Excellent detail there. I'm straightforwardly jealous - I cannot even scratch build a radiator fan! LOL
BTW, Nick, do you have a neat and easy solution for a radiator fan? Simple enough for a pinhead like me to replicate ?

Gabriel

Hi Damian and Gabriel,

Thanks for dropping by. Damian, thanks. I think you turned me on to the paints I've been using a lot lately, Vallejo Metal Color. They seem to work well through air and paint brush alike. Gabriel, no reason to be jealous at all! If I could just achieve the paint quality that you (and Damian and Joel!!) seem to always get, I'd be happy.

As for the homemade fan, yes, I do have a method. First, find a picture of what you want yours to look like. I've tried this from memory, and well, lets say it's been better for me to work from a picture, to can get the right number of blades in a patterns/shape that someone might actually expect to see in real, and not imaginary life!

I use a method that I understand is fairly common among airplane model builders. Start with an empty beer or soda can. Cut off the ends, and cut the remaining cylinder, so that you can roll it flat - and you wind up with a flat sheet of really thin, but stable aluminum.

Then, using a compass with a blade or small circle cutter (I have a small circle cutter - pretty simple, there is a beam with a sharp blade on one end, and a adjustable locating pin on the other) cut a circle that matches the outside diameter of your fan out of the now flat aluminum.

Doing this, you will have a small pin hole in the center of the circle that you can eventually mount it with. Once you have the circle, layout your fan blades with a pen, then cut them out. Once you get them looking as you want, slightly twist each blade, so they look three dimensional, again part of the reason to start with a decent photo of what you want.

You can mount this to engine with a thin metal rod. You can add a spacer on either side of the blade where the pin goes through to make its mounting look more realistic. It took me a few tries to get this to work right, but, it does seem to work eventually. hope this works for you!

The weather has cleared up, so maybe I'll paint today -

Cheers,
Nick

Hello gents,

this guy did some painting and clear coating. You'll see, the body of this kit was clear, which is something I don't like very much. As the body was clear, you can see I did a fair amount of carving on the underside. In an effort to break my streak of vehicles with removable parts that don't sit flush, I did what I could to make sure nothing kept the body hung up:



and with some paint:







And there you have it. Several coats of Vallejo model air and Alclad Aqua Gloss II doing there thing. This looks pretty good in real life. There is a faint orange peel in a few places, but unlike my typical paintwork, you need to look for it. There were a few little dust bumps, but I sanded them off, then polished it up. Once the decals are on, a couple more coats of clear coat.

Stay well -

Nick

Looks great Nick, really clean paint job! Good idea to tidy up the underside of the body before painting so that it sits neatly in place, I often forget to do that and end up with ugly hand brushed touch-ups all over the place.

I've also been meaning to have a try at fashioning a radiator fan out of can material of a while now, maybe the current '55 Pro Sportsman will be the test bed. I'm thinking about trimming off the blades and then carefully cutting the boss in half and then gluing it back either side of the aluminium blades to keep the details. Might be too much trouble, easier to cut a couple of circles and add some bolt detail. Alternatively, cut off the blades then razor saw a slot around the boss to insert the Aluminium blades. Thanks for the tutorial.

Cheers, D

Thank you for the fan suggestion, Nick!
I didn't have a particular one in my head - it was a generic question because again and again I had to deal with overly thick fans OOB that destroy the frontal look of the engine. And your generic answer fitted perfectly, and seems feasible (probably I'm going to chop off couple of my fingers playing with sharp aluminum sheet from the can, but it's occupational hazard).
Thanks again,

Gabriel

Hello model builders,

Well, this guy is glad he took some time, and waited to paint and polish in a smart way, rather than the usual of, "well, it's only 10:30 PM, I have, adequate light, I can set up the airbrush and be good to go in nothing flat" which often results in either paint or clear coat failures and if lucky, both!

