1:8 McLaren Honda MP4/4

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, finally getting round to finishing issue 18. This time I'll be covering stage 64, assembly of the engine part 8.

Parts supplied with this stage were: Instrument panel rear (1), Instrument panel front (2), green data registration button & red data registration button on sprue (3), red fire extinguisher & black brake balance adjuster on sprue (4), various switches on sprue (5), mixture/turbo boost controls x 2 (6), fuel filler valve (7), fuel filler valve housing (8), gear linkage bearing housing (9), decal sheet (10). None of these parts were needed for this stage, annoying but ohh well.


And some close up photos of some of the smaller and more detailed parts:




Parts needed from previous stages were:
- Left and right turbocharger air intake assemblies (Stage 20)
- Hose B (Stage 47)
- Wire A (Stage 51)
- Left and right wastegate cooling pipes front (Stage 56)
- Monocoque assembly (Stage 63)

Firstly, 64.1. Fitting the wastegate pipe fronts to the turbcharger air intakes. Firstly the left wastegate cooling pipe front was glued to the left air intake.



Following this, the wastegate cooling pipe was glued onto the wastegate cooling pipe front.


And then repeated for the right hand side. No issues here to report, all straight forward enough.


There was a stage now (64.2) that had the air intakes temporarily fitted to the monocoque assembly and then immediately removed. I've not photographed this as it will be shown during the main assembly.

Onto 64.3, the underbody middle and rear were both removed, as was the engine block from the monocoque. Pictured below to show some of the exhaust detailing.




The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that the oil filter joint on the engine block that I lost and replaced with my own has been replaced again. This is because, as I think I've mentioned prior I tend to do these builds in one day when I get the issue as I don't have a lot of space so have to do the build and then pack up all my bits and bobs until the next stage. So anyway, after spending ages carving and melting a bit of plastic into an oil filter joint I ended up finding the original that I had knocked off on the floor and glued it back on. God damn that's frustrating. Was probably more annoyed when I found it than when I lost it haha. But, I digress.. so onwards with stage 64.

Following this little detour, 64.4, fitting the hoses. Firstly 2 lengths of 40mm wire, 2 x 35mm wire, 2 x 50mm hose & 2 x 45mm hose. These were combined in the following ways: 40mm wire into 50mm hose & 35mm wire into 45mm hose.


One end of one of the 40mm/50mm hoses was glued to the pin of the oil filter joint on the engine block.


And the other end was bent around and glued behind the turbocharger.





Of note was that the hose was not supposed to touch the exhaust pipe, I'm assuming on the real thing this was something to do with high temps.

This was repeated for the other side.



Next up one end of the 35mm/45mm hoses was glued to the nozzle on the inside of the turbo charger.


This was bent around and under and the other end was glued to the blue pin on the side of the engine block, shown here from the front.


This was repeated for the other side, shown from the bottom here to see the different hoses.


And from the fronts.



The most annoying bits of this stage were, as was the case with other hoses and wires the wires would occasionally push through the fabric hose material. This was quite easily rectified though by trimming the wire where needed, or pushing it back into the hose. There was also some problem with the sealing of the hose, when I cut them from the overall length I sealed the ends with adhesive to stop them fraying, there was a couple instances where the ends had closed up so I had to trim about 1mm off and then enlarge the ends. Not a massive catastrophe all things considered.

And that's it for this week, thanks for reading as usual.

I'm currently planning how to display it, so I'd appreciate your input below, basically I'm deciding weather to make a scale replica of a track section and have the model displayed in a dynamic pose, probably as if it's oversteering, might also get a 1:8 model senna as well or at least a helmet.

My other option is just a standard clear plastic display case with wooden plinth and plaque. As I said I'd appreciate your thoughts below so please comment with any ideas or votes for which idea you think is better.

Cheers,

Alex

[Tiakumosan]

I like the track replica idea.

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, apologies for the delay in between updates. This week I'll finally be starting issue 19, the first stage of which will be stage 65, assembly of the seat belts. This was quite a decent issue to work through, some good details that I'm happy with.

Anyway, parts supplied with this stage were: Seatbelts A1 consisting of hooks (1), Seatbelts C (2), Seatbelt sub assembly consisting of main buckle plate and belts (3), belts B with side buckle plates (4), Sprue consisting of data display on top and rev counter on bottom (5), backing tape (6) and the small blue middle bit not numbered cause I'm a dope is the main buckle haha.


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Monocoque assembly, labels for instrument panel, fuel filler valve and housing & gear linkage bearing housing (Stage 64)

Firstly, stage 65.1 - fitting the main buckle. To begin with 2 of the BOSS logos were removed from the decal sheet, the backing removed and stuck to seatbelt A1. Care was especially taken to ensure they were the right way round, so that they didn't upside down or on the back of the belt when attached. It's unclear from the photos, but the belts themselves do have a front and back, the belts are folded over onto themselves and where the fold is glued back onto itself is the back of the belt. There's also a left and right, identifiable by the buckles on the end.



Following this the main buckle was glued onto the seatbelt sub assembly with the main buckle plate.


