Mclaren MP4 build update

This is one of the better pictures I took of the nearly complete model. Unfortunately lots of them were a little blurred as I was using  a little compact, not quite up to the job of close detail. 

In this view you can see the pipe joints on the oil filter. A big omission on the kit. These came from ( Best balsa kits). I bought two sizes and these were easily fitted around stage 12 of the instructions. I also replaced the connecting tube between the two filter boxes with a piece of shrink tube and cable ties from the (Thunder valley) detail kit. An invaluable piece of kit. You can also see the modification to the throttle linkage again from BBK as above. The extra valves attached to the tub between the main radiator and the engine were scratch built from aluminium tube and electrical connectors, again from the Thunder valley box. Air intake stacks again TV parts. All extra cables were added from downloaded photographs of the actual car, easily found on Google. I downloaded about 15 images which were a great help to extra detailing. The radiator clamps again TV parts. Don't worry about them being a perfect fit as Bergers car images show they were a bit rough on the actual car.

I added some carbon fibre decals to the floor of the car but found the decals I bought too inflexible to get a good effect on curved surfaces. The thick cable which was supposed to be wrapped in the foil included in the kit was replaced with 2mm braided cable, easily available on the internet from UK suppliers. Mine came with a plastic core which I removed before fitting. Tubing C and D fitted at step 15 needed to be removed and replaced with approximately 7mm longer cable for ease of fitting  and I needed to remove the rear wing to fit it easily, perhaps I am  just clumsy. The engine ties between the engine and the chassis floor were also spare parts from the throttle linkage and imitation hex bolts again from BBK. 

I used lots of the parts from the Thunder valley kit but not all of them as I could not identify where some of them were meant to be used. The engine kill switch which you can see in the photo was a problem as when I fitted the main body cowl it simply bent and I could not get it to fit through the corresponding aperture. I eventually cut it in half and fixed the outer part to the cowl. Never mind, a compromise I could not overcome.

The main omission in the construction is the covers F6 and F9 at stage 7. These were missed out to allow the detail to be added to the spark plugs and ignition leads again taken from actual photos and other kits such as the one shown on BBK .

One thing you have probably noticed is that I painted the top wing of the rear spoiler white when it should be orange, a stupid but honest mistake which I only noticed when looking at images for location of the sponsors logo's . I did a big double take and uttered one or two colourful expletives on my own stupidity.

Here you can see some of the extra cable detail to both sides of the cockpit and the front suspension. You can just see the replaced steering wheel shaft, another extra cockpit detail kit from (Hobby link Japan) This incorporates a universal joint which is only about 2mm square and made from a number of PE parts but is accurate to the real car.

A little blurred but the rectified rear spoiler paint job !

Again sorry for the blurred image but you can see the extra cbling added to the engine block . The sponsor logo sheet was another extra as no sponsor logos are included in the kit. The sheet I bought did not include a Marlboro logo of the correct size for the side of the roll bar so another trawl of the internet was called for and I found these from an Australian supplier , perfect but more cash to splash out.

Sorry for the picture quality again but this is my finished model with the Williams FW14. I cannot show any images of the cockpit detail but strongly suggest that you use it if you are building the kit. All switches are included as is the cable connection between the steering wheel and the drivers panel These greatly enhance the kit as does the seat belt harness buckles all PE parts, a little fiddly but worth the effort. I did not change all the hex bolts and screws for imitation metal parts as some were too small for me to do neatly. I did replace about 30 of these on the engine block particularly on the exhaust plates and the air intakes. I also added hex heads on the seat belt connection to the tub, front suspension and cockpit interior.

The model took me approximately 500 hours to complete and will probably be my last major project in this scale, mainly due to display space. If I can get my hands on my daughters 35mm camera I will post better photographs for anyone interested, let me know if this is of interest to anyone but for now I think That's all folks.

