[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

On 8/19/2023 at 4:35 PM, Mpfiend said:

Kenneth, did you ever write a WIP for your F-15E build? I have been searching for it but is far have not found it. Please direct me to it so I can admire your progress.

Best Regards

Keith.

 

Hello Keith,

 

Our journey starts here.

 

Best regards,

Kenneth

 

[Tamiya 1/32 F-15E Strike Eagle]

Hello All,   I would like to share with you the excitement of building the  big Tamiya 1/32 F-15E Strike Eagle. 

 

It is the initial version of F-15E released in 1993. 

 

 

The latest version was released in 2003 and provided an updated weapon loads and additional external fuel tanks.

 

The following aftermarket items will be used to improve the model:

 

1. Avionix F-15E cockpit;

2. Seamless air intakes from Cutting Edge Model Works; and

3. Hobby Decal dry transfer sheet.

 

My F-15E will be built as the Commander’s aircraft of the 336th Fighter Squadron “Rocketeers” Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

 

Reference is mainly made to “Lock On No. 22 McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle” from Verlinden Publication and “A Gathering of Eagles” from Concord Publications Company.

 

The construction starts from the installation of the aftermarket cockpit tub.  The tub gives a lot more details than that of Tamiya including, among others, the oxygen hoses.  All the side wall details in the forward fuselage is removed for the installation. The front instrument panel is from the kit.  The rear instrument panel is redo by Avionix because their rear side walls and cockpit tub occupy more spaces than that of Tamiya and as a result, lesser room for the original instrument panel.

 

 

Next comes to the painting of the ejection seats.  The ejection seats are  casted in one single piece and again, a lot more detail than that of  Tamiya.  The seats are smaller than that of Tamiya as a result of narrower space in the cockpit tub.     A  deficiency of Avionix’s seats is that they do not include the canopy breakers on the headrest of the ejection seats.  Tamiya do include canopy breakers on their seats but they are to too large to be fitted to the Avionix’s seats so I leave this deficiency unfixed.

 

 

 

Here comes the end of this initial update and I sincerely hope that you will enjoy my work.  Any comments is welcomed.

 

Best regards,

Kenneth

[MFH Kits. How many actually get built?]

May be it is irrelevant to this topic, It’s sad to inform you that the founder and president of Model Factory Hiro, Mr Misao Hiro, passed away on 20 June 2023 due to illness.  He was at the age of 63.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Thanks Keith for your kind comment.  

 

Regret that there is currently no wip thread for my Tamiya F-15E build.  By now all the plastics are joined together and I have not taken photos of these steps.  I added a Black Box cockpit and a Cutting Edge Model Works seamless intake to the kit,  the aftermarket ejection seats and the tails have been painted and decals are applied to the latter.  The F-15E would be an aircraft of 336th Fighter Squadron “Rocketeers“.  If you are interested in a wip thread with certain early steps omitted, I am glad to create one.

 

Best regards,

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes-Benz C11 Le Mans 1991]

21 hours ago, desert falcon said:

Like the others have said Kenneth, this is car model building at a higher level and looking absolutely fantastic 👍 

 

Cheers,

Johnny b 

Thanks Johnny.

 

May I say that a majority of the credits should go to the people at MFH.  Without their dedication and extra-ordinary craftsmanship, my C11 would not be possible.  Except for a small amount of additional tubings and carbon decals, the C11 is built out of the box. 

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes-Benz C11 Le Mans 1991]

22 hours ago, Kitkent said:

I saw these cars in real life,and this is just like the real thing! The best Merc model I’ve ever seen I would say,the colour especially is really spot on. I thought that Jonathan Palmer was partnered with Schumacher? I’ll go back and check my memory….Chris.

Thanks Chris for your kind words.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes-Benz C11 Le Mans 1991]

On 6/3/2022 at 12:40 AM, Bobby No Mac said:

Gorgeous detail work on all that plumbing in the back, very nice. Always loved these cars since getting the Scalextric C9 as a child in the 90s. I wonder what that Schumacher fellow went on to do?

Bobby, thank you for your kind comment.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes-Benz C11 Le Mans 1991]

2 hours ago, Andy J said:

Hi Kenneth that is an absolutely stunning build my friend fantastic work 👏. I've just read through your wip thread with great interest and would like to thank you for your tips and explanations all of which I think will help me with a future build i have planned 🙂👍

Thanks Andy, glad to learn that my wip thread is useful to you.  Indeed, I have used many skills and ideas from other wip threads during the construction of the C11.   WIP threads are important resources to modellers to enrich their skills.