Not this time, and instead, primed, sanded, re primed, sanded, coats one, two, three of red base, clear coat 1, 2, polish along the way, decals, clear coat 3, polish, clear coat 4, polish...and now, a pretty good paint job. As always, Vallejo Model Air, and Alclad Aqua Gloss II. You can find few dust dots here and there, some faint orange peel in a few (mercifully) discrete places - and wow - take a look:













And, as you might recall from the build, the entire body is removable. Another fairly big accomplishment for this guy is getting the body to generally sit flush - wow - I hope I have the same luck with the GTR on the GB! so far, I'm a bit worried about that...but, with no clothes on:

















While I have to agree with a comment Joel made a few posts back, that this is probably not the most beautiful Ferrari ever, it sure builds up to a nice result.

I'll keep going with F1 Fun project, next up will be a Tamiya P34 with some add ons. The kit comes with PE, and I've picked up a few extras too....I'm really looking forward to that build. The Aoshima GTR is not a great kit, and I need to finish it before a new F1.

Have a good one and stay well,

Nick

Both of them looking great, Nick.
How the Alclad Aqua Gloss behave under sanding? My 2K supplies are running low, and I might need to use it for finishing my models, until the normality re-establish on my rock.

Gabriel

Great build again Nick.

And, I would agree with Joel as well, but I think all the F1 cars of that era are fugly too.

Wow Nick, it was definitely worth a look!

cheers
Michael

Another beautiful build Nick, and you've got that clear gloss nailed now!

Looking forward to the next episode once the McLaren is completed (in about 3 days at your current build rate!).

Cheers, D

Great looking F1 car, Nick. Really well done.

Jim

Hi guys,

thanks for taking a minute to leave some comments.

Hi Gabriel, well, I'm getting better with body work, and specifically painting and clear coating. As it's hard to do much sanding of Vallejo paints, I try to get any heavy sanding done while the part is primed. I use various shades of Tamiya fine, which can be sanded easily, and sets up hard.

Once the base color goes down, there are rarely any big areas that need heavy sanding, and instead maybe a dust particle or similar might need to be cut off (sharp knife) or sanded back (very fine grit) and then, covered with another base coat. It might take some practice to get comfortable getting the right amount and density of the Aqua Gloss onto the body.

The Aqua Gloss sands reasonably well. For this I use 6000 grit and/or polish (Meguiar's PlastX). I've learned a few things here.

First, if you really go overboard with sanding/polishing, you can add another base coat over the clearcoat and start the process again, that is, there is no reason to strip and redo all of it. Interestingly, the new layer or two of base paint and clear coats usually don't "fill" detail areas.

Second, give the Aqua Gloss some time to get hard - it dries fast, but I wouldn't start sanding/polishing for a few hours.

Finally, and I guess this would be obvious to you, don't be too heavy handed when sanding or polishing, as these steps are intended to enhance and not rework the surface - took me a few attempts to figure this out.

Hope this helps.

Hi David, yes - not exactly an era of beautiful curving bodies on race cars. Looking at the substructure, I couldn't help but think of air frames seen on jet fighters, angular, and tight. All of that said, I like the results, and suggest that if you could find the Fujimi and FMD kits, to go for it. The base kit is good, and while a bit fiddly, the detail kit items work pretty well.

Hi Damian, thanks - I've been looking at the nice work that you and others do, and I'm glad to finally have figured out how to get a credible finish. As for the Mclaren, I'm making headway, and so far so good. Once it's done, I'll get back to the F1s. While I'm not a big F1 enthusiast, I do like the fact that so much of the race car is evident - even once you're done.

Hi Jim, thanks. So far so good with my limited world of F1 cars. As I said at the beginning of this blog, this is not a collection of my "favorites" and instead, a bit of crap shoot - in that each of these projects are "on-sale" kits and aftermarket odds and ends. I even found some fancy kits on sale, including a Studio 27 and an MFH.

Stay well gents, this guy is getting back to the Mclaren.

