Tamiya McLaren Mercedes MP4/13 no.8

[KevHw]

Hi everyone,

This is my first F1 build. Saw the box in my LHS and kinda just wanted to buy it right away. As far as I'm aware, I can't find any other threads on this car, so reference pics were a little hard to come by. Wanted to start this thread earlier but was stopped in my tracks when I couldn't get any paint.















SMS Carbon Fibre 1/20 High-def decals.







MFH Seat Belt Set.


Going for Mika Hakkinen's car.







Have already pretty much almost completed this, but can't upload to my photobucket right now. More recent pics hopefully at the weekend. Still needs a coat of clear + wing mirrors. Using Crazy Modeler West decals. Personally, I wouldn't use these again, as one of them was slightly too big. I think you get more with the other one (Studio 27 I think).

[stevenoble]

Good start on a nice model.Very clean job on the engine so far and those seat belts look terrific!!

[klutz_100]

A very promising start to this one
Looking forward to seeing more.

[KevHw]

Thanks for the kind words klutz & steve.

Managed to upload them to photobucket now. I thought I took more pics in the building phase, but evidently not, so I'll try and explain what I've done.

-Firstly, puttied up the gaps in the exhaust you can see from the previous pics.
-Engine received black wash to bring out some details. Also painted bolt heads black. CF decalled the electronics on the engine & Klear coated the valve cover decal.
-Luckily came across an empty cigarette packet off a friend so tried using the foil as heat shielding for my first time. Template created with masking tape, cut onto foil, sealed down with Klear underneath and around the edges. Seemed strong enough to hold it down.
-Heat stained exhaust with Tamiya weathering set.
-All suspension arms were covered in SMS Carbon Fibre 1/20 High-def decals and then dipped into Klear.
-Inside of the vertical wings on the rear spolier were also covered in cf decal.





Had to trim the West logo on the front nose slightly as it was too big. It should (according to my reference photos) sit perfectly on top. But I had to cut off the "W" and squash it tighter to try and make the whole thing sit on top as much as possible. Still ends up curving down onto the side a tad, but better than before.


Had a slight tear on the front decal and some minor silver overspray on the front wing from me being stupid with the airbrush.


Custom mixed the MS-5 I've been looking for (some of you might remember me constantly ranting about the availability of paints). This was what had held me back from progress as I was waiting for my airbrush to arrive.

So once my Zero Paints McLaren West paints arrived, I mixed the "Brilliant Black" with Tamiya Gun Metal decanted from the can. Don't know the ratios as I only did it by eye until I thought the colour was a good enough match. I personally think it came out great . Silver parts were sprayed with the other supplied Zero paint "Sparkling Silver".


You can see the slight colour variation on the side barges as the bottom line is meant to be black, and the top section my mixed colour. It's kinda hard to photo and I was in a rush.




Tyres look shiny because of the glue from the tyre decal paste.

Forgot to take some photos of it with the wheels on . Still need to apply the final coats of clear onto it though. I first tried using Zero Paints clear coat but that just appears to be a dull finish. Also, I think it might be because I had it on too high an airflow, but the clear must've dried before settling and I've got some small areas covered in a white dust/powder. So I'll just stick to can spraying for the final clear.

Let me know what you all think . Oh and I'll try and get a good photo of the interior too coz the seatbelts look nice inside

[klutz_100]

Looks very nice and clean
I can't see the issues with clear or color that you mention, but I'll believe you

Maybe you want to think covering the tires with a satin or matte clear to even thing out?

[KevHw]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Looks very nice and clean
I can't see the issues with clear or color that you mention, but I'll believe you

Maybe you want to think covering the tires with a satin or matte clear to even thing out?

Thanks. There aren't really any problems with the colour, just that it's hard to show what the "replacement MS-5" looks like. Some of my reference photos have it looking all black, others more of a slightly darker shade of Metallic Grey. I think mine was about 2:1 - Brilliant Black:Metallic Grey.

Ye, I just need to buy some matte coat for the tyres .

[billypee]

Nice build. I can't believe I missed this first time. I have the original release of this model in my stash---with some nice PP and S27 hardware Seeing your build has pushed it further up my order of building list.

Cheers,
Bill

[davezilla]

Looks like you did a fantastic job. Your custom mix of the metallic gray looks dead on. I too have two of the original release kits to build. I might try your color mix.

