MERCEDES F-CELL ROADSTER

 

In 2008 Mercedes-Benz assigned 150 apprentices the task of designing and building a concept car with a mandate to include references to the company’s history and the latest technology. The result, introduced to the public in April 2009, was the F-Cell Roadster. It pays homage to the first gasoline powered, purpose-designed car, the Benz Patented Motorwagen of 1886 with its exposed power plant, spoke wheels, leather and wood. There are also echoes of Mercedes Formula One cars in the body shape and the front suspension. The vehicle was powered by a 1.2 kW hydrogen fuel cell and had a top speed of 25 kph (15.5 mph) and an operating range of 350 km (217 miles.) A joy-stick controls the steer-by-wire system.

Note: This is the third time I’ve made this model: The first was in 2014; the second in 2019. I guess, about every four or five years, I think I’ve learned enough about Blender to do it justice.

#Mercedes #F-cell #roadster #Blender #Cycles

1967 Austin Mini

One of the challenges of making a model of the Mini car is deciding which badges to put on the model. The Mini was produced from 1959 to 2000 by parent companies with three different names: British Motor Corporation, British Leyland and Austin Group. During that period the car was marketed under at least 14 different names. I decided to build a model based on the Mark II, 1967 Austin Mini in the estate version, mainly because I saw one recently. 

The Mini had a 1.0 L, inline, transverse engine with a four-speed manual transmission housed in the engine’s oil sump. The car’s front-wheel drive allowed for more room inside this tiny car. It had a wheel base of 2.04 m, a length of 3 m and a width of only 1.4 m. The Mark II Mini was made in Britain and assembled in eight other countries.

#Mini #Austin #British Motor Corporation #Blender #Cycles

 

FIAT 124 Spider

 

In the early ‘70s, while living in Idaho, I bought a FIAT 124 Spider, a two-seat, 1.4L, 5-speed convertible. After accepting a job in Brussels, Belgium, in 1973 I drove the car from Boise, ID to Newark, NJ and had it shipped to Antwerp. In 1975, when my job was moved to the UK, I took the car to London. Years later, in Los Angeles, Susan and I fondly remembered the Spider and bought another one; great for zooming up and down the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down.

This model was inspired by those two cars.

 #FIAT #124_Spider #sports_car #Blender #Cycles

Sunbeam Alpine

In the mid- ‘60s, you could by a car in the UK, drive it around for a while and send it back to the States as a used car, which bore a very low import tariff compared to a new car. Taking advantage of this, I arranged to buy a US specification Sunbeam Alpine sports car from the Rootes dealer in Piccadilly Street, London, drive it around Europe for a couple of weeks and ship it to Seattle from Amsterdam. The difference between the cost of the car, all taxes in both counties, insurance and shipping and the price of the same new car in Seattle was enough to finance the European vacation. Hell of a deal!

So this is my model of that Sunbeam Alpine, same color and everything.

 #Sunbeam #Alpine #Series_5 #Blender #Cycles

1951 Alfa Romeo 159

 

Juan Manuel Fangio won the Drivers’ Championship for 1951 in an Alfa Romeo 159 with three race wins and two second places. In the Italian Grand Prix Fangio retired with engine trouble and in Belgium he took ninth place after a wheel locked up requiring a 14 minute pit stop.

This model is shown with Alfa Romeo livery including a yellow painted grill indicating Fangio as the driver.

#Alfa_Romeo #Fangio #159 #Alfetta #Blender #Cycles

The Cotehele Clock

 

The clock located in an alcove off the chapel at Cotehele House, Cornwall, England, is thought to be the oldest continuously working clock in Britain and in the same location since the late 15^th century. The clock has no face, but rings a bell on the hour. It is one of the oldest examples of a verge and foliot, as opposed to a pendulum, clock movement.

 #Cotehele_House #clock #verge_and_foliot #Blender #Cycles

The McLaren M7A Formula One Car

The McLaren M7A, driven by Bruce McLaren, won the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. The car was powered by a Ford-Cosworth, 3-liter V8 Engine with a Hewland 5-speed manual transmission.