BAR 006 7

Started putting decals on. Finding reference photo of BAR 006 is a problem.

In the background is a Ferrari 641 French GP. Got the body all cleaned up and polished. But it is not the next project. The next project will not be a F1 car. Bought a FDS Vaillant-Porsche 935 K2 Turbo from eBay. When I was small, I put together a 1/20 Martini Porsche 935 and my brother put together a Vaillant one. Of course, those 2 models were long gone. I will build the 1/43 version for my brother. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish it before his birthday in November.

BAR 006 6

Blemishes fixed, primer dried and lightly polished, then a coat of gloss white. Now, time to let it dry.

In the time being, 2 very important things arrived. F1 Modeling vol.23 and the polishing compound that I ordered. Nowadays, there aren't a lot of hobby stores left. Kids now only play video games and do not build models like we used to.

BAR 006 5

Finally started painting.

Sprayed the body with white primer. Need to polish the body before spraying gloss white.

 

Update 4/20/2012: Fixed some blemishes and re-sprayed another coat of white primer. Will need to wait for it to dry, again

BAR 006 4

Got an email from PMI that my PMP exam eligibility will expire by the end of June. Ooops, so I quickly registered to take the test in the end of May. That means I only have about 1.5 months to prepare for it. So, instead of building models, I'll be spending my free time studying. Anyways I have to wait for the 2 copies of F1 Modeling that I bought from eBay to arrive before I really can continue. I need those reference pictures to know where the black parts are painted or naked carbon fiber.

Starting to mount the pieces on tooth picks to get ready for primer. That's all I did this weekend. Not going to spray at least till I come back on Thursday.

My order finally came in. I stopped by Marty's store on Saturday to pick up 2 1990 Ferrari 641, 1976 McLaren M23 and 1976 Ferrari 312T2. I ordered the M23. But at my current pace, I have no clue when I will be able to touch them.

Weather has been nice in Chicago lately. And Holland Bulbs are blooming along Michigan Avenue. Very pretty.

BAR 006 3

Continuing the slow progression. Front suspension test fit.

I think I need help

I am not a Ferrari fan. Yes, it has a very colorful racing history. Yes, they made a number of amazingly good looking race cars and road cars. Yes, I did dream of driving one when I was in grade school (who doesn't?). When I started to get interested in F1, it was during the ground effect car era followed by the turbo era. It was a period when Ferrari was not the best on the grid.

So, why am I buying so many Ferrari models lately? Unbuilt ones in stock include: 312T2 (FDS), 312T3 (Tameo Super kit), 312T4 (SRC), 640 (Raccoon), 643 (Meri), F93A (Tameo), 412T1 (Tameo), 412T2 (Tameo), F2000 (BBR version and Tameo). One simple reason is I like building models, but I am not too fond of complex paint schemes. Ferrari, being just one color (except F93), and no complicated livery means that, not much masking and not much decal softener work needed.

Besides Ferrari's, my recent purchases also included a number of Williams and McLaren. Williams FW11B (Tameo), FW14 (Tameo), FW14B, FW29, and a McLaren MP4/22.

And I have 4 more on order: a 1976 James Hunt McLaren M23, 1976 Niki Lauda Ferrari 312T2 and 2 Ferrari 641/2...

I am probably compensating for those childhood years when Mom and Dad (typical Asian Parents) kept me from building models thinking that my favorite hobby would distract me from my school work. Haha.

BAR 006 2

A lot of progress was made in buying kits off eBay than building this BAR006. Partly because I went snowboarding the past 2 weekends.

Progress was slow, but not without any progress. I put the rear wing together, got the pilot holes drilled, prepared the front suspension arms, and cleaned up a couple more tiny pieces

So far, I am quite impressed with the SLK series. 

BAR 006 1

This would be my first SLK series build. Honestly, I do not know what to expect. Unlike typical TMK kit, it has reduced number of parts, but more metal cast pieces and fewer PE pieces.

BAR 006 was the most successful BAR car with a 2nd place in 2004's constructor championship, 2 years before it was sold to Honda. I always like the look and the livery of BAR cars (except 001 which has half 555 and half Lucky Strike).

