1:8 McLaren Honda MP4/4

[ajdavison2]

Seriously nice work and amazing persistence. Just curious, is there any adjustment for camber or toe, or do you just get what you get?

It doesn't go into that much detail unfortunately. The only adjustable/moveable aspects so far are:
- Front wing downforce level
- Steering
- Rotating brake disks
- Rotating wheels

It would have been nice to have had an adjustable rear wing as well to match the front but ohh well. Actually when I'm done I might make that a little side project, buy the rear wing components again and make an adjustable one. Mehh I'll see how I feel. I've already got my next big project lined up for when I finish this one sometime next year.

[ajdavison2]

Hi guys back again with another update. This time it is pack 11, stages 35 to 38. This update will be covering the initial assembly of the gearbox and rear suspension.

First up stage 35. Assembly of the gearbox. Parts supplied with this issue were: Right gearbox case (top left), left gearbox case (bottom left) &2 x inner CV joints (right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Engine oil line (stage 34)

The first step was to attach the inner CV joints to the gearbox sides. This was done by screwing them from underneath.




This was repeated for both sides of the gearbox.

Next up the engine oil line was glued to the left gearbox side.



And that's it for this short stage! There's also the following photo from the magazine of an exploded view of the gearbox, suspension and brakes etc, showing the complexity of the assembly!


Next up stage 36: Assembling the gearbox 2. Parts supplied with this stage were: Gearbox inner right (top left), gearbox inner left (bottom left), upper rear shock reservoirs x 2 (top right), lower rear shock reservoirs x 2 (bottom right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Left and right gearbox assemblies (stage 35)
- Plastic parts from sprue (stage 34)

First up the gearbox inners were glued together, and then screwed. This proved difficult as the holes were smaller than the screws. I ended up having to put another screw in first to tap the hole, and then put the actual ones in. I also ended up having to manually turn the screw with a set of needle pliers. This damaged the plastic slightly around the screw holes (first photo), but I didn't deem this to be an issue as it will be covered by the outer gearbox sides anyway.




Following this the gearbox oil line union was carefully removed from the sprue, and the flash trimmed.


Then the inner gearbox sub-assembly was inserted into the gearbox outer case sides, this was then glued and screwed in place, with one of the holding screws also going through the gearbox oil line union to secure this to the left gearbox outer case, completing the this stage of the gearbox assembly.







Following this the reservoir uppers and lowers were glued together.


Next up, stage 37: Assembly of the right rear upright. Parts supplied with this stage were: Right brake duct (top left), right rear upright inside (top middle), Right rear upright middle (top right), outer CV joint (middle left), axle spacer (middle 2nd from the left), right rear upright outside (middle 2nd from the right), axle (middle right), axle shaft (bottom).


The stages for this assembly were as per stage 33 so I won't repost the steps again.


Next up, stage 38: Assembly of the rear lower wishbone. Parts supplied with this issue were: Rear lower wishbone (top), rear lower wishbone brackets x 2 (middle), rear pushrod bracket outsides x 2 (bottom).


First up the pushrod bracket outsides were screwed to the wishbone, ensuring the correct orientation and side.




Next up the rear lower wishbone brackets were screwed to the gearbox. Same problem presented itself as earlier, in that the holes were too small for the screws. So I did the same method as previous to get the screws in.



And that's it for this week. Thanks for reading everyone. As usual if there's anything you'd like to see in further detail just let me know!

Cheers,

Alex

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good Christmas and New years. I was too pushed for time before Christmas to get this update done so here it is now, will mean there'll be another update in around 2 weeks instead of 4.

Ok so for this update I'll be covering issue 12, stages 39 - 42. The actual stages for this issue are small, and often fiddly, there are a lot of minor components to be attached and what not so there'll be a lot of photos and not a great deal of info. Enjoy!

So first up, stage 39. Assembling the rear suspension pushrods. Parts supplied with this issue were: Bellcrank top left (top left), bellcrank lower left (top 2nd from the left), bellcrank lower right (top 2nd from the right), bellcrank top right (top right) & rear pushrods x 2 (bottom).


Parts needed from previous stages were:
- Right and left rear shock absorbers (stage 34)

Ok so firstly one of the pushrod eyes was slotted over the corresponding pin on the left bellcrank top. The pushrods do not have a right and left orientation, but they do have a front and back so care was taken to orientate the pushrods so the 'tail' of the wing profile of the arm was facing backwards.


Next up the left rear shock absorber was suspended on the groves on the left bellcrank lower.


Then the the bellcrank upper and lower parts were screwed together.



This was then repeated for the right bellcrank and shock absorber.


