1/20 Tamiya Lotus Honda 99T + S27 Transkit

[Ąɥrton]

Hello there!

After some years off I'm back to the hobby. Here's Ayrton Senna's Lotus 99T, the Studio 27 transkit gives you two options, Monaco or Detroit. I chose the latter since it features a bigger rear wing, thus making the differences with an OOB more evident.



Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the transkit prior to construction, it comes with PE and white metal parts. The rear wing is all metal, new turbo intakes, dashboard cover, some reservoirs that go between engine and gearbox, brake fluid cylinders, TV camera (for Nakajima version) front wing end plates, radiators two pitot-like antennas (don't know what they are exactly). I scratch built bits and pieces according to reference pics.



In retrospective, I think I should have used some guitar wire for the mirrors, but oh well.










Cowl

Since the new turbo intakes go a bit further ahead than in the original model new openings were needed. Also holes for the antenna and a new metal part provided by S27, finally small radiator covers made with thin plastic.





Paint: Two coats of Tamiya primer, two coats of TS-26, three coats of TS-34 Camel Yellow and three coats of TS-13 Clear.
Decals are Hi-Tech from Museum Collection.


Interior



I used different Carbon Fiber decal brands in an effort to make the model a bit more eye-catching. CF was mostly used on the tub, turbo and brake intakes, not on the floor this time. I also used a very thin kevlar decal on the front wing end plates. All plastic moulded bolts were sanded off and replaced with PE washers.

You may be able to see some dashboard switches in the second picture, as well as some scratch built parts around the roll bar like kill switch, antenna, some connectors, etc. Sorry, I tried to get closer pics but this is the closer I can get with my current camera.





I scratch built the reservoirs placed on the side pods, also added radiator plumbing as well as wiring all over the place. Going by reference pics, the radiator intakes had so be extended a bit. All I used to do this was thin plastic sheet for the black pieces and a can of Pepsi for the aluminum parts. All electronic boxes were cut off the original part and redone with plastic.








Engine/Transmission

I wanted to have a fair amount of wires and hoses but without exaggerating. I just tried to give that 'busy' feel to the engine/gearbox. If you have seen the Tamiya Lotus before, you'll notice the new exhaust configuration, these parts also come int he S27 transkit so the floor required some minor work in order to fit them.









Finally a picture of two pieces that go from the gearbox to the floor, one on each side. I'm showing this one because it was my first attempt at soldering and I'm quite pleased with the result. May not seem as much but those little pieces in particular made me very happy, heh.





----

I hope you liked it, comments/questions are welcome of course. If you didn't like it, I encourage you to comment as well but be nice, I'm a newbie around here.

Thanks!

[rmedtr6]

Looks beautiful!!!!!!!! SWEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

[stevenoble]

Wow,that's very impressive stuff.I love the picture where you show the cockpit and you have used the different weave carbon fibre around the cockpit lip.That really adds to the realism as do all the little touches like the yellow bands on the plug wires.How did you find the Hi-Tech decals? I've just tried them on my McLaren build and was far from impressed.I just couldn't get the carrier film off cleanly without leaving some of the decal behind or residue from the carrier film soiling my paint finish.What did you make of them overall?

[robrex]

Wow! That looks really impressive!
Great photo presentation too!

[gionc]

There's another whole world under those monocoque! Impressive.

[Veyron]

Stellar build!

[Ąɥrton]

Wow, thanks guys!

Gotta tell ya, it's quite intimidating to 'put yourself' out there after seeing so many modeling masters around, but I really appreciate your kind comments.

---

Originally Posted by stevenoble

How did you find the Hi-Tech decals? I've just tried them on my McLaren build and was far from impressed.I just couldn't get the carrier film off cleanly without leaving some of the decal behind or residue from the carrier film soiling my paint finish.What did you make of them overall?

Just read your WIP thread, wow! So sorry about the paint mishap though, but it's looking awesome!


I've worked with both S27 and MC hi-tech decals in the past and have never had the residue problems you mentioned. What I learned (by screwing up) was that I didn't need to leave the decals on with the carrier film as long as suggested my the makers.

What I do now is start decaling, say by the nose and work my way to the back of the body, warm water, microset/sol, the usual stuff.

Once I'm done placing decals I start to peel off the carrier film in the same order they were applied, carefully rising with an 11 blade a corner and then slowly peeling it off with tweezers. It's more common that very fine lines come off like the right DeLonghi. In that case I stopped peeling and added more water and continued peeling off the remaining decals.

In the end some of it did come off with the carrier film but I retouched it with some blue paint.

Once finished I left the cowl alone for about a week inside a container to let the decals set and fully dry.

One thing I can think off in your case is that maybe the decals had some sort of weird reaction with the paint brand? If you are planning on using hi-tech again and end up with decal glue residue, after a week or so you could try washing the parts with some soap. As far as I know the decal won't come off at that point and maybe you can get rid of it.

Hope that helps.

[dmacb]

Fantastic detailing

[DVST8R]

Damn man, thats puts my one to shame. Fantastic car.

[billypee]

Excellent model. Great attention to detail and a very good subject. You photos are first class too.

Kind regards,
Bill

[godfather23]

First I thought...mmmh...another F1-Build, but after the cover went off the car, my head crashed on to the desk. Great model...all these wires and the detail painting. Amazing job and a little jealousy over here on my side!

[DerXL]

Well, there's not much more I can say, because all the others have said it allready.
That is one very impressive build.

At first I thought like godfather, but indeed when the cowling came off... Incredible. It's like watching reference pictures of the car. It's that good in my opinion.

For a build after some time off (how long ?) this endresult is, imo, even more impressive.

Congratulations and I hope we'll be seeing more of your work soon !

[Dave5.0]

That is @$#%#en sweet, awesome detail and execution!

[SeanyG]

not alot more can be said, truly excellent work. Welcome back to the hobby, will look forward to seeing your next project, which by the way is what?

nice one mate, Sean

______________________________

http://www.scalereproductions.co.uk
______________________________

[davesans]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

What eles can be said