Pascal

I knew I had heard of a similar problem, but it was a long time ago. Finally I remembered : About 30 years ago, I worked at a factory that made plastic faceted mirrors (used in motion-detection devices, the dectection beam "looks" into those mirrors to scan for movement) that were chromed or aluminized at another factory. I remember that after a few months we received a call from that other company, telling us that all workers had to wear gloves when handling the plastic mirrors (before they were chromed). They told us that some regulation stopped them from using a chemical that they used in the chroming process. Before that, fingerprints and things like dust were not a problem. But because they had to change the chemical, any contamination on the plastic was a NO GO. If your plastic wings were chromed before 1993, it's very possible that a same kind of chemical was used by Tamiya in the chroming process. What that chemical does is basically "eat" any grease and dirt, and it produces an ideal surface for the chrome to stick to, by leaving a sort of "film" or coating on the plastic. When that chemical was used on plastic, it was nearly impossible to remove it (at least in 1993) because no matter what they did the chemical kept sweating through any coating put on the plastic. A lot of cleaning products (like bleach) reacted with the chemical, and basically ruined the plastic surface for later treatment. Sincerely Pascal

Indeed great that you found a way to solve the problem. Hadn't thought about using a ultrasonic cleaner, but it clearly works well. Can you ask your neighbour what kind of fluid he uses in his ultrasonic cleaner ? Sincerely Pascal

Nice kit from Nunu Models. Indycals has decals if you want another livery.

Very nice work ! For the tubing : I would use copper wire. A large diameter for the core and a small diameter that you wrap around the core. Secure both ends with a drop of CA glue. The tubing remains flexible, so you can bend it into any shape you want. Or you can go for this type of tubing. I would make that sort of tubing by wrapping very small strips of tape around a copper core. : Sincerely Pascal

I think that the gloss/yellowish residue - leftover from the chrome removal - has (and still is) reacted with the bleach. This reaction causes the plastic to "sweat", and that gives you the result you see when you put on primer and the silver top coat. To stop the sweating of the plastic, I would try soaking the parts in brake fluid. Try it on a piece of chrome sprue first, the brake fluid should be able to remove the leftover residue and bleach from the chrome removal.

Wheel covers, part 2. Wasn't happy with the first modification, so I went a bit further. These are the covers for the rear wheels. Used the bolt to fix them in the chuck of my drill, about 1 mm of plastic was scraped off. (didn't use the lathe cause I don't want to put my fingers that close to the lathe chuck) : The ring was removed from the backside : Before : And after. Not there yet, still have to remove some plastic from the inside of the wheel, so that the cover can sit deeper inside the wheel : These are the covers for the front wheels. The modified cover is a lot thinner and the diameter is smaller : To get the cover to sit deeper inside the wheels, I removed some plastic and filed the spokes one-by-one to about half the original size. A VERY therapeutic job ! (later on I'll add a new wheelnut and a ring with the bolts) : Before : Afer : Hope to do the other 2 tomorrow. It took about 3 hours to modify the first 2. Sincerely Pascal

Thank you very much for the decals Tim. Excellent communication and the decals are perfect ! Sincerely Pascal

This model keeps fighting me all the way, but here's a little progress : The dashboard looked like this : Solido added sidewalls to the center console these were removed and some circles were added to the back of the dials : A lot of work goes into the modification of the body. Before : And after. I will need to add a couple more layers of white paint, then polish it : Big difference between the modified and the un-modified side : Solido put a grey circle around the number on the doors. This was not on the 1/1 car, so these were removed with a knife and a toothpick. The photo shows that I started on the right side : The glass covers for the headlights were glued badly to the body. The covers also have some very ugly square pegs : I removed the pegs and the CA-glue with sandpaper, the one on the left has been polished : The glass cover fit very poorly because the inner parts are to big. The one on the left has been sanded to the correct size, quite a bit of plastic has been removed ; Sincerely Pascal

Epic, exquisite, perfect. For me, that about sums up the brilliant work you're doing to this kit. Can you give a reference for the carbon steel powder and the brass rivets ? Sincerely Pascal

I need a couple of small decals : Is there anyone who can draw and print the red decals that are on the wheel covers ? I can provide the dimensions. All help is welcome. Sincerely Pascal

Bad luck. But I very much like your idea of putting a detailed chassis and engine, next to the finished model. Bonne chance avec le nouveau kit.

