F1 Group Build

So whats an Austin 7 doing on a F1 group build, even if it is an Ulster? Well its Bruce McLaren's first race car, the one he started his racing experience in and the one he started his modifying and building. So I suppose it has an F1 link however tenuous!

This is a 1/43rd white metal kit from the Marsh Models stable released a few months ago. Apart from some flash on the chassis, body and exhaust its a great little kit. The wire wheels are fabulous and are made from 6 different parts (except Marsh only put 3 tyres in my kit).This afternoon's clean-up and dry assembly was the first modelling I've done for about 10 months and I had to push aside the Ferrari on my workbench I was doing for this GB to start it.

Anyway I'll put the finished pics in the general auto forum where they really belong.

 

 

SirDrake, let's start... at the end. Nice badge (IMO).

Onto earlier stuff - very welll done on that build! Hope it got you hooked! Very true what you said - it's a very unforgiving (in that sense) genre of modeling!

As for myself, the R25's rear suspension is attached (will sort alignment out after fron is done as well. Hope to enlarge the holes for the front suspension and maybe even add it. Brakes done, so all just waiting for the front suspension to arrive...

We don't have a badge for this group build yet, do we?
What about this one:



Tell me if it hurts your eyes . Not really sure about the green color but to me looks better than all the others I tried. Suggestions welcome.

SD

Looks good to me. I think you did an excellent job. It's not always easy to try another model type as you did. Thanks for posting the very nice results.....

Ok, I'm kind of done. Here's pictures. My first F1 car, what an experience. Quite a few things that didn't turn out the way I wanted (don't look at the decal of the left mirror... how could that ever happen...?), but hey, that's what we people call fun, right?
Why was it difficult? Because F1 cars just need to look perfect, shiny, spotless. Everything is smooth, seamless, and glossy. That's quite a difference from the sailing ships I like to build - they leave much more space for variation. There you are supposed to see seams, and color variations, that's what makes it interesting for the viewer.
But I enjoyed building it a lot. Can't promise that it's my last one...

SD

Can't wait to see some more pix guys, especially of the McLaren. I just recently found out that SMS has sold out of the superdetail set for the f2001 so I guess my plans of building the model again with it in the far future is squashed, now I just need to save up a little bit of money for the Enzo super detail set since I have the Tamiya model sitting up on a shelf.

Il Leone, thanks for the info. yes, it was the body colours I was wondering about. But just so you know - you can get a hold of Finishers locally (for you) at Mac's Modeling as well.

SeaBee:  It depends! Don't ya hate that?    Ok, but really it kinda does.  If it is a small aluminum part, generally I will go with Tamiya something or another.  That depends on the color shading and my mood.  For larger aluminum, I tend to go with some spray based paint, Alclad or Testors.  But I am thinking you are referring to the silver paint on the Mercedes cars.  For that I have found only one paint that looks right.  MCW (Model Car World) Mercedes Silver.  Mercedes silver paint is just plain nasty to match.  It is a metallic, but the flake is VERY tiny in the paint.  If you look at Testors paints, the metallic flake is way to big and completely out of scale.  I think Tamiya has the same problem.  Another paint that I am liking more and more is Finishers.  About the only place I have found it is Rainbow 10 in Japan.  Cures hard as a rock and is really a bear to polish, but an awesome finish. 

When spraying MCW, I go with a white base that is polished smooth.  After I get a color coat on, a couple coats of clear followed by a good compound polish gets excellent results.  Not that you don't already, but you must have good ventilation and a good respirator with MCW.  It will give off some fumes as it wicks out. 

Hope that helps!

Tony, there is a nice site out there regarding all the JPS Lotusses (at the very least). Have a look here. I have a few JPS ones still to do, love that scheme! Hope it helps. Good to hear the FW11 is coming along!

Il Leone, just for the record (you may have mentioned it before) - what silver do you use? I have a few worries about silver cars coming up and was just wondering what's good, what's not, what shade is which, etc. What's the diffs between eg. Tamiya's Gloss Alum (which they advise for MP4/13's), Silver and the newer Chrome Silver?

Have completed decalling (for now) and clearcoated. Will do some polishing the weekend, some test-fitting of the suspension (need I saw how nervous I am about that...?) now that everything's painted and will also start working on some detail parts (brakes first, still left as well is camera and mirrors).

Hi Everyone,
As my Williams FW-11 is getting close, I've started planning my next F1 build, which will be a conversion of the Tamiya Lotus 99T back to a 98T. I have the F1 Specialties decals, some photos and I think I know the changes to the cars exterior, as it will be a curbside.
I do need some better photos of the radiator openings in the sidepods, and the windscreen on the real car.
Can anybody help ?
Thanks
Tony

Seabee:  Nice McLaren!  Well done!   I pulled up that website you mentioned, good thing too.  I also pulled my BAR 006 off the shelf the other night.  I think that is next on the parade of F1 projects.  I saw a couple of ideas he used that I had been considering on mine.  Definitely will give a couple of them a go. 

