I can't believe I got this McLaren kit...!

[Captain Mark]

During my six year break from modelling, the Tamiya 1/20 McLaren MP4/13 came and went (discontinued)... NOT HAPPY! I must say that I never thought I'd get it. But it finally occured to me to check on ebay... and lo and behold, there were two available!

I snapped this one up for the measley sum of AUS$40.00 including postage - Bargain!

Anyway, I'm basically just really happy to get my hands on one of these kits... so I'm posting a few pics (pre-built) of what I got.

Oh, and I only just realised it has a separate nose cone! I'm just drooling over the detail possibilities already.











If anyone has built this kit before, I'd love to hear/see any tips, problems or pics you might have.

Cheers,
M

[sjelic]

Nice catch, you might check this out.
http://www.scaleracecars.com/Merchan...=&Store_Code=S
http://www.scaleracecars.com/Merchan...=&Store_Code=S
http://www.scaleracecars.com/Merchan...=&Store_Code=S
http://www.scaleracecars.com/Merchan...=&Store_Code=S

[aeroace]

i have got four of it, three normal kits and one special edition(japan gp) i found that Revell will release MP4\19B this year.hope change to MP4\20...

[Spitfire7]

Actually I thought this kit was fairly easy to find. The one you have to look out for is Tamiya's Japanese GP MP4/13. Why? Because it was a limited release kit sold only in Japn including 'West' tobacco decals and a different wing configuration. I've seen it on eBay a few times.

http://www.tamiya.com/japan/products...en/mclaren.htm

[exhaust smoke]

Well done getting hold of one. They are discontinued, but as the others said, not that difficult to get hold of. I have a few of these kits, including 2 of the Japanese only limited editions. I am currently building Mika Hakkinen's orange test variant.

In terms of problems with build, there aren't any, as this is one of Tamiya's finest releases. The only one issue (design related) was why Tamiya decided to have the cocpit as two separate halves. In an article in Tamiya Model Magazine I have read in the past, the reviewer built the two halves first and modified the bottom to accept the seat/cockpit. This allows the joins to be filled before painting and the decals to be applied more evenly. I have adopted this method for my test livery build. It is not too hard and provides a much more pleasing finish.

[Captain Mark]

Thanks for the links guys!

Exhaust Smoke: cheers for the build tip, I'll definitely keep it in mind. I can honestly say there's no way I'll be painting the cockpit before putting the two halves together, so that modification sounds like a must.

[exhaust smoke]

Exhaust Smoke: cheers for the build tip, I'll definitely keep it in mind. I can honestly say there's no way I'll be painting the cockpit before putting the two halves together, so that modification sounds like a must.[/quote]

I will try and dig out some photos I took of how I did this and post them. Please bear with me...

[Captain Mark]

Pictures would be great! No rush though, I've got another four F1 kits to complete before I tackle the McLaren. Good idea to post any pics here rather than email them though, so others can benefit from your experience.

Oh, and I think you're missing some tags on your quote in the message above.

[exhaust smoke]

Originally Posted by Captain Mark

Pictures would be great! No rush though, I've got another four F1 kits to complete before I tackle the McLaren. Good idea to post any pics here rather than email them though, so others can benefit from your experience.

Oh, and I think you're missing some tags on your quote in the message above.

I will post the pics on this thread.

I only realised the tags when I submitted the quote Hope it works this time.

[hrmodeler]

That I wanted too, but how you said, it's hard to find it.

[Big Kahuna]

Mark,
Here is what I have done so far!
Not finished yet!(The story of my life!)
It's a fantastic KIt BTW. Let me know if you want to see some more and some reference pics.
Here's are some pics. I hope you dopn't mind me posting these.

Cheers
Nens

[exhaust smoke]

Here is a picture of the area of the bottom (marked out in black pen) that is needed to be cut away in order to fit the cockpit/seat.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Captain Mark]

Excellent reference pics - thankyou! Although I must admit the pics are perhaps even a bit too big which is making it harder to view them properly. Just a tip for next time. Not hard for me to resize them on the harddrive though.

I might hit you up for some more when I finally get around to this build.
Oh, and how about your own progress thread??? I'm sure there's lots of us here interested to see it, especially since there's not a lot of F1 kits being shown.

Thanks again!

[robrex]

Nice work so far!

[Captain Mark]

Hey... I didn't realise at first there were pic posts from two different people! Great work by both of you guys!