Jump to content
yogi-bear

Scratch Build of BTCC Volvo 850 Estate

Recommended Posts

so about 6 hours later:

IMG_7582-e1459604213912.jpg

and cut out, pretty happy overall with the finish.

IMG_7583-e1459604242872.jpg

so I thought I'd see how the tires fitted, hmm, doesn't look right :(

IMG_7585-e1459604291921.jpg

Got the scale slightly out, although I suspect the scale is right, but the 1/10th scale bodies aren't really exactly 1/10th scale. Here it is against the Tamiya sedan version. At least its easy to resize and cut again.

IMG_7584-e1459604277685.jpg

The edges where rough, but easy to sand, and I'll probably have to seal and sand smooth before I take a casting. Anyway, better work out some sizing before I make another cut!

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holee crap! That came out awesome! Well worth the time spent on refitting the cutting system !!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holee crap! That came out awesome! Well worth the time spent on refitting the cutting system !!

Looking good Johann!

Cheers, Max must be time for a run!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Awesome project! Really looking forward to see the end result.

I have a 850 BTCC body as well:

20160409_163649_zpskbe4t1lk.jpg

20160409_173053_zpsrrhtdwmi.jpg

Painted it today! B)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Awesome project! Really looking forward to see the end result.

I have a 850 BTCC body as well:

Painted it today! B) . . .

Awesome, make sure to post pics as you go along! Also what chassis will you put it on, a FF01? Thats the body that gave me the idea for my build too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

hmm, hard to believe I started this almost 2 years ago and not much to show for that time, so that means time for an update!  I've been learning a lot more about cnc'ing and after a couple trials and errors (plus the vac former is pretty much finished) I can get on with this.

I'm currently using pine as that is easy to cut and sand, will stand up to repeated vac forming and is pretty cheap. There are better timbers though, so once I've got a bit more experience, I'll switch. The process is to do an initial faster rough cut to get ride of most of the timber, and then do a slower fine cut in small increments. I've also found a program to let me view how it will cut before I run the machine, which has saved a few hours of mistakes already!

So the plan is to cut a front, back, sides and top, trim along the panel lines and loosely fit together. I started out by cutting the front only to realise it was slightly too narrow, then moved on to the rear, but silly me did my sums wrong again and making that slightly too wide. After getting the dimensions right I moved onto the left hand side. I'm pretty happy with how that turned out. Before I cut the front and back again, the goal this week is to cut the other side. I've done the rough cut, and the fine cut I can do in parts over the week.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-65.jpg

 

rough cut of the rear

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-66.jpg

 

fine cut.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-67.jpg

 

rough cut of the side

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-68.jpg

 

starting the slow process of doing the fine cut

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-69.jpg

 

finished and a comparison to Tamiya's sedan version. I've based my dimensions on this and making the wheel arches match up.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-70.jpg

 

Not to bad I think, especially since I ended up having to use a wider ball end mill that I was intending. I wanted a 3 mm bit as I would give me good detail, but ended up having to go to 6 mm because of reliability issues I was having. 

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-71.jpg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow...yogi-bear! That looks great! Did you sand the last pic or is that straight from the 'fine cut'? 

 

Its ts amazing how you can get the curves and seams along the sides so uniform! CNC FTW! Lol...can wait to see some more!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Trini2DBone said:

Wow...yogi-bear! That looks great! Did you sand the last pic or is that straight from the 'fine cut'? 

 

Its ts amazing how you can get the curves and seams along the sides so uniform! CNC FTW! Lol...can wait to see some more!

thats all straight from the machine!  Most of the finishing work will be fixing cut glitches at the lights or the joins. Also I now have heaps of 3D models of cars, probably too many :)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

managed to machine the other side and the bonnet/windscreen area. Although annoyingly I didn't program it deep enough and it missed out on the corners of the windscreen. Next step is to trim and try and piece together into one body. 

Not too sure if I can be bothered machining the roof, or if I just cut in a block of wood and sand smooth. I just bought a new belt sander so that might be a good excuse to give it a work out :D

 

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-72.jpg

 

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-73.jpg

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

small update, fitted the bonnet to the two sides. I was going to fit the windscreen too, but my height for my bandsaw was too small. So instead I'll my mount my router inside and out away around the edges.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-74.jpg

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow..!  That's not a small update...! That looks freakin sweet dude! 

At this point, how much clean up have you done? Or is that basically straight off the CNC ? The details and symmetry is outstanding!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, Trini2DBone said:

Wow..!  That's not a small update...! That looks freakin sweet dude! 

cheers!

1 minute ago, Trini2DBone said:

At this point, how much clean up have you done? Or is that basically straight off the CNC ? The details and symmetry is outstanding!

haven't done any cleanup yet :) , only cuts on the bandsaw to make it loosely fit together.  And thats with a 6 mm ball end mill, if I go smaller, I'll get an even better finish, but that increase machine time quite a lot.

All I'm doing is using CamBam to make my g-code from the 3D file for my cnc router, so really the praise should go to the person who did the initial 3D model. Until I can 3D model myself properly I really am only a monkey that strings the processed together. I must admit I am in awe for guys like you who completely scratch built, and I do like to do that, but I decided that making car bodies was a fun to learn machining etc.  I still want to try some scratch built car bodies though, mainly the Thunderbirds FAB 1 from the latest show and a Mini Gem kit car body. I don't know when I'll ever get to that as I've found way too many cars bodies on the sketchup warehouse that I want to try.

