WIP: Tamiya 1/20 Tyrrell Yamaha 023

[billypee]

Hello everyone... firstly apologies for the gap in posts but I have finally some progress. On with the show...


As I mentioned in an earlier post, the original fabrication for the front suspension housing was too high and did not leave enough room for me to fit all the suspension details that you can see in this image from the FPM.

So I have removed that and started again, this time building the horizontal shelf lower and not tapering/bending it up towards the driver. In the following images (comparing to the first time around) you can see how this has been accomplished. You will also notice that I still have many hours of work to do in order to get all the surfaces square and smooth. However, it is a very big improvement over my first attempt.

Another issue to resolve was how the rear bulkhead meets the under-tray. Tamiya have moulded the bottom of the bulkhead to the undertray for reasons only known to themselves.

If you look at the following two images from FPM you will see that this is wrong and I decided that it needed to be fixed.

In order to fix the problem on the rear bulkhead I just used a styrene sheet, cut it to approximate size and then worked it to the correct shape with a file as you can see in the next image.

I also removed the unwanted moulding from the undertray and this test fit fine as you can see in the next image.

Moving onto the front suspesion, the lower members attach to moulded pins on part A19. However, because I have already attached A19 to the monocoque, I had to come up with a workaround. I removed the pins on A19, drilled out some holes, and pinned the lower suspension arms in place with some 0.8mm wire---the image shows a thinner gauge of wire because it is a dry fit

And, finally, just a couple of images showing the front suspension dry fitted and just how much more work there is to do on that area alone

Here's hoping the next update will be much sooner.

Cheers,
Bill

[Captain Mark]

Wow, you're going the whole hog on this one - I know it's a way off, but I can't wait to see some colour go down!
Keep up the great scratch building work Bill.

[billypee]

Thanks for the kind comments Mark. Yes, once you start going the extra yard on one element, you have to keep up the high standards. Also, with a publication as good as the FPM, there are no excuses.

Cheers,
Bill

P.S. I have ordered the S27 photo etch set; thanks for the heads up on that. Also, I have got purchased a carbon fibre kit so I will be able to make some parts out of real carbon fibre... the plan at the moment is to do this on the rear wing.

[stevenoble]

Some nice progress since your last update Bill.

[davesans]

Glad to see you back at it Bill nice update seems that you got a really good handle on what you want to do with the front of the mono looking forward to your next update

[SeanyG]

Billy,

the Tyrell is looking great, really, really nice prep work too. I bet your itching to start spraying the body. The colour scheme for the car is not the easyest either - bet you'll be glad when its done... well at least I would be! :-)

[Captain Mark]

Where did you get your CF kit from Bill???

[billypee]

Hi Mark,

I got it from carbonology.com. It is the student technology pack. Like I said, the scale is not right but it does allow you to have a go at the real thing for a very reasonable price.

Cheers,
Bill

[billypee]

Time for another update.

The monocoque has now been through putty and primer twice; it has improved a lot but will still need to go through the cycle at least one more time (see Image 1). Image 2 shows the front cover superimposed. I will need to add material around the edge of the cover in order to reduce the gap... the process of cutting this part out has clearly taken a good 1-2mm off its size. I haven’t decided whether to use putty or plastic to do this so I would welcome your suggestions.

Image 1: Front suspension area


Image 2: Front suspension cover

The good thing is that I now have plenty of room to add detail under the cover . The bad new is that I have very little to go on between the driver and the pushrods because all the photo references are covered . If anyone can tell me whether there was a single or dual spring system at the front, please let me know. From Image 3, I'd say single but it is far from conclusive!

Image 3: Front suspension (from Formula Perfect Manual)

Turning my attention to the side pods, the most obvious problem are the 3 vents that have been placed in the mould by Tamiya (see Image 4). At some point during the season, Tyrrell must have been having problems with the electronic boxes overheating and put some holes in. However, they are not on any of my reference pictures, so they will have to be filled in.

Image 4: Ebox ventilation


Image 5: No ventilation holes (Formula Perfect Manual)

Image 5 also tells the story of another problem, namely the curved black underneath area of the side pods. This has been omitted by Tamiya as shown in Image 6. Well, when I say omitted, it is missing from the sidepod but is incorporated into the undertray as shown in Image 7.