I would use gold coloured adhesive tape, or gold coloured foil (like kitchen foil). If you have a silouette cutter, you can design and cut the logo's you want and put them on top of the tape/foil.

You called me Mr. C ? The tank wasn't filled with oxygen, but with "medical air". Medical air is sort of like ambient air and less volatile than pure oxygen. The tank was introduced in the late 70's, because accident investigators believed that not fires but lack of air killed drivers (or caused severe lung injuries like the Lauda accident). The idea was to let the driver breathe fresh air while he was waiting to be rescued from his burning vehicle. Some driver had helmets in which they could insert the tube from the medical air bottle, others had a kind of "skirt" on the underside of the helmet, the tube could be pushed underneath that skirt. The air was released from the medical air tank when the fire extinguisher system activated. After a few seasons, it was abandoned because of increased safety regulations. People like Sid Watkins played a major role in improving safety for F1 drivers. Sincerely Pascal

Ron, it's like looking at a real car being assembled. So precise, so clean, what an outstanding piece of art. My hat's off to you sir. Sincerely Pascal

Gearbox looks great, nice work

First class job on the louvres, they look great ! Are you gonna paint the red over the louvres ? I think the decals might be to small with those louvres installed. Sincerely Pascal

Some time ago, there was a WIP topic where someone explained in detail how to weather an engine / gearbox with oil paints. I can't remember the name of that WIP, can somebody provide a link ? Sincerely Pascal

Update. I forgot to show the photo's that i took right before the floorboard got it's colors. These show the result of lots of sanding : The frame has been glued to the floorboard. The 2 diagonal tubes are from a different type of aluminium because they are a lot shinier on the real car : The seat has been gleud to it's frame, then the frame was glued to the rails. I had to remove about 4 mm on each side of the seat, so that it will fit in the cockpit : The pedalbox was completely rebuild. The part on the left was scratchbuild and has 11 parts : The rectangular strip with the diagonal part was also scratchbuild : Dryfit. The pedalbox sits to high, will be fixed before it's glued to the floorboard : The gauges on the dashboard received a tiny circles of transparent plastic, these were sealed with Parket + : The part with the 5 gauges will be sanded flat from the rear and the grey decal will be removed : Sincerely Pascal

Thx for the interest mate. Alas no. Ran into problems trying to make some really tiny parts for the rear suspension / gearbox attachment. Will put the 333SP back on the bench when the Moby Dick is finished. Sincerely Pascal

One day I'm gonna buy a 1/12 MFH kit, one day, some day... Looking very good sofar. These 2 pics are from the 1961 Belgian grand prix : For reference purpose only

Update : I used Humbrol 106 Ocean Grey applied with a sponge and a black spraycan. The grey was sanded to remove the gloss, the black received a matt coat and was then polished to give it a satin look. I was going for a "used" interior, quite happy with the result. The tubes for the radiators are dryfitted : Last photo shows that I need to touch up the black on the left side. Next step will be the fitting of the tubes that form the frame. Sincerely Pascal

The Centauria/Panini issues that have the seat are number 2 (driver's seat) and 34 (passenger's seat).

There's 2 ways that I use to get individual item of patchwork kits. You can order separate issues, or you can buy individual items from sites like Ebay. I bought quite a few parts on Ebay from the Panini 1/10 scale Ferrari Enzo. They will be used to detail my Enzo from MJX/RC that I bought years ago. Sincerely Pascal

That's not a workshop, it's a treasure cove. Nice pics and nice project. Good luck with this beauty. Sincerely Pascal

Superb result, fantastic work. Sincerely Pascal