Modeling diary >> Mclaren MP4/13

I am doing this McLaren MP4/13 (and the W196) for the Model Graphix Vol.172 features onMercedes Benz racing cars. However, I am not too excited to build it since I already builtthe Benetton B198, and I did as many F1 car kits this year as I care to do.

November 3, 1998

The picture shows the full contents of thekit. The shape of the nose reminds me of ananteater. I feel that the fins in front of therear tires could be a little higher.

I know that it is unusual, but I started themodeling with making the wheels and thetires.

I was able to solder parts for the wheelssince they were not anodized in black. Ipainted them a mixture of silver and gray.The Enkei (wheel manufacturer) logo is aletter transfer, and it was pressed directly.The process is a little tricky.

I used the same process in building theBenetton B198 for finishing the tires. Imasked the grooves with fine masking tape,and then sprayed semi-gloss medium grayto the tires while I rotated the tire with therotary tool. I also applied the same lettertransfer of the Bridgestone logo.

I made a masking disk for painting the tiresblack slightly lopsided so the tire would looklike it was slightly worn off.

I also built the wheel nuts and the brakeducts and calipers, etc. A good start, don'tyou agree?

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November 4, 1998

I checked the fit between the body and theunderbody tray. I affixed the body and theunderbody tray with a screw.

There was a slight fit problem between thebody and the underbody tray at the cockpit.I sanded the body carefully to fix theproblem.

I filled the hatch on the nose with solder.The real car also has a NACA duct in thecenter of the hatch, but I felt the modelwould look cleaner without the recessedlines.

November 9, 1998

It is difficult to keep myself motivated!

Personally, I would rather build the W196than the MP4/13. However, I still have tomake both by December 20.

These three pictures show the process forsoldering a brass rod on the edge of the airintake.

I already explained the process in theBenetton B198 diary, so I won't repeat it.

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The last picture shows the condition aftershaping and priming is finished.

There is an elliptical hole behind theheadrest. I drilled the hole, and then shapedit with a file.

November 10, 1998

Today, I received the package from Grand Prix Models. Two kits I ordered, ProvenceMoulage's and SRC's W196, had arrived! I hope that these newly arrived kits keep meinterested in making the MP4/13.

Today, I deepened recessed lines with a fineneedle and a design knife.

The straight lines were deepened with athick X-Acto blade. I pressed the tip of theblade to the line and gradually moved backand forth. It was repeated many times.

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The curved lines were deepened with a pin. Iwas very careful to follow the exact curves.

I exchanged the pin when I finished with oneside. The recessed line for the fuel capcover was the most difficult to be deepenedbecause the corner was so tight.

November 11, 1998

I was still thinking about the car when I tooka long shower. It occurred to me that themain focus of the MP4/13 should be itssophisticated aerodynamic designed byAdrian Newey. Therefore each corner of themodel should be knife-edged sharp.

I replaced the fins in front of the rear tireswith a metal sheet. I wasn't sure that itwould be effective, but it turned out to begreat.

It may sound corny, but imagination is moreimportant than technique.

November 12, 1998

Today, I finished the right side of the fins. Ichecked the shape by applying the thinned-out filler.

In this scale, you can not be too picky aboutthe symmetry.

The underbody tray around the rear tires was cut, and then replaced by a 0.2-mm nickelsilver plate. I emulated the BBR's F310B that also had this configuration of separateendplates.

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Because I wanted to replace a certainsection of the original part, I first traced theoutline of the section with a black marker ona piece of masking tape. Then I transferredthat piece of tape to the nickel silver plateand using a small saw, I cut out the newpiece.

November 13, 1998

Oh no! After having made it my first priorityto not have the solder flow out onto thetopside, I end up with this unsightly solderjob. And after I tried so hard not to make itas bad as it looked in the picture!

I did the same with the left side.

I shaved off the excess metal in the diffuserarea. I used a knife, and then continued witha fine file.

It is important to shave from one side, andnot to do it too much since the metal is soft.

It should look something like this.

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November 14, 1998

I didn't work on the model yesterdaybecause I taught a model making class atFujiya.

I decided to replace the front wing with abrass plate, as in the B198.

I sanded off the main front wing from thecast part.

I cut a 0.5-mm brass plate to 31mm long,5mm high, and I heated center of the sheetwith a lamp. I slightly bent it upward as youcan see in the picture.

I sanded the edge off so the plate wouldlook like a wing. I carefully sanded and fittedit to the side plates. I set the wing with 1-mm clearance, and I lifted the center platefurther up at 0.8-mm. I adjusted the lengthof the center wing supports according tothe setup.

