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2012 Nissan DeltaWing Highcroft racing


Bengalensis

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Here is my contribution for the Le Mans group build, the fantastic Nissan DeltaWing of Highcroft Racing from last years race, 2012. I'm not that much into modern racing cars, strongly preferring the classics of yesterday, both for their looks, technical construction and drivers, but once in a while something turns up even today that just can't be ignored. Like this one.

Deltawing_ref.jpg

Borrowed this photo from the Le Mans site http://www.24h-lemans.com

For me this was the definite high point of last years race, seeing this weird machine running strongly within the LMP2-window with about 50% of every resource. Sadly it was pushed of the track around the 7th hour at the restart after a safety car period, and could never make it back to the pits for repairs, despite heroic efforts by its Japanese driver.

The model is the newly released 1/24 resin kit by Profil 24. Not that many parts, but neither would it be necessary with more as far as I can see. The shape and proportions looks good, at least after the basic checks I have done so far.

Deltawing_1.jpg

So now it's just the wait for the start.

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And so we're started. As usual with this type of kit the first thing is to clean up the main castings and fill some air bubbles and mould mismatchings. Nothing unexpected here and nothing overly problematic, just time consuming and a bit messy.

Deltawing_2.jpg

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And so we're started. As usual with this type of kit the first thing is to clean up the main castings and fill some air bubbles and mould mismatchings. Nothing unexpected here and nothing overly problematic, just time consuming and a bit messy.

Deltawing_2.jpg

are you aware theres a tiger in your windowcill??

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Whenever I look at this, though, all that goes through my head is.... Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne... Batman!!

Changing the topic, is that a Bengal? Lovely cats if it is!

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are you aware theres a tiger in your windowcill??

Oh they're usually around, mostly leaving my stuff alone, as long as I'm there...

Whenever I look at this, though, all that goes through my head is.... Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne... Batman!!

Changing the topic, is that a Bengal? Lovely cats if it is!

Sharp eyes. Yes a Bengal ideed. We have a bunch of them ruling the house. We had a small cattery breeding them, but quit a few years ago and all are now neutered snce a few years.

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More parts cleaned up. The mirrors will need more attention. They are very dominant on the car and need to look good. There are photo etched "glass" for them, but as usual those parts are slightly large and made to just sit on top of the flat resin face of the mirror housing, which just never looks good. I need to create recesses in the housings and either cut down the p/e-pieces or make some new glass.

Deltawing_3.jpg

Not too sure about the moulded in seat belt. It could have worked fine if it was a bit better made, but I think I will grind/sand it all off and replace it with separate parts. It's not something I automatically give out plus points to for doing, but this just doesn't look good enough IMO. I really wanted to use them though.

Deltawing_4.jpg

The kit brakes are a bit generic and also require a lot of clean up and preparation. The first bag of parts I took up from one of my spare part boxes contained a nice set of brakes that fitted really well and were no more generic than the kit parts, so that was an easy decision.

Deltawing_5.jpg

Cleaning up wheel castings is never fun in my book, possibly rewarding, but all wheels are now done. I like resin tyres and I wish we got that in kits much more often.

Deltawing_6.jpg

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The more I looked at it, the more I realised that not only did the seat belt need to be replaced, but I also had to modify the seat itself. After some work it now looks like this, which is at least closer to the real thing. My interest in modern race cars is a bit limited when it comes to what is under the skin, so I will leave the interior like this.

Deltawing_7.jpg

The recesses for the rear lights had to be slightly enlarged to ensure they went down as they should.

Deltawing_8.jpg

I decided to try a compromise with the mirrors. I added a thin edge of plastic strip around the face of the housing and the blended it with filler on the outside. That allows the mirror glass to go inside. When its time for final assembly the glasses can then be fitted at a slight angle inside as when they are adjusted on the real car.

Deltawing_9.jpg

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Some fine work going on there

Is it just me or does the body look a bit batmobile-ish?

Edited by cjhm
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I've been getting some detail painting and minor assembly done. This is probably all I will do with the interior, apart from sides that are cast with the body shell.

Deltawing_11.jpg

The wheels got some texting done after hand written chalk notes seen on photos from the race. I had to print the small red and white BBS logos.

Deltawing_12.jpg

Hopefully the body will be sprayed black during the weekend.

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Various distraction from modelling setting in, as they often do this time of the year when the awful winter is ending, but at last the black base is on. I will have to give it a thin coat of gloss clear to accept the decals, then satin clear to finish. A bit annoying as the paint right now is exactly the finish I want in the end.

Deltawing_13.jpg

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Is it just me or does the body look a bit batmobile-ish?

If this had the wheel wells closed up it would look something like Luke Skywalker's Speeder from the original Star Wars. Very futuristic.

As cjhm said Jorgen, some fine work.

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Nice finish to the black paint, as you say just the finish for the full size car.

Just out of interest which satin varnish do you use.

Cheers,

Warren

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Thanks. I tend to only use automotive 2K clear for car bodies. To get it satin I add a matting agent from Graupner, which is of course not meant for this paint, but has worked fine on the occasions I have used it. It's a few years since I did it last time, probably my 40CV record car, so I will have to do some tests again of the mixing ratio before spraying the body.

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Thanks everyone. It now has a thin glossy clear coat waiting for decals, and as soon as it's glossy black it sort of looses it's meaning... it really needs its satin/matt black finish. I'm also thinking of a way to replicate the faint pinkish tone the side race numbers should have, and I hope my simple idea will work.

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I'm also thinking of a way to replicate the faint pinkish tone the side race numbers should have, and I hope my simple idea will work.

That will be interesting Jorgen, the modern cars have that pink or sometimes pale blue tint to the number surrounds. I can't remember the name for the technology, but it is a effectively a very thin light emmiter.

Rich

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Hello Jorgen and all of you in this topic, very nice nissan build!

A short story: 10+ years ago I was bitten by the race car modelling bug as I was stunned by the Gt40s built in a site from Jorgen Stendahl, I was so disappointed when he decided to close his page, but the guy and his cars, were never forgotten.

Since then I have built more or less 50 models and won some National and American prizes.

Let me say that my mother was a personal friend of Pedro Rodriguez and his family' so GT40s and lemans were in my blood.

But the drive to build all these race cars comes from that old web site and his building diaries, Thanks Jorgen (remember yourGT90?)

Carlos Avina from Mexico

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