Progress report.  Second color is on!  All day project to mask it all off, mix the paint, prep the car.  But I think it looks really decent.  So now it is waiting for this to cure out, polish it some to get things down flat and then clear coat.  It's curing out while I work on another GB here.  I'll try and get some photos posted in the near future.  The good news is all the colors are now on the cars.  Time to just rub it all out and then do the finish work.  

Okay, here's the pics... Some points to note - the pics did show up certain flaws I did not even really pick up with the naked eye that was then rectified - due to time limitations no pics taken afterwards. One such example being the red line ending at the rear section where the decal tore just a bit. Another interesting thing that came out in these pics, esp the side one, is the Marlboro red. Everybody's allways talking about the reality and how the camera makes it look - just look at the change in shade on the same pic between the front and rear Marlboro reds! And let me tell you, it's exactly the same, just the different angles the light reflected.

Anyways - here it is. Keep in mind this was my first 43rd effort. It's not a stunner, but it's a step... have a lot learnt to impliment in my next 43rd. (Shock and horror, he will do this to another model...)

Top View

View from LF


Onto another topic. Il Leoni, we talked about the different blacks a while ago. I kept forgetting to refer you to Bil Atridge's site. Have a look at his famous MP4/6 and the differences in blacks he got. Not sure whether the descriptions of how he obtained it all is on his site or a mag article I have at home somewhere...

Quick report to say the MP4/4 is done. Took some quick snaps, but haven't even taken it off the camera yet. Will post later during the week. It is definately not the best 1:43 built yet, but I really enjoyed it and learned a heck of a lot!

Howdy folks,
I finally got all the decals down on my Williams FW-11. I used Studio 27 decals for the first time, and I must say it's been a bit of an ordeal. I've got a couple of fit problems I'm going to have to touch up, after I match some paint to the blue decals. Anyway,it's starting to look like the  business now, so I should be able to push ahead and get it done.
Cheers
Tony

I agree that MS obviously should have taken a stop and just stayed in the points rather than pulling the stunt he did. I also fault the team a little bit for not giving him a new set of tyres on the last stop.

Sounds like the McLaren is coming along, can't wait to see some more pix.

Hi guys, it took me some time to get back here.

So, whats up, you ask....  I've had some bad luck lately, first off, my PC went to PC-heaven (or more likely with some of the contents of the HDD it'll probably be PC-hell).  A couple of days later I got disconnected (yeah, I spent more money on modeling than on paying the bills   Ayway, my pc is now repaired, but I'm still waiting for the new internet connection.

I havent's spent as much time on my Tyrell 34 as I hoped I could, but still, the drivetrain is coming along.  It sure isn't a new Tamiya kit though

Man, that F2001 looks good! You really did it justice, F1 Champ!

Enjoy the FW19! Even though I'm also not a big JV fan (though the same can't be said of his dad!) I simply had to order a Tameo FW19 recently, as well as a BAR001, simply loved the colourscheme on that car!

And as for other models... Look left, Look right... and maybe now Tamiya will release a Honda! Well done Jenson! Schumi too greedy - everything above 7th would've brought in bigger points than him and Alonso finishing 1-2! Was rooting for him to go for a stop as soon as Alonso went out and take 3rd or 4th... Oh well, all does sound very clever with 20-20 hindsight.

Had some nice progress on the MP4/4 this weekend. All that's left to do is the mirrors and the antanae. Everything just suddenly fell into place. Got some decalling done on the R25, in addition to that all the suspension subassemblies are primed.

Alright guys, I'm finally done (for now). There's only a few imperfections that somewhat bother me, the nose doesn't match color exactly with the rest of the car, and the Marlboro decal above the airbox tore a little bit leaving a few red marks from the paint underneath visible, other than that and a few other decal mishaps I'm very happy with the finished result. Maybe in a year or two after I can practice on some other models I might give this one another shot and spring for the SMS superdetail set.

Enjoy













And here's what I found at Big Lot's a day or two ago and figured for four bucks it's not a bad deal even if I'm not a JV fan.

Wow guys thanks for all the great comments, I didn't expect such praise, but i'm somewhat of a perfectionist, so I notice all the little things that I can do better next time.

The steering wheel doesn't have any PE parts whatsoever.

Il Leone, don't get me wrong about the different blacks - fully aware of it. Have tried doing something similar a while ago on a MotoGP bike as well and... well... got the same lack of result! When all dried out, it looked rather the same. The one thing I did find after that episode, though, was a Humbrol paint - not sure of the name, will check it when I'm home. Part of the "buffing" paints, like the polished steel and I'm pretty sure it's called metallic black. That thing is a pain to paint, but it does offer a slightly different-looking black. But, as I said, I dread painting it!