November 16, 1998

I wasn't sure it would be effective, but Idecide to curl up the side plates for the rearwings. I heated the brass photo-etched partwith a lamp. (Don't use a gas burner: thetemperature would be too high and it wouldruin the part!)

I made a plastic guide and I press the plateto the guide slowly.

However, I had to sand it and use solder toget a right shape. As predicted, I don't thinkit is worth the effort.

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November 17, 1998

I sanded off many fins around the cockpitarea because they would interfere withpainting.

I cut the new fins from the spruces in thephoto-etched part.

November 23, 1998

I sanded the body with #320 sandpaper sothat the primer would stick it well. I sprayedthe first coat of primer to see how the bodywould look.

You would see the imperfection after yousprayed the first coat of primer. I sandedand polished the body.

November 24, 1998

I sanded the body with #400 sandpaper.

It is normal that the body would looksomething like this after sanding the firstcoat of primer.

I sanded the parts such as the wing, thedriver seat, the side view mirrors, and thebrake ducts with #400 sandpaper.

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November 25, 1998

I sprayed the second coat of primer. Thesecret is to spray many thin coatsrepeatedly instead of trying to get it donewith one thick coat.

I dried the body in the dish-dryer.

November 26, 1998

I used #600 sandpaper to sand the bodyafter the body had completely dried.

I glued the sandpaper to a plastic sheet so Iwould not sand off the edges off.

November 27, 1998

I cut a 0.15-mm nickel silver plate for themirror plate in a side view mirror. In aFormula 1 car, it's a rectangle so it is easyto cut and sand it.

I used a polishing sheet called Rapica forpolishing the nickel silver plate.

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I sprayed the body white.

I painted the body around three in theafternoon, but the temperature was about15 C degrees (60 F degrees) and it was toocold for painting. I warmed the paint cupwith a halogen lamp before spraying.

This year's McLaren has enormousbargeboards.

I rolled the photo-etched part with a stickon a rubber sheet. However, I could notcurve it smoothly because the part was toothick and had many holes. I would fix thelines with filler and primer later.

I soldered the supports to the bargeboardto see if the part would fit well with thebody and the front suspension parts.

November 28, 1998

Today, I sprayed the parts such as the bargeboards, the brake ducts, and the rear wingprimer. It was difficult to coordinate the schedule because I have to finish this in threeweeks but I must teach a model making class every Saturday.

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November 29, 1998

I took a day trip to my family's house in Nagano prefecture. The weather was perfect fordriving and the autumn colors on the Larch trees were beautiful.

I took a nap after I came home. I polished the body with #1200 sandpaper and polishingcompound.

November 30, 1998

After polishing, I continued working on thesuspension arms past midnight. I did not fixthe arms with solder this time. Instead, Isanded them with sandpaper and fixed thegap with the filler.

After the filler dried, I sprayed them withprimer.

I did not sleep today. After I worked a halfday on my day job, I turned back into amodeler in the afternoon. It is time to spraythe silver base coat.

I used an automotive paint called TouchPen. I usually move the airbrush a littlefaster when I spray metallic paint.

I had a problem with the nose in front of thecockpit. I sanded the paint off with #1500sandpaper, and smoothed out the surfacebefore spraying silver again.

December 1, 1998

I went to my mentor Nomura's workshop today. I commissioned the wheel and the tires forthe W196, and they are now finished. So I can not back down now.

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December 2, 1998

I polished the body with Tamiya's polishingcompound in preparation for applying thedecals.

Most of the black area was supposed becovered by the decals, but the areas such asthe front wing supports, the body sides, andthe fins should be pa inted.

I washed off excessive glue in decals withwater. I placed the decal to the right places,and then I applied the decal solutionbetween the decal and the body. Thesolution takes a while to soften the decal,especially if the decal was printed with manycoats of inks. You should be patient.

When the decal was softened completely, Iwarmed the decal with a hair dryer andpressed the decal completely to the surfacewith a wet Q-tip.

The most difficult part was the black stripe on the top of the air intake. I couldn't apply thedecal straight, so I will touch up the area with black paint later. I applied the decals to themirrors, the bargeboards, and the wings, too.

December 3, 1998

The gradation between white and silver onthe top of the nose didn't look good, so Idecided to touch up with silver paint. I madea masking plate and attached to the bodywith a little bit of gap. I gingerly sprayedsilver with an airbrush.

I also touched up the black stripe on the topof the air intake with a masking plate.

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I applied the rest of the decals to the body. Ireferred to many photographs of the realcar, but in the end you have to balance thedecals with each other.