Cheers
Nick

Nick - yes, it does help. I want to use some metallic tone on my future build and I know already that any lacquer or 2K will "bite" into it and the macro effect it wouldn't be nice. Using acrylic clear might solve the problem, but I'm not keen to use an acrylic I cannot sand or one that reactivates with water, as Future does. With your insurance, I'll give it a try on my next build. Thank you!
Gabriel

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, this guy is getting going on the next F1, which is the Tamiya Tyrrell P34 six wheeler. I'm almost done with the GTR on the group build, actually watching the paint dry right now. This has been a bit of a tedious process - while not a drop of rain, the humidity was 69% the day I started painting. So, who knows how it will turn out? the humidity tends to lead to strange and unwanted pool-like color and clear coat deposits. Some of these can usually be sanded out, but others, well - it's only a model - lol!

As noted a few times, this project includes kits and parts I've found on sale, including this. It's the version from the 1976 Japan GP, and it includes some photo etch! As is often the case, there are other versions of the P34 available, including one from Fujimi, which was less expensive, but I read a few reviews and decided to go with the Tamyia.

I've always been interested in this car, but can't speak to it's success or lack thereof. I remember seeing the original kit as a little kid and thought it looked cool, interesting, something different anyway, though intuitively I always wondered why build something so complicated? especially for steering and suspension. I once saw an off-road race car that had cantilever shocks all around - I predicted they'd fail - just too much abuse off road - and, indeed, they did. The upper trust bars snapped or bent, but, they looked very cool. For this car, I wondered about alignment and steering, assuming the slightest mishap would lead to unpredictable steering characteristics. I could do the right thing, and look this up - but nah, I'll ponder that another day.

I picked up a few add-ons, like a corrected seat and some pretty cool bits for the top of the engine including: Ford Cosworth DFV covers; and, a really nice fuel injection rack, distributor, and trumpet set.

Take a look:



This guy might get going on this today. I've collected several images of the car, which I'll sort a bit, then drop into a powerpoint show, so that I can keep a clean and fairly easily accessible book of my own, illustrating what all of this is actually supposed to look like. Unlike the Mclaren GTR F1, I was able to find lots of reference images, so there will be less guessing.

OK gents, stay well

Nick

What a nice coincidence! My third (or fourth) entry in GB will be Tyrell 6 wheeler by Tamiya! A different edition - Monaco Grand Prix 1977 and apparently without all that goodies you have there:


I will follow your lead, since my kit still bounces up and down Miami since two days... but it's close.

Gabriel

Nick, I've always been fascinated by the look of the 6-wheel F1 cars. They just look all wrong! Like something out of the Thunderbirds. I have no doubt that they performed ok, otherwise they never would have hit the track, bit the imbalance in wheel diameters and the twin-steer format changes the whole symmetry of the car.

I'm really looking forward to watching you weave your magic on this one, and having a virtual dual-build with Gabriel gives us extra value!

Cheers, D

Hi Gabriel, D,

Yes, this is something of a strange, if not iconic race car. Damian, I think we’re on the same page about the looks and mechanics of this car - ha! Yes, the Thunderbirds!! Lol. Maybe a transformer! The idea behind this six wheel solution apparently had to do with adding surface area to the front tires to enhance braking...there you go. Would have been fun to be in the studio when this concept was being unveiled; I’ll bet that was memorable!

Gabriel, my version of the kit sure seems to be a reboxing of an old model, maybe why it was relatively inexpensive? That’s what this guy thinks, as while most of the parts go together relatively well, there’s a lot of flash and seam lines, and more annoyingly, some oversized connection points - like where the header pipes “plug” into the block (the connecting holes are just too big to be useful, or an aid to the build). The funny thing is the header pipes are pretty nice, and once you get them tied together look good - but getting them there is a PITA.

The next un-Tamiya-esque part of this is the rear section of the monocoque - uh, yeah, gave me flashbacks of being 9 years old in 1974, wondering if I “really” like building model kits after all!? You remember? The old time, sort of hard plastic, not always cast in a straight line, bulges and flash, weird surface textures, nice. Maybe “features” like these led me to doing lots of scratch work - haha.

