Work Bench

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‘RUSSELL’ SS100 FINISHED

D A Russell's SS100 courtesy of Shirley Russell

Since the last update appeared in ‘workbench’ showing the first wire wheel I completed the other three much faster and more easily, I am satisfied with the overall result, but concourse standard they are most certainly not.

The cut off lever does not follow the generally favoured position of rising vertically, but is telescopic extending 10 inches horizontally at 90 degrees from the underside of the chassis in use. This is a good idea to my way of thinking as when not in use it is fully concealed and when it is in use there is no chance of the car being touched at all when the run is terminated, a simple stick being held upright 8 inches away from the offside of the car. The cut off lever and switch is again made from period materials, in this case the switch contact is a polished spring steel paper holder, the cut off lever itself is fashioned from an ex WD nickel plated veterinary needle circa 1944 (printed on the box).

The battery box is as plan, built with 1/8 inch ply and ¼ inch balsa housing 3 x 1.5 volt batteries. The lid has a small bakelite knob from an old radio, the electrical connections are thin brass sheet with wiring soldered directly to them. The 'negative' side covers the bottom of the box with raised dimples and the top 'positive' sheet is not fixed, but when the lid is screwed in place a very firm connection is made.

After much deliberation I decided on the body colour of light British racing green. I went to the local Auto Body Shop, paint specialist I always use for my paint products, and selected an authentic colour from a coded colour swatch. When I finally had time to do the paint job, I gave the tin a good shake, and removed the lid only to see that it looked as if someone had played a prank on me and swapped the paint for a tin the colour of mushy peas, a horrible, bright, almost fluorescent green! Unfortunately I had not checked the paint colour within 24 hours of my purchase, therefore I could not exchange it (maybe the person who mixed it, was colour blind)

Luckily for me I had a lot of paint left over from my first tether car build-project (Juneero Bantam) and a suitable match was achieved with careful and thorough mixing. The actual paint job itself consisted of two coats of satin black cellulose to the underside of the bonnet and bodywork. The BRG body colour was applied in seven coats rubbed down, in between coats, with 1200 grade wet and dry. Final polish achieved with TCut and Auto Glym polish.

I then fitted with the previously completed items: leather seats, leather trim, door handles, grab rail, steering wheel, ribbed floor mats, transmission tunnel and instrumentation. The steering wheel was made up with brass plate and a 1/8 diameter brass rod. A dry run was carried out to make sure no silly mistakes had been made before being glued into position. The gear lever knob was made from a pearl from an old necklace, painted black. The hand-brake lever was fashioned from another nickel plated veterinary needle, the end fitting on the syringe having a pleasing handle shape, finished off with a dome-head black iron rivet glued onto the end to represent the hand-break release button.

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome, it had never been intended for this car to be a true scale model of the Gerald Wingrove quality, but to be as faithful as possible to Russell’s original model.

DECEMBER 2008 GARY J. MASLIN

What none of the photographs convey is any concept of the scale of the car. It is half as big again as most tether cars measuring just on 30 inches long. The image below of Gary with the car reveals the true size of the SS100.