I was especially careful with the West decalon the side. It should absolutely be parallelto the ground.

December 4, 1998

I sprayed the small parts clear.

The clear paint was supplied by a shop"G.T." Thank you so much!

I mixed an equal amount of the clear paintand the thinner. I sprayed it four times withintervals of 30 minutes.

I mixed the clear paint with a little morepaint than the thinner, and I sprayed theclear coat with closer proximity. I waited anhour before I sprayed the last coat of theday.

I didn't spray the body clear today because Ifelt it was better to wait until the decal hascompletely dried.

December 5, 1998

It is very cold and raining outside. Instead of spraying the body clear, I made the steeringwheel and the onboard camera.

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The onboard camera was polished with #400sandpaper first, and finished off with apolishing compound. After applying thedecal, I sprayed it clear, and then coated itwith a type of wax so the metal would notbe oxidized.

The steering wheel is a photo-etched part. Irounded the edges off by applying solderand sanding.

December 6, 1998

The weather improved drastically today.Clear coating went without a hitch.

While I let the clear coat dry, I can move onto make the W196 in the background. Thetheme was to make the championship-winning Mercedes Grand Prix cars from twogenerations.

December 7, 1998

I had two things to do today before I wouldbe able to spray the final clear coattomorrow.

One was to complete the suspension arms. Idid not fix the arms with solder this time.Instead, I sanded them with sandpaper andfix the gap with the filler.

I bent the end of the suspension arms to 90degrees. I applied solder to the end so thearm could take the load.

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I made the push rod for the frontsuspension by pressing fine brass tubes witha vise after I inserted the 0.3-mm stainlesssteal line.

The end of the push rod was attached at thevery end of the lower suspension arms.

Another task was to build the little fairingjust below the engine air intake. I split abrass rod into two parts, and shaped themwith a file. It was difficult.

The emergency ignition switch (one is spare)was made with a 0.15-mm brass rod.

December 13, 1998

I polished the body with #1500 sandpaperand polishing compound. I took the paint offfrom the fin and exposed the bare metalsurface. Then, I touched up the area Iexposed with dark metallic gray paint. Iglued the fin and the fairing with epoxy glue.I washed the model thoroughly with a softtoothbrush, and I blew off water by anairbrush to dry the body completely. Lastly, Isprayed the final clear coat.

The whole process took about 8 hours!

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December 14, 1998

I polished the small parts with sandpaperand then sprayed them clear. I hope it isworth the effort.

Then, I sprayed the underbody tray and thetransmission case mat black.

I sprayed the suspension arm primer. I wasquite satisfied with the result.

December 15, 1998

I brushed the underside of the body matblack. I attached the transmission case tothe underbody tray and pre-assembled thesuspension arms.

I have no idea why, but the left side of thesuspension arms didn't go in smoothly, and Istruggled with it for an hour.

The front suspension arms did go smoothly,but I almost forgot the fairing to the upperarms!

I don't think I can paint the suspension armsby tomorrow...

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December 16, 1998

I ruined the fairing provided in the kit byworking on it too much. I realized that itwould be much better to make it fromscratch with a 0.2-mm brass tube. I pressedthe tube with a vise.

December 17, 1998

The fairing to the upper arms and thesuspension together look like this. Later Ipainted these parts and the brake ductssemi-gloss black.

I also painted the instrument panel and thesteering wheel.

The seatbelt is a combination of Make-upand Hasagawa photo-etched parts. I glued itto the seat with Konishi glue.

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December 18, 1998

I glued the instrument panel, the steeringwheel, and the seat. I attached theunderbody tray to the body with a screw.

Next, I glued all the suspension parts andthe wheels with 30-minute epoxy glue. Istruggled with the rear suspension a little,but it wasn't a major problem.

December 19, 1998

I placed the 1.0-mm plate underneath to setthe ground clearance. Then, I glued the mainwing to the wing supports. I was glad that Iseparated the main wing and the flaps. Itlooks so much better!

December 20, 1998

I painted the inside of the endplate for therear wing semi-gloss black. After that, Iassembled the rear wings.

First, I glued the bottom wing to theendplates. After a while, I glued the topwing. After checking whether if they werestraight, I glued two flaps in the end.

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December 21, 1998

I glued the rear wing to the body. I removedthe paint from the area where I want toapply glue. It is important since this glue ismade to adhere to metal not paint.

I also glued the inboard camera and theantennas.

December 22, 1998

At 8 in the morning, I finished both models.The silver on both cars is so bright that my eyes hurt after working all night.

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