1932 Cadillac V16 scale model

[veesixteen]

Is there any wonder our Swiss affiliate member, Roger Zimmerman, was nominated for the "Yann Saunders International Activity Award (YSIAA)" in 2012. The man is a micro-mechanical GENIUS.

I have seen some of his work (full-sized AND miniature) first hand. I've added here some pics of his "restored to perfection" 1956 Eldorado Biarritz, and his  1:12 (?) scale Olds Toronado. I'm guessing this (slowly emerging) V-16 motor in miniature will be among his best pieces ... if not THE best. 

I'm honored to call Roger my friend ... and former Swiss "neighbor".

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Yann! I'm not a genius, only have skilled hands!

[veesixteen]

Thanks Yann! I'm not a genius, only have skilled hands!

...and the patience of Job !

[Cadman-iac]

Thanks Yann! I'm not a genius, only have skilled hands!

Roger, 
It takes a sharp mind to work those skilled hands!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks for the comments!
Now, both front brake assemblies are ready; the other one went quicker to finish as I had something to look at and some parts were already done. It would be tempting to do the rear brakes, but for that, the brake shield must be attached to something which is the rear axle. Therefore, I intend to go for the axle. Compared to the ones I already did, (of course, the one for the Toronado excepted as the car is FWD), the construction is different: for this car, the rear axle housing is constituted with 2 symmetrical stamped steel parts welded at the junction. I will try the same, but I need something to make a die to shape the parts. What I have in brass or wood is either too short or too thin; I'll have to look in my store room what I could use. However, it's too cold there now for that.
As there are other parts for the rear axle, I began with the end of the torque tube (the drive shaft is inside) and the mating part from the diff. If the end of the torque tube is a pure part done on the lathe, its different with the mating element: there are 10 bosses (it's the best word I found for that; is that correct?) for the 10 studs. How can I do that? I did first the tube with a flange on the lathe, noting that this tube is slightly conical.
Then I began to mill indentations; the main purpose of the indentations is to locate the bosses I will silver solder. As the tube with flange is conical, I had to attach it at the end of the torque tube with short screws.
The bosses were adjusted to the indentations and silver soldered when 2 were ready, until all 10 pieces were done. Now, I will have to drill the bosses for the studs.

[Roger Zimmermann]

By looking at the differential's pictures I have, something was obvious: the ends of the diff at the wheels are separate parts assembled by welding to the main body. It's not important to know, but I still wonder if the machining was dome before or after welding. For my needs, I choose the solution "before" because the solution "after" is not suitable with my tools.
Therefore, I machined 2 short tubes with the flange for the brake shield; this move will allow me to complete the rear brakes. The correct orientation of the brake shields on the main body will be easy then.
The attached picture is sowing at the top the inside of a drum; a steel bushing was inserted into the hub. On the real cars, this is a ball bearing.
On the left side, there is a view from the inside of a brake shield with a short tube emerging. On the real car, the wheel bearing is installed on that tube; most of the car weight is not carried by the axle shaft but by the differential tube. This arrangement was called 3/4 floating. Heavy trucks have the full floating type where the axle shafts have just the function of transmitting the power. On more recent cars with RWD, the axle shafts are supporting all the weight and transmitting the power.
On the right side, the brake shield is seen from outside; the emerging tube will be inserted into the diff and soft soldered.

[spolij]

Your work is amazing. I thought i saw a pic of completed models you've done. can you post a few? Maybe overall, interior, engine under carriage? Do you sell the models or keep them.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks John! As you probably know, nobody is allowed to post pictures from another brand, scale model or not. However, you can have a look at some pictures with this link: https://www.mycloud.ch/l/P00BF517DEBF2C9CBD0035DF126D4B83DA36666BCFEBAAB0C28EACB3A40B70E4 
I'm not selling my models, I'm keeping them; who would be fool enough to buy something like that?
You can also see a lot from my 3 models here: https://forums.aaca.org/topic/145354-construction-of-a-continental-mark-ii-model-scale-112/

[Roger Zimmermann]

The rear brakes are actuated differently than the front ones. No cable, but a rotating shaft each side of the differential. At the left from the attached picture, you can see the actuating lever which is the same as for the front and a shaft "pinned" into the brake shield. That shaft has a lever; the connecting between that lever and the actuating one is still to be done. On the right, you can see the other drum and shield assembly with that shaft. The other end of the shaft will get a lever, of course, and it will be guided by a bracket and bearing attached to the differential body.

