New year's resolution

In a previous post, I mentioned that one of my new year's resolution is to keep my 1/43 kit purchases in 2013 to 5 at most. So, I went on a buying spree before the end of 2013. LOL.

Liking MFH on Facebook is a mistake. As soon as they announced the release of Honda RA300, I preordered it through my dealer.

Same thing with the Red Bull Racing RB8, I have both versions ordered when Tameo announced he is releasing the kits.

When Ws43さん announced that the theme of this year is Racing43, I started looking. When I came across this 1981 Audi Quarttro, I acted right the way. With my ultra slow progress on the Ferrari, I will have to start building this guy right the way to have it completed before November.

The last one was a surprised find. I had a Provence Moulage 1995 Nissan Nismo GT-R LM No.23 which got a DNF. But in 1995, Nissan entered 2 cars to compete. The other car was No. 22, which actually finished 10th overall (5th in GT1). I came across this kit on eBay and I just know I must have it.

Regarding the quota for this year, MFH just announced it'll release a Lotus 79, and I've already preordered it. With that, I guess I can sell my Tameo WCT one. In that case, should that count against my quota?

Laying down carbon fiber (faux)

When I was in college, there were several student projects within the college of engineering. Civil engineering have their concrete canoe (believe it or not, they build a canoe using concrete and competed with other concrete canoes), there's the newly started solar car project which was in the very infant stage of organizing team and raising funds, and the one interested me most was the human powered vehicle project. It's basically a recumbent bicycle made of composite with a Kevlar outside fairing to reduce drag. The project gave me a chance to play with composite materials. We made molds out of sheet foam and lots of Bondo, then made a female tub using fiber glass, and then lay down layers of Kevlar with resin and vacuum bag it until the resin cured. We did all these on the roof of the mechanical engineering department. Carbon fiber and Kevlar were exotic materials back then, only used on supercars or advanced aerospace applications. They're more common nowadays, but it is still quite labor intensive to work with these composites and anything involving resins, messy.

Carbon fiber decals on the other hand, not messy, including the application of decal softener. Back to the model, got the carbon fiber decals on the front wing today. Unfortunately, got an email from the boss, I'd better work on what he needs before tomorrow morning.

Baby steps

I'm back working on the Ferrari 641. Didn't do much, but it's a start. I need to get back to the routine.

I had been thinking about how to add texture on the seat. I was looking for faux suede spray, but no luck tracking that down. But then I came across Tamiya Diorama Texture Paint, and thought, light sand may look similar to what I am trying to mimic.

The other thing I did was starting to put decals on the front wing. Nothing to see yet. So, sorry, no picture.

Everyone, let's build!

I have been reading several Japanese master modelers' blogs. One of the Masters, Ws43 san has been organizing an annual online modeling festival called "皆で作ろう", loosely translated to "Everyone, let's build". Past themes include Fiat, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. This year is a little bit different. This year's theme is Racing43. All the participants will need to complete a kit from the manufacturer Racing43 from Italy.

I am always amazed by the skills of all these master modelers when they fabricate little parts to add details or correct the errors. But for me, as an amateur, I won't be doing those kind of things. I will only build it out of the box. And I hope I will be able to complete before the deadline.

I will be building 1981 Audi Quarttro for Monte Carlo Rally/Swedish Rally. Driven by Mikkola and Hertz as the navigator.

It will be a departure from what I have been building. First of all, it is not going to be an F1 car, second of all, it is not Tameo. I did started working a little bit on the Provence Moulage Nismo GTR LM, that will be set aside until later. Something happened during Christmas. I was able to snatch up the No. 22 to accompany the No. 23 that I have already started. I will build them side by side!

This will be my first Racing 43 kit. The kit is not a complicated kit without much details. So, hopefully it will not take too long to build. But the main obstacle for me is my yet to finish Ferrari 641.

Merry Christmas

Haven't been posting any update for the past couple of month since there wasn't anything to update. The Ferrari was untouched since the last time I place those decals on the body.

Really need to get my motivation back.

New year is around the corner. I suppose it is appropriate to start talking about new year's resolution. Model building-wise, here are my goals:

1. Keep 2013 buying to less than 5 kits (baby steps)
2. Finish the Ferrari
3. Build and complete the Racing43 1981 Audi Quarttro before November
4. Build 1 more kit, to be determined later

In 2012, I only managed to finish 2. The Simtek and the BAR. So, 2.5 is probably a quite realistic goal.

Anyway, today is 12/25. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Blame it on the magazine

I wanted to subscribe (electronically) to F1 Racing magazine for a long time. It has been available on Zinio for a long time, but since I started several magazine subscription on Apple's iTunes store, I just do not want to create and manage yet another account. So, when I found out that the magazine is available through Apple, I subscribed immediately.

