A significant anniversary build of Senna's mp4/4

[shood23]

A tribute to one of the best drivers

to have been in F1

This i a tribute build to commemorate the day that possibly the best driver on the planet died doing what he loved, and in my opinion it was the best way (in a weird way) for him to go and it is ofcourse Ayrton Senna.

It was 20 years ago on May 1st 2014 that the three time world champion lost his life doing probably one of the things he truely loved, racing the fastest cars against the fastest drivers in the world, but on that faitful day in northern italy on the 7th lap of the San Marino GP Senna lost control of his williams fw16 and collided with the barriers at tamburello, this was by no means the first time he had crashed in his career but for some reason on that day a suspension part had broke off and hit him giving him injuries that he would not recover from.

Now beings that i was only 4 when all this happened i was unaware of most of it untill i got older and looked it up for myself and looked into the man that he was and from then i have been hooked on everything Senna so with all the tricks and tips i have picked up along the way from fellow Bmers i am this year going to try and modify the tamiya mclaren mp4-4 into the Japanese GP verion that Senna won his first title in here is where i started and just a quick sorry for first the long intro and also the amount of photos.

I am planning to finish?unveil this build on the 1/5/14

The box:

And now the peices that will be involved in making this a (hopefully) great replica:

Now the Senna figure i made a while ago:

And now where i am up to with the build:

these parts here C4 will be used to modify the turbo intake to the Japan spec

like so

Along with that the intake holes on the body need to be filled

And the radiator outlets changed

A peice of plasticard was used to make up the gap from where the outlet should be to where it is now

This is where i am up to as of last night on the body but i have been cracking on with the floor pan and monocoque

Thank you very much for looking and i hope that i can get it done on time

Cheers shaun

Edited March 18, 2014 by ferrari_boy12

[Billydick]

Good Luck Ferrari Boy. I had great admiration for Senna - a true racer.

BillyD

[shood23]

The second instalment:

Things have progressed a little quicker than anticipated but im calling that being overly organised so here goes

So the first thing is the steering wheel

And the dash.

The engine as of this morning.

This is a mock up of the engine and floor pan from last night.

Basic mock up of all major bits under the body.

This pic really shows the effect of the carbon decals (which were a pain in the a**e to work with).

One of the radiators,

And another one.

One of the wheel.

This is of the little opening on the top surface of the body thats been filled by putting a thin bit of plasticard underneath the cutting some more to glue into the gap and filling the rest.

And the new side outlets with a shorter section at the front of it.

Then a real quick mock up of how thefigure will sit in just to make sure i have the heights right.

Oh and just one final pic to highlight the difference between the painted and the carboned on the rear uprights.

And just to mention again that these carbon decals are great but they are a real pain to get to conform properly, at the moment my method is dip it in warm to hot water then micro sol and leave until its soft then add heat and try to get it down with a damp cue tip, it works fine but it took me over an hour to figure it out on the floor which is flat.

Any way thanks for looking and all comments welcome.

Cheers Shaun

[shood23]

Just a quick update

I got the cowl peices that go within the rear suspension sprayed and then figured out where a couple of (what i thought were) spare decals go so they have been done once they were dry

All the uprights have now been decaled and clear coated and are ready to go on the car soon

The rear wing endplates have been sprayed and clear coated, i just need to do the decals on the inner surface and polish them up abit

The monocoque has been worked on slightly

Also in this next pic the main body cowl has been primed and had its coat of white done and just dry fitted most parts to see how it looks

And last of the build so far is the brakes, i did think of getting the brake set for this but sence came over me and said they will never get seen so i chose not to but they will have a few mods to them, mainly on the rears but nothing major

Just a quick thing to add all the marlboro orange/red parts have all been sprayed white first so that they will all match what is on the main body of he car and last nite i found that the orange/red is extremly delicate and think that it must have a rather long curing time as it has been for or 5 days and they still can have finger prints kind of melted into them, which isnt that big a deal as they polish out quite quick but its a pain in the butt

Anyway thanks for looking

[shood23]

Just a quick uupdate for now

The monocoque is now glued to the floor and there is there also

now for the same again with a few more bits done

and again as of today

now the main body has been painted and is due for a light polish tonight then the orange/red will go on tommorrow

and the endplates for the front wing have been done they just need the carbon decal on them then there ready

and the rear endplates are almost finished

and last is the roll over hoop

thanks for looking and comment are welcome

cheers Shaun

[Spookytooth]

Looking good Shaun, a fine tribute to one of the best drivers ever.

Simon.

