Raffo Belva Model
Discussion
Perhaps I should start by introducing myself. I live on 25 acres about 9 miles west of Gin Gin which is about 40 miles west of Bundaberg which is about 250 miles north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. Which is a long way from the kit car activity in England.
At the moment, I am killing myself rather quickly because it is coming on for the bushfire season and I have about 5 miles of plastic irrigation pipe to bury in the vineyard we (my wife and I) are building here because plastic pipe burns quite well. We are a bit skint so it has to be done by hand. I have managed to bury about 1 mile so far so things are starting to look up. While the work leaves me exhausted at night, it doesn’t relieve the boredom all that much.
My hobby (read reduces boredom) is making models - I did the model aeroplanes, model ships bit when I was a nipper and up until I was about 30 years old but this got boring - well, my wife found it boring.
I have been making large (up to 4 foot long) scale models of motor cars in metal for the last 20 years or so. It's quite an interesting hobby because it allows me to make extremely detailed models of cars such as the Jaguar E-type, XK120 and XK140 hardtop (all of which I have owned at some time and sold).
There are several ways to build a model - either find some scale plans for the car or find a lot of photo's of the car and then draw up the plans from those photo's. You need lots of photo’s from all angles so you can see the curves and the relationships between say, the wheel well and the body or the bonnet and the headlights.
I have been wanting to make a model of the Raffo Belva for some time - ever since I saw it featured in the "Kit Car" and "Which Kit" magazines from England and promptly lost when I lent them to the local car club. I remember looking at the articles and saying to myself in a quietly determined voice "I...WANT...ONE...OF...THEM". What a truly delightful design – light, curvaceous and imbued with purpose; as good as the E-Type which still makes me drool whenever I see one.
The reason for making a model is that I will never ever own a Belva because a) it would simply cost too much to buy and then ship out to Australia [$A1 = about 40p], b) our kit car ADR building rules are horrendous and far worse than your SVA [the Ultima needed over 400 alterations to meet the ADR], c) it would be stolen within seconds of being parked anywhere in Australia and d) it may help keep me out of the pubs [or so my wife says].
So, all I have left to satisfy this urge to own a Belva is a model. Unfortunately, there are no plans of the Belva available but I do have some photos of the first Belva - the red one with the removable top that Stevejay owned. I found some more in the kit car magazines and one or two others on the Internet.
Stevejay from Pistonheads was really helpful when I contacted him. He emailed me a lot of photos of his red Belva which captured the relationships very well and also some of the cockpit which gave me many clues. Several of Steve’s photo’s were from above the car which has given me many clues to the shape and relationships of the top surfaces of the Belva. It was really nice of Steve to email those photo’s to me and I thank him very much for his time and courtesy.
Does anyone out there have any photo's of a Belva that they could email to me to help me design this model? I would truly appreciate any help that anyone could give me. I have the three of the yellow Belva from the Australian Locost site (I actually posted them some years ago after scanning them from “Which Kit”).
I am looking for some photo's that will make it easy to take a scale drawing from. The three that I truly desperately need are:
One from the front where the camera is on the same level as the headlights. This will give me the front elevation already in scale.
One from the rear where the camera is on the same level as the tail lights. This will give me the rear elevation also already in scale.
One from the side where the camera is at the centre of length of the car and halfway up the side of the car. This will give me the side elevation and again, this will be in scale.
Stevejay also sent me som photo's of the belva's engine compartment so I am fairly right in that area. Does anyone have any photo's of the Belva boot? I need any details of the boot and the bootlid hinges for true detail in the model.
I would also be delighted to receive any other photo's that anyone has of the Belva because these will help me work out the ratio of some of the measurements. For example, I know the width of the numbers on a licence plate so I can work out the width of the bars on the grille near the rear licence plate. Other photo's will also help me work out curves and things like placement of badges, etc.
Oh Yeah - I forgot - could anyone tell me the size of the wheels on the Belva? This is a great measurement for working out the ratio of other parts of the car.
Unfortunately, I liver in an area of Australia that isnt really very well served by Internet. If anyone has any photo's that they would like to send to me, please attach as many as possible to each email. AS LONG AS THE TOTAL SIZE OF ALL THE ATTACHMENTS DOES ***NOT*** EXCEED 2MB then I will be able to download them.
