Chevron B35 F2 / Atlantic - 1:43 Tenariv

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello again!

Something different for this project, both in scale and subject matter. This is a 1:43 Tenariv kit of a 1976 Chevron B35 Formula 2 car. Age of kit is unknown! I’ve actually had this kit since the autumn of 2021 – the owner was racing a similar car at the time and asked me to put it together. I spent a couple of evenings going through the parts and doing some cleaning-up, and made a sizeable list of things I felt could be improved or detailed, but as the 956 was in ‘full-steam-ahead’ mode at the time I didn’t continue with the Chevron. For this I can only apologise – sorry, CW!

Before I go any further, I should also apologise in advance to all of you who regularly build in 1:43 – there’s bound to be some stuff here that isn’t ‘correct’, but I’ll be applying my normal Scratchbuilt approach, just in a smaller scale!

So, it’s a white-metal kit from Tenariv, no photo-etch parts, a single A4 page of instructions, a sheet of Cartograf decals, and four rubber tyres:





I’ll be building the kit as a B34 Formula Atlantic, to represent a car that we rebuilt at work around 16 years ago. It was one of three cars brought into the UK from Canada – the other two went elsewhere, and this particular car stayed with us. This was at an early shake-down run:



..and this is what I’ll be working towards:



First thoughts? After working at 1:8 scale for so long, anything in 1:43 is really small! The kit is missing the main roll-hoop, but I can re-make that easily enough. There’s a small chip out of the very front edge of the splitter, but this is fixable with some gentle re-shaping. The quality of the main body section seems good to me (not that I have much experience with white-metal kits) and the engine/gearbox are nicely detailed. The suspension parts are best described as ‘fragile’, though! A dry fit of the main parts suggests it should all go together well enough, but even in 2021 I was thinking that it would benefit from some extra drilling and pinning.

The plan is to build the kit with a few changes – swap the F2-spec inlet airbox for twin-carbs and a foam filter, add a silencer to the tailpipe, add a bit of extra detail in the cockpit, and paint in blue and orange to suit.

First job was to add some detail to the seat – the kit part is a simple plain shell, so I made some holes and added a set of belts made from 0.25mm styrene strip. I also need to add a couple of small adjuster buckles to the main shoulder straps. To add a little extra colour to the cockpit I also made a small fire-bottle which will be placed just ahead of the seat under the dashboard:



Next job was to work on the main body and lower cockpit pieces. I spent some time cleaning-up the main body back in 2021 – a few small lines and marks but no major issues – and I was able to re-shape the edge of the splitter to eliminate the small chip mentioned earlier. I added some styrene strip either side side of the ‘tub’ to give it some extra width (which I’ll be using later – I want to add a small filler cap on the inside). Thinking ahead, I glued a small M2 nut into the bottom of the cockpit (with 1.5mm styrene reinforcement), so I can use this to secure the model to a base when complete:





The cockpit sides were quite thick, so to make it easier to fit the main roll-hoop stays I’ve attacked the inside surfaces with a couple of small cutters, abrasive cloth, etc:



The roll-hoop was bent from the 1.6mm plastic-coated rod I’ve used a lot on other projects; I drilled out the kit holes to suit and it plugs in quite nicely, The stays will go forward and pin into two holes in the top of the tub.

Wing mirrors had their kit mounting studs removed and replaced with proper pins. A little filler required afterwards on the underside as the holes broke through, but the pins are still good:



Moving into the engine bay, the first thing to change was the air inlet. The engine in the kit appears to be a BMW, whereas the one in the Atlantic is a Ford – fortunately the exhaust and inlet are on the same sides (so at least I don’t have to remake a set of 1:43 primaries), but I definitely wanted to replace the F2-spec inlet. The BMW head is a slightly different shape to the Ford, so the first step was to file this back to vertical, re-drill a couple of mounting holes, and then make an air-filter and carb detailing to suit:



In reality the air-filter sits quite flush to the bodywork and you don’t see anything of the detail behind, but I’ve left it a little long so you’ll just get a glimpse of the carbs disappearing under the bodywork.

