Revell BMW M1 Procar - Le Mans 1980 #83

[Cooper645]

Ok guys,

 

Next up on the bench is this little beauty from Revell.  It has been in the stash for a while whilst other projects have been going on, but its time to get built has arrived.

It is the 1/24 Revell BMW M1 Procar which will be built OOTB which should be a straight foward build.  The original decals will not be being used however as i have sourced a set of the 1980  Le Mans #83 car which was the map of France.

This should mean a lot less body painting and a lot of Micro Sol and Micro Set.  The decals are from Studio 27 via SpotModel.

 

There don't look to be too many parts so i'm hoping for a fairly quick build as i would like this one completed before the 'In the year i was born GB' which starts in August.  If any of my previous build times are any thing to go by, i will need to knuckle down to this one, which should help ensure my speed is up for the 4 month GB time slot.

 

I look foward to any comments that people have, feel free to follow along and add comments where you please.

 

I will be uploading images to a shared google album here;  BMW M1 Procar and also uploading a few of the photos in the thread to kep it as data friendly as possible for our mobile viewers.

 

So the obligatory box, sprue and decal shots follow, and i hope to update you soon as the build gets underway.

 

Coops

 

 

 

 

 

[Jo NZ]

A couple of differences from the procar. This was an IMSA spec car so had wider rear arches and a larger vent in the front bonnet. Renaissance used to make a resin transkit  for the conversion.

The decals fit well, so no problems there. You should look at period pictures to get the correct blue - some of the die casts out there are a bit garish!

[Cooper645]

@Jo NZ thanks for the extra information.  I have been looking at various images and there is a lot of variation in the blues used when people reproduce this design.  I believe it will be a pale sky blue type of blue that i settle on. 

 

So i have made a start on the engine and already gone off piste.  I decided that it should have some wiring introduced, and i found some small gauge wires in the wifes floristry stuff.  Here are a couple of shots of the wiring and how it looks on the unprepped and unpainted engine.  Looking at images online, i will also have to add some detail to the stacks, but they should be no problem in comparison to the leads.

 

There are a couple of sink marks to get cleaned up on the engine also, but they're easily fixed.

 

Coops

 

 

 

 

[Cooper645]

Managed to get a bit more done on this little beauty. 

 

I did a trial fitting to ensure the added wiring still fitted on the engine bay

Happy that it did (just) I moved on to painting the engine and rest of the rear assembly.

Also painted the chassis In preparation for the next stages.

Managed to get it all fitted and glued, turned the page in the instructions and realised I have to squeeze the exhaust manifolds and the stacks with the engine in situ 🤨

 

Also removed the exhaust parts and stacks from the sprue, glued and started to clean them up ready for some primer.  

The stacks were drilled out and the tubing wire was pin hole drilled and fitted.  Still need to bend and run the wire pipes but most of the fiddly stuff is out of the way.

 

Also picked up a nice blue for the shell when I get to that stage.

 

Here are a few pictures of the progress made on the car.

 

Thanks for looking and as always, feel free to comment.

 

Test Fitting

 

 

 

 

Rear assembly painting

 

 

 

 

 

Stacks drilled and wired

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhaust parts

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engine and rear assembly built up

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan R]

Hi Cooper645,

 

I like this. I think that this may be the old ESCI mould?

I had one of those (without the wheel-arch extensions) a VERY long time ago.

 

I hope one day that It will pop up in my loft-stash. (You never know. I don't recall throwing it out...)

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Cooper645]

Fingers crossed that turns up. It’s a lovely car and the number of different liveries mean I don’t have to stick at making just one 🤭

 

it it could be the old ESCI mould, scalemates has a lot of different boxes and companies producing the M1 listed in the timeline. 

 

I would like like to build another in the Nurburgring livery. 

[Alan R]

If I can't find it in the loft, I'll just have to get the Revell boxing!

 

Cheers, Alan.

[Cooper645]

Well, I have managed to find some time this weekend to get out and progress this a little more.  

I attacked the sprue and removed a number of parts required to complete the chassis and also the interior.

They were all cleaned up and primed before receiving their colour schemes.  I didn't have all the exact colours but I believe I have got a close enough representation that I am happy with.

 

I also managed to get those stacks wired and painted.  Pretty happy with the result.  They were bloody fiddly work, but I think much improved over just shoving a black spot decal on as per the instructions. 