[veesixteen]

UNBELIEVABLE !!!  What incredible workmanship !

[Glen]

UNBELIEVABLE !!!  What incredible workmanship !

That's my thoughts exactly, every time I read this thread. 

[spolij]

Roger the pic's were great thank you. I see a wiring harness in one and i see the headlights work. What else runs on elect?

As for selling i know how you feel. I am sure they would sell for big bucks. Money well spent for a unique quality!

[Roger Zimmermann]

The vent windows and the other side windows are electrically functioning; the front seat too. For the vent window, I found very small motors; They are larger for the other side windows. In fact the whole packaging was a challenge.

[Roger Zimmermann]

To continue with the brakes, I had first to do the links transmitting the movement from the brake shaft and the actuator lever. The link is curved to clear the differential. I don't know how much space is between link and differential on the real cars; on the model, I will have to be careful by not spraying too much paint!

[Roger Zimmermann]

The rear brakes are now ready. I can continue with the differential; there are 4 flanches to do: 2 which will be part of the diff body, one for the cover and the last one for the differential carrier or pumpkin.
By the way, did you know that Cadillac cars from 1932 had adjustable shock absorbers? The shop manual is not very detailed nor has a good system's description. If I'm right, there were 5 possibilities which could be set from the driver's seat. All four shock absorbers were connected with rods, adding the complexity to that frame. As you see, it was not an invention from recent years.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Even if I'm shaping metal since years, sometimes I'm too optimistic. As the weather was mild recently, I went to my store room/garage to shape a piece of wood on which I would "stamp" the rear axle halves like the original part (first picture). I cut a piece of brass 0.5mm thick, annealed it and began to bang and bend it. Well, the metal did not respond like I wanted; the end result was just good for the trash as you will see on the second picture.
I had to think how to continue it; from 2 possible options, I choose the one which I will have to silver solder the flancs in the middle. The last picture is where I'm now. Of course, with a right die set, the pressing would have been possible. However, for that kind of metal forming, the wood is way too soft.

[Lexi]

Hey Roger, out of curiosity what kind of wood did you try and use? At that brass thickness you would be on the edge of what could be used for wood template forming. Wonder if an extremely hard wood such as elm might have worked? That wood is so hard that in the past it was not used for anything but axe handles, wagon wheels, ship keels and similar items. Furniture makers usually avoided it as it was tough to work with and dulled their cutting blades prematurely. Those have been my findings as well. One very tough wood product to work with but it machines well and resists splitting and chipping. Clay/Lexi

[Roger Zimmermann]

Clay, it was a bit of round wood I had in my garage. Maybe from a broomstick? Anyway, it was rather soft, but that's not the problem. Even if I had done that template with brass the result would have been the same. The differential is not parallel which is rendering the matter a bit more difficult. With my new approach I got it right, as you will see in my next post.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Both rear axle halves are ready to get silver soldered together. They are far from pretty, some cosmetic improvement is in order!

[Roger Zimmermann]

The differential halves are now silver soldered and trimmed. Then, I checked for the offset of the differential and I noticed that I did an almost fatal error: I placed the differential in the middle! I will just have to make the RH side a bit longer and all will be good.
The picture from the diff body is showing an aperture; this will be needed to install a collar to the drive shafts to have a positive location. The holes around the hole are to attach the cover. You will probably see that the holes are not at the same distance from each other; this pattern is identical on the other side to attach the diff nose to the body. There must be a reason for that, I don't know it.
I began to prepare the diff nose by silver soldering the tube (which was done long ago) to the main plate which will be assembled to the body. I still have to add the decorum to this assembly. The holes you can see are indeed recesses in that main plate, probably to save weight.