The ends of the pushrods were also inked (not pictured)

Next up stage 40: Assembling the gearbox part 3. Parts supplied with this issue were: rear suspension mounting plate front (top left), rear anti roll bar ( middle left), rear suspension mounting plate rear (bottom left), gearbox upper (top right), hose B (bottom right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Gearbox oil line adapter, bolts 1 x 3 & 2 x 2 and the brake T-line piece (stage 34)
- Left and right rear shock reservoirs (stage 36)
- left and right rear shocks and bellcrank assemblies (stage 39)

First up the gearbox oil line adapter was glued to the gearbox upper.




Next up the bolt 1s & 2s were removed carefully from the sprue, care was taken due to how small the bolts were. The scale of these bolts once again impressed me, I'm not sure if these will be visible on the final model or not but again it's nice to know that they're there.





The bolts 1 x 3 were placed into the corresponding holes in the gearbox upper.



Next up the bolts 2 x 2 were placed into their corresponding holes in the gearbox upper.



The bolts were secured with a small amount of glue on the rear surfaces.


Next up a 19mm, and 135mm length of hose B were cut. The ends of these were sealed with a small amount of plastic adhesive to stop them fraying. Was a little bit tricky to cut these to the right length due to how curled up the hoses were, I can't imagine it will make much difference though and they're all within +/-2mm of the intended lengths anyway.


The 135mm length of hose was glued to the correct pin on the T-piece.


Next up the 2 x 19mm length of hose were attached to the shock reservoirs and shock absorbers correspondingly.



Next up stage 41. Assembly of the gearbox part 4. Parts supplied with this issue were: left quarter panel (bottom left), toelink bracket (top right), left toelink (middle right), left rear upper wishbone (bottom right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Gearbox oil line union (stage 34)
- Gearbox assembly (stage 38)
- Rear suspension mounting plate front + rear, left and right rear suspension assemblies & hose B (stage 40)

First up the gearbox oil line union was removed from the sprue and glued with a small amount of glue into the hole on the right side of the gearbox assembly.


Following this a 68mm length of hose B was cut and sealed as previous. This was then glued onto the pin end of the gearbox oil line union.


Following this the rear suspension mounting plate rear section was slotted into the gearbox assembly, and screwed in place. Care was taken to orientate it correctly in respect to front and rear.




Next up the left and right rear suspension assemblies, and rear suspension mounting plate front part were screwed to the corresponding holes on the gearbox, this was A) quite tricky to do without letting other pieces fall off and B) fiddly due to the shape and locations of the holes, so I've taken photos of the completed gearbox assembly prior to the final attachment of the reservoirs to the gearbox, and some when they were glued.











Next up stage 42, assembly of the gearbox part 5. Parts supplied with this issue were: Right quarter panel (top), right rear upper wishbone (bottom left), right toelink (bottom middle), toelink bracket (bottom right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Drop links x 2 (stage 34)
- Rear lower wishbone assembly (stage 38)
- Rear anti-roll bar, gearbox upper, brake line T-piece assembly (stage 40)
- Toelink bracket (stage 41)
- Gearbox assembly (stage 41)

First up the rear lower wishbone was slotted into the gearbox making sure that it was the right way up. At this point I noticed that I had screwed one of the brackets onto the gearbox upside down so I rectified this first. After this was sorted then I screwed through the brackets on the gearbox into the wishbone.




Following this the pushrods were were screwed into the brackets on the wishbone assembly. Really starts coming together when these are in. Care was taken not to overtighten the screws.





Next the brake line T-piece was glued to the gearbox upper. As much care was taken as possible to get the T-piece perpendicular to the rest of the assembly.


Following this the gearbox upper sub-assembly was screwed to the gearbox assembly.




At this point the toelink bracket was screwed to the left side of the gearbox.

Next up the drop links were removed from the sprue.


These were then slotted onto the pins on the bellcrank assemblies so that the droplink pins were facing upwards Please note the position of the hose B coming from the T-piece being positioned forwards and downwards so it will not interfere with the anti-roll bar.




Following this the anti roll bar was slotted onto the drop link pins, and slots in the suspension mount plates.



And that's it for this update everyone. Sorry for the long winded post, I imagine they're going to continue in the same vein as it's in quite a detailed and fiddly part of the build. Thanks for reading and as usual if there's any requests for further detail just let me know.

Thanks.

Alex

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, back again with another update. This update will be continuing with the assembly of the gearbox. A lot of this update will be the same as last one in terms of a lot of photos of quite minor details. Hope you enjoy.

