1/12 Yardley McLaren M23

[WRCfan]

Have been out and about hunting in the modelling capital of the world, came across an interesting subject that almost made me jump out of my skin!

It is the 1974 McLaren M23 in 'Yardley' livery. Yardley was cosmetics and sponsored the McLaren F1 team for two years. The Yardley cars were originally driven by Mike Hailwood, David Hobbs and my country's very own Denny Hulme.
This is the same car that is now residing in New Zealand, and is now out of the museum and back on the race track. Attached is a photo of it ready for racing 4 months ago.


The kit was a bargain, the guy sold it to me for an insanely cheap price and is in very good condition considering it is the original release of upwards of 20 years ago.

Attached below are some photos of the kitset finished, these were downloaded off the web and hopefully my kitset will resemble something like this.


I will take photos of the kitset tomorrow as soon as digital camera batteries have charged up and then will begin work on it!

If anyone has any good detail photos for the car then please PM me if you can forward them on..

Progress to come!

Regards
WRCfan

NB: the kitset does not come with any decals for the Denny Hulme car although I will be making this one up as the Denny Hulme car you see in the photos. If anyone is able to help out by making a number 7, and the hand written lettering style 'Denny Hulme' on the back cowling please let me know if i can buy these off you if you can make them. I have good photos of the racing number as well as the name on back cowling.

[allnie]

Complete decals and conversion parts like air box etc are available from the MTR Speed (AMD) Brazil company. You can't use the Tamiya Yardley kit to represent the 73 car (without the MTR Speed conversion kit). The Tamiya Yardley kit is a mid-season 74 kit.

Best regards

Allan Nielsen

[Decs0105]

another Tamiya 1/12 F1 kit, great! Can't wait to see some progress

[cinqster]

Good luck with the kit...it's one of Tamiya's finest IMHO.

Biggest drawback to the kit for me is the join between the top and bottom chassis halves. With a bit of cunning the componants can be cemented together, the join blended and the monocoque painted before the interior is slid into place from behind...you may have to rework both front bulkheads to achieve this though. I think there's a good Marlboro M23 build on Marios Modelersite which details the mod (builder John Tinay)

The decals often appear on eBay at a reasonable price - I guess 'cos many builders are transkitting using the Studio27 Marlboro decals. IMHO it's worth getting a new set from a later Yardley release because the artwork appears crisper, and they're more flexible which will help with those really thin pinstripes. I bought a set direct from Tamiya a few years back!

The kit has the taller airbox which is more suitable for the Marlboro version. Why Tamiya got the airboxes the wrong way around I'll never know? You'll be hard pushed to find the pics of Hulme car with the kit airbox and the same goes with pictures of the Marlboro cars with the square airbox. The model reference pictures you've pasted have the more commonly used ugly Yardley airbox (from the Marlboro M23 kit)

Note also the model has 2" silver/grey gaffer tape around the lower side pod edges - a very accurate addition as the cars never seemed to have run without it!

Enjoy the build and keep us informed!

John S.

[freakray]

Please keep this thread updated - I am looking forward to watching this build

[mikemechanic]

Looking forward to your build-up. I too have this kit. If you ever look over at www.f1m.com there is a thread by indycals stating that he is doing a replacement sheet for the Yardley M23. He has my original sheet from my 312T4 that he will be offering also. Don't know when they will be available. Please keep us updated.

[robrex]

Excellent! An old 1/12 Tamiya F1 kit!
I will be watching this with interest!

[WRCfan]

Thanks for the comments all and advice on the airbox detailing...

This morning i pulled it out of the box and had a look at the kitset...
It is in very good condition, parts moulded nicely although we dont expect anything less from Tamiya. They have made another brilliant kitset here.


The base and body line up nicely, as well as the nose, the last tamiya 312T Lauda kit I build, i needed to use enourmous amounts of glue and stiff objects to bond them, although this one fits nicely, which is a relief!


Seeing as I am in Japan, it is no suprise that the kitset is all written up in Japanese, so the instructions will be fun, although I have managed to find a copy of the English version off the internet in hi-res which is good!


Am about to start on the kitset this afternoon, will post progress photos as soon as I have them...

Regards

WRCfan

[Shunter]

Good luck with it and look forward to watching your progress..

[cinqster]

WRC,

A tip for you if you're a stickler for detail. IMHO it's worth thinning the body edges around the openings for the front suspension arms, shock rockers, air ducts etc. I did it by carefully bevelling the edges from behind using a blade. This really improves the realism of the model, especially around the rocker holes because the dark Yardley colours runs across them. If you leave the edges alone the 2mm kit thickness will leave a large white edge which scales up to an inch thick rather than looking like thin sheet metal,

John S.

[WRCfan]

Small update, nothing much although progress is progress...

Put the front disc and calliper together, am about to start on the rear uprights. Any tips that anyone can think of as im going along please post! Feedback is good as it makes the model better!


Kind regards

WRCfan

[WRCfan]

Finally it's update time. Work has been hectic so i have been plodding along here and there with what I could. Have assembled the front end and have got the dash done (although not complete), as well as a few other bits and pieces. This morning i put the Engine block together and threw a couple of coats of paint onto it.
Heres some pics, as i mentioned before if anyone has any hints and tips they can point out for me would be appreciated!




Regards

WRCfan

[Shunter]

Nice work, this will be great when you start to get the sub assemblies together...

[WRCfan]

Apologies for the lack of activity in this thread. Work has been busy as and have been outside of Japan for the last 5 weeks, just arrived back about 3 days ago. Work has been continuing on the car, the engine has been assembled and wired although only with the standard kitset wiring, have got additional wiring to continue on with.

One query I have, and im hoping someone here would be able to offer some advice, is the white and orange that appears around the sides of the bodywork, is the white better to be a cream or pure? I have seen one of the original Yardley's up close and was a cream although that could be because the car is getting on....Also the orange is a faded light pastel kind of orange. Anyone who knows where paints suitable for the car could be obtained, could they post in the thread and let me know. Would love to get this one cranking again. Have got a 49Ford Jim Clark,1/12 to begin after this one....

Kind regards

WRCfan

[billypee]

Oooo this looks interesting. Keep the updates coming. As for hints and tips you seem to be doing fine without any help. If you get stuck on something specific, ask and I will do my best (or someone more qualified will).

Cheers,
BillyPee