One suggestion however. If you ever rebuild this kit, it would be a good idea to join the two halves of the moncoque first before painting so that you may fill in the seam. You can cut the bottom out so you can slide the seat in from the bottom.

Don't know why Tamiya made the monocoque in 2 parts for some kits when before they have made perfectly fine one-piece monocoques.

[KevHw]

Thanks guys for the kind comments. I wouldn't trust what I said about 2:1, it's a rough memory of what I did...I really only just mixed it by eye and was really proud of the results (love that possibility with airbrushes now). Fitting the seat was a nightmare too; first attempts at dry-fitting it, I kept putting it in at an angle.

Also hard to mask off the "interior" and then putty and paint the monocoque. I didn't really want to submerge my cf decals on the seat when I wet-sanded it. Definitely will look into possibilities of fitting it in from below next time though, thanks for that tip, but it's such a tight squeeze!

Can't wait to see what you accomplish with your model, billypee...sounds exciting.

Hopefully will have completed pics up at weekend.

[Rocat]

looks very good from here..I saved the pics for future reference :-)

[JuanPollo]

That's some nice work you've done, nice n clean

[Shunter]

Very clean work, nice work so far.

[KevHw]

Originally Posted by Rocat

looks very good from here..I saved the pics for future reference :-)

Thanks Rocat, I find that a massive compliment...I'm very flattered.

I've been having some internet problems and I can't upload pics to my photobucket account from my laptop. So I'll post up the completed photos/thread on weds.

Before that though, I'd like to ask a mini-poll...what can I do about the ill-fitting body? It's fine on the left but the right hand side keeps popping up, dunno what's propping it. I have thought about just glueing it down but then I'll loose the ability to see the engine etc. I guess I ultimately don't mind too much (as with building bikes) but the advantage is that with bikes I can easily take the fairings off. Can anyone suggest some kind of display setup maybe? Or should I just glue it down? Just wanted to hear what the experienced f1 builders suggest . Thanks

[billypee]

If it were me, I would just try and get it to fit as well as possible, and display it with the best side facing out.

I would not glue it, as you have a nice interior. If the fit is so bad you cannot live with displaying it with the cowling on, you could make a little trestle table and pop the cowling on that. Alternatively, you could keep the cowling somewhere safe and display the car without it.

If you want to keep the cowling on but get a better fit (without glue), then you might be able to pin it in place with some thin copper wire... i.e. drill aligned 0.4mm holes in the cowling and undertray and glue some wire in ONE piece and just force the wire in the other which should hold... if you haven't done this before, try it on some sprue first!

[KevHw]

Thanks billypee for that tip. Didn't think of using a wire as a pin/latch to hold it down. You've made me consider if the fit is really that bad. In the following final completed pics, you can see for yourself just how much it is...only about 2mm raised on the right hand side. I've decided it's not really worth the trouble and it's hard to tell from just looking at my display cabinet. Will definitely keep it in mind though if this problem arises in the future.

Completed pics:
Just a different angle showing off detail in the heat shielding texture and cf on rear arms.




Seatbelts look fantastic. That MFH set is great . This photo also shows the colour off nicely. It's a tiny bit darker in real life, but obviously depends if direct sunlight is on it and other things etc. Oh and you can see the gap...








Was thinking of cf'ing the brakes too but thought "ah screw it" .




Nothing is wrong with the front camber, the wheels are just a loose fit and it moved when I was taking the pics.


Nothing really too new from the other photos, sorry. Just had to clear the body and add the wing mirrors & antenae to it. Would've loved to be able to show it off better with some outdoor shots, but I can't yet find a location where it wouldn't look like just some model on the ground. Working on that though .

Thanks to all those who gave such positive feedback and such handy tips, and even to those who came to see but said nothing . I love learning so much from every kit I build and the incredible feedback from this forum is one of the things that make it that much more fun for me.

I kinda enjoyed building this kit, as my first F1...it's nice and simple and looks pretty good even OOB and with a few detail-up parts, I think is a great addition to any collection. In my opinion, looks the best with the "West" decals on it. It's a shame there appears to be no one else who built it on these forums though. Is it not that popular a kit? Can't wait to see what this looks like after you've done your thing to it, billypee, with the detail-up parts.