I've also decided that because entries like this are quite long winded in terms of all the little details and stuff that I want to show you, I'll be breaking it down into 2 or 3 posts depending how I feel. Plus it'll mean a more constant stream of updates for you guys.

First up is stage 43: assembling the gearbox part 6. Parts supplied with this stage were: Engine oil tank top upper (top left), engine oil tank top lower (top right), gearbox bottom (middle left), driveshafts x 2 (bottom left).


Parts required from previous stages were:
> Left rear brake duct & left rear brake assembly (Stage 33)
> Left rear upper wishbone, left quarter panel & left toelink (Stage 41)
> Gearbox assembly (Stage 42)

I'm also going to be doing a new naming system from this by the way, so it'll be stage.step, just incase any new readers aren't sure what I'm referring to. Anyway, firstly 43.1. Attaching the gearbox bottom to the gearbox assembly. This was done simply by screwing it in. Was a little tricky to get a snug fit, whilst also being quite careful about where I hold the model so as not to apply pressure to fragile parts.




Next up, 43.2: Attaching the left quarter panel and left upper rear wishbone. Firstly the screw attaching the lower rear wishbone and the pushrod together was removed. Seems to me like there was no need to attach this in the first place in the previous stage but ohh well.


Then the quarter panel was slid onto the lower wishbones, aligning the cut outs of the quarter panel with the wishbone arms.



After this the pushrod was screwed back onto the lower wishbone, and the upper wishbone was screwed onto the brackets on the suspension mounting plate.




Of note is that the assembly guide states that these parts are only assembled temporarily at the minute so I'll probably be disassembling them again at a later date. This is also why the quarter panel currently isn't fixed to anything, it's just being held in place by the suspension arms.

Next up 43.3, installing the brake duct and driveshaft. First up the left rear brake duct was slid onto the drive shaft, the end that goes into the wheel is bulbous which stops the duct sliding all the way off. A nice detail I appreciated was that the drive shafts were actually metal and not plastic. (As are all of the suspension components actually.)



The gearbox end was glued and then pushed into the hole in the CV joint, this could only be done one way as there was a front and back to the protrusion, so care was taken to orientate this correctly.





Had to check and double check this as the fitting of the duct between the upper and lower wishbones didn't seem right, but as it turns out it was, the arms naturally sit inwards to each other and on the next step the brake assembly keeps them parallel.

Next up 43.4, attaching the left rear brake assembly. Firstly the brake assembly was slotted onto the duct. There is a slot on the duct and a protrusion on the brake assembly so this can only go on one way.



Next up the end of the upper wishbone was slotted into the bracket on the top of the assembly visible in the photos above and screwed in place.


Next up the lower wishbone was screwed to the brake assembly with a screw and a washer, (not pictured as visible in the next step)

Next up, 43.5: attaching the toelink to the gearbox and the brake assembly. First up the ends of the toelinks were inked, the before and after is shown below.



The silver end was screwed to the bracket on the gearbox, with the black end screwed onto the brake assembly, easy enough, no issues.

The toelink is the uppermost individual arm in this photo.

Completed left rear brake and suspension assembly.




That's it for today, I'll continue with this update later in the week. Next up is the continuation of the gearbox assembly. It's starting to get juicy ladies and gents.

Cheers,

Alex

[Just_a_fan]

Looking good. Nice to see the hand in there to give some idea of the size of the kit. It's going to be quite a centre piece when complete.

[ajdavison2]

Looking good. Nice to see the hand in there to give some idea of the size of the kit. It's going to be quite a centre piece when complete.

Cheers. Yeah it'll be about 600mm long when it's finished. Got a some pretty cool ideas for a display as well including a particularly bold one which involves make a scale replica of a corner of a track and having the car displayed on that, maybe with some delicious opposite lock on as well haha.

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, me again, (obviously, who else is it going to be .) This weeks update will be carrying on with the assembly of the gearbox. In continuation of last weeks post, I'll be doing stage 44 today.

So, stage 44. Assembling the gearbox part 7. Parts supplied with this stage were: Oil cooler (top left), gearbox rear (top right), jacking hook left (bottom left), jacking hook middle (bottom middle) & jacking hook right (bottom right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
> Wire A (Stage 32)
> Gearbox oil line union (2) & (5) (on sprue, Stage 34)
> Hose B (Stage 41)
> Gearbox assembly (Stage 43)

First up, 44.1 mounting the oil cooler. This was simply glued into the slot on the gearbox. Straightforward enough.