BTW, for anybody interested in "older" kits - Tamiya is rereleasing their Renault RE30 and Brabham BT50 around September according to HLJ.

I can allready see that steering wheel of F1 Champ becoming a legend!

F1 Champ... in a word.  "SWEEET!"
Ahhh yes, the I gotta have that kit syndrome.  Which results in having the F2001, F2002 and F399 in 3 different scales.  I "may" have sold off the F2001, good riddance.  A word on the MG kits.  Ok, you may have seen on the web the nice build ups that have been done on those kits.  My advice, which was proven in my previous submission, you can't see the whole story.  The F399 looks really cool in the box and that is where I should have left it.  But noooo, I just had to work on it.  That was 3 years ago.  When the mood strikes I still pull it out.  Long story told short.  Nothing fits, the resin is cast way over thick and nothing looks to scale or accurate.  What you get is a really good pattern to start working.  To date I have reshaped the rear cowling.  Then completely redone the front wing.  I mean cut off the end plates, thin the front wings and end plates, re-made the lower part of the end plates and a few other details.  You will go through several sets of sandpaper and grinding attachments for your moto-tool.  Everything is way to thick.  The difuser looks like a chuck of resin until you start shaping it.  The list is endless.  But the end result should be awesome.  One day.  Now I understand the later kits corrected some of this, so this is just my observations on the F399 and F2001.  I never started working on the F2001, so take that for what it is worth. 

On the black issue.  IF you do it right, and IF you spray it right, and IF the weather is right, you should get a slightly different shading on the blacks.  At least I tried!    I'm always looking for slightly different shades of black, in both semi & flat coats.  If you look at the real cars, black (or carbon fiber as the case may be) is not really black.  And one part is slightly different shade than another.  Still trying to create that effect.  Another neat part is on say the exhaust chimneys on the modern cars.  Look closely and you'll notice some are painted, and some are bare carbon.  Ferrari paints theirs, Honda is bare.  So is McLaren I think.  Just those little details I can never seem to let go.

BTW, F1 Champ, tell me you didn't use the PE parts for the steering wheel.  If so, VERY well done.

Later folks! 

"Starting to look like a racecar"... Yeah right - it looks great, F1Champ!

How on earth did you do those steering wheel buttons so well? Maybe it's just age catching up with me...

Finally have a nice update on the F2001, I've finished decaling and clear coating the body, at least as best as this iteration will be. I still have quite a few parts to finish, but it's actually starting to look like a racecar now.

Il Leone, some very nice work there! First off - 3 different scales F2001...? Don't tell me you've gotten the 1:12 MG or Matilde... (pity, no drooling smiley!)
Back to your builds. I agree on the chimneys - my biggest mistake was trying to attempt a modern F1 as my first multimedia project. Those winglets and chimneys are a pain in 1:20 even - I'm still cursing them! And the pain in 43rd scale - well, it will increase as the scale decrease. But just imagine doing that on the MP4/21 paintjob! I am staying well clear of that nightmare! All I can say for your experience with the 4 (or 3) blacks... as the song goes: Black is black! But at least you tried. I've used the Tamiya-prescribed MS5 on my first MP4/13 and found that quite okay, but it seems you've gone through that and found it not good enough(?) And their TS metallic black (can't recall the number... TS40?) - how's that? Good luck on th masking. I sincerely wish you the best there - my tale is not one to aspire to!

As for my tales... The learning curve in 1:43 (on your first model) is close to 90 degrees! So used to check the instructions and just do it as it seems. Just two evenings ago, I got the powersurge and finished off the top parts of the suspension, to be added to the body itself. I was brave, you see, and, as seems on the instructions, I went ahead and added them to the body as well. Nicely alligned, holes were made big enough for the "axel" to go through, the works! (Hey, I learned that from phase 1!) Just to wake up in the middle of watching CSI with a Homer Simpson *DOH*... Shortly followed by my very own Of course, the ends had to be bent down so the axels can pass through there, the brakes and then the wheels. Clever Charlie I was... obviously that can't work with the suspension attached to the body and the body not ehhrrr attached to the floopan yet! You live, you learn. You remove suspension arms again. You attach body to floorpan. In process, you have to fiddle a bit to make it fit nicely, so you end up breaking off the steering wheel. You put down model (gently!) and wait for a few days to repaint all the scratches you caused, mounting places you scarred, suspension parts you scraped. And that's where I am at currently! Body on (yes, I remembered to at least put the seat in beforehand...) and the scars of battle waiting to be healed via a paintbrush.

At this stage still trying to patch up the R25's decal lines, now moved on to the lower (dark blue) areas. Did a few layers of normal dark blue to get a base and will apply some extracted TS51 over that. And adding the odd decal on the wings, etc. Telefonica decal on the rear wing was a bit of a struggle, having allready built up the whole rear wing assembly, incl the supports between the wings, which made it particularly interesting.