Next up, 2 x 4mm strips of backing tape were cut and the backing peeled off and stuck to the seatbelts B.



After this, one of the belts attached to the main buckle plate was fed through the loop of one of the belts C.



Next up the left belt A2 was prepared for the end for the end of the belt C to be fed through the buckle, shown below pre-assembly just for information.


And the first section fed through the furthest buckle hole.


Next a 5mm strip of backing tape attached.


And then the belt was looped back through the buckle towards the main buckle plate, shown below before I attached it.


And then I peeled the backing paper off and pressed the belt in place, it was quite fiddly to get the backing paper off without pulling the already stuck side away from the belt, I ended up doing it with a craft knife and pulling one corner up with it which helped me peel it back.


After this the buckle of belt B was fed over the end of belt C so that the backing taped side was facing towards the belt on the main belt buckle.




And then the backing tape was removed and pressed down onto the belt as per the above, and repeated for the other side.


I noticed that the belt C wasn't very secure, maybe due to the fact it is naturally twisted slightly to be able to get the buckle on and meet the belt. I decided to take them off all together and remove the backing tape and instead fix them with a tiny dab of super glue. Care was taken not to apply too much glue so that it didn't damage the finish of the belt material.

Believe it or not that was still one step haha. Now, 65.2 - attaching the fuel filler valve and gear linkage bearing housing to the monocoque.

Firstly, the fuel filler valve and housing were prepared.


And then glued together.


This was then glued to the monocoque after scraping the paint off the contact areas. No problems here, it could only go on one way.



Finally the gear linkage bearing housing was glued to the monocoque. Again no issues, it could only go on one way, only thing is it was quite small and fiddly.
Before:


After:





And that'll do for tonight. Not much to show, but some nice little details nonetheless. Thanks for reading.

Alex

[strad]

Damn.. Don't understand how I missed the last updates.
More great work Alex.
Not sure on the display. How big is the finished model?
There are companies that make some large display cases but the aren't cheap.

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, back again with another update. Strad, to answer your question it'll be about 600mm when it's done, so a decent size. I'm leaning more towards the idea of doing a scale track replica.

Anyway, apologies for the delay between updates, been crazzzzzzy busy time of my life at the minute, I'm also having issues with the delivery of the final pack which is stuck in the UK post system, and the supplier won't send another one until they receive it back, so I'm a bit stuck with that.

But, I'll update what I can in the mean time. This time I'll be covering stage 66, assembly of the electrical system. I'm also writing this slightly hungover so be gentle please haha.

Parts supplied with this stage were: The seat (1), steering wheel (2) & wire and nylon line (3 & 4).


Parts needed from previous stages were:
- Battery cable (Stage 56)
- Connector sprue (Stage 57)
- Electrical system parts: A, B-1, B-2, B-3, B-4, B-5, B-6, CDI unit, telemetry unit, wire B, wire C, wire D (Stage 63)
- Engine block (Stage 64)
- Instrument panel labels (Stage 65)

Firstly, 66.1, the radio and boost stickers were taken off the sticker sheet and stuck to the steering wheel.
Before:


After:


Next, 66.2 the electrical system parts were all laid out.


Then parts B1 & B2 were glued together.



Followed by B3 & B4 to the sides.




And then B5 was glued to this sub assembly.


And then B6.



Next up, 66.3 was to fix wire to the engine block. A 70mm length of wire was cut and then a connector was glued to one end.


This was then fed under the fuel hoses on the left side of the engine, this was quite fiddly as I had to lift the hoses with tweezers but obviously not damage them - easily done as they're so fine and fragile, but I managed ok. Photo below is before I fed the wire in to show the direction.


And shown here fed through, you can see the free end sticking out the back.


And here you can see the free end bent into position.


Also in this step was to cut 2 x 50mm lengths of wire, 1 x 65mm & 1 x 75mm and glue these to the telemetry unit.


Next, 66.4. The battery cable was first glued to the CDI unit.


And some lengths of wire were cut and glued onto the electrical system part B sub assembly from earlier.


And that's it for this week, I'll try and get back on at the weekend in between the Russian GP to do another update. Thanks for reading everyone.

Alex

[strad]

More excellent work Alex.
The super fine amount of detail seems to be a double edged sword. It is absolutely cool but to use your word it can be quite fiddly.

[ajdavison2]

Hi everyone, back again with the final update for issue 19. I've also finally got issue 20, so will be completing the model as soon as I get round to it. I'm going with the 'dynamic' display option on the replica section of track so busy trying to source a suitable scale figurine to put in the car.

So this weeks update will be on stage 67, the assembly of the instrument panel. Parts supplied with this stage were:
Engine cover (1), rear cover (2), various bodywork decals (3).


Parts required from previous stages were:
- Instrument panel front and rear, mixture/turbo boost control, data registration buttons (green and black), fire
extinguisher button, brake balance adjuster & switch sprue(Stage 64)
- Data display and rev counter display & monocoque assembly (Stage 65)
- Instrument panel labels (Stage 66)

Thought I'd include a few more detailed shots of the bodywork as well.


