Jump to content

Meng McLaren


Recommended Posts

My best mate the postie just rocked up with this puppy. 

 

53170111236_3c647d7934_h.jpg

 

Only had a cursory rummage around in the box, but wow. We like. This thing looks a bit special. I'll have a proper look later but first impressions are 10/10.

 

I think it's found it's way to the top of the build stack anyway.

 

Nick

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nick, not something I would build but really interested to see what is in the box. I know people have been 

waiting for this with great anticipation and am sure it will live up to expectation.

Looking forward to someone building this

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Jbourne124 said:

Well I imagine if it’s not great, you’ll make it great @nick

To be honest, I've ordered two. I'm going to make the first one out of the box, and use the second one for developing any POTENTIAL enhancements (if required) 

 

First impressions are it's a very, very good kit to start with in fairness. I've been buying up the old Tamiya 1/12th F1 re-releases and this thing shows its 20 or so years lead on them a fair bit.

 

I'm not much of an 'unboxing' (or boxing, actually come to think of it) fan, but I may take some pictures if I get chance. Meng Seem to like smallish deep boxes and this one is absolutely full of stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have had a better look now, here's some photos. There's around 30 sprues in this kit BTW, they go well past Z into double letters

 

53171241120_58336ed059_h.jpg

53171000884_ec7940b773_h.jpg

53171240475_e457203839_h.jpg

53171291888_9ff8a3795f_h.jpg

53171001364_e267f224f5_h.jpg

53171264930_20665eecf4_h.jpg

53170248052_b32905b341_h.jpg

 

 

Likes:-

  1. suspension castings look really nice
  2. seems to be a full set of carbon fibre decals
  3. very crisp looking mouldings
  4. great detail for an injection moulded kit - multi part clutch for example
  5. PE Grilles and seat belt clasps
  6. Trestles for displaying the shell off the car

Dislike-

  1. Silly Meng/AK paint colours only referenced which don't appear to have an equivalence chart anywhere

And that's all I can find to moan about up to now, which is quite something in itself.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have fun with the build.

I watched a review of a test shot. Is there still a step on the shell that demarcates where the white and orange meet?

Also, how well do the nose cone and front cover matchup?

Thanks for the photos and taking a look.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was expecting a box similar to Tamiya's 1/12 F1 kits.

My heart sank when i saw the carton mine was delivered in and assumed the retailer had shipped the wrong product.

I won't be building mine yet until i see what the after market comes up with

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Tie_Dye_Jedi said:

I was expecting a box similar to Tamiya's 1/12 F1 kits.

My heart sank when i saw the carton mine was delivered in and assumed the retailer had shipped the wrong product.

I won't be building mine yet until i see what the after market comes up with

That’s why I got 2 :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And we're off. I'm taking this SO seriously, I even cleared the decks with an  'uncommanded' (by wife) Workshop tidy. I know.

 

53172737969_19da22fdea_h.jpg

 

Anyway, about the first part you encounter is a beautifully slide moulded cylinder head assembly. OK brand new tools I know, but there's almost no cleanup required.

Meng insist on using pointless screws for assembly, 55 of em, as it seems to be mandatory for 1/12th F1 cars for some reason, but apart from that, it really is a thing of beauty, fit is amazing, if a bit snug. You need to take a leap of faith that Tamiya superthin cement will give you last few tho you need to close the joint perfectly - and it does. This is just pushed together currently as I haven't decided how to paint it yet. It's all black, but I'm seeing some subtle  variation in pictures.

 

53172765619_d68eb038f5_h.jpg

53172999560_46172504c0_h.jpg

53172565696_6c27221485_h.jpg

53172765649_84b18be87f_h.jpg

 

I never thought I'd say this but maybe John Prescott was right, I would have scurried off and started doing CAD by now if I only had one kit. Instead, I'm cracking on with the build and starting a list of potential mods for the next one.

 

As Lvp suggested, which made me check, there is a crazy step on the body to demarcate the paint line, shouldn't be too difficult to remove, but really? otherwise, deeply impressed so far. I've had a proper look at the decals now, there's two sheets of CF, one of reflective aluminium material and a small sheet with highly reflective mirrors and a lot of the main decals are also metallic. Very nice indeed.

 

 

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Lvp said:

Have fun with the build.

I watched a review of a test shot. Is there still a step on the shell that demarcates where the white and orange meet?

Also, how well do the nose cone and front cover matchup?

Thanks for the photos and taking a look.

still the odd demarcation line...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, spfparker said:

still the odd demarcation line...

 

Thanks for that.

I would imagine puttying the portion that will be white and sanding to a slope is the most effective way to deal with it.

Looking forward to hearing any other solutions. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve been nailing lumps of plastic together for about half a century now, off an on, and this thing is possibly the nicest kit I’ve come across. I really enjoyed Airfix’s new big spit too. We truly are living in a golden age of modelling. 
 

53175634424_e6a1301954_h.jpg

53175589914_79ba6f8125_h.jpg

 

Nick

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So much going against the natural order of things - a workshop tidy up without enforcement from SWMBO, a claim that John Prescott was right (to be fair and politically neutral, this could apply to virtually any politician). And yet despite you going against the way things should be you're ending up with a fantastic looking engine and chassis.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really enjoying this. 

 

First fumble - silly screws in  a very obvious place - why? the lower arms have pins behind cast in brackets that slot in the gearbox nicely - great.

 

You can't really see them though, so the ones you can see, right on top of the gearbox they just put stonking great crosshead screws in. Go figure.

 

I blame Pocher for this, I think there's a notion that high-cost, large scale car kits MUST be screwed together at some level even if it is for the sake of it.

 

Its not that easy to fix either the way they gone about it.

 

Anyway. apart from that, ace. I've got my eye on a few bits for the next one, but the base kit is brilliant.

 

 

53177444571_4f94114f59_b.jpg

53177657789_e808f3e0c6_b.jpg

53177444571_4f94114f59_b.jpg

53177893205_1460ef0818_b.jpg

53177657879_1d2528bd38_b.jpg

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting to see it going together.

I have seen mentioned elsewhere that the rod to the back of the LH cyl head is too short.

The Fat Frog vid from a few weeks ago was informative too.

 

Malc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lovely work so far Nick. Also following your Bentley upgrades. Have to admit in awe as to what your are doing with the 3d printing.

 

Would the following work? Cut the screw head off, put a groove in the top of the screw to still be able to screw it in with a flat head screwdriver? Or are they too small

 

Nick 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...