 

Here are a couple of pics showing the results of this weekends work. I still need to apply half a dozen decals on things like the steering wheel, dash and fire extinguisher but they can wait till next session.

 

The only other thing is the harness, the kit provides decals but I will try to make it.

 

 

 

 

cheers, 

 

Coops

[Cooper645]

A little update on this.

 

Managed to squeeze a bit of time at the bench.  This session saw the rest of the chassis built up and the interior mostly finished, less the seat.  Decals applied where necessary.

 

The exhaust manifolds and the stacks were tricky to get in since I followed the instructions and installed the engine prior to fitting these components.

 

Also found time to remove the wheels from the sprue.  I looked into the Scale Production aftermarket photo etch and turned wheels, but they're sold out everywhere except a Hungarian site. They are for sale on there for 11000fn (£30) plus whatever packaging and postage costs.  I decided against this option and looked out the mini twist drill.  The last pic shows the results of some cramped hands, I think it is worth doing but welcome any comments to the contrary.

 

Any how, enough waffle, you dropped by for pictures, so without any further........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Coops

[Spiny]

I can feel your pain on those manifolds - it looks a right pain to get those in there. Pretty certain I couldn't have maintained that quality of build in the face of that.

[Cooper645]

Ok, update time.  

 

Managed to get all the body pieces cleaned up, washed, primed and into the paint shop.

Also masked up and sprayed the black areas required, there were a couple of spots of overspray, but I believe these will likely be covered up by the million an one decals I have to get on the body.

 

Not sure if the blue is a little too light, but I'm going with it anyhow.  I think it will look ok when I'm finished.

 

Here are the pics of the body colour on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and also with the necessary areas sprayed black.

 

 

 

 

After I finished spraying the black, the spray booth died, so luckily that's all the spraying done.

 

As always, I welcome all comments.  Thanks for stopping by for the update.

 

Coops

[Cooper645]

Success,

 

Dog walked, shopping done and roast cooked meant that i had loads of time to spend in the shed. 

Everything except the the 4x wheel pins are removed from the sprue and in some stage of paint or another.

 

First up, let me point out what appears to be an error on the part of Revell, I am by no means an expert, but am only going off all the reference photos available via google.

The image below depict stage 22 of the build, and i draw your attenttion to item 5.  it depicts the piece being put in at 180 degrees opposite to all the reference photos.  I decided to shave the coolant reservoir by 2mm and rotate the whole piece for a degree of accuracy.  Hopefully i'm not wrong. 🤨

 

 

 

 

Shaved down the side to fit....

 

 

 

 

and test fitted....lovely

 

 

 

 

 

And here's all the little bits painted and installed.

 

 

just need to print the decal for the red battery.  It is available in the photo album for this build (link in post #1)

 

Have also painted and glued the rear boot stay which is an optional step, i will be leaving it loose so i can display the car both with the engine cover up or down.  The window surrounds have also been painted and the wiper.

 

Still need to finish the wheels, seatbelts and wheel pins, then its just a case of clear coating, sanding back, decals and final assembly.

This will still take some time, so i'll update with the progress before i get anywhere near the RFI section.

 

As always, i look foward to any comments and thanks for stopping by for a nosey.

 

Coops

 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Cooper645
Fixed photo links

[JeroenS]

Hey Coops, I get stop signs instead of pics in that last post; they're not loading. Something wrong at your end? 

[Cooper645]

1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

Hey Coops, I get stop signs instead of pics in that last post; they're not loading. Something wrong at your end? 

 

They were fine last night, but have now re-linked them. Fingers crossed they should be ok. Thanks for letting me know.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Cooper645

[JeroenS]

1 hour ago, Cooper645 said:

 

They were fine last night, but have now re-linked them. Fingers crossed they should be ok. Thanks for letting me know.

They loaded fine now. 

[Cooper645]

Ok,

 

apologies for the delay in an update.  Work has been hectic and I have squeezed in a 1/35 Churchill Bridge Layer and a millennium falcon build in the interim period.

 

The BMW has now resumed its place on the bench however and I wish I had more to update this with.  I have sprayed and chromed the wheels and also lacquered the shell.

Other small progress is the installation of the window glass and some of the interior parts.

 

I need to finish the seatbelts and install the seat, and then it should be time to get the interior connected up to the exterior which will give way to lots of large decals.

 

Here's a little pic of the wheels and shell.