I spent about half of today getting the engine and driveline together. Aside from the comments above, so far so good. It goes together fairly quickly, looks pretty nice, but not my favorite. I might just power through and get on to the next project. That said, I am curious to see if I can give it a better than respectable finished look - I was initially interested in this build because I wanted to show the steering, cockpit details etc - at this point, this guy isn’t thinking too likely.

I’ll post some pics in a few days - still pondering: 1) get it done build; or, 2) give it some flair...I don’t know.

Ok gents, stay well and keep building!
Nick

Nick, according to Scalemates, yours is from 2017, the 5th reboxing since the first release in 1977!

Sounds like you are in for some fun along the way.

Cheers, D

Looking forward to this Nick as somewhere deep in the cupboard I have the 1/12 scale version of this in its 1976 guise. Tamiya is a byword for excellence but we have come a long way since the 1970's version of kits.

cheers
Michael

It wasn't too bad a car Damian.It did have a much lower frontal profile. Once it was fettled it was quite competive. What settled its fate though was the reluctance of GoodYear to make a racing tyre just for this car when all the others were using a standard size front wheel.

cheers
Michael

Hi guys,

Damian and Michael, yes, most of the time I really like Tamiya kits, and it goes to stand that their kits are so good is because they've been doing it for a long while! This kit has some weaknesses, but they certainly aren't deal breakers, just not what you'd see in a current Tamiya kit.

The design of the car is certainly unique too - as Michael notes, it enjoyed some success along the way. As I noted above, I was hoping to be able to really detail up the front suspension and cockpit area - maybe I'll give it a go - I haven't started any model building today. Instead, a conference call or two for work! A guy needs to pay for all this fun somehow!

Please take a look - all of this came together yesterday, post three conference calls! two even had the video function - ugh - that was pretty funny, as while I'm getting better at painting models, I seem to have forgotten how to shave most of my face, and haven't had a haircut in about 6 weeks - not a good look for this guy!



Above, a nice and snug fit, plus, some fancy while metal used on the top of the engine - I'm still looking forward to detailing the engine! That said, the Tamiya parts, top of engine, manifold, fuel injectors, and trumpets look pretty good already - I found it "crucial" to get aftermarket fuel injectors, trumpets and ignition. Aside from the fun of working with metal parts, which I like to do, the original parts would have been fine.

Onward:



The cockpit shell is two pieces, with decent connecting points, and the bonding edge in the center, was ok with some fine filing. But - as you can see, there were various low spots on either side of the centerline...hmmm? why were those there? They're gone now

And, the proof of an old kit:



The lower monocoque reminds me of the plastic I saw as a kid in the 70s! featuring, lack of squareness, bad fit, strange surface textures, and flash - clearly not current Tamiya standard. To address this, I did some cutting and sanding, and you'll see some evergreen backing. The poor fit, led to a weak fit. You can see the screw holding the engine in place (and yes, I added some metal rods to secure the roll bar - this guy hates weak fits on important parts!). The screw is a good idea, that really works but, it needs to be securing something solid!

And:



You can see the inner part of the cabin is a bit chunky, which is fair enough as I don't think it's supposed to be seen on this kit. This guy though, likes to do the right thing, like ignoring the instructions and trying other "bright" ideas - can this area get enough detail to look cool? I'm still pondering whether it's worth the effort or not? I'll tackle the front suspension and see how it goes - if cool enough, maybe I'll try.

Stay well gents -

Cheers
Nick

Looks good for something assembled between conference calls. I like the metal cam covers. They're an improvement. I am still pottering away on my McLaren and mis-fit I think has just become part of dealing with a 1970's kit.

cheers
Michael

Shaping up quite well already Nick, but it's quite obvious that it is early Tamiya looking at the mouldings. You are weaving your typical magic already and improving the base kit nicely.

Cheers, D

I'm so glad you've got this kit started before me. Not only that somebody identifies the kit's problem for me, but offers free solutions as well. Talking about comfortable life!
Looking good on your hands, Nick, let me see how I'm going to deal with the same problems. The plastic looks chunky, alright, nothing like contemporary Tamiya - I just cannot take outta my mind the exquisite moldings from Ducati Panigale I did a while ago...