Mclaren MP4/6

After my efforts with the Williams FW 14B I decided that the only way to go would be to make its stablemate and adversary the MP4/6. I was happy with the way the Williams turned out, even though it was pretty much an off the shelf build. I have looked at other builds and think I could have done a better job with upgrade parts. In other respects I am still happy with the results. One of the sites I looked at made a point of choosing sponsor decals the same, or close as, match to the blue colour of the overall paint scheme but in many of the photographs I looked at the sponsor logo is darker, as per my choice. In hindsight there are always things one would choose to do differently but one is not blessed with the gift so I shall adopt a philosophical approach and say it was my karma.

Perhaps I would never have got round to tackling this new project but to the intervention of my health. I was forced to give up work in May 2015 because my hip joint needed an overhaul, replacing actually, so I am faced with an indefinite spell on the subs bench and what better way to keep myself busy is there?

I bought the kit before my operation as an incentive to recover. The Senna Mansell conflict was my favourite F1 era and the two models will complement each other perfectly. I began looking at the component parts and comparing them to other kit builds and the actual views of the car. There are loads on line, I have printed about 15 pages of photographs so far being confined to my chair, a fatal mistake ! I decided to add more detail, or upgrade parts to enhance the kit. First off the biggest omission is the sponsor logos which I bought online. They came from Italy and were a good colour match on the whole, although some of the smaller ones lack the clarity of some of the supplied ones in the kit but they will not be needed. There was one fatal omission though and that was a logo for the side of the fuel tank inside the outer shell. I was gutted (more on this later). I then found the photo etch parts needed from "Thunder Valley F1" in America. They also supply a number of other upgrades, which are well worth a look and buying if you can. I also purchased carbon fibre decal sheets and braided hose from other suppliers in the UK. Next came some parts from "Bestbalsakits",  a Belgian supplier , which comprised of miniature joints, a huge omission from the kit, and other bits like throttle linkage and 0.6mm allen head screws. I am still waiting for a cockpit detail kit and antenna from Hobby link Japan, just released Oct. 2015 and finally the missing decals from Australia,found by accident. STOP!! That is the biggest problem, where do you stop, how far do you go? I have scoured the internet and got parts from all over the world for this kit.

I could continue to buy other other upgrade parts but enough is enough, costs build up!. I know my efforts will not be up to competition standards but I am going to build this one to as high a standard as I can get. I shall post photographs as I go but now its time to make a start. HI HO SILVER AWAY!!

The chequered flag for the Williams FW 14B

I have spent a couple of hours today applying the tyre decals. I soaked some kitchen paper to wet the back of the decals. after a few minutes I coated the tyre with decal adhesive and placed the decal on the tyre. I pressed down on the decal and carefully removed the backing from one end while keeping pressure on the remaining decal in contact with the tyre. This worked well and the decals went on easily.. I waited about half an hour between doing the other side and kept the tyre clean by doing this side on a sheet of clean paper. The wheels fitted on in seconds  and basically Bob's your uncle.

Well there isn't much to add here, all I need to do is to put up a display shelf for this creation.So adiós amigo's.

All you need is wheels

I have completed the car now, the tyres have been sanded, all I need to do now is fix on the tyre decals and from past experience they are problematic, as the rubber surface of the tyre does not lend itself easily to sliding the decal into the best alignment.
I suppose I'm reluctant to let go and finish the whole thing now. Anyway I'm sitting here listening to Barclay James Harvest, a birthday present, and remembering the last time I saw them, back in  1978 and the ticket price was £ 2.80. I still have most of my tickets from gigs going back to 1977. I still have an Ozzy ticket signed by the man himself and Randy Rhodes the guitarist who I met in a record shop in Newcastle. As I remember it Ozzy was totally gone, nowt unusual there though for the time. Tinkity tonk for now.

Life is for living and living is free, as they say back in the good old 70's.

Countdown for the Williams FW14B

I have been cracking on with the decals and haven;t much left to do. I nearly forgot to add the top coach line to the rear cowl. I did check that it would line up with the air intake once assembled, give or take a whisker. I started the main bodywork with the coach lines. the only problem I had was with the long line running to the front of the nose cone I split this into two parts to make it more manageable, which also overcame the fact that it was too long. The joint with the upper suspension bulge was tricky and it seems I have sprayed the wrong line separating the blue and yellow at this point, Oh bother ! or words to that effect. I shall rectify this by hand painting in the offending part. The instructions or box art do not help. Apart from that everything was tickety boo.