The October issue cover featured all the living F1 Champions. And since it was also the 200th issue of the magazine, it has an article on all the constructor's champion machines since the magazine's 1st issue.

And I did not know what happened, all of a sudden, I just want to have a collection of champion machines from 2000 to 2010. A quick inventory check showed that I already have:
2000 Schumacher Ferrari F2000
2005 Alonso Renault R25
2007 Raikkonen Ferrari F2007
2008 Hamilton McLaren MP4/23
2010 Vettel Red Bull RB6 

So, I bought a Ferrari F2001, F2002 and F2004 from eBay. I am still looking for a
2003 Schumacher F2003GA
2006 Alonso Renault R26
2009 Button Brawn BGP001

And of course, the biggest news lately was Hamilton moving to Mercedes followed by Schumacher's re-retirement. Then I saw an article in CAR Magazine contrasting the Schumacher's Benetton B192 (1st GP win) and the latest Mercedes W03. Then I saw a B192 on eBay... Sigh...

So, for the past month, I bought 5 more, but didn't even finish 1. It's all the magazine's fault!

An Austrian & a German

Earlier today, Vettel won the Korean GP and took the lead in the very exciting driver's championship from Alonso.

The more exciting event happened in New Mexico. Felix Baumgarter jumped from more the edge of space, 24 miles from the ground and safely landed on the ground.

Hitting the wall

Today is the day of Chicago Marathon. This is a huge annual event for the city of Chicago. The 3rd largest marathon in the world and 40,000 runners registered for the race this year. Those elite runners are amazing, finishing 26 miles in a bit more than 2 hours! I heard that at around the 20 mile mark, it is when most runners "hitting the wall", having difficulty to finish the last couple of miles of the race.

I am also "hitting the wall" right now with my Ferrari 641 project. Did not do anything for the past few weeks. Blame it on work. Because of flight schedule, I have been taking red eye flights back from California on Thursdays. That means I got home around 6am on Friday and head right back to work. I was dead tired Friday evening, the past couple of weekends were spent on just recovering, unpacking, doing laundry and repacking my bag.

I need to get my motivation back.

Because of the time difference, I was sleeping during the Japanese GP. Vettel won and Alonso DNF making the championship race even more interesting. Good to see Kobayashi on the podium. Sauber has a fast car, I hope to see an Asian standing on the top of the podium soon.

Ferrari 641/2 7

Procarstinate [proh-kras-tuh-neyt]

verb, pro-cras-ti-nat-ed, pro-cras-ti-mat-ing

verb (used without object)

1. the reason why the progress of Ferrari F1-90 has been slow.

Only achieved a couple minor items and did not even apply a single piece of decal. Can I finish this before 2013?

Internet, eCommerce and Logistics

I was kind of an Otaku when I was growing up (I probably still am one), I read comic books, watch anime, build plastic models. My dad's office was in a complex attached to a shopping mall with shops and restaurants. Every now and then, we will go there to meet dad for lunch on Saturday. I especially like to go there because there is a Japanese department store, Tokyu 東急, inside that mall. So, when we were waiting to get seated in the restaurant, I would sneak to the book store section and check out the comic books, anime magazines and hobby magazines.

Back then when there was no internet, no eCommerce, selection of goods were only limited to what the stores' purchasing department thought they could sell. If a particular comic book or magazine was not on the shelf or in the rack, you are out of luck. In terms of model kits, shops only carry popular items. I still remember one Christmas, I had my eye on a MIG25 kit from Revell for months, but didn't have money to buy. Right before the holiday when I finally got money from my parents to buy myself a gift, the MIG25 was gone and I was very very disappointed. I read Hobby Japan every now and then. That's where I learned about all these cool resin or vinyl garage kits. But most hobby stores did not want to carry those items.

Fast forward to now. We have eBay, companies have their own webstores, there is Amazon. Then there are shipping companies like FedEx, UPS, DHL, or post office's EMS. Buying things from the opposite side of the globe is so much easier. As long you have a computer and a credit card, you can pretty much buy anything from anywhere. As a result...

Fresh from MFH, 1/43 1972 Lotus 72D Italian Grand Prix version. Reference book from MFH's Joe Honda Pictorial Series, Lotus 72 1970-72.

More leisure reading materials: Model Art's Auto Modeling vol. 27 and Motor Fan illustrated F1 Technology 4.

All freshly delivered from the other side of the world. Don't you think technology is amazing?

Assembly Instructions

For those of us growing up building injection plastic kits from Tamiya, Hasegawa, Bandai or any other established companies, we are spoiled by well written assembly instructions. And we probably took it for granted that model kits should come with very detailed assembly instructions. Even though we often do not follow exactly the step by step procedures, the instruction still can play the role of letting us know which piece is supposed to go to where.

