Tamiya 1/12 Tyrrell P34 (six wheeler) WIP (Update Sep. 27).

Very nice engine!

The driver's seat came in three diferent designs: One design was an unpadded fiderglass seat, the second design had holes drilled in the fiberglass seat to provide ventilation and the third design was a padded seat.

The kit's seat was the unventilated fiberglass version. That must have been really uncomfortable. I decided to add some padding.

I went to a Goodwill store and purchased a black leather purse. I cut the leather into four pieces. It took a lot of trimming to get the leather to fit correctly.

I glued the leather to the plastic seat with craft glue. In the actual car the padding was painted blue. I like the black better.

The kit includes a pre-cut, cloth seat harness with PE buckles. I am not too sure how accurate the harness is, but I think that it looks okay. It might look better if the seat belt was flopped over the sides of the seat.

Looking good Johnny!

Lewbud, Thanks! 

If you are the kind of person that likes to swear, you will love trying to assemble this kit's exhaust system

Here is the problems with the exhaust system. The pins that attach the headers to the collector are too small and too short. The other end of the headers fit into really large openings in the engine block. The result is that the entire header assembly just flops around making it difficult to keep it in proper alignment while the glue sets. Also note parts labeled G17 and K7. If you install them now they will break off. Put those on later.

The plastic exhaust pipes that are supplied with the kit are not pefectly round, there are mold lines that need to be removed, the diameter of the pipe varies, and the plastic is bumpy. I decided to ditch the plastic pipe and use an aluminum tube. I flared the end of the tube by inserting it onto a pair of needle nosed plyers and twisting the tube. A small diameter aluminum tube will be glued into the collector and the other side inserted and glued into the exhaust pipe. That will provide a positive joint. I painted the exhaust pipe and headers with Testors' Metalizer Titanium sealed with clear flat. 

I chucked the engine into a vice. You can see how loosely the header fits into the engine block. 

I put red Bondo into the collector to provide a stiff fit with the exhause headers. I preasembled the headers before gluing them into the engine.

I put a big blob of Testors' plastic glue into the slots in the engine block and let the glue set until it became gooey and stiff. I then pushed the headers into the slots and moved around the headers until they were in the proper position.. I let the assembly sit for two days while the glue set. I then pulled off the collector, sanded the excess Bondo and glued it to the headers and exhaust pipe with super glue.

The final result looks pretty good. Tomorrow I'll discuss the front suspension which requires more swearing.

Great stuff!  Very convincing engine.  

Thanks! A lot of detail can be added to a 1/12 scale engine that would be difficult to add  to a 1/24 scale engine.

This is a comparison between a 1/12 scale engine/tranaxle and a 1/25 scale model.

enjoyed the exhaust tutorial! Very convincing results. Looking forward to the front suspension.

Here's some trivia for you. This kit has a Star Trek connection. Can you name it?

Give me a hint.

Sulu's command.

Very interesting to see how you worked through the engine fit issues. Bunch of very good tips and ideas.

How did you manage to put the bends in the aluminum tubing without it flattening out?

The leather seat cover looks great. Good choice leaving it black. First I've heard of cloth and PE belts included in a kit. That's cool.

Hmmmm;

 Bet you learned some new swear words, didn't ya?

Greg

How did you manage to put the bends in the aluminum tubing without it flattening out?

I guess that I didn't expain the exhaust system correctly. The following picture should make things clear:

Tanker-Builder

Hmmmm;

 Bet you learned some new swear words, didn't ya?

 

Now it's time for more craziness.

This a photo of the parts that make up only one side of the front suspension! Remember, there are two wheels per side.

Tamiya did a really good job of duplicating the appearance of the actual car's front suspension (top photo). There are a number of suspension control rods that snap onto pins. Luckly I didn't break any of the snap connections.

Superb progress!

I had similar problems with the 1/20 kit's exhaust system.  My fix was to shorten the straight sections and the last header pipes a bit, as they were throwing the header pipes out of alignment and causing the collector to rotate 45 degrees out.  The loosey-goosey fit of the parts did not help either.  I am using two kits to build one, and I ruined the first set of pipes trying to get the unmodified parts to work.

Real G,

Nice tight fit where the  headers connect to the collector. The loosey-goosey fit is a real problem. I don't understand why Tamiya did that.

Space Ranger,

I'm still thinking about the Sulu question.

Great work.  You've motivated me.  I've bought that model.  Can't wait to start it.  Well, I can't wait to start about 3 or 4 models on the shelf right now.  You have certainly provided many ideas.  Most of my models look better because of contributions of others on this forum. Looking forward to seeing that completed.

Thanks for the hard work.

Dave

Holy cow, your right side front suspension assy looks real.

Slick workmanship, John.

The hood (drivers pod?) is molded in twi pieces:

The alaigment pins are too small and the thickness of the plastic at the joint is too thin to provide a strong joint. Parts N2 and N3 are clear plastic "portholes".

I taped the two sides of the hood together with masking tape and then I taped the hood to the top panel of the fuselage to insure proper alaignment after the glue set.

I reinforced the joint with strips of plastic.

The joint was filled with putty and sanded smooth. The joint was invisible after painting. 

Wunderbar!!

Hint: U.S.S. Excelsior 

Suspension looks impressive!  Coming along nicely.

It's slowly getting there.

Space Ranger

Hint: U.S.S. Excelsior 

 

JohnnyK

 

 

Space Ranger

Hint: U.S.S. Excelsior 

 

 

 

 

Does the plastic model of the P34 have something to do with the cargo bay of the filming model of the U.S.S. Excelsior?

 

Yes.

Seeing what you did with the hood reminds me I need to be more patient and do better with joins, especially if I think I'm going to start doing more things with 4 wheels (or this case 6 wheels).

Looks good.

I cheated and used my Google.  The upper monocoque of the P34 is used as a roof detail in the hangar bay.

I also noticed the Narcussus from "Alien" used two upper cowls as fairings for greeblies under the hull.

Nice progress on your kit, and I must say your silver parts certainly look better than mine!  Darn it, I might have to repaint!

This is the bottom pan of the car. To duplicate the color of the original car's pan I used Testor's metalizer Aluminum Plate. I burnished the paint using a cotton ball and then used a mud colored wash to simulate dust and dirt. I wiped the wash in the direction of the airflow under the car. Originally I was going to finish the pan in Bare Metal Foil (insanity strikes again). But my alter ego said, "No way dude!!!!"