Cheerio again.

Williams FW14B decals

I have started to apply the decals and have completed most of the rear cowling. I tried trimming off the blue decal on the coach lines but found that if I trimmed them too close to the white line the decals split, so I trimmed them about 2 to 3mm in from the white line. I don't know if my scalpel is too blunt but it seems fine on other things. I used decal coat to help adhesion and found this also helped. I have also applied the Canon decals to the rear wing. Here inoticed the the logo on the top wing needed to fit around the central support, but the decal had needed to be trimmed to fit by cutting out the central split . On the lower wing I split the logo into two parts, again with success. I have not taken any pictures yet but will do so when I have made more progress.
I also received an invitation for an interview for a job, a rare and welcome surprise. I  have applied for hundreds of jobs since being made redundant and so far have only had one months work in a part time job since September 2010. It would be great to get back to work and earn some money. I have worked nearly all of my life, starting with paper rounds when I was about 12  . I then worked weekends in a supermarket, a very new fangled innovation at the time and a world away from what we know today. I was last unemployed for a few months after qualifying as a teacher back in 1992. I never expected to spend this amount of time being unemployed and am sick to death of being classified by the media as some kind of dirt on the shoe of society, so I hope I get a job out of this interview and have some money to spend in my pocket.
Cheerio for now.

WILLIAMS FW 14B Problems and solutions

The exhaust fit, front wing and electrics.

I completed the exhausts with some difficulty, it was like trying to reassemble a segmented orange back to its original state and then fit it back into the skin. I tried to align all the pipes in line as shown on the diagram, using a ruler, but gave up and gave it my best shot. When dry I gave them a dry fit and the seemed ok so I glued them in place and used the alignment part supplied, however when the body assembly was fitted to the undertray the left exhaust was still out of line. I fixed this by using a toothpick to align it and fixed it in place with some good old superglue. I fitted the bottom radiator connections with no problem and moved on to fixing the ready painted engine intake. I had painted the blue square onto the yellow base paint using the measurements of the blue decal and the result was fine. I am still constructing the rear wing and will apply the wing decals before fitting as it would seem easier to fit these without being hampered by the bodywork. Working with large decals is difficult enough, as I found out with the front wing decal. Construction of the front wing was simple enough,but the white decal became a real problem. I fitted the decal in place, allowed it to semi dry and fitted it to the body. Big problem, as soon as I fitted it it began to tear wherever I touched it and the fit with the nose tore it even more. Fortunately I had bought an extra set of decals, as I could foresee problems with fitting the coach line detail, particularly on the front body between the front suspension arms. I cut out the new decal and decided to cut out the section under the nose before applying. I also used humbrol decal cote to fix it and trimmed the ends as the decal was slightly oversized. This worked much better and I am now waiting for it to dry completely before giving it a coat of clear paint, so that the white finish matches the rest of the gloss bodywork white. I then decided to add the extra cable detail to the right radiator duct. I raided one of my bits boxes and lets face it we all have them. I made the cable connector from two 1:35 tank periscopes and drilled out the holes for the cable, using the thin black cable supplied with the kit, the only cable with any spare. I used some thick black cable for the other connector and passed through some fine black cable from my bits box for the other cables. I know it is not as good as others I have seen, but it serves the purpose. I have decided to write this blog as a distraction from my current task of cleaning off the mould lines from the tyres. I have spent about two hours on this so far as I have to do it by hand using the good old sandpaper. I hope the result gives the impression of new tyres as I have tyre decals to fit on at the end. I can now see the end of construction in sight and am kind of looking forward to the end result, but as I have mentioned I can see problems with fitting the decals. One other thing I should mention is that I am leaving the fitting of the mirrors, aerial and windshield until after the decal fit as the coach lines will be easier to fit. I suppose some of the decals could have been fitted earlier, but then they would not have withstood much handling. A bit of a case of a glass half full rather than half empty, what ho! That's all for now toodle pip for now and as I have said in the past a bit of feedback, good or bad would be greatly appreciated. Cheerio.