Author Topic: Maserati 750 V8  (Read 5919 times)

TheGiantTribble

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Maserati 750 V8
« on: 28 Apr 20, 12:00 pm »
OK not exactly a build dairy, but a few details of how, why, and maybes some pretty photos if I can get it to work!!!

Firstly why this particular car, well I personally like the more aerodynamic shapes of the 1930's cars, and the challenge of the more complex shapes...however this is not necessarily the sensible option if you want a quick build.
Also it's a V8 in a see of straight 6's and 8's, it looks so cool with a pair of pipes one down each side!

The first thing to decide was some dimensions, wheel base decides all lot and is listed as a maximum of 66", mine is 63". It should be noted the rules are very much spirit of, if you choose an inspiration car that had a ridiculously long wheelbase or engine compartment that's fine to go over the allowed, if however you did it just to improve say straight line stability...shame on you! IMHO the most important dimension is the waist bulkhead, build it bigger height wise than you think you can get away with, it so affects the ease with which you can get in, and get out. It's worth mentioning, when calculating dimensions, be prepared to fudge things a bit, well actually a lot, base in mind the simple plan to shrink the car hits a problem as soon as you cant shrink the driver, trust me I've been trying to shrink myself for years! So to make some room I removed the scuttle area this bought me several useful inch's and so far no one has noticed.
The other thing to base in mind when scaling is take a thing from model railways, the track can be a different scale to the train, so in CK terms the height can be one scale, the length another, capture the spirit and character is far more important than scales acreate to 1/100000 of a mm.

Method of construction, the main structure is a plywood monocoque or if that scale you a bit, a box, yup a simple box. bulkheads of which there are 4 are 12mm plywood, the sides, base, and top are 6mm ply. With some 16 x 38 PB where they join. They were joined together with screws and Evostick waterproof wood adhesive, good stuff that is.This is then wrapped in fibreglass bonded with epoxy resin. Why you might ask epoxy as it's dearer, well personally polyester resin causes me breathing problems so really wasn't an option, and the designer in me likes that's weight for weight Epoxy comes in a little bit stronger. Please also note a small number of people can have reactions to epoxy, so if your are doing this for the first time whatever type of resin you are using do it outside in fresh air and be prepared to back away in a hurry.
For the curves of the top of the front I cut what felt like hundreds of stripes of 6mm ply approx. 7/8th running down to 5/8th...it would have been nice to have had access to a band saw for this and with hindsight probably using flexi ply, or Rhys's method of bending ply would have been significantly quicker.
The rather complex shape of the nose was created by first making some thin plywood formers, IIRC about a dozen, these were hot glue gunned to the front bulkhead, and the space between stuffed with polystyrene, which was then attached with first a rasp and the sand papered. Please not when working with polystyrene if you have several layers do not glue them together as the glue lines sand at a different rate to the polystyrene itself and will not end up smooth. One other thing Epoxy is safe with polystyrene, polyester attacks it.

So if you've got this far you have a lightweight box, that you need to attached things to, so two lengths of 3 x 1 steel were ordered and bolted to the box, where possible use threaded rod so you can go across the whole of the CK, that way any shock loads on one side are shared with the other reducing their effect. Front suspension attached, engine mount at the back, paint and you have your self a working CK.

Pictures to follow...

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TheGiantTribble

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #1 on: 28 Apr 20, 12:58 pm »
Unfortunately I seen to have a lack of build photos but have some of the finished...they are never finished let’s be honest...vehicle.

RhysN

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #2 on: 28 Apr 20, 08:00 pm »
Great posts, thanks Bill.
We must avoid torturing our brains with false problems, it occupies but it can annoy. In jest!

TheGiantTribble

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #3 on: 30 Apr 20, 11:51 am »
Thank you Rhys.

I have an article about the inspiration car, and some build photos for you all...

TheGiantTribble

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #4 on: 30 Apr 20, 11:57 am »
And some more, including one showing the construction of the original boot cover...boy was that ever a pain.
Hopefully I've capture the essence/character of the original, mow if there was only some way to get that engine sounding like a V8!
Any questions please don't hesitate  :D

Marek.Z.N

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #5 on: 01 May 20, 09:45 am »
What a way to do it. That must have taken forever to do but the finished product looks so good so the hard work paid off!

RhysN

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #6 on: 02 May 20, 08:21 am »
What a way to do it. That must have taken forever to do but the finished product looks so good so the hard work paid off!
Hi Marek, I'm curious as to your comment above. Can you please expand, as I find, other than the tails, I can make these in not much over a weekend, when sufficiently inspired.
We must avoid torturing our brains with false problems, it occupies but it can annoy. In jest!

Marek.Z.N

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #7 on: 02 May 20, 12:20 pm »
using strips of wood to create compound curves in the tail is very clever. this way of doing it looks almost like ribs of wood and intercostal muscles of the other materials used. and the amount of sanding necessary to clean that up all just sounds like lot of effort but has been done expertly by Bill.

RhysN

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #8 on: 02 May 20, 04:02 pm »
Have a look for "strip planking" in boat building methods Marek.
This one isn't GB but I think Stefan might allow. It's my friend Dave in the US current build in lockdown. Maserati 250F. The planks are balsa with isocyanate glue, then getting epoxy and glass, probably as I am writing.
We must avoid torturing our brains with false problems, it occupies but it can annoy. In jest!

TheGiantTribble

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #9 on: 02 May 20, 06:53 pm »
The boot cover both mark 1 and 2 versions used
slates from a set of venation blinds, the two big differences are
on the second one the slates where cut and trimmed much tighter like boat
planking, and also the second one had a layer of thin wall insulation
(the stuff designed to go under wallpaper) over the planking to
smooth things out a bit before fibre glassing.

Chris Brown

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #10 on: 03 May 20, 11:43 am »

TheGiantTribble

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Re: Maserati 750 V8
« Reply #11 on: 09 May 20, 09:24 pm »
Ok not the Maserati plans par se but the ERA Etype plans that morphed into the Maserati someone might find the dimensions helpful.
Please note the waist bulkhead distance, floor to bottom of dashboard, is on the Maserati 18 1/4 inches, and requires some dexterity to get in and out, 20 inches would make a world of difference.