In progress - McLaren MP4/5B

This is my first model, the inspiration came after I saw pictures of Bil’s Mp4/6, and I found the model on sale for A$24. I started it about 15 months ago and decided it should be a super detailed model. However it got put on hold for about a year because of the learning (mistake) overload it was causing. Instead I decided to work on a few curbside models so that I could get my body painting skills to a passable level.
A few days ago I pulled it out of the box and decided to start working on it again. This is the progress I have to date.

The small monocoque sections on the base plate were cut off and glued onto the monocoque, and the holes for the rivets were also drilled. The monocoque was then primed and sanded several times until all the mistakes were gone. The side pods were also sprayed grey.

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Then the complicated process of trying to replicate the black/amber colour of the monocoque began. The process was quite lengthy and involved sanding/stripping paint several times. I now know bad things happen when you mix acrylic, enamel and lacquer. I new it before, but now I really know.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/302865IMG_0327.JPG

The final effect was obtained by laying down a mixed of dark copper and black, followed by a light coat of turn signal amber and several coats of smoke. Sections of the monocoque were then taped off and several more light coats of smoke were applied to give the panelling effect. The decals were then laid down and several coats of satin clear were applied.

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The upper A arms were then detailed with pins and PE washers and glued into place.

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Putty was then applied and sanded so there was no gap in the nose cone section. The nose cone was then sprayed black and CF decal was applied. Unfortunately I sprayed a light coat of smoke over the CF before it had fully dried and a bubble formed. I was able to fix most of the problem, but I think I will glue the front wing in place so that it is hidden. SMS PE rivet were also painted black and then sanded before being glued into all the holes in the monocoque.

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The tamiya model also lacks the steering column and has poor dampers on the front so I decided to scratch build them using some styrene sheet and sprue. I stole the universal joint from an Alfa model and stuck a pin through the middle.

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The lower A arms were then cut away from the central fixing piece and 0.5mm pins were inserted in the ends. The ends of the A arms were then placed through the holes in the monocoque and the pins inserted into the central fixing piece. Thin needles were then cut and used for the uprights as the plastic ones were way out of scale.

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The brake ducts were coated in CF decal and clear coated and the brakes were simply painted as they will be hidden. The electronic boxes were cleaned up and some extra detail was added with F1 specialties connectors and some PE and electrical tape.

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The cockpit was covered with CF decal and clear coated. PE and pins were used to add extra detail. The roll bar adjuster was scratch built (after I lost the other one). The molded seat belt was also removed (an awful job) and replaced with and F1 specialties set. The PE is very detailed and looks good, however, the belts I found to be very stiff and hard to position. The supplied decals also do not stick to the material so you need to clear coat the material first.

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I also detailed the roll hoop with pin heads I turned in my dremel, and removed the fuel filler and put in my own. It looks a little basic, but is better because I could paint it separately.

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I have also CF’d the floor and coated it with smoke, but I don’t have any pictures. I will now start working on the body. I have the detail set from F1 specialties with the thin endplates which look much better. I hope you like it and sorry about the bad pics. I was still learning to use the camera.

:eek7: That is fantastic work! Is this 1/20th? Really impressive, especially with clever solutions to scratch-building.

Great work so far. I saw an amazing MP4/5 model in the BMOM competiton not long ago, they look great when completed.

WOW! Very nice work!
Can you get some better pictures of the belts?
Any problems getting them together?

Keep up the good work!

Chris

Very very nice looking Mclaren, keep it on same level and it will be fantastic.

Best MP4/5x I've seen to date. Keep us posted!

That is brilliant work. With all the effort you are putting in i am surprised you are using non photo etch brake discs.

It's looking very impressive so far!

Great, great stuff, please keep showing us your progress. I love the colour you achieved on the monocoque.

Welcome to AF :wave: great to have yet another Aussie master modeller on the board.

This si beautiful ,I love the monocoque colour.

Thanks for sharing, can't wait to see more.

Love the monocoque detail and the paint effects you've achieved. Can't wait to see more!

Thanks for sharing,
Bill

Excellent 'experimenting'!
I'm also curious about the scale?

Thanks for all the comments guys. This is the 1/20th Tamiya McLaren MP4/5B Honda (20026). So far I have found the model to be pretty good. However, my body cowling is warped and doesn't fit on the model cleanly. I started to fix the problem, but then decided I was going to display the model with the cowling off so I didn't bother. Also the method Tamiya used to model the front suspension requires a lot of work to make it look realistic. I have also started working on a jordan 191 and this model seems to be engineered much better.
The f1 specialties PE belt buckles are fantastic and look really good. However, some parts require complex bending and a lot of care is needed to make sure they all fit together. I stuffed up the first one I did. You also get a lot of decals and belt materials in different colous and widths. But like I said before, the material is very stiff and the decal won't stick to it. I don't have a camera at the moment so I can't take any close up pics.
I am also moving so no more updates for probably a week.

