Friday, September 30, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Toleman TG184 5

Busy day at work, got back home a couple of minutes ago and found this in the mailbox!


Found on eBay a couple of weeks ago. Another 1/43 Toleman TG184 kit! This is from Meri. As you can see from how the box looks, this is a relatively old kit. All white metal parts, no photo-etched anything. This kit is the early version of TG184, and can be built into either Monaco GP version of Detroit GP. However, It did not supply a set of rain tire, so Monaco GP version will not look right without the correct tire. May be I should start looking to steal rain tires from other kits.


Here I have the 2 bodies side by side. The one on the left is my work in progress Tameo one. The one on the right is the Meri one. First impression is that the Meri kit's molded white metal body seems very clean, that will save me a lot of time prepping it.

Ok, back to the Tameo one. Put a couple of pieces on the engine. The instruction called for painting the exhaust pipe polished steel. But instead of painting, I just polished the white metal piece. Also, opened up the tip of the exhaust with a 0.5mm drill. Picture shows the test fit. Can't put the rear suspension, drive shaft and the rest of the pieces on yet. Still waiting for the drill bit from McMaster-Carr. UPS probably had delivered it, but probably stuck in the mailroom. Really looking forward to the weekend when I can make more progress.


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Toleman TG184 4

Another slow day. Sanded the primer on the body and the rear wing. 2 coats of gloss white. Here you can see my high tech spray booth. My new Iwata airbrush is amazing. The double action gravity feed is way easier to use than my old single action bottom feed one.


Found display case and detail up 1/43 seat belt on eBay. I guess I will wait for the belts to come and use those instead of the photo-etched metal belts that came with the kit.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Toleman TG184 3

Not much progress today. I was too lazy and hand painted the bottom and the front suspension. But they looked terrible. So I stripped all of them and repainted them using the new Iwata airbrush. It's gravity feed and double action. It's so easy to use, should have bought one years ago.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Toleman TG184 2

Went to Boston for the weekend, so there was not much progress to report. Primer on the body is now fully dried. Rear wing assembly put together. Glued the vent pieces on the side pod. Here's what it looks like in another trial fit.


Next on the list:
  • Put together the disc brakes
  • Engine and rear suspension assembly
  • Spray a coat of gloss white on body and rear wing
  • Decal
  • Clear coat on body and wing

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Toleman TG184 1

I got a bit crazy buying 1/43 scale model car kits a couple of years ago. I successfully put a Ferrari F399 together, but then the second one, a McLaren MP4/2, was a failure. As a result, all the kits got shelved.

Thanks to the Senna movie, my interest in building 1/43 F1 cars got re-ignited again. So, I dug up that box of Tameo kits from mom's garage and have it shipped back to Chicago. I also found a hobby store in the Chicago area where the owner also loves building 1/43 cars and he knows a lot of tricks on the subject.

My first trial is a 1984 Toleman TG184 Portugal GP, the last car that Senna raced for Toleman before moving to Lotus. This is a Tameo kit, TMK 229

Here I'll document my progress.

First, I got the white metal body cleaned up, holes drilled and front suspension pieces bent. Now, it is time for a trial fit.
With the front wing end plates, and the mirrors attached, a first coat of white primer is sprayed on.