44.2 was just the cutting of lengths of hose and wire, someone tricky due to the coiled nature of the hose, but I managed to do it by pinning one end and making sure it was tensioned to the correct length.


next up, 44.3 was to connect the oil cooler and oil line unions via the short length of hose from the previous step.This actually proved very fiddly as the ends of the hose were easily frayed, I basically got them over the pins, put some adhesive over them and pressed them in place to minimise fraying.




Step 44.4 was also tricky, it involved threading the wire cut in stage 44.2 into the hose connected to the right side of the gearbox, love this detail as it's totally unnecessary to have the wire inside the hose as it's glued in place anyway so the only time you know it's there is when you're building it. The problem I had was that when I manipulated the hose and wire into place to fix it to the oil cooler, the wire poked through the other side of the hose due to the fabric nature of it. It's visible in the third photo below, I managed to bend it so it was flush against the hose and you can't tell unless you really look for it.





Following this, 44.5. This involved carefully removing the gearbox oil line union 2 and 5 from the sprue. The squares on my cutting mat are 10mm x 10mm to give you an impression of the tiny scale of these parts.


The oil line union 5 was glued into the slot in the gearbox rear.


Following this the last length of hose from 44.2 was glued over the pin end of the oil line union 5.




Next up the gearbox rear sub assembly was screwed to the rear of the gearbox.





Last up for this time, 44.6 connecting the oil line union 5 to the hose, and then to the top of the gearbox. First up the oil line union 2 was glued into the free end of the hose from 44.5.



This was then fed under the short length of hose connecting the oil cooler and the gearbox, to the top of the gearbox where it was glued in place.




And that's it for this update. Next time will be finishing this issue, the completion of the gearbox assembly.

Thanks for reading, as usual if there's anything else you want to see in more detail just let me know.

Cheers,

Alex

[strad]

Alex; I must applaud you for your patience and perseverance . I once thought of buying one of these larger models thinking it would be easier for my shaky old man hands to deal with the larger pieces than the 1:18 I'm used to.
Wrong strad wrong. It is obvious that the great detail leads to some parts just as small and parts just as fiddly to assemble as any 1:18.
You've done great work and I'm sure that not only I but many who have been following along cannot wait to see your excellent work come together in the completed car.
You have already earned our respect for your excellent work. Also thanks for taking the time to provide such detailed explanation of the assembly.

[ajdavison2]

Thanks, always nice to hear positive feedback. Yeah I've done some 1:43 kits before and 1:18 and this is arguably even fiddlier due to the fact that they can reproduce such detailed parts at such a large scale. Glad you're enjoying following my progress with it.

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, back again with the final update for this issue. Today I'll be finishing the gearbox assembly.

First up, stage 45: Assembly of the rear brake. Parts supplied with this stage were: Brake disk outer (top left), brake disc inner (top right), inner brake calipers x 2 (bottom left), outer brake calipers x 2 (bottom middle), brake pads x 4 (bottom right).


Parts required from previous issue were:
> Right rear upright (Stage 37)
> Jacking hooks L, R and M (Stage 44)

Now because the assembly of the brake disk itself was the same as the other 3, I'll not repeat myself. Instead I'll skip to 45.3, attaching the jacking hooks. First up the right jacking hook was glued onto the gearbox.


Then the middle jacking hook was glued into the right jacking hook.


And finally the left jacking hook was glued onto the middle and the gearbox.




Next up stage 46. Assembling the gearbox part 8. Parts supplied with this stage were: Rear tyre (left), rear wheel (right).


Parts needed from previous stages were:
> Gearbox oil line union (1) (Stage 34)
> Right rear brake duct (Stage 37)
> Right toelink, right quarter panel and rear upper wishbone (Stage 42)
> Driveshaft, engine oil tank top upper and lower (Stage 43)
> Gearbox assembly and right rear brake assembly (Stage 45)

First up, 46.1. The wheel was pushed into the tyre. Straight forward enough in practise but because the tyre was so stiff, it was difficult to get the wheel into. As a result I ended up taking a little bit of the paint off the "Goodyear" logo. I haven't taken a photo of this yet as I'm waiting for some paint to be delivered, where I'll tough it up and then post the before and after shots of my repair jobs.

Next up, 46.2, assembling the engine oil tank top. First up the engine oil tank upper and lower parts were glued together.




Then the gearbox oil line union (1) was glued to the oil tank sub assembly.




The rest of stage 46 was the assembly of the right hand side of the gearbox, suspension and brakes. This was done in the same way as the left hand side, so again, I won't bother reiterating. Instead have photos of the completed gearbox assembly up to now.








And that's it for this weeks, I'll be back probably at the weekend to post the tyre repair photos. Thanks for reading, as usual if there's anything I've missed feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Alex

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone,

As promised I've repaired the tyre as best as I can. I'm not the best at fine detail painting, but it's not too bad of a job, kind of mehh about it ..

