grum64

Building Time 5hrs 40mins - Total Build Time 35hrs 15mins With the completed chassis sitting to one side work on the body continues at what, for me anyways, has been a reasonably good pace. I’ve always found fitting pins, parts etc., inside frames difficult mainly because I can’t get a tooth in far enough to get purchase to push them into place and using a finger ends with bits going off in all directions. Today I’ve had two to do. Warning: This next bit may (OK, will) go on a bit. Sorry. Over the years I’ve tried all sort of ways to make this easier but nothing worked particularly well. Today though I had an idea. I took a piece of a bamboo kebab stick, broken so it was about 3 studs in length, and pushed it snugly into the end of the pin. From the inside of the frame I then pushed the bamboo through the hole so a short bit of the kebab stick stuck out. After joining 5 x Technic Plate Rotor 6 Blade with Clip Ends (64566) one on top of the other I raised the frame and lowered it so that the kebab stick went into centre hole of the joined plates. This held the frame upright and the pin in place over the hole. I’ve tried many ways of pushing the pin down and into place but found a 2 x 8 Plate with Waffle Bottom (3034old) is best as it has square indents underneath that the top of the pin can sit in. So, with the plate carefully passed through the frame and held above the pin it was just a case of wedging the plate between my palms, locating the top of the pin in as close to the centre most square under the plate as possible and gently pushing down and bingo, pin in place. All that remained was to remove the kebab stick. I know this sounds a convoluted way of doing things (made worse by my less than clear explanation) but it’s quicker than struggling to do it other ways. The rest of build went well. Enough of my rambling, here’s today’s pictures.

I'm not sure but could it be something like this:

It’s sad that time constraints means you’ll not have what you feel is a satisfactory entry for TC15 but it’s best to take your time and have what I know will be an amazing build. I look forward to the time when we can see it completed. Hope all goes well at Uni.

Building time 6hrs 20mins - Total build time 29hrs 35mins Knowing my days building would be starting with the GT3’s engine didn’t fill my heart with much joy as every time I’ve built an engine (particularly V8’s) it’s added considerably to the days building time. If I recall correctly the last one took 3hrs or so. This one though was quick by comparison taking just over 1hr 30mins. Being a flat 6 and not the usual and much more difficult V8 helped as I could lay the blocks and completed crankshaft assembly flat and, using my clamps, tease the pistons more easily into place. With the engine and last few bits and pieces fitted the chassis is complete but like others I’m disappointed that the engine’s covered up so you can’t see the pistons moving. I like to see them popping up & down (or in the GT3’s case, moving side to side) when ‘driving’ and so do Jake and George. The first time they saw the pistons moving on a model they were playing with they wanted to know what they were & why they were doing what they were doing and they now know how an engine works so leaving them visible can be educational. I know plastic covers etc., hide the real cars engine so the model having the same is realistic but I really don’t think any builder would complain had the designer left the pistons operation visible. This sessions pics.

Yippie! Another masterpiece in the making

I like where this is going. I look forward seeing it progress.

I don’t quite know how to answer that

No, I’ve not got that level of competence but I like that you think I know what I’m doing

Yes and that's entirely down to those who put so much time into making the GT3 what it should have been from the start. It's coming along but very slowly. I've not had much building time due to Family commitments. The body is separate & self supporting and can be easily removed to show the good stuff underneath. Again, this is how the original should have been.

Build Day 6/7 - Combined building time 7hrs 30mins - Total build time 23hrs 15mins Just time to post pictures of the last 2 days building sessions. Sorry I've no time to write much other that to say I had no problems other that a few of my own making that were quickly resolved so progess has been good. Apologies for the quality of the pictures.

That looks like it’s going to be something of a beast. I very much look forward to seeing it once complete

For me it's anything with more than two pieces

That poor guy! I think you should add a 'No Technic Guys were (seriously) hurt during the making of this film' disclaimer to calm a worried audience . Wishing you all very Happy New Year. May 2019 be a year of good health, happy memories made and dreams fulfiled.

Build Day 5 - Building time 4hrs 15mins - Total build time 16hrs 45mins This morning while building all went well with the exception of my mangling a 18651 Axle Pin 3L with 2L Axle when trying to push it through the two 6632 1 x 3 Thin Liftarms above the steering column. I find the plastic used for the 18651 to be much softer than that used for pins and axles. It’s always the pin end that I damage usually rendering it oval or worse still I spread the ends of the pin apart so it ends up looking something akin to a happy cod! I know it’s bad but I must ruin 2 out of 3 I try to fit. Good job I’ve plenty of them. This afternoons building session also wasn’t with out a problem or two, again of my own making. The most annoying was when fitting the paddleshift unit. I hadn’t noticed that when I had it in place the 11L Liftarm fitted to it’s right side had missed one of the pins, notably the one to the left of the gear indicator. After making sure the liftarm was fitted to the paddleshift unit correctly my thoughts turned to only other thing I thought it could be, the position of the shifter unit itself. I checked but could see no reason why the hole in liftarm wasn’t aligned with the pin. Perplexed and somewhat annoyed I went in the house and had a coffee. The caffeine must have had some effect on my observation because as soon as I was back at my building table I could see that the paddleshift unit wasn’t sitting quite square, it was tilted slightly towards the back of the car, just enough for the liftarm to miss the pin. A bit of leverage with my clamps had it aligned and a quick push had it in place. I felt like such an idiot not noticing earlier but that aside the mistake was easily fixed. That’s the end of today’s ramblings, I hope it all makes sense. Here’s today’s pictures:

Always a pleasure to see you wonderful creations Edwin. She's a real beauty.

You're making a habit of building really beautiful looking cars

I'd say you nailed it. Well done

Great looking build. I find it amazing that so many functions can fit in a build this size.

Really nice build with impressive performace. I'd love to see it with the Buwizz set to Ludicrous so keep practicing that driving..

If you're looking for an app to open .lxf files look no further than Buf3d+. For an app it's got some great features. You'll find it in the Play Store.

She is indeed

In that Vision GT guise with that colour scheme it looks simply stunning! I look forward to seeing it in the brick. Great work

I like this a lot. It's immediately recognisable and personally I think it's fine as an entry for the competition.

Happy Christmas to you all, my Eurobricks friends. Thank you for your kindness and support throught the year.