Mark Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Aston Martin DP214 Model factory Hiro 1:24 Multimedia Kit The Aston Martin DP214 1962: After the victory at Le Mans in 1959 and the World Sportscar Championship in the same year, Aston Martin pulled out of racing. However, privateers in DB4GTs and Zagatos were left to fly the flag. But after encouragement from dealers who wanted to sell cars with racing connections, the factory created a special 4-litre prototype GT based on the DB4GT and called DP212, for the 1962 Le Mans race. Although exceedingly quick, especially in the hands of Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, problems took the car out in the 6th hour. The factory were sufficiently impressed by DP212 that they further developed the concept for 1963 and produced two the DP214 GT cars (DB4GT/0194 and DB4GT/0195), again based on the DB4GT. The body was now lower, wider and lengthened to finish with a Kamm tail to give greater stability at high speed. Again, early promise in the GT class at Le Mans in 1963 evaporated after both cars retired with problems due to broken pistons after achieving good positions. Chassis #0194 was being driven by Jim Kimberley and Jo Schlesser retired after 10 hours, 3rd overall; #0195 driven by Bruce McLaren and Innes Ireland retired after 4 hours. During 1963, the works DP214 cars competed in the Guards Trophy race at Brands Hatch (#0194, 6th overall, #0195, retired), TT race Goodwood, (#0194, 7th, #0195 retired), Inter-Europa Cup, Monza (#0194, 1st, #0195, 3rd), Coupe de Paris, Monthery (#0194 1st, #0195, 2nd) and Coupe de Salon, Monthery (#0194, 5th, #0195, 1st). For 1964, both cars were sold off to the Dawnay Racing Team. #0194 continued to race and is a firm favorite in historic GT races to this day. #0195 was unfortunately destroyed following a fatal crash in practice at the Nurburgring which claimed the life of its driver, Brian Hetreed. Interestingly, #0195 apparently was rebuilt and was destined to be sold in the Coys Auction, Silverstone in 1995. After inspection by Aston Martin experts, the car was declared ‘a replica’ made up of a DB4GT engine and gear box, contemporary Aston Martin parts and a body showing a fairly close resemblance to the original. Thus the car cannot be considered an Aston Martin and Coys withdrew it from the sale. The 3.7 litre DB4GT engine produced 317bhp, sufficient for a top speed of 186mph down the Mulsanne straight. Who are Model Factory Hiro? I've been a follower of this Japanese manufacturer for years and have been slowly collecting a small fortune's worth of these high-end, multimedia kits as and when they popped up for auction on the Internet sites. The kits are stunning and combine resin, turned metal, rubber, white metal, etched metal, plastic, in fact you name it, then it's probably there in the beautifully produced packaging. Rather than write about MFH, the best reference and an interesting insight into the manufacturing processes can be seen here on these vidoes produced by Scott Hards, of Hobbylink Japan fame. The Kit On opening any MFH kit box, you are presented with the parts protected by foam inserts and this release is no different. The packaging is probably the best I have ever seen, with decals and etched metal parts at the bottom of the box, the white and turned-metal parts bagged and packaged in an individual plastic box along with the rubber tyres. The resin car body parts are protected by bubble wrap and the instructions neatly folded on the upper foam insert. It is the instructions that you see first when opening the box and these are taken directly from the CAD drawings. Anyone familiar with the Wingnut Wings style of instructions for their 1:32 WWI aircraft kits will be familiar with this style. Some of you may have seen the thread in the fore sale section, with all of my MFH kits advertised there for sale. I appreciate that a. they are not everyone's cup of tea and b. they are costly. But I just could not part with them and so have now decided to give this one a go as practice for my all time favourite car, the Porsche 917K. I have to report that, so far, I'm glad I started this one! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...... If this one had popped in 'for sale' it would now be on its way to me........ Looking forward to a great build. Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 Roy, it was! You didn't look hard enough at the list. ...and they're off! Having opened the box, fondled the parts and planned the next few months to be spent in the workshop, I could not resist getting this started straight away. This will be relatively photo heavy for a work in progress thread, but I really want to advertise the exceptional quality and engineering of these kits. You don't see that many built up here, let alone a WIP thread, so hopefully this will help anyone contemplating one of these kits. First things first and that means planning and organisation. All of the parts, with the exception of the etched metal sheets, are individual and once out in the open, well, you just know that some parts will be lost! So I popped down to the DIY shop and brought a simple case, with multi compartments and ideal for organising the parts in their various sub-assemblies. This was probably the best €10 I've spent this year! Construction begins, as normal in any car kit, and the components here utilise cast white metal. The detail is incredible and the engine could easily be a model in its own right! The block has actual cylinders and unbelievably the pistons are included too! But it was the wheels that caught my eye first and I just could not resist getting one of these together. The rims are turned aluminium and the spokes represented by fine etched metal. No, the spokes are obviously not going to be round in section when using this material, but in this scale it is hard to notice. Each wheel is made up from no less than eleven individual parts and when combined with the tyre and brake disk assembly, you get 14 parts on each wheel, 56 parts for the full set of four! Here is the sequence of assembly for one rear wheel; the whole thing too around an hour to finish. Each etched metal part has a small notch on the circumference and these notches are all aligned using a small drill to ensure that the 'spokes' are correctly placed. One hour later and you get one of these. Only three more to go... Jumping ahead a little, the bodywork will be sprayed using Zero Paints and there just happens to be the correct shade in the range! What a super bloke Steve at Hiroboy.com is! The bonnet is going to be a test piece to see how my car body spraying techniques are these days and the part was first rubbed back and polished with micro mesh sanding pads before being sprayed with Tamiya fine grey primer. That's all for this evening, but I really do hope that this one does not stall, I've always wanted to get one of these MFH kit finished and I think I'm on to a good start and feeling fairly motivated about it. Thanks for stopping by and looking and please, if any of you are experienced with these kits, any tips will be gratefully received! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Give me a couple of days, and I'll dig out the DP214 pics I took at Donington. And if she's there tomorrow, I'll take some more! Bestest, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 I have this buried somewhere in 1/43...... I'll have to make do for now................. Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 Hi Matthew, that would be more than the most awesome thing ever!!! Interior and engine bay please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffsrw Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 normally he runs the replica in most gt races, he has the real thing too, so top marks to the guy. sure looks like a great kit, look forward to watching your 'journey' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codger Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Mark, Fantastic project, first class all the way. Many thanks for posting the vids too. I'd come out of retirement to work there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Fantastic looking kit, and thanks for posting the vids, they open up a whole new light on the manufacturing process. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aginvicta Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 A great start, I'll be watching this build with interest, always liked racing sports cars, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 In the box it looks stunning, your work so far really takes this to another level! Looking forward to watching this come together Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 That looks like a rather good kit. I will have to follow this one. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activexp Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Very interesting indeed.....will be following Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 At the risk of being a tease -- went there, saw it, took photos. Will be processing and posting over the next day or so! bestest, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 You saw it, I mean you actually SAW it!!! Yes, you tease... Show the photos or the ninjas will come and get you! OK, that was actually just an excuse to use an emoticon I've never used before! But thanks Matthew, thank you very much! Thanks to everyone else for your kind comments and for following this. It will not be a shake and bake build, it certainly will not be a two week build! But I will be giving this the attention the kit deserves, so it will be a slow-but-steady process in getting the kit to where I would like it to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shood23 Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Very nice subject and those wheels do look nice Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Ogilvie Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Wow!! Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Oh, yes... I saw it! These at full size, and quite a few others, on my Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fhl2p8z7ghzmm44/AADZTdHyUDXH9R71rC8lv9Oma?dl=0 Enjoy! I may have made your life rather more difficult -- when they say "You can never have too much reference...", well, maybe you can! Good luck with that front vent! bestest, M. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Hi Matthew, thank you!! Those photos are incredible, exactly what I needed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 I managed a few hours at the bench today and started the engine and gearbox assemblies. It's such a shame that those gorgeous little pistons are all hidden away, but what is even more impressive is the cylinder head part with the separate rocker head covers. Underneath these would have been the cam shafts, rockers and valve stems etc. On the kit parts there appears the evidence that the cam shafts could have been included at some stage! There are also small indentations where the valves would be and I guess that some super-detailers could easily drill the valve shafts out, scratch some valves and a cam shaft and you'd have an almost working straight six! Seriously though, the detail included out of the box is incredible and remember, this is just 1:24! The cylinder heads were sprayed with white aluminium from the Alclad II range, the tops of the cylinders, where sprayed steel, along with the pistons. The engine block was sprayed using white aluminium, darkened a little with steel and the gearbox assembly was sprayed using the same mix, but darkened a little further to achieve some contrast between the parts. All parts were assembled using medium viscosity Cyano-Acrylate glue. You can see in the photo above where the camshafts and valves could be scratch-built, but I've got my hands full with this one out of the box, no super-detailing on this one, I'll leave that for the Porsche 917K! Thanks for looking and comments and suggestions are truly welcome. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Sure looks a pretty kit, at a price though, but worth it. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I don't see why that engine can't be made to run ----- only joking It looks superb and you are making a stunning model Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share Posted May 6, 2015 Cheers all and thank you for the kind comments! Roger, you find me a 1:24 coil, two working distributors and 12 spark plugs, I'll work on the carburettors! But then there's an alternator, water pump, radiator... I'd love to get this to run, wouldn't that be fantastic?! Seriously, though, does anyone know where I can get extremely fine, in-scale for 1:24, braided hose? I have found some for 1:12 and 1:8 but not for 1:24. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Have a look in your local haberdashers or Boyes in the sewing/craft area, or a Hobbycraft. Look for metallic threads or jewellery wire. I'm sure I've seen some which is basically a "knitted" metallic sleeve around a fine thread in the middle... Good luck! bestest, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Used guitar strings are pretty good. (Even a new set will only sting you around £4.00 for cheapo's) Not actually braided, but very effective in 1/24. 4 different sizes from 'G' down to bottom 'E'. The good bit is, being wire, you can bend them to shape before gluing. Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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