As the Brabham BT18 finally crosses the finish line, my build has come to an end. Hard to believe, but another build in the books. That's 6 for 6 since I got back into cars last year. Never did I think I'd have a perfect build/complete record, as I never came close in any aircraft run.
This was my 2nd Ebbro kit, and certainly not my last, as it's quite a Bang for the Buck. I found the detail to be Tamiya quality, which one would expect since Ebbro is part of the Tamiya family empire. The kit decals were really excellent quality, and I wouldn't think twice about using them again.
For the most part the part fit was dead on perfect, well thought out, and went together in a logical progression. But there were part assemblies that weren't necessary as more isn't always better then less. The exhaust headers were a big plus compared to the Tamiya individual pipes that always are a nightmare, so Ebbro usually had each bank as a two piece header. But on this kit, the pipes are all separate once again. This did cause me quite a lot of difficulty in aligning them correctly to the two collection pipes.
The half tubular molding of the chassis pipes still concerns me. The reasoning that you can't mold them doesn't work as there are full pipes molded on the bottom of the chassis. Go figure.
Bottom line is that not only would I build more Ebbro kits, I've got 3 more in my small but ever growing stash, no matter how hard I try to keep it in check. The theory that I'll build most of them when I retire doesn't work for me, as I've been retired for more then a year now. As far as I'm concerned, retirement is really a vacation that just never ends
I really have one more major step to finally call the build done, and that's drilling and pinning each side of the upper shell to the lower shell, as they don't stay perfectly closed. Not a hard job, but one slip and I've screwed up what I consider to be my best paint and finish job by far. I've also left off the engine cover in both pictures as in the display case. Reason being that it's nearly impossible to remove.
Here's a dozen pictures of the BT 18s last photo shoot. And thanks to all that have stayed the course, checked my progress throughout the build, and posted the good or the bad. I thank you all for your support, as it always has meant quite a lot to me.
Joel
I never got to race anything seriously - Dad was keen for me to join a grass-racing team (he used to race motorcycles pre-WW2) but Mum forbade it - and there was only ever going to be one winner in that discussion! LOL!
