to make all the parts is increasing dramatically! As I still hope that I can have a model with a functioning service brake means that all details must play together.
After soldering the brake shoes and trimming them, I began to "install" the anchored front shoes (one per side). I did first a large flat support onto the shoe will be anchored. The other side of the shoe is in contact with the cam. By turning that cam, the drum should be stopped. First, I trimmed the free end of the shoe until the drum could be turn more or less freely. Then, I silver soldered the cam on the shaft I showed some time ago. Then, the test: yes, the drum can be stopped with a rather mall movement of the external lever (the one on which the cable will be attached).
The next task will be to trim that flat plate and prepare and fabricate what's needing for the floating shoe.

As the rear brake shields are different, the rear brakes will be done later, probably when the rear axle will be available to position the shields correctly.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Even if I'm simplify the brake system a bit, I was faced with a specific problem like "how to avoid that the axles are dislodged?" By soft soldering a washer at the end of the shaft can be a solution (with the risk that the next part is soldered too), but how to do in case something unexpected is happening and the shaft must be removed? Finally, the solution used on the real car is the best I found and I will follow this idea. The next problem was: how to cut a groove 0.3mm wide? By thinking a bit "out of the box", I used a cutting mill, attached it firmly and approached it to the axle. By turning gently, I could do a groove deep enough to inset a similar part like the original.
I'm adding a picture from my machine set-up and one from the original system; the axles are for the link on the right side; the arresting plates are attached with one screw each. This is what I will reproduce.

[Roger Zimmermann]

According to a guy in England, my explanation about what I intended to do was confusing. I'm not surprised because sometimes to describe clearly a small story in a foreign language can be hard to understand. Therefore, I'm showing in pictures what I'm doing. First, the parts, especially the axle with the groove and the plate which will be engaged into the grove. Then the assembly, which took about 10 minutes to achieve because the small plate had no envy to stay in place.
A similar plate will be installed at the other end of the link.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Finally the first front brake is ready. From another forum, I had the question about the number of parts needed. Here is the detail from all was needed to complete that LH front brake; parts which were soft or silver soldered are included because they had to be cut, adjusted and soldered:

Brake shield: 18
Knuckle: 5
Actuating levers: 18
Brake shoes: 28
Fasteners, various: 15

The 4 cotter pins which will be added during the final assembly are not included.

The good news is that the brake is functioning well, with a minimal travel from the upper lever. I cannot say if both shoes are applied with the same strength to the drum!
Now, I can complete the RH front brake system.