McLaren F1 GTR WEST #30 – Le Mans 1996 – 10

[maqueteos]

I´m building the McLaren F1 GTR #30 that entered in the Le Mans 24h of 1996. It´s a 1/43 scale kit from Provence Moulage.

I started adjusting and preparing the body surface.

After adjusting and preparing the body, I gave a coat of Tamiya white primer followed by two very light coats of Racing White color from Number Five (ref. N5-B001).

When it had dried, I masked the white areas to paint red with Number Five paint (ref. N5-M012). As between the white and red areas will be placed a golden strip decal, the work of masking is quite easy, because any slight error between the two zones will be hidden with the decal on top.

Once dried the red paint and retired the masks, I applied a light coat of Zero Paints prediluted varnish, that will serve me as protection for other processes and avoid silvering on the decals.

And this is the result:

[stevenoble]

Nice work so far with the painting. Looking great..!!

[maqueteos]

I continue mounting the rear wing, which is difficult to adjust because the wing only touches in four little points of its brackets and the accuracy that must be taken in the assembly ... but with a little help, it has become perfect ...

The rear wing is made up of a centerpiece of white metal and four photoetched parts, two for the wing brackets and two for the side panels.

I start cutting the wing 1.5 mm, because comparing with the reference photos I felt it was too large. I attach the wing to the side panels, adjusting and align using the caliper.

Now comes the complicated, set the wing to the brackets, because the wing stands on its brackets in four very small points, so I should get a strong union, which supports the weight of the wing, with the difficulty of the alignment accuracy required.

I start measuring the distance between the points where the brackets will be placed in the chasis.



On a piece of resin, I make two cuts to the measured distance, where I align and temporarily set the wing brackets.



I also make two reference marks under the wing at the same distance.

[maqueteos]

Then apply epoxy on the brackets and drop the wing in place. It is easy thanks to the marks I did.



A few minutes later I clean the rests of epoxy with acetone and let it dry for a night.

The next day I take out the brackets from the resin piece with the help of acetone and the wing is finished…

[davesans]

Nice work on painting of the chassis and the rear wing

[maqueteos]

To detail the hood latches follow the same method that once employed Mr. Kamimura… I make it with wire of 0.1 mm and 0.4 mm tube. Before cutting the tube I fixed a piece of masking tape to get better handling and avoid losing the small pieces if it decide to “jump”.

I put the wire around a pin to form the ring and once formed the two “legs” of wire is passed into the tube. A drop of superglue on the end fixed it.





The safety locks of the wheel nuts are a photoengraved parts with a good detail.



Meanwhile came the Renaissance spare decals.

[maqueteos]

The headlamp vacform has been a headache...

Although the kit cames with two copies of vacforms, I couldn't to adapt successfully to the headlamps contour, so I made copies of the front of the car with resin, to build new vacforms. It adjusted without problems at this time...





I have started the decals work...

[bradfordian]

Your putting lots of effort in I hope the best for your end result.

good luck very nice work so far.

[davesans]

Very nice job on the vacuum formed head lamps

[maqueteos]

Thanks a lot for your coments.

These are the images of the decals placed...





I like this decoration for the McLaren F1 GTR.

[maqueteos]

Wheels are ready...

[maqueteos]

Redoing the roll cage...

[maqueteos]

Cockpit finished...

[maqueteos]

I’ve started the final mounting of this model placing some rivets from Top Studio…



And the side lights...

[davesans]

Nice work on the cockpit and adding the rivets to the chassis.