The exhaust is cast as a single piece with a couple of holes ready to be drilled-out to pin it onto the block. Rather than leaving it with the plain 2mm tailipe as per the kit, I’ve made a silencer from 1/8” styrene, 2mm and 4mm ali:



The rear wing as supplied relies on a single stud to locate into a shallow hole on the end of the gearbox end-cover, so that was immediately filed away and replaced with a proper pin. The front end of the wing post is tucked under the back end of the engine cover, so I decided to make use of that to add a second pin. I shaped a small piece of 3mm thick styrene to fit into the underside of the tail, then drilled into this, and added a matching hole in the front of the wing post

While I was drilling the wing parts I added two pairs of holes into the top of the post and the underside of the mainplane, so that should give a solid joint when assembled.



Last job tackled at the weekend was starting to replace the two side frames that run back from the cockpit to the gearbox. The kit parts are fragile, but more critically don’t appear to actually locate or attach to anything! So, something else to change. I bent the lower frame from 0.8mm brass rod as a single piece, with two holes drilled into the back of the cockpit – the middle of the frame loops under the gearbox. The diagonals are also drilled into the back of the cockpit, but will be pinned into the bottom of the gearbox on each side – here’s the right-hand side:



The left-hand side will not be quite so simple, as I suspect the exhaust will get in the way. No problem – I’ll just put a kink into the diagonal. There’s a few other little details I’d like to add before I start working on the suspension – there should be a little oil cooler on the right, and an oil catch-tank on the left by the exhaust bracket. I might also be able to add the back end of the main oil-tank on the left. I’d like to add some wiring and pipework if I can, but this is going to be a struggle in 1:43 and possibly a short-cut to madness! We’ll see – I’ve got some small diameter wire and lead-wire, so maybe I can find something suitable that doesn’t look out of scale.

So that’s where I am after a week’s worth of work. I don’t anticipate that this build will take multiple years (well, not if you don’t include the fact I’ve had it for a while) but I can easily see another couple of weeks fiddling around with the suspension and other detailing, then painting, then final assembly. Aim to have it finished for the end of August? I think that could be possible…

More next time!

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello again!

My focus for the last week or so has been getting the first batch of parts prepped and painted - here's a selection:



Paint is a mix of Tamiya grey primer aerosol, then airbrushed Tamiya acrylics, with some Citadel metallics drybrushed to try to get a bit of depth.



The seat is Tamiya semi-gloss black with the belts picked out in Citadel Ultramarine Blue. I'd like to try to do a bit of highlighting on the edges before final assembly. The rear wing (and all the other orange parts) is Tamiya Orange over a Lemon Yellow basecoat.



The main body has had some minor modifications - the mounting 'ears' for the rear upper radius rods have been removed, and I've enlarged the openings for where the rest of the front and rear suspension are mounted. Paint is white primer, then a couple of coats of Tamiya Royal Blue, and - so far - a single coat of Tamiya Blue:



The first coat of regular Blue went on this morning, so I'll probably leave that until tomorrow before giving it a light rub-over with micromesh and spraying another coat.

At the weekend I worked through the suspension parts - some of the kit parts have been used (eg. the lower radius rod piece), some have been re-made in 0.8mm or 1mm brass rod (the upper radius rods, rear roll-bar, etc). I've added some tiny damper spring collars from 2.3mm tube, and adjusted the angles of the dampers to line-up better with the main suspension. The front uprights are mounted as a single piece on the lower wishbones, so I've added a connecting piece of rod (to represent the steering arms) which will give them a little more strength. A poor photo, but you hopefully get the idea:



It's coming along. Trying to get decent photos of these 1:43 parts feels trickier than actually making the parts - I promise it looks better in real life! I'll continue touching-up the paintwork on the suspension, etc, and hopefully it won't be too long before I can start assembly. I've also recently bought a can of Mr Hobby Gloss topcoat (rather than the Semi-Gloss I used on the 956) so that's ready for when I'm happy with the blue and orange paintwork. I need to get a base / display box sorted out too.

That's all for now,

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Making progress...

I sprayed the main body with two more coats of Tamiya X-4 Blue (mircomeshing between coats), then before giving it a final light coat I applied a thin black wash to the panel gaps and the radiator exit ducts to improve the contrast. It's not obvious on the photo, but I promise it's there!