Gabriel

HI gents

Michael, yes, the production quality has increased noticeably over the years, which sure makes it easier to build a kit and have it look pretty good! I'm not sure what Mclaren you're building - are you posting it?

Hi Damian, I took some time staring at photos, and then the kit - trying to figure out how to give it some flair without getting stupid in the surgery/modification department...hmmm, would this guy do that?...yes - but not this time!

HI Gabriel, your point is spot on - the Tamiya kits of today are sure a pleasure to build no matter your plans - be it full on detail or straight out of the box - either can be built up to look really nice. I don't think you'll have any problems with this, and I'm guessing the Ferrari you recently finished was more of a headache than this will be. This kit (my version) just suffers from some sloppy connecting points, which try your patience, and then some clunky casting. The latter parts won't be seen, they're just tedious to build.

So, here at the home office - I started a new work project this week, but the first couple weeks of tasks will be tackled by my team mates, so, this guy can still do more productive things, like doing the right thing by cleaning up my workspace, so that when my task rolls around, I'll be ready for it...nah - I'll stick with model building.

Please see below. After some head scratching, I figured out some adds to the front end that give it some, you know, panache. With the front cowl on, it looks pretty normal - but, you can see - I "needed" to make are genuine sway bar...not as easy as I would have hoped:



It turns out, this visually predominant piece is a continuous bar (relatively thick), that needs bot ends to be curved. In real life, holes are drilled in the ends, with bolts inserted, that connect to a substructure that connects to the two lower control arms. How hard could that be to make?

Well - not easy. First, the chunky metal rod I used is hard! and it needs to be bent into shape, only when in place, as it needs to be inserted through opposing holes in the monocoque, with the front suspension set in place. This guy could have done the right thing and use the kit parts (though they are a bit wimpy), and not bother, nah, I made it unnecessarily complicated.

I inserted and bent the rod, around the plastic suspension parts keeping them in tact despite several attempts to destroy them with comparatively giant needle nose pliers, along the way. I then used some small, but of course not small enough brass eye bolts to attach the sway bar to the suspension.

The eyebolts are small, but not 1/20 scale small. Task 1, cut about 3/8" off of the "bolt" side, leaving about a 3/16" "tail". Then file the "tail" from just under 1/16" diameter to something much smaller to fit into the plastic control rod. Next, file the "eye" part- a lot, to make it look 1/20 scale. Then, cut an opening into the "eye" so the "eye" looks more like a C than an O. Then, install the modified part in the plastic control arm, insert the metal rod, and simply (haha) crimp the "open eye" over the metal rod - a real treat of a a self imposed tedium - oh, and of course, add aluminum tube retainers on the inside. That was a lot of work for questionable results!

On to some more worthwhile endeavors:



It turns out under the cowl, there are a variety of cool things to do - added aluminum gussets with lightening holes, lead foil floor pan, gas, brake, and clutch lines, and that little "Y" on the steering column. There's a U-joint there, and you really couldn't see it - so, more aluminum rod, cut very small, then cut in half, and backed with some evergreen.

Next:



Those metal rods on brackets on the steering column. I have no idea what they are, but the real car has them and they look neat, and:



Some other odds and ends - the hoses, run to front radiators - which I don't really get, as there are also side mounted radiators in the back - but they exist. You'll see some aluminum shields on either side of the seat - I didn't see these in pics, but this guy knows radiator hoses get - HOT! The little wing nut - from my favorite T-55 detail set, and other bits and wire, controls the fire suppression system; I will paint the wingnut red. I don't know what the switches connected to the box are for on the left, but they are there, so, I added them too.

And, that's where is sits today. The kit has some neat PE for the rear wing, so that will likely be next. This will be interesting, in that of course, the kit will have you keep the two part, plastic wing, and somehow magically attach it to some complicated PE framework...seems like a good task for this guy.

OK gents, stay well

Nick