Curiosity demand s I ask why your username has changed from scuderia to scudera??

you may find these ref pictures interesting.

Huudo's References. (http://www.huudo.com/ref.shtml)

When I started builing the model about a year and a half ago I found this site and wanted to sign up so I could use it. However, Scuderia was taken and so I just decided to go with scudera, even though I didn't really like it. Then when I decided to post my first progress thread I figured I'd change my name. Scuderia was still taken so I just added a full stop to the end.
Because I am moving I used an old computer which was still under scudera and didn't realise until I had posted the reply. So hopefully this will be the last time scudera is used.

Thanks for the link Huudo. I think the mp4/5b you have pics of is the early season version because it has the flat floor. I am doing the one with the curved floor, but thanks for the pics, you can never have enough.

This is my first update for a while. I have been slowly working on the car, but not posted too many pics. I cleaned up all the body work and primed it with tamiya white primer. I am also using the f1 specialties detail set so I primed the pe wing endplates as well. I then coated all the surfaces in tamiya white (ts26) and left them to dry for two months. I then masked off the areas needing paint and sprayed them with tamiya fluorescent red (ts26) and left them for a month.
I then applied SMS cf decal around the lower portions of the cowling and the endplates, and the museum collection decals that I bought when I first got the car. I am also building a Jordan 191 (which I haven’t posted any pics of, but will soon) and used museum collection decals on the car. I was really disappoint with how thick they were and how I had to apply many coats of clear to be able to sand the surfaces so they were flush. Then late one night I had a thought that I might have bought these decals because they were Hi-tech. So I tested one of the decals and what do you know that thick clear cover came off and left a nice bright thin decal underneath. Too late for the Jordan, but a win for the Mclaren. So after I let the decals dry for two weeks. I took the decision to coat the car with tamiya clear (ts13). I have been using an automotive clear for the Jordan and rc211v that I am building and the paint just hasn’t worked for me. Knowing that the clear could damage the decals I applied two mist coats, then a light coat then a medium. With about 20mins between each coat.

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When I checked how the clear had gone that night I noticed that the red had flowed into the white in small sections and looked horrible. Some of the red in one or two of the decals had also run a little.

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So now I am pretty frustrated, every thing was going so well. Does anybody know why this only happened in small areas and only with the red. Is it particularly susceptible to running. I haven’t had the problem with other colours. Does anybody have a good solution to fix the problem. I don’t want to strip the paint. Am I better off to respray some white over the top, or respray the red and make the red section a little wider.

I have also been working on the engine and will post some pics of that soon.

Yep i had the same problem with my MP4/10 from studio 27.The red has blurred into the white too...Maybe my mask wasn't god enough, I don't know..Still trying to figure it out too....Very good work, nevertheless. Good luck

The monocoque looks brilliant! For the paint bleeding, simply try to sand it CAREFULLY down until you're on the white layer then mask again (only a small part of the red) and repaint red. After that sand "new" red CAREFULLY down to "old" red level and later cover with several layers of clear, in between sanded... You'll see nothing afterall from your mistake.

When I checked how the clear had gone that night I noticed that the red had flowed into the white in small sections and looked horrible. Some of the red in one or two of the decals had also run a little.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/302865IMG_4473-med.JPG




Welcome to the club. This also happened to me. Don't use TS-13, this is not good. Use the Gunze top clear coat and those problems are history.

Welcome to the club. This also happened to me. Don't use TS-13, this is not good. Use the Gunze top clear coat and those problems are history.

I strongly agree! Allan is absolutely right, Gunze B501 Top Coat is my only clear, I use it for just everything. Doesn't melt decals and doesn't react with other paints. Just perfect!

Progress is coming along slowly on this one. I have done most of the engine and glued it to the chassis. The chassis is covered in CF decal which has been coated with smoke and flat clear. The engine has been detailed with MCG PE bolts and some perfect parts PE. The velocity stacks are also perfect parts and look nice, though they are a little rough but I didn’t clean them up. I also used some modelers hose ends and some detail master wires for things like the ignition, but you can’t see them in the pics.

The monocoque isn’t finished yet and is just sitting on the chassis. The rear body work has also been painted and polished, but as you can see in the pics hasn’t been glued in place yet.

