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Renault Ft, 1/16 scale.

Getting the hull floor ready to accept the the engine, radiator and transmission. The transmission as well as the bulk of the radiator will not be seen once the entire hull is assembled.
The Renault engines didn't have any seals so it was an oily mess in that area.
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Looking really goo Tim!. I think with no seals it might have been even more covered with oil and dirt, but at this point who really knows.
 
Heavens Eagle said:
Looking really goo Tim!. I think with no seals it might have been even more covered with oil and dirt, but at this point who really knows.
Click to expand...
I'm going to add a bit more where the crank exits the rear of the hull...which is actually the front of the engine.
 
Actually, I have a bit of info that I just remembered. The old VW beetles with the air cooled engines did not have a seal in the crankcase behind the pulley.

Engine pulley detail.jpg


Instead of a seal there is a big washer type slinger that throws the oil into a groove on the crankcase. The groove then drains back into the case. This doesn't leak at all "unless" in the case that this engine had the pressure inside the crankcase gets too high, then it blows oil back out. Of course the pulley slings it all over. In this case the crankcase vent hole was too small in the plastic oil filler. (about 5/32 diameter) I enlarged the hole and the oil leak went completely away.
The service manager asked me one time how I fixed my leak. He had another beetle in their shop that they had the same problem. They had modified it to add a "sand seal" gasket there and it was still slinging oil. When I told him what the deal really was, I got the "you have 2 heads" look. He couldn't believe it was that simple, but it was.
Doesn't look too bad for sitting for over 30 years does it.
 
Hey this is neat…can’t wait to see how it turns out!


My Granddaddy lied about his age, enlisted and a little more than a year later found himself en-meshed in the Meuse Argonne offensive! He talked about it some. Hated Germans after that
 
Heavens Eagle said:
Actually, I have a bit of info that I just remembered. The old VW beetles with the air cooled engines did not have a seal in the crankcase behind the pulley.

View attachment 169348

Instead of a seal there is a big washer type slinger that throws the oil into a groove on the crankcase. The groove then drains back into the case. This doesn't leak at all "unless" in the case that this engine had the pressure inside the crankcase gets too high, then it blows oil back out. Of course the pulley slings it all over. In this case the crankcase vent hole was too small in the plastic oil filler. (about 5/32 diameter) I enlarged the hole and the oil leak went completely away.
The service manager asked me one time how I fixed my leak. He had another beetle in their shop that they had the same problem. They had modified it to add a "sand seal" gasket there and it was still slinging oil. When I told him what the deal really was, I got the "you have 2 heads" look. He couldn't believe it was that simple, but it was.
Doesn't look too bad for sitting for over 30 years does it.
Click to expand...
Is that the heat pipe that's closed off?
 
iambrb said:
Hey this is neat…can’t wait to see how it turns out!


My Granddaddy lied about his age, enlisted and a little more than a year later found himself en-meshed in the Meuse Argonne offensive! He talked about it some. Hated Germans after that
Click to expand...
That's the battle I'm depicting this tank involved in. Mine will be from the American corps.
 
Tim A. said:
Is that the heat pipe that's closed off?
Click to expand...
If you mean that silver foil thing that is crunched, it was the air supply to push air through the heater boxes into the car. It probably split and if that happens the cooling can pull heated air up from the heater box and it can overheat the engine. I also crushed down the part from the fan shroud so that air flow wouldn't leak.
What a lot of folks don't understand about the old aircooled VW's is that cooling air is pulled in through the upper vents, pushed down through and around the cylinders and heads, then goes out under the car. If the gaskets, seals, and sheet metal go bad or are missing, it can pull the super heated air back up through the engine. I had a bug that the lower sheet metal wasn't installed correctly that MELTED part of the #3 piston one time.
 
Heavens Eagle said:
If you mean that silver foil thing that is crunched, it was the air supply to push air through the heater boxes into the car. It probably split and if that happens the cooling can pull heated air up from the heater box and it can overheat the engine. I also crushed down the part from the fan shroud so that air flow wouldn't leak.
What a lot of folks don't understand about the old aircooled VW's is that cooling air is pulled in through the upper vents, pushed down through and around the cylinders and heads, then goes out under the car. If the gaskets, seals, and sheet metal go bad or are missing, it can pull the super heated air back up through the engine. I had a bug that the lower sheet metal wasn't installed correctly that MELTED part of the #3 piston one time.
Click to expand...
I had a few Volkswagens back in the day 68, 72 Super, 74 beetles, and a 71 bus. I couldn't remember what those foil lines did. John Muir said that his split window bus ran hotter with the windows down. Just that little thing messed up the airflow in the engine compartment.
 
So, since I will have all of the hatches open I'm looking at interior photos of the FT. One issue with the kit's driver area is the glaring lack of the leather straps that held various tools. The brackets the straps were attached to are basically just molded nubs. I'm working to fix the issue. Since there's not a lot of available 1/16 scale offerings I'm scratchbuilding. An attempt at the straps from Styrene.
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My MGB had an oil flinger and they were common on early BSA motorcycles. :)
This a great build, Hi Tim, anyone can buy the accessories but scratch build is what makes the model yours. Great effort on that strap :)
 
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