With the current way I do the machining, I've since learnt how to section of areas, so that means I can more tightly control what sections I machine, so theorectically I should be able to cut the car in 5 or six sections and have it fit together pretty well. I'm going to test that more in-depth when I get back to the Ford Escorts and Cortina. I now have 3D model for the Mark I and II (but not the Cortina) I want to try and machine a reverse mold and vac form from that. I think that will solve the webbing issue I'm having.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On June 7, 2017 at 7:25 AM, yogi-bear said:

cheers!

haven't done any cleanup yet :) , only cuts on the bandsaw to make it loosely fit together.  And thats with a 6 mm ball end mill, if I go smaller, I'll get an even better finish, but that increase machine time quite a lot.

All I'm doing is using CamBam to make my g-code from the 3D file for my cnc router, so really the praise should go to the person who did the initial 3D model. Until I can 3D model myself properly I really am only a monkey that strings the processed together. I must admit I am in awe for guys like you who completely scratch built, and I do like to do that, but I decided that making car bodies was a fun to learn machining etc.  I still want to try some scratch built car bodies though, mainly the Thunderbirds FAB 1 from the latest show and a Mini Gem kit car body. I don't know when I'll ever get to that as I've found way too many cars bodies on the sketchup warehouse that I want to try.

With the current way I do the machining, I've since learnt how to section of areas, so that means I can more tightly control what sections I machine, so theorectically I should be able to cut the car in 5 or six sections and have it fit together pretty well. I'm going to test that more in-depth when I get back to the Ford Escorts and Cortina. I now have 3D model for the Mark I and II (but not the Cortina) I want to try and machine a reverse mold and vac form from that. I think that will solve the webbing issue I'm having.

I understand what you are saying...but still, the guys who do the drawings get their data from elsewhere too, I'm not familiar with 3D drawing, but they must have gotten the images elsewhere, imported it and used the software to create the end result...I don't think that someone can learn to use the software and then use it to draw up the images with perfectly precise angles etc.... Similarly , I use images that I feel are correct to build with, resized to the correct dimensions...to make my pieces, which is more of a manual procedure of the above. That being said, your use of the CNC procedure is just another pathway (more modern...lol) to making the piece, you still have to tweak and adjust many variables to get it where you want it! 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 08/06/2017 at 10:38 PM, Trini2DBone said:

I understand what you are saying...but still, the guys who do the drawings get their data from elsewhere too, I'm not familiar with 3D drawing, but they must have gotten the images elsewhere, imported it and used the software to create the end result...I don't think that someone can learn to use the software and then use it to draw up the images with perfectly precise angles etc.... Similarly , I use images that I feel are correct to build with, resized to the correct dimensions...to make my pieces, which is more of a manual procedure of the above. That being said, your use of the CNC procedure is just another pathway (more modern...lol) to making the piece, you still have to tweak and adjust many variables to get it where you want it! 

fair point!

So after stuffing around with a blunt chisel, getting my router properly setup etc I've made a little more progress.

So I fitted the windscreen section and the tailgate.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-75.jpg

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-76.jpg

 

then I badly apply some bog.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-77.jpg

 

let dry and start sanding. Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-78.jpg

 

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-79.jpg

 

next step is to add the roof and another round of filling and sanding.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

car has a roof now, and a lot more bog, which I've only just started sanding smooth. I'm also going to cut off the front and back bumpers and make them separately. I think thats the only way I can vac form the body and keep the underhands. I'll make the bumper bars solid and mount them to the chassis. How I don't know yet. The body will then be mounted to the bumper bars and that way I can avoid the body posts.

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-80.jpg

 

Volvo-850-BTCC-Estate-build-81.jpg

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holey crap yogi! That looks sweet!  It's really coming together nicely! That's the perfect ride height as well...huge drools here....! Can't wait to see more....!

its always a bit tough this time of year (mid June - mid July) for me to find time to build...will be heading upstate next week to work until the first week in September, so once I get settled in, I should start assembling the 2 one tonners that I started....HX and a HQ ...! Will also try to get a station wagon started as well as a ute and a monaro coupe....!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Trini2DBone said:

Hey there yogi-bear! Any updates on this bad boy?! :rolleyes:

no yet unfortunately :unsure:  Work has been busy since and I am still trying to sort out the vac former, its better just need to get the heat more even and to the edges. But the work has allowed me to buy a lathe. I've got 4 weeks off over Christmas, so looking to get some updates done.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Swee! Sounds good man! I'm also thinking of build a small(ish) vacuum former... Gonna try to mold and cast a buck of the panel Van roof next week, as I don't really want to scratch build another...lol...was a nightmare to get the curves acceptable where they are now...!

im also gonna be off on annual leave after next week for the remainder of the year...so hoping to get the Sandman finished...also I started to put together the bits to build a HQ Tonner, HX station wagon and a HQ monaro coupe....hoping I could get most of it done by the end of the year....lol...but you know how it goes...nothing usually goes as planned...lol!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A series of HQ cars, would love to see that! A vac former would worth your while. At a guess, will you vac form in styrene or ABS in sections so you can make it kind of modular? That would also help with undercuts. Well, this is what I want to try with the Volvo eventually and maybe other cars so I can get more detail in the shape.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah...I'm thinking styrene...this way it will be easier to attach to the body....but space is a premium in this little apartment lol

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...