Endurance Race GB 2008

SeaBee wrote:

.....Bob, detail is what you want and make of it, not somebody else... I've been much happier with some builds where I have not even cared about too much detail and not bugger up something through trying to get one small piece of detail right, spoiling the end-result. But that's just my feeling!

SeaBee-Thanks and I couldn't agree more.  The C6R will be 'out of the box'.  The '60 Cunningham Corvette will require some kit bashing and minor 'enhancements' to make a road racer out of it.  Only real difficult issue will be making louvers for the hood....still thinking about that one.  Probably won't start on that kit until early '09.  And I'm actually looking forward to the challenge.  Hopefully I can find the correct paint color for the C6R this weekend @ my LHS.

Glad to hear that you are making progress and got a bike ride in.

SeaBee wrote:

Into our second week of rain. Only stopped for a while over the weekend (can you believe it?!) and I snuck out to get onto the bike!

Yea know what you mean. Winter has really set in here too - cold, windy and showery. I nipped home today at lunch time because it was sunny with little wind and got the top coat of white (duplicolor) on one but it was just too cold for the Tamiya spray can for the other - actually made a bit of a mess.

Truth be told the real reason for coming home was to put the roll cage back into the race car for a circuit sprint on Sunday. Funnily enough its forecast to rain again on Saturday so rather than do it in the rain (no garage you see) the cage is back in so now its just the belts and seats for Saturday which I can do inbetween showers if they eventuate.

Got to watch a few minutes of LeMans over the weekend.  Unfortunatly, I had to wait until after church to check and see if Audi held on and if the Corvette team could pull one out.  Glad that Audi won though.  Maybe next year for Corvette Racing. Still blows my mind that teams can race for 24 hours and be on the same lap.

I got everything primed and painted the chasis & interior today.  Chrome parts will probably need to be stripped and re-painted.  Not sure what to do with the rims though-the plating isn't too heavy on the rims, but they need to be more of an aluminium color.  Might try some clear flat first.

Waiting for my Tamiya Model Magizine to arrive before I do anything more.  Mark-thanks again for the 'heads-up' on the C6R being in the latest issue.  Should be a big help.

... And there I was thinking Le Mans is NEXT weekend!!! Longest night over here, longest day in Europe, being quite close to next weekend. I did not see a minute... that is if it was shown, because it was not well advertised if it was shown. Usually is, though. Darn. Darn-darn-darn....

Oh yeah, congrats to Audi! And all the other diesels for finishing! And I think I read Ferrari made a clean sweep 1234 in one of the classes. And *whoo-hoo* the DBR9 won as well.

Speaking of which, just a quick comment on the build. I drilled out the exhaust a bit for some more feel of depth there. And then started primer. And tonight I ventured into the colour. Compliments to Steve from Hiroboy! I have not yet done the clear over the base coat, which usually does a lot for his paints, but even so, the colour looks absolutely stunning. Where it is not correct, it was my application. 

The last 2 weekends we had a short holiday in South Australia so nothing got done. However earlier this week on my return I got some time to start decalling the 1984 Totip car.Several things immedately became obvious. The instructions state that the decal sheet for this car is the sheet produced for the Italian kit manufacturer HiFi and that there was a small difference in body size so GPM supplied 2 decal sets so there was enough of the Totip stripes for a bit of cut and paste. So when I placed the first side set on the model (before removing from the backing paper) I discovered the GPM body was nearly 7mm longer. Hmmmmm thought I. But it didn't end there. I knew from the photos I'd seen of the 84 car that the rear deck was diferent to the 83 car. The channel between the engine cover and the wheel covering was much more prononced on the 84 car. The strip should have had the green in the channel and the orange on the vertical side of the channel. As I couldn't change the 83 body I modified the decals to fit by cutting off most of the orange part of the stripe. However if the body was shorter on the 84 car then the wing supports would probably also be different and yes they were as the following shows.

However because by making use of the 2 sets of decals it can be corrected

Overall the decals were a bit brittle and the Microsol softener was a bit strong. The decal would suddenly crinkle in places and no amount of teasing and smoothing would work. When dried some of the smaller crinkles did come out. Again it was fortunate 2 sets were supplied because I needed to redo the front left as the crinkling was unsalvagable. But the end result was OK but its definately not a "front of cabinet" model. The window surrounds are black and a decal is supplied for that but its way too small so that will have to be done by hand.

The rear wing is just sitting on the wing supports and not quite in the right position. Hopefully this weekend I'll get it finished. So far just an average model (ignoring the shape and length issues) but typical of what was around 20+ years ago.

Some months ago I had ordered the 2006 Daytona 24 hr winning Lexus Riley (because it was driven by New Zealander Scott Dixon) by Provence Minatures (the resurrection of the old Provence Moulage/Starter company). It arrived the day we went off on holiday  and will be next in the production line. A fabulous kit with little flash (some feed tags on the underside of the body and chassis) and very sharp detail. Its a multi-media kit mostly in resin with some white metal parts and a p/e rear wing assembly. I can't wait to start. The instructions are below.

