BRM P83, Model Factory Hiro, 1/20

It's time to build something special again...

If you've read my Eagle-Weslake WIP you may have noticed that I'm especially fond of the 67 F1 season - the reason for this is simple: for 10 years I raced the racing simulation Grand Prix Legends in several online leagues, and this game is about the 67 season.

The Eagle was my favourite car, but the car I have the 2nd most races with is the BRM - also called "Bathtub" because of the handling. In my favourite league I drove it for some years, but unfortunately I never won a race with the BRM in that series. We had handicap rules; the slower drivers got the fastest cars, and the fast drivers the slowest cars. I became fast enough to drive the slowest car, the BRM, but I had strong teammates, like Andy Wilke (a known name in the online racing scene), so I was his "Rubens" most of the time. But 2nd behind him ist not bad either, and it always was fun, so of course I had to get this kit.

As usual I started with the engine - the first pic shows the craziness (in a positive sense) of MFH... crankshafts, pistons... all hidden when you glue it together, but it's there ;)
I glued the block together, polished it and treated it with a washing to get a slightly used, realistic look.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip01.jpg

Gotta love mfh. I want the F-40 LM, but, it's just to far out of my price range.

Have you visited Grand Prix Legends lately? F2 mod is great. Very high texture cockpits (F1 - Lotus & Eagle) and German tracks becoming available.

The wash on the engine turned out great.

I just love these MFH kits ! I've just recently finished building their Ferrari 801, not for the faint hearted but alot of fun and very rewarding when finished. I'll be watching your build keenly!

Sean

Looks very good Marco!

Greg: I had my last GPL race more than a year ago - I drove it for 10 years, did more than 600 league races, but after all that time the buzz was gone. That rFactor 2 Beta is fun, with the old Spa in the rain, changing track conditions, etc...

They mixed up fuel and ignition lines in the instructions - I noticed that and added the ignition wires correctly. The fuel lines will be some fiddly work.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip02.jpg

More than an hour to add the fuel lines... on one side. There is only about 2mm space between fuel distributor and the trumpets... and you don't see that much of it ;)

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip03.jpg

love the mfh detail. nice work on the engine btw!

This pic is not a repeat - I did the other side of the engine today. MFH even included the belts on the fuel pumps.

Well, I also wanted to show a nicely painted nose (Zero Paints BRM), but I made a mistake while masking, so the orange stripe has a dent... I'll have to do this again *sigh*

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip04.jpg

Your engine is beautiful!

Great work!

Repairing the paintjob on the nose didn't work, so I stripped the colour and started new.

I also airbrushed some parts of the bodywork, I'll add some layers of clear before I add the decals. While we are talking about decals - the seat decals with the tartan don't look good. When I compare it with photos the brighter lines are either too bright or too big for the scale, it doesn't look realistic. I'll probably strip those parts too and just make a red seat.

I'm also unsure about that blue case on top of the engine - I have photos of this part in blue, so it's probably correct, but if I leave off the rear cowlingI think it will just not look good... the part was black or dark grey in other races, so maybe I'll repaint it - I can live with building not the Spa BRM but a BRM...

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip05.jpg

The nose job was a success and it's ready for a clear coat as preparation for the decals. And I couldn't resist fitting a couple of parts together... you see what I mean with the blue of the filter casing not fitting colourwise? ;)

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip06.jpg

the blue cylinder sticks out like a sore thumb. if it was up to me i'd recolor it to something less er, vibrant :D

I still haven't decided about the filter colour, but the clear on the bodywork has dried, so I'll start adding the decals.
The dry-fit now looks like BRM, I think.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip07.jpg

Decals placed on the body, clearcoat time from tomorrow on.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip08.jpg

Your moving right a long looks good

The tartan decals were not really nice as I said, so I took the finest brush and tried to hold my hand steady - after 1.5 hours I got this (and aching hand and eye muscles) - it's not optimal, but I think I'll take it... or should I add more stripes?
I'll also add flat clear later.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip09.jpg

BTW: Compared to the Eagle I don't see those small prototyping steps, but some flash instead. One could think either they changed the process and clean the parts or they have two design teams, one works with prototyping, the other with a traditional method, I don't know.

I added some more stripes on the seat. The bodywork got enough Zero 1k clear on top - it's already shiny, but this weekend I'll give it a fine polish.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip10.jpg

I polished a lot today, but it's not yet done. So I just want to show you a little detail, that inexplicably is not included with the kit, but can't be left out ;)

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip11.jpg

I built the cockpit, the bodywork is polished and will be added tomorrow.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip12.jpg

I glued the cowling on, and I think this time the polished body looks really good, if I may say so ;)

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip13.jpg

I attached the front suspension - don't forget to drill the holes in the bodywork for the lower suspension arms, like I did...

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip14.jpg

I finished the cooler today, hard work to fit all the pipes at once... one strut broke, but I covered the spot where I glued it together under some pseudo duct tape (painted Tamiya masking tape). The nose still fits... barely, no space for error here...

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip15.jpg

The engine is attached to the chassis, gearbox and suspension are finshed, too - the colour on the exhausts just has to dry and then I can glue everything together. I repainted the oil filter: I mixed a bit grey in the blue, so it's not as flamboyant ;)
The most difficult task however will follow soon: cutting out the big windscreen...

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip16.jpg

This is looking fantastic. Beautiful work!

Looks Great Marco!!!

Really Nice!!!:):):)

nice work! the handbrushed tartan went real great as well :)

Thanks.
The wheels are not finished, but I just had to put them on for the look...

Not so ideal was, that the turned ends of the exhausts were a bit bigger than the exhaust pipes; I had to smoothen things out with a bit of putty.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip17.jpg

I cut out the windscreen (a step I could do without), attached the mirrors... and I think it looks finished... Thanks for watching, gallery pics will follow soon.

http://www.marcosaupe.de/images/wip/p83wip18.jpg

BTW: Not the next project, I'll do something plastic first, but soon... :)

http://www.marcosaupe.de/file/honda.jpg

Well done. A great addition to any '67 fan's collection.