The Flying Merkel, 1910

[sparrowhawk]

OMG: Does the german chancellor know about this? :D
Seriously: This is a very interesting subject. Motorcycles from the pioneering ages for me hold a strong fascination of their very own.
I will follow this thread very closely.

Cheers, Martin

[rockpaperscissor]

Great looking engine, and with all your mods to the frame, the model is really looking good.

[richkat]

Went back and checked the DVR for the auction and the Merkel was a 1913 1000cc V-twin it got up to $35000 but did not meet the reserve so no sale!...Rich

[AlanG]

Originally Posted by richkat

Went back and checked the DVR for the auction and the Merkel was a 1913 1000cc V-twin it got up to $35000 but did not meet the reserve so no sale!...Rich

Dang! And I just happened to have $40000 in loose change in my pocket. If only I'd known... Interestingly, on the Mecum website they list it as "SOLD" - I wonder what is going on.

Sparrowhawk, I am finding much of interest as I work through this model and waste time (!) looking at photographs of all these early bikes. By 1910 there seems to have been a fair consensus at to what a motorcycle should look like, essentially a bicycle on steroids. Some of the earlier experiments are really quite weird, though.

Alan

[AlanG]

Good progress. As we discussed earlier in the thread, the racing Flying Merkel had three chains. Two formed a two-stage reduction gear for the motor drive, on the left-hand side. The third was a bicycle chain on the right-hand side allowing the rider to drive the back wheel using the pedals. Oddly, the model kit only provides two of these - the primary motor drive and the pedal drive - so I needed to provide the third. In any case, since I have changed the frame geometry the supplied chains no longer fit, so in fact I have to make all three chains anew.

Fortunately, when making the Kawasaki Z400 earlier in the year I also decided I needed to redraw that chain drive, and I made the drawing routine parametrised. So it was easy to plug in the new values to get the basic shape, and then prettify them a bit using Inkscape.



Now I could finish off the frame (with the chains and back axle fitted temporarily).



Alan

[Zathros]

I TOLD YOU!! You are better than that model. I just had a gut feeling. You are indeed kind, especially in the way you show the "inadequacies", or "shortcomings" of the model, as purchased, I would be inclined to inform the publisher with in the same manner. You may have just found a side job!! Again, you have made the model your own. This is why I love following anything you post!

[B-Manic]

I agree with Zathros you have definitely made this model your own. You should consider contacting the designer to at least get permission to post a errata file on-line.

This is an excellent clean, build -- I look forward to seeing more.

~ Douglas

[richkat]

Allan, when they air the auction show a lot of times the car or in this case motorcycle will not sell on air, but they still keep working on the sell off air. I think for TV they want to keep things moving. The on air guys said something about "the bid goes on area" so it was maybe sold of air, if there site says it was sold it must have been! did it say how much? It was a very good looking bike!! Early motorcycles have such a cool look to them kind of a powered bike look.....Rich

[richkat]

Oh by the way your build is FANTASTIC!!!!....Rich

[Gil]

Hi Allen,

I like your style of build. Deliberate and thoughtful to obtain the best "look" using paper as the media of choice. Really well done.

And I agree, the designer should consider incorporating your improvements to the model for the good of his customers...,

Best regards, +Gil