 

Kenneth

 

 

43 minutes ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Really impressive work. It was pleasure follow your build thread.

Thanks Vesa for your encouragement.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Thank you all for your encouragement.

 

Malc, pleased to tell you that my next challenge is a 1/12 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI DTM 1993, the body work is more complex than the C11, with a lot of decals.  But currently I have returned to aircraft modelling with my attention shifted to the 1/32 Tamiya F-15E which I bought many years ago.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes-Benz C11 Le Mans 1991]

Hello,

 

Below is the photos of my recently completed MFH 1/12 Mercedes-Benz C11 Le Mans 1991.  If you are interested in the progress of its construction, please refer to the following link for the major steps.

 

 

Thanks for watching.

Kenneth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Although I do not post updates in the past few months, my work for the C11 has never stopped.  My apology to those who have followed my build for keeping you waiting.  This would be the last update of my build of the C11 cause it has now been completed.  This is a big update which covers the remaining work for the chassis and the body work.

 

In the last update, I installed the engine, gearbox… , next is to install the turbochargers and the exhaust pipes.  Below is a sequential shots of the installations.

 

Left turbocharges and exhaust pipe

 

 

Right turbocharges and exhaust pipe

 

 

 

 

A template made from plastic sheet is used to guide the ends of the exhaust pipes to ensure that they are positioned within the narrow openings of the body.  Part fitments is very good.  I shift from CA gel to 2-part clear express epoxy for the processes.  It provides a stronger bond, ease of control and it does not release chemicals during curing which cover the surrounding parts with unknown white matters.

 

Then the engine compartment partitions and the air ducts for cooling the rear are installed.

 

Left air ducts and partition

 

 

 

Right air ducts and partition

 

 

 

Major components of the engine compartment are installed.  The next thing is to install the pipings.  In addition to the white metal pipings included in the kit, I create additional pipings using 1.2 mm heat shrinkable tubes for hose joints.

 

 

All the pipings are installed.

 

 

 

The engine compartment has now been finished.  My work goes to the body.  The body are created using mainly resin and the detail is of white metal, photo-etched parts.

 

The middle section of the body must be put on to the chassis prior to the installation of radiator and the air ducts for front brakes cooling.  Pipings of the radiator will run through the side panels.

 

Middle section side panels

 

 

Cockpit roof

 
 

The resin parts are first coated with two coats of 1200 surfacer, then primed with gloss black.  Two coats of silver are applied.  The silver is sealed with a coat of gloss clear prior to application of decals.  Two more coats of gloss clear are applied to seal the paint and decals.

 

A total of nine coats of surfacer, paints or gloss clear are applied to the resin parts. 5 days is allowed for each coat to dry completely before proceed to the next coat.  I polish each coat with water-proof sandpaper and/or polishing compounds to make the surface of as smooth as possible before applying the next coat, except for the last two coats of gloss clear where I polish once after the final coat.

 

For the final polishing, I use #5000 and #7000 water-proof sandpaper to remove the uneven surface of the gloss clear, then use Tamiya polishing compounds in the order of “Coarse”, “Fine”and “Finish” to restore its shine.

 

Here’s the pics for the C11 with the middle section of the body installed.

 

 

 

Then it come to the installation of the doors which can be opened after installation.  The doors hinges seem not easy to install when looking at the instruction, but it is not that difficult when it comes to actual execution; the key is wait until the previous hinge part are firmly attached before the installation of the next one.

 

 

 

Then it comes to the installation of the radiator and the air ducts for cooling the front brakes.  Here is the sequential shots of the installation.

 

 

The front body, rear body and the wing are painted with the above method.

 

Front body:

 

 

Rear body:

 
 

 

The Wing:

 

 

Below is the result when every single items above are put together.

 

 

 

 

 

As a hobby, I used to build modern jet fighters, completed builds and in-progress builds include the F-15s, F-16s, Panavia Tornado etc.  When I come across MFH in YouTube, I am not able to resist the attraction of its level of details so I decided to give myself a challenge.  The C11 is my first MFH kit, I choose it because of its simple but elegant painting scheme which increase the chance of success.