Image 6: Gap underneath the sidepods


Image 7: Undertray incorporating the bottom of the sidepod

Continuing the sidepod saga still further, there is also the problem of the thickness of the sidepod walls, as shown in Images 8 and 9. I will need to bulk out these walls considerably. I will also add some wire mesh on the inside of the sidepods as I have been saving an old kitchen sieve up for this very purpose

Image 8: Thick side pod walls (Formula Perfect Manual)


Image 9: A cavity needs creating to allow room for the electronics

The final note concerns the hole at the back of the bulkhead. There is some work required to smooth out the radius of the internal corners here and a hole needs to be made in the hole (if that makes sense?)

Thanks for your attention. Your reward is this Photoshoped image of my Jordan 191 that I have just got around to doing... enjoy.

[willster127]

Billy

Looking good, can't wait to see more. OK, onto the suspension deal, I don't think that this car had springs period, I am pretty sure that those cannisters that you see are the suspension. This car was in the active days and I think that those cannisters are small hydraulic actuators, computer controlled that levelled the car and pulled up the wheels when a bump was sensed. The large central can is probably some kind of accumulator to ensure that enough fluid was available for any actuations required. Thye may even be pneumatic as I do know that Tyrrell used an air operated gearshift, so, hydraulics may not even be part of the car. I will try and find out more as I know a guy who knows everything about these Tyrrell's, I'll see what he knows for you!

[Captain Mark]

Good work - and love the Jordan shot! I'll have to try doing that one of these days...

Not sure about the top cover on the nose. You could use putty, but it wouldn't stick very well and would most likely bump off easily. Personally I'd probably try using plastic card of similar thickness, glue it on and simply sand it back.

You could try remolding a new piece, but that's beyond my skills and I can't really comment on how to get started.

[Zurbert82]

Active suspension was banned after the 1993 season..

Keep up the good work, it's lookng excellent

[billypee]

Originally Posted by willster127

Looking good, can't wait to see more. OK, onto the suspension deal, I don't think that this car had springs period, I am pretty sure that those cannisters that you see are the suspension. This car was in the active days and I think that those cannisters are small hydraulic actuators, computer controlled that levelled the car and pulled up the wheels when a bump was sensed. The large central can is probably some kind of accumulator to ensure that enough fluid was available for any actuations required. Thye may even be pneumatic as I do know that Tyrrell used an air operated gearshift, so, hydraulics may not even be part of the car. I will try and find out more as I know a guy who knows everything about these Tyrrell's, I'll see what he knows for you!

Hi Willster, thanks for looking into this for me. Active suspension was seen in 1992-3 but was banned by the FIA in 1994, so this 1995 car won't have active suspension per se. According to Wikipedia "The chassis proved to be very mediocre, and the team's innovative "Hydrolink" suspension was rendered ineffective due to its deficiencies, eventually being removed at mid-season." As I am building the car from race 2 (Argentina) then I've clearly got "Hydrolink" suspension but I don't really know what that looks like. The Formula Perfect Manual confuses things because it shows 3 different types of rear suspension suggesting that the Tyrrell 023 went Passive->Hydrolink->Passive during the season.

Thanks again for your help (and your friends) with this,
Bill

[billypee]

Small update.



The wheels and tyres are now complete. Wheels were undercoated in grey and topped with 2 coats of Halford Satin Black Spray paint. Then used Tamiya's weathering kit to add a few highlights. Tyres were cleaned and the yellow Goodyear decals applied (denoting the small width and higher profile front wheels introduced to reduce grip for safety reasons).

The assembly was then coated in a single layer of clear as otherwise the tyre decals just rub off with handling. This is a shame as the clear gives the sidewalls too shiny a surface for exact realism, but on balance it is the most sensible choice. Finally I added Sakatsu valves and used a dremel to resurface the tyre tread.

N.B. If you build this and are using the Studio 27 decals, you will need to trim all the excess carrier film of the Fondmetal decals for the REAR rims. The surface of the rim that the decal is applied to is just that bit smaller on the rear than it is the front.

All the best,
Bill

P.S. I have begun another build which will run alongside this Tyrrell, Mansell's F189 (Early) --- watch AF for a WIP thread coming soon. I needed something easy to keep my interest levels up as the Tyrrell is getting very complicated now.

[Scuderia.]

why don't you seal the tyres with a coat of clear flat (probably thinned through your airbrush) to get rid of the shiny sidewalls. I think it would make them look much better. You can always make a round mask if you want to keep the wheel centres shiny.