A build review is in GPM's 4 Small Wheels magazine a couple of issues ago if anyone has access to that publication. Hopefully someone will now produce Scott's Indy car after his 500 win last month.

Hey Mark, that looks like a great little kit! Can't help you with the 4SW, but keep an eye out, they may catch up to that issue on the free side shortly - usually lag a couple of months behind.

What I can tell you, is to keep an eye out for a place called "Formula models". They bring out indycar kits in 43rd. I am currently doing their 02 Panther Racing Hornish Jr car. Know they did some of the older atrget cars, so maybe there's hope for a future release there... 

May I join your GB? If so, I'm in with the 1:24 McRae/Sainz Ford Focus WRC, if that's okay.

SeaBee wrote:

What I can tell you, is to keep an eye out for a place called "Formula models". They bring out indycar kits in 43rd.

 Tks Seabee I have heard of Formula Models I'll go looking now. Found the Four Small Wheels and the article doesn't really add anything. The build looks very good. Last Saturday it took me about 5 minutes to prepare the body and chassis for undercoating. No blemishes showed up on the body and the chassis and components are now painted ready for the detail work.

Slow going on my side! At least finished the other stuff I was working on - only to start new ones!

On the DBR9 the cage is finished and painted, started working on some of the interior stuff (seat, etc). Also started the semi-painfull job of CF-ing the bottom part of the dash. But no fear, I'll get there...

Keep going Mark!!

here....only I haven't completed anything recently.  The Corvette is primed and I need to make a run to the LHS and pick up some Tamiya spray. 

 Also, I received the Tamiya Model Magazine that Mark mentioned earlier(thanks again Mark for the heads up)-WOW-talk about some nice detailing work.  The builder of the Corvette in the TMM took a good kit to a much higer level with some simple detailing.  I'm still going OBB for this one, but I may have to add a C6R to my stash and maybe try to duplicate some the the upgrades shown in the mag.

Also saw where one of my F1 heros, Nigel Mansell, and his boys are looking at entering the ALMS series.  For those interested:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69202

Cheers

Good to see some life here Dustin.  I've got the Corvette painted & decaled but since then it's been pushed to the back of the list.  Hoping to work on it some over the Christmas holidays.  As far as an F1 GB, I did snag Mansell's early Ferrari off of e-Bay some time ago....... 

Dustin-I agree.  It seems that the Auto section of the forums doesn't get as much traffic as the Airplane/Armor sections.  I don't know if posting in the Group Build section would help....maybe most car modelers hang out at other sites.  Now tell me more about your "Turn it to a Race Car GB"...

Dustin-I like the idea.  I was thinking also that your theme would include early rally cars-basically stock vehicles with a roll cage, snow tires (or tyres, depending on your part of the world...), heavy duty shocks and springs and enough candle power to melt lead....

Unfortunatly, I don't have enough of a stash of auto kits/parts to do any kit bashing.  However, I do have the Dick Landy Dodge Dart (drag racer), Penske Corvette (interesting story on the history of that vehicle-picked up at the factory in the dead of winter and driven to the race shop-with no heater!) & the 240z South Africian safari rally car that might fit in, depending on the rules. 

You could always post the proposal-with a broad topic like you've suggested, there may be enough interest to get one going.

Anyway, here are some pics of the Corvette

I need to touch up some of the black but overall I'm happy with the results.  Not perfect, but I'm content.

Hopefully tonight will go a little smoother on the DBR.

As far as a WRC GB, yes, there may be a bit more interest.  The bad thing about the Auto forum is that it is very diverse-some Nascar, some WRC, some drag racers, etc.  The "If it was raced" GB seemed to go well.  One thing I'm finding over in the GB section is that anything longer than 6-7 months tends to fade out.

You can always put a feeler out for a WRC GB.  I do have that 240Z sitting in the stash....

Just saw this one had come back to life.  Did ya'll ever decide on an end date?  If it's far enough off I can get something out of the stash and build it.

Bob,

I saw your comments over in the GB section and thought you didn't do cars cause of the paint jobs.  Looking at your Vette, it looks like you've got no trouble in that department.  How do the C-6R kits compare with the C-5R kits?

Buddy-Thanks.  Painting cars has gotten easier since I switched to Tamiya spray cans for my auto projects.  Normally, I airbrush acrylic on planes & armor but I really like the results of the Tamiya product.  Of course, I have to use the spray can in the garage, but it's not that hard to pull the car outside.

As far as end dates, I think we were going to conclude with the running of the 2009 Le Mans 24hr.  However, that's up to Dustin.

I've not built any of the C-5R kits so I can't comment.  This one looks like it should go together ok.  There is an article in the May 2008 (I think) Tamiya magazine that shows a detailed build of this kit.  The kit has a lot of potential in the right hands.

The GB is dead I hate to say .....  So were going to try again in the ALL NEW Rally build come one come all...

  Sorry guys