[shood23]

A little update from today

thanks Simon I thought as it is a milestone year since he past then I should do something nice

right on with the show

I Manage to get the body polished before i mask it for the red

And i got the carbon decals on the front enplates (The top has micro sol on, bottom Is done)

.

and the one on the under side of the main plane of the rear wing

And the big parts have been fiddled with a bit

And last is the little radiator Bits at the top have had a bit of purple put on

Thanks for looking

Shaun

Edited March 29, 2014 by ferrari_boy12

[lordairgtar]

Nicely done. Having only built one F1 car. I like the way yours is turning out. My attempt was daunting to say the least.

[shood23]

thank you and to be honest about this car there are a few bits that make you tear your hair out but overall it's a really nice and easy kit with lots you can do to make it your own with loads of extras out there to get depending on how you want it, as I have said previously that I have tried to modify it to my best ability to look like the end of season car but truth be told it would look just as good straight out of the box

cheers shaun

[shood23]

A little update but its for a big step in the build

the body has been masked and had its first couple of red coats on

and this is how it turned out

Im really happy with how its come out and now its just a wait of probably a week or so until a clear coat and a polish

cheers for looking and any and all comments are welcome

shaun

[mrvr6]

where the hell did 20 years go?

i remember sennas (and ratzenburgers) death like it was yesterday

[shood23]

A little bit more from today, I got really anal and did a little bit of wiring mainly just the bits that will get seen a lot

it is a little hard to see as the colours but in real life they are quite noticeable

and mrvr6 i know what you mean it seems mad to say that the last year senna won the title it was the same year i was born

cheers shaun

[Tomjw]

This progress is excellent. I saw this kit for sale at a recent show and wish I'd bought it.

Cheers,

Tom.

[Mark]

Brilliant work Shaun, it's also inspired me to continue with my Lotus 99T, again driven by Senna.

[shood23]

Thanks guys for the comments and mark that's good to hear I was watching your build of the 99t and then it just stopped, not happy lol

any way i found this today and thought it would belong even though its not a model

i dont know the artists name but it was all drawn by hand but I think with the significance of this build it earns a place on here

cheers shaun

[shood23]

A small update today

the wheels and tyres are done

and the brake lines that go over the calipers ( the small metal hoop) was made from bending soilder wire over the fat end of my pin vice

the little fia cap, i honestly dont know what it does but im guessing it was policing something important

and all the little gubins on top of the gearbox are on now

and last is the little gold cap on the (again not sure what it is) air distributer

and just as things were going well i messed up the white parts of the rear wing i over sprayed the clear and its eaten a decal slightly

any way cheers for looking and hopefully tomorrow goes better

shaun

[Dave Swindell]

the little fia cap, i honestly dont know what it does but im guessing it was policing something important

Turbocharger blow-off valve, limited manifold boost pressure. This was supplied by the FIA to all teams to ensure they were all operating at the same max boost.

[shood23]

Thanks that would make sense dave, I thought it may have something to do with the turbo boost as they were limited to 2.5 bar but I didn't want to say it was just incase I was wrong as I thought with the turbos being quite low in the car that all those mandatory bits would be down there with them either way I've learnt something new today

cheers shaun

[Longhorn]

Can't wait to see the finished article, looking good so far.

[Tomjw]

This is great. I am tempted to try my first F1 car after following this. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Tom.

[Graeme H]

Really nice tribute, and great modelling

[noeyedears]

nice job on the cf decals. i hate them with a vengeance, but they make such a difference. i tried the spraying through a piece of netting trick and it was passable on small parts but looked pants on bigger ones. keep it going , im loving this.

[shood23]

I know what you mean with the carbons they took so much work just to get to conform to most parts and then on one of the parts they micro blistered

heres a small update from today

the rear wing endplate is done

and a quick mock up of the rear wing (not glued)

and the front endplates just need a quick gloss and polish

and a real quick one of the wheels which have been sanded to simulate a worn look and the bottom tyre has been flat gloss coated over the decal on the sidewall

and these are my modified turbo inlets

and from the top, the off side one hasn't been fitted yet

Now for the dash which still needs a little doing but as you can see the steering wheel is missing as i cut it off and drilled into the back off it to make it removable

Last just a really quick dry fit of the body and car just to make sure that i havent messed up anywhere

and this is what my new radiator outlets look like

thank you for looking

cheers shaun

[Tomjw]

Looking good. I am impressed with the speed you are progressing at.

Tom.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Tomjw

[shood23]

A small but major update

I had to alter/redo the offside turbo inlet

and the big bit i started the decaling of the main body

and i finished it too

and this is the new side outlets the are quite close to the original

not a great comparison as to the different angles but you get the idea

cheers shaun