Revell Mclaren Mercedes MP4/12 restoration

[aluminiumaz]

First off, Hello to everyone! I accidently stumbled accross this forum last month and suddenly felt the need to start modeling again after a 10 year break. I actually recently made an attempt at a 2005 mclaren as a test run, to see how badly I would make it, I made lots of mistakes as expected, but learned a lot too. I then went on an F1 kit spending spree before rediscovering a kit I attempted as a kid to make 10 years ago! It was a very badly half finished 1997 Mclaren, brush painted, un decaled (phew!) and really thrown together in about a day. So I put my Tamiya mp4/4 that I'd just started to one side, and began this restoration project of this kit that has been so neglected over the last decade, so here goes.

I started by stripping the model down to it's component parts.

[aluminiumaz]

I then had a moment of madness and decided to cut off the nose section and rear cowling, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[aluminiumaz]

Here is the engine block on the floor of the car, I've started to do some filling and sanding here, I'm starting to get into this now

[aluminiumaz]

I was never intending this to be a big project, but I feel quite inspired. I found some reference photos and started playing around with bits of card and tape to see (very roughly) what the engine bay might look like if I built an air intake thing and radiator boxes. Once again I am just testing ideas out here, I'm not to fussed about the scale with these bits of card.

[taliesen]

Definitely off to a running start! When I got back into the hobby after a long break, I pitched my old in process stuff - so I'm interested to follow and see if I made a mistake in doing so!

A small suggestion for posting - you can put more than one image in a single post, will make it a bit easier on you and on the readers.

[AustinMartin]

Great job!

[gasdriverca]

You should put the kit in a sandwichbag and spray some Mr. Muscle on the kit to strip off the old paint then brush off the excess with a toothbrush,looks good though and i love doing restoration jobs myself but its normally on big trucks....keep the inspiration going! oh and you won't lose the detail.