Happy with this, I gave the orange and blue bodywork a coat of Mr Hobby Gloss varnish, and while deciding what to do about decals I made a start on assembling the cockpit:



My initial thoughts about applying decals were to leave the car bare - I did some searches on the internet and was struggling to find any potential sources in the UK. 1:43 race-number decals appear to be hard to find (in the UK, anyway)? However, I managed to find a suitable sheet of small-scale white numbers at modelworks.co.uk, and also a sheet of battery cut-offs and fire extinguisher warnings:



Other than the fact that the extinguisher 'E' was ridiculously small, I didn't really have any problems applying these to the model - very pleased with the result. If I'm really honest I'd have to say the numbers are a fraction too big - maybe 1.5mm smaller would be perfect - but it's better with the decals than without:



After the decals I sprayed another coat of the Gloss varnish, then started adding some of the detail parts. The rear suspension mounts are scratch-built, as is the top radius rods / top link combination. The RH mirror went on perfectly, but the LH is fighting me - partly my fault because of how I re-pinned it - but I think I've got it worried now! Once this is fitted I can add the steering wheel. In the engine bay I've started adding a mounting for the rear anti-rollbar to the underside of the bodywork, as the original kit rollbar was incorporated into the upper suspension piece. I'm hoping I can get the engine and gearbox fitted later this week, then the rest of the rear suspension, then the front suspension. Just need to sort out a display box and an M2 bolt to fix it in place...

All the best,

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Nearly there, I think!

The last couple of weeks have been - compared to my normally quiet life - fairly chaotic and disrupted. Model-making hasn't always been top of my list of priorities recently, but I'm feeling now that things are falling into place...

I've had a good few days on the Chevron, and have been busy assembling the front and rear suspension, fitting the wing to the gearbox, etc. The left-hand mirror went on, and the steering wheel was added. The front upper wishbones were scratchbuilt from brass rod and pinned into place, but the lower wishbones and uprights are a single piece from the kit. I added some thin styrene around the lower wishbone piece to allow it to move slightly from side to side, so I could do a final adjustment once the bodywork was attached to the tub.



The springs and dampers were a little fiddly to put together, but look okay once they're in place. The fronts are a little long, but I can live with that.

My original idea was to fit the rear wing after the engine and gearbox was in place, with a horizontal pin locking it to the underside of the main body. In practice it was easier to fit the wing to the gearbox first, pinning it vertically, and relying on other ways to secure the drivetrain.

In this second photo I've got the drivetrain fitted, and the next step is to mate the bodywork to the tub:



After that, it'll be time for the final stages: fit the roll-hoop and forward stays into the cockpit, paint and fit the rear uprights and lower suspension, then paint and fit the wheels and tyres...and that should be it. I've got a display box to put it in, too - just need the M2 bolt to hold it! The wheels are being painted right now, so I'm aiming to have it fully assembled (if not mounted in the box) by the end of this week. That would allow me to give my full attention to the next 1/8 project, from this weekend...!

SB

[ScratchBuilt]

Hello again,

The Chevron is now complete! It's actually been complete for a couple of weeks, but I waited until this last weekend to get some good light to take some photos...

The final stages were relatively straight-forward. Once I'd got the two halves of the main body joined together, all that was left was to fit the rear uprights and the wheels. I added some pins to the wheels to improve the joints, and some thin spacers to get a slightly better look - I think the kit tyres aren't quite as wide as they should be. You can't see it in the photos, but I added some photo-etched four-spoke wheel centre detailing (from an old 'Provence Moulage' Van Diemen kit) to the rear wheels, as these were simply bored-out in the kit.

The last job was to add some droplinks to the rear anti-roll bar, and the model was complete.

I bought a suitable Trumpeter display case online, then added a balsa block to lift the model into the middle. It also provides a nice background, as the dark blue tended to make it blend into the black of the base. I ended up buying a one metre length of M2 studding in order to secure the model in place - any bolts I could find were all too short! No problem - I'm sure what's left over will come in useful on another project.

As well as the M2 studding going all the way through, I also added a plate to the underside to support the model, and a pin to stop it swivelling about the stud. A bit of PVA glue, and it was all secure:













...and that's about it. Not my normal kind of project, but I'd like to think I've done it justice. It was nice to be able to add some of the details from the full-size car we rebuilt, rather than just building it out-of-the-box. I hope to be able to deliver it to the owner in mid-October, at our last race-meeting of the season.

All the best,

Scratchbuilt.