 

I gained much experience and technique in handling various modelling issues during this complex build, the lessons I learned are that one should not give up a model kit when difficulties encountered and to accept flaws caused by my mistakes and below-standard skill.

 

I sincerely hope that you enjoy watching this build progress and thanks for watching once again.

 

Kenneth

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Thanks Malc and Matt for your encouragement.  I am surprised that a friend from UK saying 恭喜發財 (“kung hei fat choy“) to me.

 

I have just completed a test painting of the C11 body on a piece of scrapped plastic in metalic grey and I am satisfy with the result.

 

 

 

The test consists of one coat of silver and one coat of gloss clear.  The paints and the leveling thinner is “Mr Color” series by GSI Creos.  Tamiya polishing compound “Finish” is used to polish the silver colour to remove the orange-peel like surface before the application of gloss clear.  The gloss clear is polished first with #5000 water-proof sandpaper and then Tamiya polishing compounds in the order of “Coarse”, “Fine” and “Finish”.

 

For actual painting of the C11 body,  I shall use gloss black as a base, apply two coats of silver and two to three coats of gloss clear.  I expect the outcome will be much better than that of the test.

 

See you in this and RFI sections in 2022.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Hello All,  here’s another update of my build of the C11.

 

As the weight of C11 is increasing, in order to protect the fragile suspension systems of finished model, I added foam pads to the chassis so that the weight of the model is spread across them instead of concentrating on the suspension systems and the wheels.

 

 

 

The roll cage, the M119 engine, rear axles, rear suspension, transmission and the rear wing stand are completed and merged.  Here’s the pictures of the finished system.

 

The M119 Engine:

 

 

The roll cage, engine, rear axles, rear suspension, transmission and the rear wing stand:

 

 

I think I have passed through the most complex and difficult part of the build which has only a small allowance for errors.  I am looking forward to posting my next update.

 

Wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

 

Thanks for watching.

Kenneth

 

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Hello, I am pleased to present an update of my MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11, this time the middle section of the body.

 

The middle section of the body comprises several resin parts and a pair of door made of white metal.

 

Resin parts are covered with #1200 surfacer; they are polished with 1000/1200 grit water-proof sandpaper when dry.

 

 

Holders made from plastic sheet are added to the side panels for receiving the air intake ducts.

 

 

Insertion pins and holes are created for the side panels and the cockpit roof to fix their position.

 

 

Side panels and the cockpit roof are test fitted to the chassis for installation of the doors.

 

 

The doors are made of white metal.  Adjustments to its height and thickness should be made for fitting them to the body.  I use diamond files and a battery-powered grinder to do the adjustments.  Further, they should be carefully bended to conform with the contour of the cockpit roof.

 

 

 

Here’s some pictures of the middle section of the body with the components test fitted to it.

 

 

Here’s the end of this update.  Thanks for watching.

 

Kenneth

 

 

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Hello fellow modellers, the build of the C11 continues but a bit slow.   

 

The instrument penal is completed.

 

 

 

The next thing is to build the chassis.  The chassis is a large sheet of resin (14 inches long, 7 inches wide) and it is not difficult to deal with.  Just sand it and paint it black.

 

The application of aluminium foil to the engine compartment requires some tricks.  The aluminium foil is self-adhesive and is not easy to handle.  If they are pasted directly to the chassis then the re-positioning of which will not be possible and wrinkles/damages are certain to occur.

 

I add a few drops of detergent to water and apply it to the chassis and the detached aluminium foil with brush in order to temporarily reduce the adhesiveness of the latter so that I can re-position them until they sit correctly.  Toothpicks are used to expel the water underneath the foil by moving towards their edges and to iron the wrinkles.

 

 

 

Aftermarket rivets are applied to the chassis.

 

 

 

Here’s some photos with the cockpit sits on the chassis.

 

 

 

Then come to the construction of the exhaust pipes.  One end of the exhaust pipe is connected to the engine and the other end is connected to the turbocharger.  The position of the four insertion pins of each side of the exhaust pipes is fixed by the engines’s resin parts.  Parts are put together by solder and supplemented by CA glue.  Solder is applied at the bottom of the exhaust pipes so that they are not visible after installation.  It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to construct the exhaust pipes after the completion of the engine.

 

 

 

The exhaust pipes, together with the turbochargers and the intercoolers, will be attached to the model when the engine, gearbox and the roll cage are installed at a later stage.

 

Here’s the end of this update.  I shall build the engine, gearbox and the rear suspension system and hopefully to present them to you soon.