The wheels are just sitting in place in the pics, and the front right is a little wonky which I didn’t notice. The Good year logo was sprayed on and some sakatsu bolts were used for the valve stems, and flat aluminium foil was used for the weight.

Haven’t got up the courage yet to tackle the problem with the paint on the cowling. Maybe next week, if the weather clears up. I am also going to try some gunze clear coat on my 191 to see how it goes.

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nice progress!
Is that arrow on the rear tyre pointing the wrong way?

Nice work! The engine detail is amazing!

Very very nice :grinyes:

Good luck with the paint bleed issue. Frustrating, I'm sure!!!

Gonna be a stunner when it's done!

Murray

Nice spotting Rob. The arrow is the wrong way because I wasn't paying attention when I was putting the wheels on. When I swap the wheels around the arrows will be right.

Hi,

looks very good so far inspite of your trouble withe the flowing red. Good idea with painting the interior

Very nice build !!!!!
I really like the way you painted the monocoque.
Keep up the good work !!

PUN

WOW looks amazing!!!

Which color have you used for the chassis, it looks like a perfect match? :smokin:

I described the process I used to get the monocoque colour in my first post thesaint111, but here it is again.

The final effect was obtained by laying down a mixed of dark copper and black mixed together, in something like the ratio of 3:1. That was followed by a light coat of turn signal amber and several coats of smoke. Sections of the monocoque were then taped off and several more light coats of smoke were applied to give the panelling effect. The decals were then laid down and several coats of satin clear were applied.

It may be helpful for your mp4/6. You probably want to have a play around and see what works best for you. I don't think the pictures show the true effect. It is quite brown and black most of the time, but when you get some light on it the amber shines through. Similar to what you see in pictures of the real car when a flash has been used and it gets a bright amber sheen.

I described the process I used to get the monocoque colour in my first post thesaint111, but here it is again.


Sorry, I don't know why but i haven't seen your first post... :loser:. Anyway, thanks for the description.

Just want to clear things up a little more about the paint on the monocoque:
Smoke is Tamiya X 19
Dark copper is Tamiya XF 28
Turn signal amber is Tamiya X 26
Am I right ?

Turn signal amber is actually an enamel from testors. I can look up the number tonight if you are interested.

Yes, I like to have the number please. :iceslolan

I forgot to look at the jar when i went home, but here is a link to the colour at the testors website. Hope it works.

http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=973

Great job Scuderia!
You have motivated me to keep working on my kit!

Thanks for the tips and keep up the good work.

Chris

Thanks for the link, it's very helpful. :thumbsup:

I finally got some more progress done. The chassis and engine are now basically finished as the monocoque and base have been glued together after much difficulty. I also added some extra detailing to the sidepod and rollbar electronics in the form of wires and a few scratch built boxes. A sakatsu turned aerial and PE mounting plate were placed just behind the front right suspension uprights. The tail light was painted and some BMF was used as the backing behind the lens. The engine mounts were made from thin needles and some perfect parts PE and were given a slight heat treatment. The throttle details were added on the right side of the engine and made mostly from MCG PE with a MCG return spring and the odd scratch piece. The suspension anti roll bar was made from some thin styrene, PE, and needles. And finally the centres of the wheel nuts were drilled out to look a bit more realistic. Now I just have to finish off the bodywork.


http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/scudera1/IMG_6517_edited.jpg

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Here are some pics with the rear wing taped together and roughly sitting in place. The surfaces still need a few more clear coats and polishing. I will probably also redo the CF on the end plates as the finish is not as good as I would like.


http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/scudera1/IMG_6537_edited-1.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/scudera1/IMG_6546_edited.jpg

Holy cow! You're doing a fabulous job Scuderia.
Can't wait to see the finished product!

This continues to be completely STUNNING!

Sweet! I lovet these older F1 cars.. anyway without the body on.. I think the chasis are so sexy!
Keep it up!

The surfaces still need a few more clear coats and polishing. I will probably also redo the CF on the end plates as the finish is not as good as I would like.

Yeap, looks really horrible!!!! :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

Good to see you're still on this:-) Keep 'em coming...
Nice job as usual!

very VERY nice!!!

Very nice job.
How did paint the fine print on the valve covers?

Sorry about not replying sooner, however, I have been away.
The raised rectangular section was covered in bare metal foil and burnished down with a tooth pick over the lettering. The valve covers were then painted and left to dry. once dry 12000 grit micromesh on a polishing block was used gently sand the black paint off the top of the lettering and reveal the BMF underneath.