The above image also identifies one of the logos on the decal sheet I bought way back when.

67.1, the instrument panel: Pictured below are all the parts I need just as a reminder and to demonstrate the small scale. To use Strad's new favourite word, all of this stage was very fiddly, (for the none-native English speakers reading, it just means, small, technical, awkward etc).





Ok, so firstly the black and green data registration buttons were removed from the sprue, as well as the switches from the switch sprue. This was done carefully to avoid damaging them, I taped them all and pressed the knife down to avoid them getting shot off somewhere, cause once these get lost there would be no finding them again. Shown below against a scale ruler to give you an idea of the size.


Following this, the double switch was glued to the instrument panel. There was a right and wrong way to orientate this, so care was taken to get the 'wide' part at the back, with the switches themselves closer to the instrument panel front.
Before:


After:



And the triple switch was glued in the same way on the bottom.



Next the instrument panel rear was prepare.


And glued to the back of the instrument panel.


And then one of the mixture/turbo boost controls was glued to the front of the instrument panel. (Top right in this photo below, see the initial photos for the before.)


And then the other mixture/turbo boost control was glued to the middle left portion.


And then the green data registration button was glued to the top left (very very small and hard to place. I did this over a white dinner plate so it would be easy to see if I dropped it. Spoiler alert, I did, several times lol)


And then the black data registration button was glued adjacent to the green one.


Following this, the fire extinguisher button likewise just below the registration buttons.


And then the radio control switch was fitted to the bottom right, quite hard to make out in the photo below due to it's size and the lighting.



And lastly the rev counter, display and decals were added to the instrument panel. Care was taken not to get glue on the front of the display/rev counter.

I'm actually really quite proud of how well this turned out, would've been super easy to tear a decal or damage them but I found the best way to cute them was to press the knife blade down firmly, as opposed to dragging the point like a normal knife cut. Haven't got any photos of the individual decals as I didn't want to lose any, but you can clearly see them in the photos of the panel.



Finally, 67.2 was the brake balance adjuster. Firstly the decal was applied with it still on the sprue to give me something to hold on to.


The adjuster was them removed from the sprue and glued to the monocoque.
Before:


After:


And that's it for this week guys and girls. Thanks for reading as usual. As I mentioned at the start, I've got issue 20 finally so I'm ready to complete the model, will just take some time as I try and do it when I have natural light coming through the windows as it makes the photos better, and I don't get back from work in the evenings when it's dark so I only really have time at weekends, anyway, I ramble. I'll get to it as soon as I can, and then I'll also get to doing the display for it.

Cheers,

Alex

[strad]

Can hardly wait for the finished product.
I have to once again compliment you on your patience and perseverance.
Trust me, with my fat finger syndrome much of your work would be "fiddly" for me.

[ajdavison2]

Haha thanks Strad, the bits I've got done so far on issue 20 were even worse! Possibly the most awkward part of the model yet.

[ojlopez]

Very nice indeed

[ajdavison2]

Hi guys,

I find myself in need of assistance, I've found a 3d model online I can use to make a decent Senna figurine for the model, which means I can proceed with displaying it on the track replica. Trouble is I don't know enough about 3d modelling and specifically 3d printing. Most of my drawing expertise is with 2d Autocad and occasionally 3d Revit for civil engineering. I've been in touch with a 3d printing company and they have told me the model I have found has errors in it and therefore can't be printed. If anyone can point me in the direction of any members of the f1 technical community (UK based preferably, but can be anywhere) who could offer a fix or a solution it would be great.

Cheers,

Alex

[rscsr]

Hi guys,

I find myself in need of assistance, I've found a 3d model online I can use to make a decent Senna figurine for the model, which means I can proceed with displaying it on the track replica. Trouble is I don't know enough about 3d modelling and specifically 3d printing. Most of my drawing expertise is with 2d Autocad and occasionally 3d Revit for civil engineering. I've been in touch with a 3d printing company and they have told me the model I have found has errors in it and therefore can't be printed. If anyone can point me in the direction of any members of the f1 technical community (UK based preferably, but can be anywhere) who could offer a fix or a solution it would be great.

Cheers,

Alex

You can try the Windows 3D builder app. It can fix errors in .stl files. Specifically when a triangle is missing or flipped.

[ajdavison2]

Thanks rscsr,

It was beyond my limited ability with 3d software to fix whatever was wrong with it so I've found a local company that will do it. They're preparing the model in CAD or an extra charge. I've ended up paying £60 for 2 models which I think is fairly reasonable as they're going to be about 160mm in length each. I've elected to cut them off at the knees as a) you won't see it anyway once it's in the cockpit and b) I'm counting on having to trim/file it into shape anyway to make it fit. I've attached a couple of screengrabs of what I'm going for anyway, I'll be painting it myself and seeing if I can sort some decals for the overalls maybe?

[strad]

Looks good Alex. As you say the part you intend to cut off would be hidden. Certainly going the extra mile.

[Ringleheim]

It's coming along very nicely indeed! I see DeAgostini has a new kit available of the Ferrari 312T4, 1978.