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Pascal

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Posts posted by Pascal

  1. 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

    • Like 3
  2. 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

    • Like 1
  3. 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

    • Like 1
  4. 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.

    • Like 2
  5. 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) :

     

    1d7111ca5efde03d5fd9be50d665f888.jpg

     

    The ring was removed from the backside :

     

    da5888e68648c7ad32d8d358d14a3753.jpg

     

    Before :

     

    f904130c8d315573797cdcf51da35c5d.jpg

     

    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 :

     

    b504e3a5cc11b7184c366628f309fb9b.jpg

     

    These are the covers for the front wheels. The modified cover is a lot thinner and the diameter is smaller  :

     

    e103a4107c0370c0893ad30de8101cd3.jpg

     

    50242786b33fd142a7bfd0ff7db26d1e.jpg

     

    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) :

     

    23e1c5e41368697431d9e397df2df287.jpg

     

    Before :

     

    fb4a0557936ebd82f002eba26d227ad2.jpg

     

    Afer :

     

    c2e9fa837959700963b3a33dce702402.jpg

     

    Hope to do the other 2 tomorrow. It took about 3 hours to modify the first 2.

     

    Sincerely

     

    Pascal

    • Like 2
  6. This model keeps fighting me all the way, but here's a little progress :

     

    The dashboard looked like this :

     

    e843edea01a10c32833b802ff16d4480.jpg

     

    Solido added sidewalls to the center console these were removed and some circles were added to the back of the dials :

     

    39f7db40c81ab78006ea2fd24eddc880.jpg

     

    8a06f70fb58c1556abcfe9a8ec0a59a6.jpg

     

    A lot of work goes into the modification of the body. Before :

     

    af1e5f377cda50a399e2506564058188.jpg

     

    And after. I will need to add a couple more layers of white paint, then polish it :

     

    f7160ecb81142c2c870b1b8aa2941fa7.jpg

     

    Big difference between the modified and the un-modified side :

     

    22cf01775090ab06d8389c4e4500af38.jpg

     

    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  :

     

    fb75aa55b481114d7f630fbe2ed78ff8.jpg

     

    The glass covers for the headlights were glued badly to the body. The covers also have some very ugly square pegs :

     

    4ee820ce6f15fced5e9f3e96cc4e3d4b.jpg

     

    93196709c9fab9d5e4f835659b5f79c5.jpg

     

    I removed the pegs and the CA-glue with sandpaper, the one on the left has been polished :

     

    2807d8d83d2314d89a4c80492b1c86a2.jpg

     

    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 ;

     

    d3ce3151860378ffd70680939fcd7555.jpg

     

    2cb5482c4a3c024783046b3e22a53f48.jpg

     

    Sincerely

     

    Pascal

    • Like 4
  7. On 5/13/2021 at 9:18 PM, Codger said:

    Can any Tifosi here explain to me, the whole 'oxygen bottle for driver' business on the 1:1 which Ron has painfully reproduced here?

    1. I would hate to drive anything at 160+ MPH with a compressed volatile gas tank inches from my head. (Held on by straps!).

    2. Said tank is also in proximity to a tank (maybe a bladder?) of race fuel. Ensuring a bigger KABOOM.

    3. If there is a wreck, the driver would need extrication, rather than oxygen I would think.

    Am I just a worry wart?? :mental:

     

     

    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

    • Like 1
  8. 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 :

     

    dbf112c717494ab83e01388f5288dc5a.jpg

     

    3c67b29fe6414b3646b1fa93d3dce51e.jpg

     

    334aaa9a15157733025f401147741098.jpg

     

    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 :

     

    a5818ab1e75f7cdf53409a4871b04f6d.jpg

     

    799d858062605ed0680d1bf203bcd425.jpg

     

    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 :

     

    6bb510ed143e4625980d61e921514a90.jpg

     

    bfd7e558f6f4851f5fc9e57b050d22bc.jpg

     

    The pedalbox was completely rebuild. The part on the left was scratchbuild and has 11 parts :

     

    698b4aba7bcf7eeec568ed7a3fc61ef7.jpg

     

    The rectangular strip with the diagonal part was also scratchbuild :

     

    583b6fc2ad002987c7266527e00b40b0.jpg

     

    9556713c138eb8ddb662973d2980ee6b.jpg

     

    Dryfit. The pedalbox sits to high, will be fixed before it's glued to the floorboard  :

     

    7b80190c41baa33b2abe0e5f54693cde.jpg

     

    e86e2c2676e82dabf55d8581830d10ad.jpg

     

    072bc34ce0a9c348bbed51f600e3fde6.jpg

     

    The gauges on the dashboard received a tiny circles of transparent plastic, these were sealed with Parket + :

     

    7c4c34bde9b08a995f6202764c153907.jpg

     

    The part with the 5 gauges will be sanded flat from the rear and the grey decal will be removed :

     

    e843edea01a10c32833b802ff16d4480.jpg

     

    Sincerely

     

    Pascal

    • Like 1
  9. 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 :

     

    4b0e493687cbba652f7c4617cc22f392.jpg

     

    74e773465443dd3f6ba9581d12ed1add.jpg

     

    e9ccaadb0f677cea795e563fb4ddec6f.jpg

     

    86a706823c2091637507fa0e0eebc96f.jpg

     

    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

    • Like 2
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