I'm Baaaaack!  Yes, I know it has been awhile since I have haunted these hallowed halls.  But fear not, progress is being made on my front.    Yeah, I know, but hey the ceiling wasn't painted in a month either.    Anyway, despite a record heat wave and the current humidity I have moved forward. 



Here is the Tameo 1/43 McLaren MP4/15.  Gotta love these little jewels, in spite of the fact that building them is akin to watch repair.  The silver is on and believe it or not about 3 different shades of black.  Of course, when the black all dried they all looked the same.    Spent all day watching races and painting on this, for that result. 



Even so, I was pleased with the result on the body.  Those little chimneys are a real to work around.  Just try polishing those out.  1/43 may polish out fast, but it is like writing Shakespere on a grain of rice.



Meanwhile, the 1/20 MP4/19B is making progress as well.  Hey, why not build two McLarens at the same time!  Paint is the same right?  I must have been nuts...  On this one I did 4 different shades of black, aircraft interior black, black chrome trim, semi-gloss black and a different semi-gloss.  Care to guess the result?    Oh well, it beats spending the day doing yard work, washing the dog...



The body did not come out as well on the 1/20.  But if you think I am going to show you people!   All in all, not to bad so far.  Of course, now comes the real test.  That moment that seperates real modelers from those wanna be types.  Adding a second color!  Yes, that lovely gunmetal/metallic black wierd shade that McLaren had on the bottom during the West sponsered years.  That lovely shade that nobody, and I mean nobody, has yet to duplicate correctly.  Which has such lovely curves and angles, such a joy to mask.  If this works, will be my coolest car yet.  If it doesn't, I never heard of you guys, I never started to build this kit, I've been working on a BAR all this time.   

But I digress, F1 Champ, very sweet work there!  I have that kit sitting on the shelf, in 3 different scales.  SeaBee, glad to hear that you are still making slow progress there.  Sounds like you will beat me to the finish line.  Your story on the yellow is making me nervous here!  As an aside, I'm going to pull up my old trick on this one.  I photocopied the decals and then use that as the template for laying out the lines.  Not foolproof, but close.  I'm not good enough to freehand the lines. 

Til next time, and here's hoping that Hungary will be a close race.  And the championship will be even closer!

Il Leone

Haha, yeah thanks for the support... Apparently it was, in all the best ways. It kept me from finding something to kick. It also gave me good old X-8 (Tamiya's Lemon Yellow) as a great match! Where it has dried, it looks just fine. Of course, that was in places where I could afford to test and put it down thick to see the end result. This paint is notorious for needing a few layers when over something else. At least I have a solution! It may take a few days longer before I can continue on the main body, but much better than having slivers of blue amidst the yellow decal! I actually should've taken pics...

And to boot, I needed a matching yellow at any rate for the mirrors and the small fins next to the driver's head, which aren't decalled and thus need to be painted...

Disheartening news Seabee, may the force be with you.

Sincerely hope you can find a way out. Sometimes decals just don't fit.

Cheers
Tony

In the words of Yoda: "Distressed deeply, I am". Very deeply.

After the lovely masking and all, I might've been better off painting the yellow by masking it as well. That'll teach me to take the "easy" way out. Maybe I missed the decals completely, but there are gaps of light blue between the yellow decals once the two sets' blue lining matches up - right at the joint between the sidepod and monocoque. Darnit! Some yellow painting to be done there, hoping very hard it will match the decals. Furthermore, the dark blue areas were masked too low (in accordance with how I thought the decla would go) right below that...

Sorry, just had to get it off my chest. I most likely screwed up the decal application, but since both decals have specific placed where it must be "inserted" into protrudincg bodywork parts (which was part of the mould, not something I added!) I can't imagine I could go that far wrong...

*Mumbles to himself, trying to find something to kick - and a yellow to match the decals!*

Looking good! Those SMS templated decals are just brilliant!

Been a bit ill of late, plus I'm doing an R390 (LM Nissan) alongside, which was masked (not as simple a scheme as it seems) and painted. So just completed my two most difficult masking jobs ever in the space of just more than a week!

On thge F1 side, I am busy doing the MP4/4's seatbelts, almost done. Maybe then, without being able to chicken out any more, I'll be forcing myself into the final few suspension parts. Oh, had a bit of a bugger-up with the fit of the base rear suspension and had to do some re-doing there to get all to fit. The R25 is in a scary state - sitting there, masking deficiencies rectified, clearcoated... begging for decals!

Here's the body with most of the livery done, some of the decals tore a little bit so i'm not 100% satisfied, but for a first time F1 build i'm happy enough with it. Needs some paint in a few areas and then clear coat which will have to wait until i'm back from vacation.