I would be truly delighted if anyone could help me in this project because this is the only way I will ever, ever, ever own a Raffo Belva (deep, deep, deeeeeep heartfelt sigh)
WebRat
At the moment, I am killing myself rather quickly because it is coming on for the bushfire season and I have about 5 miles of plastic irrigation pipe to bury in the vineyard we (my wife and I) are building here because plastic pipe burns quite well. We are a bit skint so it has to be done by hand. I have managed to bury about 1 mile so far so things are starting to look up. While the work leaves me exhausted at night, it doesn’t relieve the boredom all that much.
My hobby (read reduces boredom) is making models - I did the model aeroplanes, model ships bit when I was a nipper and up until I was about 30 years old but this got boring - well, my wife found it boring.
I have been making large (up to 4 foot long) scale models of motor cars in metal for the last 20 years or so. It's quite an interesting hobby because it allows me to make extremely detailed models of cars such as the Jaguar E-type, XK120 and XK140 hardtop (all of which I have owned at some time and sold).
There are several ways to build a model - either find some scale plans for the car or find a lot of photo's of the car and then draw up the plans from those photo's. You need lots of photo’s from all angles so you can see the curves and the relationships between say, the wheel well and the body or the bonnet and the headlights.
I have been wanting to make a model of the Raffo Belva for some time - ever since I saw it featured in the "Kit Car" and "Which Kit" magazines from England and promptly lost when I lent them to the local car club. I remember looking at the articles and saying to myself in a quietly determined voice "I...WANT...ONE...OF...THEM". What a truly delightful design – light, curvaceous and imbued with purpose; as good as the E-Type which still makes me drool whenever I see one.
The reason for making a model is that I will never ever own a Belva because a) it would simply cost too much to buy and then ship out to Australia [$A1 = about 40p], b) our kit car ADR building rules are horrendous and far worse than your SVA [the Ultima needed over 400 alterations to meet the ADR], c) it would be stolen within seconds of being parked anywhere in Australia and d) it may help keep me out of the pubs [or so my wife says].
So, all I have left to satisfy this urge to own a Belva is a model. Unfortunately, there are no plans of the Belva available but I do have some photos of the first Belva - the red one with the removable top that Stevejay owned. I found some more in the kit car magazines and one or two others on the Internet.
Stevejay from Pistonheads was really helpful when I contacted him. He emailed me a lot of photos of his red Belva which captured the relationships very well and also some of the cockpit which gave me many clues. Several of Steve’s photo’s were from above the car which has given me many clues to the shape and relationships of the top surfaces of the Belva. It was really nice of Steve to email those photo’s to me and I thank him very much for his time and courtesy.
Does anyone out there have any photo's of a Belva that they could email to me to help me design this model? I would truly appreciate any help that anyone could give me. I have the three of the yellow Belva from the Australian Locost site (I actually posted them some years ago after scanning them from “Which Kit”).
I am looking for some photo's that will make it easy to take a scale drawing from. The three that I truly desperately need are:
One from the front where the camera is on the same level as the headlights. This will give me the front elevation already in scale.
One from the rear where the camera is on the same level as the tail lights. This will give me the rear elevation also already in scale.
One from the side where the camera is at the centre of length of the car and halfway up the side of the car. This will give me the side elevation and again, this will be in scale.
Stevejay also sent me som photo's of the belva's engine compartment so I am fairly right in that area. Does anyone have any photo's of the Belva boot? I need any details of the boot and the bootlid hinges for true detail in the model.
I would also be delighted to receive any other photo's that anyone has of the Belva because these will help me work out the ratio of some of the measurements. For example, I know the width of the numbers on a licence plate so I can work out the width of the bars on the grille near the rear licence plate. Other photo's will also help me work out curves and things like placement of badges, etc.
Oh Yeah - I forgot - could anyone tell me the size of the wheels on the Belva? This is a great measurement for working out the ratio of other parts of the car.
Unfortunately, I liver in an area of Australia that isnt really very well served by Internet. If anyone has any photo's that they would like to send to me, please attach as many as possible to each email. AS LONG AS THE TOTAL SIZE OF ALL THE ATTACHMENTS DOES ***NOT*** EXCEED 2MB then I will be able to download them.