 

Thanks for watching.

Kenneth

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

There are at least six model shops in MongKok / Yau Ma Tei Districts, some emphasise on kits and materials, some emphasise on aftermarket accessories, do pay a visit to them when you visit Hong Kong next time.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Thanks Keith for your information.

 

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

The work on the cockpit continues smoothly.

 

Pedals and the steering mechanism installed

 

 

Aftermarket rivets inserted

 

 

The three resin parts of the cockpit are merged; engine control unit is attached and wirings will be added later

 

 

 

Front suspension and steering system completed, not all the contact points require CA glue, if applied it will be difficult to do the adjustments to the parts

 

 

 

White “bottles/containers” are installed but I don’t know what they are 😅

 

 

 

Here’s the end of this update.  Thanks for watching.

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Thanks you all for your encouragements.

 

Here’s a small update.  I’ve completed the seatbelt system.  The seatbelt system comprises white metal parts, etched parts, ribbon and stickers.

 

 

 

Thanks for watching.

Kenneth

[MFH 1/12 '64 Ferrari 250 GTO]

Hello Andrew,

 

Just want to share with you how I the treat the white metal parts and rivets of MFH.

 

After treating the white metal parts with model knife and wire brush, I prime them with Mr Metal Primer with brush.  It dries quickly and provides a smooth finish for subsequent air brushing.  The paints I use is Mr Color solvent based paints.  It provides a more durable finishes than that of acrylics but you have to bear with the unpleasant smell of the paints and thinner and should use them in a well-ventilated area.  Tweezers with smooth jaws in later handling help protect the paint from scratches.

 

For MFH’s rivets, I guess 3mm is the standard length of the stem of the rivets.  Actually, 1-1.5mm is enough to attach the rivets firmly into the model with holes of the same diameter.  I shorten the stem of each rivets to be inserted.  Sufficient lighting is required as you are pointing a small pin to a small hole.

 

Hope this help.

 

Looking forward to your next update.

 

Best regards,

Kenneth

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Thanks for your warm welcomes and the reference photos for the C11.  It’s a great help in painting the model.

 

I have completed the first stage of building the cockpit and radiator frame.  It takes me around 30 hours.

 

C11’s chassis, cockpit, radiator frame and the wing are built from carbon fibre.  MHF creates them from resin and simulates the appearances of carbon fibre by means of a lot of carbon decals.

 

 

 

Here’s how I execute the MFH’s idea.

 

The resin cockpit and the radiator frame are prepared and primed with gloss black.  Primed with gloss black not only provides a smooth base for the decals, it also eliminates the need to re-touch the decals’ borders in case that they are not perfectly matched.

 

 

Next step is to apply the decals.  Since MFH does not provide decals for the sidewalls and the floor of the cockpit, I create them from scratch.

 

 

Then the kit’s decals applied.  They are not difficult to apply, all you need is patience.  When their application is completed, they are sealed with several coats of gloss clear.

 

 

Here are some pictures of the temporarily assembled cockpit and radiator frame.

 

 

 

For the next stage for the cockpit, I am going to install its white metal parts.

 

 

I am looking forward to posting the next update.  Thanks for watching.

Kenneth

 

 

[MFH 1/12 Mercedes Benz C11]

Hello everyone, this is Kenneth from Hong Kong.

 

I would like to share with you the progress of my build of the 1/12 MFH Mercedes Benz C11.  The car I wish to build is C11 #31 which won the 5th place of the 1991 Le Mans.  The car is driven by K. Wendlinger, M. Schumacher and F. Kreutzpointner.

 

My knowledge about sports car is limited so do correct me if you find any incorrect in the narratives.  Your valuable comments is welcomed.

 

I start the kit with the assembly of the roll cage and engine holder and below is some photos taken during the process.

 

White metal parts are filed and polished.

 

Chassis, engine, gearbox, roll cage and engine holder are temporary assembled and their position fixed.

 

The roll cage and the engine holder are joint by solder.  All joints are filed and polished.

 

Though most of the roll cage will be covered by the body, it's fun to treat it seriously.

 

Roll cage dismounted.

 

Next I shall build the chassis and shall update this thread from time to time.

 

Thanks for watching

Kenneth

 

 

 

[How do I post Pictures?]

My first posting in BM (retry)

 

 

[How do I post Pictures?]

My first posting in BM