Thank you, Roger, and Jim! Yeah, Roger, I did what I could with the helmet--not much you can do with that face shield!? That's 30-year old molding technology for ya!
angrydawg
Did you use the kit two piece tires? If so, what paint did you use? Any problems?
Yes, I did use the two-piece tires, and they're a genuine PITA to assemble and hide the seams! I super-glued them twice, and sanded them smooth both times, then would up painting the surfaces with flat black. That hid the seam pretty well.
The paint (as I said in the post already) was Tamiya White and Metallic Green, decanted on the M. Green.
The engine configuration has the turbocharger nozzle (?!?!) in the wrong place; it's placement would interfere with the placement of the rear wing. It just doesn't fit. I moved it and cut it a little. I'll never get points for accuracy, but who the hell really knows what a 30-year old Eagle Offenhauser engine looks like from memory anyway?
The suspension rods were too short and out-of-round; I replaced them with styrene rod.
The whole model really doesn't go together very well. Once again, I was saved by the Dremel in a lot of instances. There's very little of the actual engine left under the top cowl, although you can't see it. But I had to grind a lot of it away just to get it to sit on it.
I made new front spoilers, as the ones in the kit are too short and mount funny. That was no small chore!
Not an easy kit, but 30 years ago the standards weren't what they are today. This kit, by the way, is used as the basic kit for a whole host of other models of this era--the other JR #3 McLaren car, a Bobby Unser car, and I think also another one that lets you build the "Norton Spirit". Luckily, this is the second one I did--here's the #3 Johnny R car--so I'm getting better at this model, lol!
Look at the difference in the front spoilers...