Before repairing:


Post repair:


In comparison to the other rear tyre which is undamaged:



And that's it until next time.

Cheers,

Alex

[strad]

Tire looks fine. you coulda said he scuffed it on a curb.
I have had problems mounting tires in the past and used a hair dryer to soften them up. Same procedure for rods that needed a bend such as you experienced earlier. Slowly warm to malleable state and gently form your bend and when it cools it will stay bent as if made that way.
Really looking good. Gonna be worth the troubles when finished.
Looking forward to your updates.

[ajdavison2]

Tire looks fine. you coulda said he scuffed it on a curb.
I have had problems mounting tires in the past and used a hair dryer to soften them up. Same procedure for rods that needed a bend such as you experienced earlier. Slowly warm to malleable state and gently form your bend and when it cools it will stay bent as if made that way.
Really looking good. Gonna be worth the troubles when finished.
Looking forward to your updates.

That's actually a really good idea that I wish I had thought of haha. A shame all 4 tyres are mounted on the wheels now, but maybe for my next project! Was considering leaving it as a wall scuff or something but I couldn't live with it haha.

[ajdavison2]

Hi guys. Back again with another update. Been crazy busy and last night was the only time I had to do it so the photos aren't the best quality. Anyway enjoy.

For this weeks update I'll be covering pack 14, stages 47 - 49 which is the continuation of the gearbox assembly and the starting the underbody. Not a great deal in terms of detail to show you, but some decent sized parts nonetheless. I will probably break it up and do 47 and 48 today, and do 49 next week.

So first up, stage 47. Assembly of the gearbox part 9. Parts supplied with this stage were: Underbody middle (left), left and right underbody parts (top right), 4 x body mount brackets A (middle right), 2 x body mount brackets B (bottom right).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Hose B (Stage 44)
- Gearbox assembly & engine oil tank assembly (Stage 46)

First up, 47.1 was cutting a 50mm length of hose B and gluing this to the end of the oil line union on the engine oil tank.



Following this the engine oil tank was glued to the gearbox assembly, care was taken to align the oil line union and nozzle on the side of the oil tank perpendicularly to the gearbox itself.




Next up, 47.2. The left and right underbody parts were glued to the underbody middle. Pretty straight forward. I forgot to take a before photo so I peeled one off before the glue had set to take the before.


And after:



Next up, stage 48 - adding the heat shields. Parts supplied with this stage were: Underbody rear (top left), left & right tailpipe endplates (top right), left and right tailpipe parts (middle right) & heat shield stickers (bottom).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Underbody middle (stage 47)

So first up, stage 48.1 the heat shield stickers were cut into sections. I actually used a new knife blade for this to avoid fraying them as they're kind of like a fabric type material (they actually remind me of pre-treated carbon fibre cloth if anyone has seen it on youtube and stuff). The first sticker was cut into the following shapes:
- A: 166mm x 73mm
- B: 166mm x 27mm
- 2 x C: 100mm x 8mm
- 2 x D: 80mm x 8mm
- 2 x E: 20mm x 8mm
As you can see below, there wasn't any significant fraying of the material.


Following the cutting, section A was stuck onto the underbody middle. Care was taken to create as smooth a surface as possible. This was easy enough on such a large squared of area. The stickers themselves were actually quite difficult to peel off their backings.


Following this the small sections on either side you can see that were raised were cut carefully, this is so the brackets can sit properly.



Following this, the 2 x D sections of heat shield stickers were stuck onto the vertical sections of the underbody middle, care was taken to not leave a gap between the A & D sections, and the excess was trimmed accordingly. Please note, what looks like a gap on the photos below are just the way the flash reflected.



Next up, another section of sticker was cut for the heat underbody rear, this was done with a template in the magazine.


This was stuck onto the underbody rear in the same way as before, was a little more difficult to get this bit completely flat as it was a little bit curved, the sticker was also trimmed to allow the body mounting brackets, as with the underbody middle.


Following this, the 2 x C sections of heat shield sticker were stuck onto the vertical pieces of the underbody rear, as before care was taken not to leave gaps between the sections.



After this, the 2 x E sections were stuck onto the sections where the exhaust pipes exit the body work.


And that's it for this week. Thanks for reading, I'll aim to be back some time next week with the rest of this update depending on what happens with work and stuff.

Cheers,

Alex

[strad]

must compliment you on your attention to detail Alex. Are you a surgeon? I don't think the guy that cracked my chest did as clean of work.