Malc2

What happened to this? Malc.

Hi Matt, I almost exclusively use Tamiya rattle cans, primer and top coat give superb results with very little effort. Especialy the primer which is very forgiving and can be sprayed in quite cold temps and still give superb results. I have read that Zero paints can craze Tamiya plastic quite badly as they are so 'hot' (lots of agressive thinners), so go carefully and perhaps do a test on the inside of the tub first. How are you stripping the old enamel paint off? 99% Isopropyl alcohol? Malc.

Nice collection, not often do you see a B188 or FW13b finished. Was the BT54 a Studio27 resin or a Tamiya conversion? Would be nice to see the whole collection together! @matto21 sorry for the diversion, following with interest. Malc.

Haha thanks! What you don't see is my pile of disasters! M.

So it looks like the springs are to push the sliding skirts down, and allow you to push them up and down, there should be a feature on the skirts that engages with these springs. The full size cars had a simillar feature to keep the skirts pressed to the ground during the race, the teams had clips that held the skirts up for transport and moving the car to the start line. You are certainly cracking on with this, you will have it finished in the time it takes me to prep one 1/20 car for paint! Malc.

Not sure thats correct. By 1980 the side pontoons and underside of an F1 car (as pioneered by the Lotus 78 in 1977) formed a significant part of the aero package and I would have thought that they were firmly fixed to the main tub to be able to transmit any benefit. The sliding skirts on the outer edges were there to seal the sides of the car forming a tunnel under the car which basically sucked the whole car down to the ground, this would not be possible with 'flexible' pontoons. Malc.

With that many spare blocks you could make a diorama of the foundry!! Great stuff, the details are superb, the slightly off centre B in the circles the top of the casting, the radial date stamp marking and the letter stamped F120A are all exactly like a real casting! Malc.

Interesting history of Rareplanes by the man himself Gordon Stevens here:- https://archive.aeroscale.net/features/4305/index.htm Malc.

Fantastic! Thanks Nick. If I can help with info/pictures/dimentions etc let me know. Looks like all the head port flanges are the same, just that the front three are oriented 90deg differently from the rear three on each bank. Malc.

Hi Tony, This is the only other pic I could find:- http:// 2.5mm solder wire here:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393418510430?hash=item5b9992105e:g:i8QAAOSw~nFf2Lmq I agree its hard not to add flats to the wire with the pliers. How about copper wire as an alternative? The only other technique I have seen is to roll sausages of milliput, drape them to the shape you want and let it set, but there is no adjustability afterwards and you would still probably get flat spots from handling, but I want to have a go doing this at some point. What appeals to me about this is that you can produce the exact diameter you want by having 2 slats of the required thickness placed 6in apart to control the thickess of the sausage by using a piece of plastic across the slats to roll the sausage. I was kinda joking about @nick, but half hoping that he would jump in! I think he is fully busy with his 1/8 F40 engine, but it would not hurt to ask him? Malc.

Looks superb! Can you do a Cosworth DFV next please?! Or even better a Coventry Climax FWMV? I just remembered that a coupla years ago a guy was 3D printing a BMW 801 engine in about 1/5 or maybe 1/4 scale. Malc.

Hi Tony, You don't seem to have much luck with exhausts! I agree, IMHO the lack of any coherent exhaust joint to the cylinder heads is the worst part of this kit. Although I believe the very first issue of this kit (and Tamiya's first F1 in 1/12) included wheels that were so wrong they retooled them. It took me years to find a picture of the centre vee of this engine with the exhausts removed. Seems like you are doing it the way I would, I assume you are using solder wire for the exhausts? You just have to take it one header at a time and using plenty of blutack to hold the finished parts in the right position, move on to the next and prepare for lots of reworking! Your jig to replicate the exhaust ports off the engine is a good idea. Short of CAD drawing and 3D printing the exhausts, I know of no other simple way to do this! We need to commission @nick to print some for us - I would buy a set........ Malc.

Thats a very good price! Esp when you see what the chancers on e-bay are asking. Malc.

Some great detail work there, looking good. Where did you get the Tamiya MP4/6 from in the end? Malc.

Thats fantastic, great work on the huge modifications, must have been hard to get it all symmetrical. The final result looks great! Malc. PS why didn't you just swap the roof and A pillars from the JPS kit to the Axel'R kit?

Thats coming together nicely. Yes, Protar did. From Memory:- RE20 (re released by Italeri) Ferrari 312B3 Ferrari 312T (re released by Revell) Ferrari 312T3 Ferrari 312T4 Ferrari 126C2 (re released by Revell) Alfa 179C Alfa 179 McLaren MP4/2c - (to be re released by Italeri end of this year - hopefully!) Fiat 1500 806 (re released by Italeri) Fiat Mefistofele (re released by Italeri) Malc. PS the protar versions all now go for stupid money on the bay.

OK, got it - sorry. I know Zero paint is very hard on some plastics, but surprised that the primer is too. I would try tamiya primer and tamiya top coat and leave for a couple of days or more between primer and top coat. Its hard when it keeps going wrong! Malc.

Ah, I am confused, I was looking at the pictures in the post headed 'Chapter 2' above where both wings appear to have a top coat of silver showing the paint reaction through the silver? But you say above this reaction was evident before the silver went down? Could well be I am confused as I have half an eye on the British GP at the same time! Will Lewis win? 5 laps to go! Malc.

Lovely, super sharp. Everything is really in proportion. Malc.

I really do like the way you display your models in flight. May have to copy that if you dont mind. Your sketch reminds me of Quentin Blake! Malc.

The only time I havehad this kind of reaction is when I have not left enough time between primer and colour coats. My normal build rate (slow) usually makes this a non issue, but I have found that there has to be at least 3 or 4 days between primer and top coats. It also depends how hot the top coat is, if very hot then mist coats a day apart before the final wet coat is best. M.

Bloomin great I say! The 1927 shilling is a nice touch! Can't be easy to find in Oz? M.

It must be a great boost to the project to have actual dimensions to model with. Block looks great. M.

You have done a great job of this, it looks super, its the one sports racer I would like to build. Malc

Sounds interesting! I hope it all works out OK, I would be interested to find out how it goes when you get the full size parts made by which ever process you end up using. Are the changes to the throttle bodies to improve the engine performance or because the original Ferrari parts are too expensive for the project? Malc.