Back to the kit. Even though it is supposed to be a precision cast kit, it does not mean that there is no need to clean the flashing and smooth out the parting lines. This time, I have 2 kits on hand, so I am picking out the better pieces to use from the 2. 

Modern day F1 cars have all these winglets and vents which would be very difficult to cast in 1 piece. It is very cleverly made it into several different pieces. The main body is splitted into at least 8 different pieces.

This time, I am going to use the aftermarket racing harness set from Z-Model instead of the kit's photo-etched pieces. So, I opened up the slots on the seat with the 0.5mm drill and X-Acto knife.

I cannot open up the rest of the holes for the suspension pieces yet, I need to order some 0.4mm drill bits. To add realism, I am going to use carbon fiber decal for the suspension pieces. Not sure why, 1/43 carbon fiber decals are hard to come by. They're totally out of stock at Scale Motorsports. Luckily, they are still in stock at some vendors.

Detour

It's bound to happen. And it happened. I am setting the Ferrari 643 project aside. I thought I was making good progress on the kit but then found out interference problem when I tried to test fit all the pieces. Then I found out why... The instruction was so bad that unless you read with a magnifying glass, you would not have noticed that there are some extra bending of the photo-etched parts required. Not feel like fixing them at the moment, so I am putting the kit aside.

Simtek S951 Complete

Finally done. Too many blemishes here and there, it's another 10 footer.

Simtek S951 13

Skipped town last weekend, only work done was putting the rain light on and painted 3 out of 4 hub centers. Why only 3 out of 4? When I was putting the hubs on the wheels, one of the hub center fell off (bad application of adhesive?), I set it aside and have totally forgotten about it. After I painted 3, I noticed that the 4th one was missing. I freaked out for moment. I thought it fell off when I was painting the hubs, so I looked around my work bench and wasn't able to. Just when I was going to throw the towel, I open up my parts bin (where I keep all the pieces when I unbox a kit) and saw that tiny bronze turned hub piece sitting inside the bin! What a relief!

Remember the barge boards? The two which I managed to broke or lost all 4 support brackets? I decided to fabricate the supports. I bought a reel of 24 gauge (close to  0.6mm in diameter) anodized metal wire (black anodized, saved me time to paint them) from the art supply store, drilled out the plates with a 0.6mm drill and glued 4 short pieces on. Then bend and trim them. The result is not too bad.

The last 2 tasks outstanding:

• install the antenna
• attach the 4 lug nuts

Should be able to finish next week.

Ferrari 643 2

Put together the front wing.

Simtek S951 12

Had a setback today. Looking at the picture, you probably would have noticed the side barge boards are missing. When putting the rear suspension on, I accidentally broke them off and damaged the tiny support beams. I have not decide what to do yet. But most likely, I will just build it as the version without them. Another option is to fabricate the supports from scratch.

Still have a couple of final touches to put on:

• mount rear rain light
• paint and mount the wheel lock nuts
• mount the car in the display case

That's probably work for next week. I will have a couple of hours before Superbowl kick off, but I will probably spend my time working on the Ferrari 643 instead.

Ferrari 643 1

Although I have not finish the Simtek S951 yet (just need to put the rear suspension pieces and the wheels on, so final touches), I started working on the Ferrari 643.

Ferrari 643 in my opinion is a good looking car. Unfortunately, it was no match to competitions like McLaren MP4/6 or Williams FW14.

Anyway, this is the second 1/43 Ferrari that I build. The first one was a BBR Ferrari F399 kit. Although it is not the first, it is my first Meri Kits. A very simple kit with not a lot of parts. Paint scheme and decals are also quite simple. Should be a quick build.

First order of the day, clean up the body. Filed off flashing from casting, fixed the some defects by soldering. For the couple of spot that did not want to take solder, I use putty as filler. That's all for now. Next step will be drilling holes. But that will need to wait till the Simtek is all done.

Black Beauty Arrived

Found this in the mail today! Another one from Tameo's WCT series. Mario Andretti's 1978 Lotus 79. A DFV powered ground effect car. This black and gold JPS livery is a classic.