 

As ever, thanks for looking and comments are welcomed.

 

Edited June 20, 2019 by Cooper645

[Ian T]

Nice work, I especially like the way that the wheels turned out.

[galaxyg]

Looking good so far. I have this same kit in the stash. How Revell is it in terms of fit and finish?

[Cooper645]

@galaxyg thanks for the kind words, 

 

It’s not too bad overall. Some areas that need a little tweaking, but happy overall. 

 

As i pointed out earlier, there is a slight issue with the fitment of some of the boot details, and lots of scope to add detail as I have, including drilling the wheels. There is a PE kit available but didn’t feel I wanted to spend on it as I had already spent extra on decals. 

 

The boot sits slightly too proud at the rear, but I intend to display it upright so not an issue I needed to sort.

 

also a bit of tidy up for the rear windows to fit nicely, but otherwise nothing major.

 

I’m pleased with it overall and am looking forward to adding the decals.

 

 

[Cooper645]

Ok, so have had a busy weekend, what with laying the framework for some new decking and sorting the garden out.

 

I managed to grab some time at the bench today however, and am pleased to say I have an update, regardless of the efforts of the desk/laminate flooring monster to hinder me.

 

I have now weathered the tires a little to give them a more realistic look.

 

The rear light clusters have been masked and sprayed......

 

 

 

 

The Wheel pins have been cleaned up and chromed, however when locating the last one into the bluetack to dry, the piece took to flight, I heard it bouncing around on the desk and thought for sure i would find it.  I stripped the desk off piece by piece followed by a hunt on the floor with the torch.  After 15 minutes or so, i resigned myself to defeat and so started the scratch build of a new one.  See if you can tell the odd one out...

 

 

In the words of Lance Corporal Jones, "Don't panic Mr Mainwaring", The scratchbuild isn't quite finished, we're just waiting for the tamiya cement to do its thing.

 

 

And i also managed to get started on the seatbelts.  I decided to use some tamiya tape on silver foil.  I photocopied the decals then made a template to spray black in case of some poor cutting out later, then lacquered lightly before applying the decals over the template area.  I need to add a Matt Varnish over the decals then cut them out, before applying and shaping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the last few details to sort before being able to assemble and decal.

 

Thanks for looking and as ever i welcome any comments.

 

Coops

 

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by Cooper645
photo links issues

[JeroenS]

Nice work on the seatbelts Coops. I can heartily recommend a set of PE seatbelt material, for example: https://www.scaleproduction.de/product_info.php?info=p984_seat-belt-buckles-set-2.html

 

You can buy the material for belts in different colours. It's actually very easy to make them this way and they end up looking quite real. 

[Cooper645]

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I can heartily recommend a set of PE seatbelt material, for example: https://www.scaleproduction.de/product_info.php?info=p984_seat-belt-buckles-set-2.html

 

Thanks, I have looked at the PE parts before, I may have to get some and make my life easier and models better. Yet more cost 😂

[JeroenS]

33 minutes ago, Cooper645 said:

 

Thanks, I have looked at the PE parts before, I may have to get some and make my life easier and models better. Yet more cost 😂

Nobody said it would be cheap haha 😉 ... Well actually that seatbelt stuff is not that expensive (relatively speaking of course, what with this bottomless pit hobby of ours) and it goes a long way. 

[Cooper645]

Evening BM,

 

Some more progress to update you all with.

 

Managed to get the seat belts finished and fitted.

 

 

 

 

Which in turn gave way to fitting the seat...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also fitted the wheels with the replacement wheel pin not looking too shabby at all.

 

 

 

 

And obviously, after CA glueing the pins in, what do I find? Yep, the missing wheel pin.  You honestly couldn't make this S*** up.

 

 

 

 

 

There was a little body distortion which needed some extra time to glue in place to remove the distortion

 

 

 

 

And the front also got glued into position, which to those who have been following, means that decals are on the very near horizon.

 

Here are a few shots of the BMW so far, with and without boot lid and in both positions. There are plenty more in the public album linked in post #1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the boot fitment issue in the below picture...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any how, that's all there is for this update.  

All I have left is decals, wiper blade, front lenses and side mirrors (all ready to go after decals are applied and final lacquering)

 

 

Thanks for dropping by and as always, feel free to comment etc.

 

Coops

[JeroenS]

Nice find on the wheel nut 😉