I would be truly delighted if anyone could help me in this project because this is the only way I will ever, ever, ever own a Raffo Belva (deep, deep, deeeeeep heartfelt sigh)
WebRat
Hi Webrat
I love the Raffo Belva design, a beautifull shape im my opiniom, the owner of the project is now Harlequin Autokits.
Maybe you should get in touch with them and, I'm sure the will help you out with all the info you need for your project.
The wheels are be 15 inch. with 195/55 upfront and 205 rear,
I should have something, somewhere, and I'll see what I can do for you
Ciao
Italo
I love the Raffo Belva design, a beautifull shape im my opiniom, the owner of the project is now Harlequin Autokits.
Maybe you should get in touch with them and, I'm sure the will help you out with all the info you need for your project.
The wheels are be 15 inch. with 195/55 upfront and 205 rear,
I should have something, somewhere, and I'll see what I can do for you
Ciao
Italo
Hi fuoriserie,
Thank you for the data on the wheels. That gives me the exact ratio in many of the photo's between the wheel and, say, the wheel arch or the distance between the wheel and the front of the Belva.
Once I have a ratio then I can draw the measurement to scale.
I appreciate your offer of any other information. If you could email it to me then that would be great. Photo's or dimensions will be gratefully accepted.
I had not thought of approaching Harlequin because most manufacturers are rather backwards in coming forwards with ANY technical information. I think you are right and I will get in touch with them. I know they have a fax number so I will use that for first contact.
They dont have a web site yet as far as I know and I am a web site designer and programmer - hmmmm! They may be interested in doing a deal - an initial web site in exchange for some data.
My web design expertise is sites that are accessed by viewers who dont have the latest technology - its rather annoying to take 10 minutes downloading Flash and Weaver based sites when your computer is 10 or so years old, has a 28k baud modem and you are outside the urban sprawl of the big cities at the end of a copper wire based telephone network.
Anyway, lets see what their reaction is.
Thank you for the data on the wheels. That gives me the exact ratio in many of the photo's between the wheel and, say, the wheel arch or the distance between the wheel and the front of the Belva.
Once I have a ratio then I can draw the measurement to scale.
I appreciate your offer of any other information. If you could email it to me then that would be great. Photo's or dimensions will be gratefully accepted.
I had not thought of approaching Harlequin because most manufacturers are rather backwards in coming forwards with ANY technical information. I think you are right and I will get in touch with them. I know they have a fax number so I will use that for first contact.
They dont have a web site yet as far as I know and I am a web site designer and programmer - hmmmm! They may be interested in doing a deal - an initial web site in exchange for some data.
My web design expertise is sites that are accessed by viewers who dont have the latest technology - its rather annoying to take 10 minutes downloading Flash and Weaver based sites when your computer is 10 or so years old, has a 28k baud modem and you are outside the urban sprawl of the big cities at the end of a copper wire based telephone network.
Anyway, lets see what their reaction is.
have you seen the kamala rt and ks1
they are sort of the same type of design idea
have a look www.kamalacars.com
sure you will like the challenge of making a model of this
they are sort of the same type of design idea
have a look www.kamalacars.com
sure you will like the challenge of making a model of this
Hi, I actually own a Raffo Belva. I've had it for about 6 months now... If you're still after pictures I will be able to take some for you over the weekend? If you would also like a copy of the artcile in the Kit car magazine I can scan that in an mail it you too. Let me know.
Regards
Ruky
Regards
Ruky
Never forget being at the Castle Coombe Kit Car weekend when the Raffo was first shown, couldn't believe how stunning it was, made the Lotus Elise, which the press at that time were completely obsessed with look very ordinary indeed. Guess because of that Elise obsession in the press it never stood a chance, shame.
Hi Folks,
Sorry to have been so long off the air - had a major hard disk crash in the middle of a motherboard meltdown just before Xmas. I guess I know a lot more about recovering data from a hard disk than I ever really wanted to know.
So, even if it is a bit late......my sincere thanks to all the people who sent photo's and data on the Belva. I truly appreciate everyones help. Its been great hearing from you.
Thanx, guys.
Sorry to have been so long off the air - had a major hard disk crash in the middle of a motherboard meltdown just before Xmas. I guess I know a lot more about recovering data from a hard disk than I ever really wanted to know.
So, even if it is a bit late......my sincere thanks to all the people who sent photo's and data on the Belva. I truly appreciate everyones help. Its been great hearing from you.
Thanx, guys.
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