New Part - Lucas C42 Generator

[admin]

Another little part I've completed in recent weeks.

The much needed Electrical Generator - Lucas C42 type.

This little kit comes with the end plates. fan, pulley mounting bracket and upper adjusting bracket, and the internal commutator.

I could have completed this part without the commutator as it's largely not seen but I recently had some time on my hands and thought ''what the hell'' I'll know it's in there. Very proud of that little part now. Paint that up with a bit of steel and copper and will give a nice vie through the openings in the rear of the generator body. Just enough to make it look ''busy''.

I even got the LUCAS labels on the main body and direction arrows so will require some fine painting for these to not be filled in with the paint.

I did have to make a choice on the pulley though, as the belt width in the kit is way overscale, so with the intention being to add more of the engine front-end parts / pulleys, I decided to make the pulley on the generator more true to scale rather than accommodate the belt in the original Revell kit.

Here is a link to the part on the website:

https://www.leadfootmodels.com/product- ... type-resin

A couple of interesting side-notes.

The generator is a generic term used for both the dynamo and alternator systems, but from my research seems to be more related to the Direct Current (DC) unit as was fitted tot eh early E-Types rather than the Alternating Current unit (Alternator) to the later ones.

Another interesting point, this generator appears to have been extremely popular back in the early 1960's as I had the same thing on my Fathers' old 60's Nuffield tractor. A very British made tractor that runs the same generator, voltage regulator and has been kept as Positive Earth / Positive Ground. This makes for some interesting results when you have a little lapse in concentration when working on the electrical system on the tractor!

I've seen this part number being used on a large number of British cars from the era, Aston Martin, Triumph, MG, you name it, if it was made in the UK around this time and was Lucas electrics, this seems to be the go-to unit.

[edsreef@gmail.com]

Colin,
As with all the parts you make, love the detail to all the little things. Such as the directional arrow. Like on your wheels, spinners have directional markers! What I like with this, besides all the other detail items you did, is there will be no seam lines where you have to join the 2 halves together, and then smooth down so it will not show.

Keep them coming, Oh Master Model Parts Maker!

Ed

[admin]

G'day Ed,

Thanks for the kind words, always nice to know the little things are noticed! They are the things that take a part to the next level in my mind. Definitely agree about the seam lines though.

Interesting thing about the lettering and arrows etc, when I design those in I have to make them over-scale due tot he small amount of shrinkage of the resin part. If I made these inclusions to scale size, they would disappear in the process or during painting.

I remember years ago (early 90's) reading an article in Tamiya Model Magazine about perspective modelling, where the aim isn't absolute scale perfection but more what works with the eye from different angles, was well over my head at age 17 but makes a lot of sense now in designing these parts. That's the first time I read that paint colours don't scale down either.