But in the world of 1/43 car kits, that often not the case. In the old days, putting together a good assembly instruction requires a lot of effort. I wrote enough technical instructions so I know a lot of thoughts need to be put in to it. Good instruction needs a lot of pictures: "a picture is worth a thousand words". But then drawing takes a lot of time.

This is one of the older instruction from FDS. It's a very crude simple kit, not a lot of parts, so a simple 1 diagram is enough to do the job.

Here's an instruction sheet from SRC. Clear diagrams, step by step procedure. Not too bad.

This is from an older Tameo. Again, not very complicated, 1 sheet front and back, pretty clear instructions in the drawing.

Nowadays, kits have a lot more detail and have way more parts than before. 1 sheet is not enough anymore. Now Tameo's standard kits' instruction is a booklet printed in full color with photographs and 3D drawings directly from the 3D solid modeling program. The way that kits are designed nowadays has a lot more CAD/CAM involved, thanks to computers and solid modeling applications becoming more and more affordable.

Company size probably also makes a difference in how good the instructions are. The following is from BBR. With very clear instructions, including drill size. (I wish Tameo has drill size in the instructions, saves me time to measure with a caliper)

This is may be the worst instruction sheet that I've seen so far. From Provence Moulage. 1 tiny sheet single side with only a couple of photographs and very crude hand drawn pictures. No description on how the roll cage is put together. 

Nissan Nismo Skyline R33 Le Mans 95

Since last year, I have been building F1 cars. Almost all the 1/43 kit that I have are F1 cars. This one is an exception. After looking at the 1/24 scale one back home in California, I am very tempted to build this. I have this kit for over 10 years. It is a resin kit from Provence Moulage. The resin cast body was made well without much blemish.

First order of the day, modify the mirror. Like all other kit, the rear view mirrors are molded into a glob. So, I hollowed out the mirror housing and later will cut a small piece of polished aluminum as the mirror to add realism. The 2 mirrors are on the penny. The one on the left is what the mirror looks like before. The one on the right is after I hollowed out the housing.

Iceman Returns

Fresh from Italy, brand new Lotus E20 for Kimi Raikkonen's return to F1! The current Lotus F1 is not the same team that Colin Chapman found. Today's Lotus F1 actually originated as Toleman, which became Benetton, and then Renault.

 

This is not the only Lotus that I bought this month. I also ordered a MFH made Lotus 72D Type B Italian GP version. Still have the Lotus 79 on the shelf...

Skyline GT-R

I saw a KPGC110 when I was very small. At that time I had no idea it's a Skyline GT-R. To my brother, it was just another Datsun, but for some reason, the fast back, its stance caught my eye and I fell in love with Skyline. Fast forward to my high school years, all of a sudden, a box of a big scale 2 door sedan/coupe looking Fujimi kit showed up on display in the window of the hobby store that I used to go to. (Didn't build much models during my high school years, I believe I talked about that in other posts) That's the R32 Skyline GT-R. Later that year, saw the car dominated in Macau GP beating teams with German machines. I knew there is something special about the car and I fell in love with Skyline GT-R once again.

Due to emission standards and marketing reasons (some said technical reason also - the location of the exhaust manifold of the RB26 made it impossible to build left hand drive version for North America), R32 and subsequently the R33 were never imported to USA by Nissan. When I couldn't own one, I can surely build models of the car.

It was probably my first year after college, I had time to build models again. I picked up these 2 kits, both from Tamiya in 1/24 scale. One is a R32 in HKS color, the other is a R33 based GTR-LM, Nissan's entry to Le Mans 24 Hours.

These were built years ago and had been in my room back in California. Since I am back home, might as well take some pictures of it and post them up. Lighting was pretty bad, and I was only using the phone camera to take the pictures, so I apologize for the quality.

 

 

Old Friend and Gundam

Met an old friend of mine for lunch today. T and I when to the same high school. And we haven't seen each other since graduation which was almost a quarter of a century ago. While most of our classmates were into pop music, we were the few who were into Japanese comics, anime, Gundam models, airsoft guns... etc.

After eating ramen for lunch at a popular ramen restaurant in San Mateo, T took me to his storage where he is keeping a stockpile of toys. Most of the toys are various Gunpla (Gundam Plastic kits), many perfect grade, master grade from Gundam 0079, Z Gundam, Stardust Memory, to Gundam Seed. He also has collected some rare original SF3D kits which is now known as Ma K, some Imai made Macross kits, Gundam Fix Figuration, Evangelion, Mazinger Z, Getter Robot, Astro Boy...etc. More than enough to open up a store.

I used to be a Gunpla fan, but jump to the darker side of 1/43 cars. Anyway, it's always nice to catch up with an old friend, chatting on life, work and hobbies.

Here's a picture of T in his Gundam storage.