McLaren MP4/4 (1988) Senna in 1/24

Edbert

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Joined
May 16, 2024
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Been building aricraft and armor this year after picking up the hobby again. Decided to dive into the automotive realm.

These parts are a Honda Drivetrain and brakes.

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I purchased a set of illegal sponsors too, could not bring myself to use the fake ones.

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I really enjoy watching these F1 cars get built up with all of the detail that's packed into them. You're off to a good start with this one Edbert.
 
I really enjoy watching these F1 cars get built up with all of the detail that's packed into them.
Agreed, I've seen other folks builds that just blow me away, this one was from the Austin Model Show held earlier this month.

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Unfortunately (I'm feeling fortunate actually) mine is 1/24th scale, so the incredible detail like the above is just not gonna happen.
 
Man.....I almost went to that show too. Fantastic detail for dang sure!!

I may try to go to the San Antonio show this upcoming February as I've got a few things I'd like to take. I have heard that the Model Fiesta show only allows two entries per genre though and is pretty small for the time being. Hopefully they'll have a bigger turn out this next year as the show this past February was right on the heels of the Nats show in New Braunfels. THAT......was a show!!!!
 
Back to my own work, in case I was not clear, that Canon/Elf car is not my work.

I started working on the safety harness, discovered one thing I've never seen before. This (IMO) is revolutionary for PE! My biggest problem with PE is cutting the parts from the "sprue", I either bend/malform the part slightly, or I leave little tabs that are a pain to remove. Well lookie here what Meng did!

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I've seen PE come with the clear adhesive backing before, that helps prevent the part from flying off when cut. But look closer...no tabs...the parts are free floating!

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That made getting them threaded into the belts super easy, not having to try and sand off the tabs I mean.

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I've never threaded cloth belts onto metal buckles so easily before, and the cloth came with adhesive backing which made binding it to itself super easy too. Other manufacturers should step up their game.

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I'm experimenting with new paints, in this case a "chrome". I never thought it would be as shiny as it is. It is really too shiny for a rotor I think, but it does set off the hub and calipers. With a test fit of the wheels these are barely visible, so I'll go with it on this kit, but note some chrome is really REALLY chrome.

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Speaking of experimenting with paint, I've decided to use Gravity brand on the body. So this shot shows my first use of the McLaren red which is slightly neon in shade. Those body panels had to be painted fully before I could finish off this section. You can sort of see the carbon-fiber decal on the inside portion. You can also see some ejection pin marks I thought would not show up...grrrr.

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I put some color down without primer. Relatively small sections, and I do not know what the pale yellow represents. Modern F1 cars have wooden planks with titanium skids, but no idea what that material was in the late 80s. Also see there's some metal heat shields for the exhaust, there to protect the real carbon-fiber, got that all covered up for a shot of primer then gloss black.

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Back to Gravity paint. There's a small section of the inner survival tub that was painted body-white. I had to prime is with 1500-white, then paint it with the Gravity "Titanium White", clear coat and modest polishing. Just so I could mask it and do the primer/gloss black thing to these parts too. A lot of work for two little white squares. I'm not sure if the metal exhaust plates on the inside will be visible from the outside, but I covered the ports with liquid mask anyway.
 
Great start. I look forward to seeing it come together. I have a couple F1s in the stash w/ detail kits. I need to get started on them before my eyes start failing.
 
I really like that backing idea for the PE which is a REALLY big help. I spend a lot of time filing away those little tabs as well. Progress is continuing to look good on this Edbert. 1732064884276.png
 
Very nice... I did not complete any F1 car because I am not good enough to achieve a perfect shinny paint...
Looking forward how you are going to deal with it...
 
Looking forward how you are going to deal with it...
So am I. Ha!

I got started. This represents about 3 super-thin coats of each color.

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Using paint from "Gravity" which was recommended. I placed these parts in a dehydrator at 110 degrees for 12 hours before touching them. I need to read some more but I'm thinking some sanding is in order 1st, particularly the seam between red and white, remove any bleeds (very minor), but also to remove the step. Then (still guessing) I'll apply a think coat of clear, then decals, then sanding the steps on the decals, then more layers of clear before wet-sanding and final polishing with compound.

More research needed, but getting there.
 
Your sequence of paint, clear, decals, clear, wet sand is sound... when knocking down the step between colours be sure to run with the line, otherwise some colour transfer from the red onto the white may cause problems.
Enjoying the build progress so far.
 

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