It's complicated

Normal people will try to simplify things. Do shortcuts, make life easier. Modelers are not normal people. For some messed up reason, I decided to "correct" the exhaust pipe and outlet, which no one would pay attention to, and I doubt anyone can see the exhaust outlet in the bottom. Because of that decision, I added a couple more days to the build. I carved the 2 channels to fit the aluminum exhaust pipe.

The cast on "exhaust outlet" is actually too high. I have to grind that off and make a new outlet. One side is opened up, still need to make the flange part, and repeat on the other side.

Trim it down

Worked on the lower half of the car today. As usual, the floor and the diffuser are too thick. I shaved off material to make it slimmer (learning from masters like エヌエフさん). Also, I am going to replace the exhaust pipe with aluminum tubes. You can see the 2 sections in the picture. I have already grinded off the cast on pipe from the base. Still need to cut 2 channels to put the pipes in.

Enough for the evening. To be continued.

My shrink

Recently some stuff from work has been occupying my thoughts. Not really in the mood of doing anything. When I had my sports car, I usually would use washing, waxing and detailing the car as my therapy. I would be in the zone and not think about anything. Now that I only have a clunker, which I don't even bother to wash, I lost one outlet to keep my mind healthy.

So I spent some time today on the CG901 to get away mentally. I put together the 2 front wing end plates. Not much, but enough to relax a bit.

Just received the Tameo made March 881. These old Tameo kits do not include racing harness! That's not a problem, I am going to use the Z Model ones anyway.

Before Famous - Adrian Newey @ March/Leyton House

Since I started working on the Leyton House CG901, I found and bought the March CG881 and March CG891 from The Bay.

The CG881 was Newey's very first F1 design and the CG891 his second. These 3 cars were his starting point. Who would have thought (besides Patrick Head) that Newey would be one of the most influential figure in F1 design?

All 3 are Tameo normal kits. Pretty simple without a long of parts. Hopefully, they shouldn't take too long to build.

And BTW, with these 2 new purchases, I have exceeded my kit purchasing quota for the year.

Before Famous - Adrian Newey's last car at March/Leyton House CG901

Even though the McLaren is far from finished, I couldn't help but started working on another car.

This past Sunday in India, we saw the 10th Adrian Newey design that won the F1 Constructors' Championship, the Red Bull RB9. But once upon a time, before the Williams FW14B, there was a time when his cars were not that successful.

Before joining Williams, Newey was at March/Leyton House. This is his last car there, the CG901 at French Grand Prix, which is the better B spec version with updated aero.

I got all the holes opened up, removed flashings from casting, trimmed the air box inlet walls down and made it deeper.

This is a pretty simple kit with very few parts, will see how long will it take me to finish.

Inlet trumpets

I have not touched the McLaren for quite some time. It's almost November already, so it probably will not finish this year.

Did a little bit of work today, really just a little bit. Chopped off the cast inlet trumpet, replaced with turned pieces.

Original piece in the vise, getting ready to saw off the inlet funnels. 

Machine turned pieces installed.

Now I need to do the other side of the V8.

Flight

Work brought me to North Carolina. North Carolina has an important spot in human history. Kitty Hawk North Carolina is near where the Wright brother flew their first powered flight. So, when I came across this kit, I picked it up. And this Sunday afternoon with nothing going on, I put this thing together.

It's been a while since my last model build that is not a car. Kind of fun.

Porsche By Design

Need to be in Raleigh, NC for a meeting on Monday morning, so I flew in on Sunday. When I was checking out places to visit, I came across North Carolina Museum of Art and they have a special exhibit titled "Porsche By Design". What a perfect way to spend some time on a Sunday afternoon.

Type 64

356

356B

356 Speedster

550

904

804 F1

917 Spyder 16 cylinder prototype

917

908K

935 "Baby"

Art Sports 962C

Remember Roland Ratzenberger? The other F1 driver killed at Imola in 1994?

911 GT3 RSR Hybrid

959 and Carrera GT

Audi Quattro 1981 Monte Carlo Rally

Cantonese Style Roast Pork Belly

Nothing much going on with the McLaren M7A build. But I tried something different - making Cantonese style roast pork belly. Unlike western roast pork, Cantonese style has crispy skin, and is usually served with hoi-sin sauce.

I was talking to a bunch of friends and the subject somehow was on roast pork belly. Then the next day, I went to the local Korean supermarket and saw these beautiful chunks of pork belly, so I just have to try making roast pork belly.

Boiled the pork belly for 10 minutes

Drained and dried it.

Marinated the meat side with a mixture of spices, rice wine, sugar... etc.

Marinated for a couple of hours, and soak the skin side with vinegar for a couple of hours. Rinsed the skin and dried it for a day. Then poked holes on the skin with a fork. Wrapped it in aluminum foil and packed salt over the skin side.

Put it in the oven and start roasting!

Took it out of the oven, scrape off the salt, and start poking holes on the skin with a fork again.

The next part is to crisp the skin. I switch to broil so the top flame of the oven crisped up the skin.

Pretty much done.

Diced it up and put it on the plate, it's done.

1968 McLaren M7A

Up till now I've been building more or less modern F1 cars. The last kit, the Audi, was a rally car. This time I'm back to doing F1, but a little bit different - a 1968 McLaren M7A. Should be a fun little build.

1981 Audi Quattro Monte Carlo Rally Complete

Fixed the windows, added the window brackets and the hood pins. Finally this is done. Will find time to take some better pictures with the good camera later.

When postal service can do a better job than premium shipping

I am a big fan of Model Art Magazine's Auto Modeling series. So, when a new issue is released, I'll purchase a copy. I usually have 2 ways to buy. One is from Hobbylink Japan, the other is Amazon Japan. Hobbylink Japan uses International EMS to ship, which is much cheaper. However, a lot of time things got sold out and need to reorder. The other is the Japan arm of the global retail giant Amazon. Good thing about Amazon is the availability of things. But the down side is that for international order, they only ship using DHL which means shipping cost is crazy expensive.

Last week, I all of a sudden remembered that the newest issue of Auto Modeling should be out. Went to Hobbylink's site... bummer sold out and need to wait for them to restock. So I hopped over to Amazon Japan and ordered it. It's very typical Amazon, they have things so integrated that I was able to track the package with almost real time status.

Yesterday, according to DHL, the package was delivered. I was all excited but when I went home from work, I stop by the mail room to pick up the book, the said there wasn't any DHL delivery! Since I just moved, I thought, may be I did not update my shipping address. I checked the order detail, it's all updated. Called DHL, they said the air way bill also has my new address. What happened? Where is my magazine?

Then I looked at the delivery confirmation online, it was signed for by Rivera. The mailroom lady is Korean and there's no one named Rivera there. The only Rivera that I can think of is the girl in the mailroom of my old building a block away. So I ran over and knocked on the door. DHL managed to deliver the package to the wrong building even though the shipping label clearly has a different address on it!

I only had a few DHL shipment every year. It is very unlikely that the DHL driver would remember my name and associated me with the old building. Also, shouldn't a professional delivery person deliver packages according to the address shown on the label?

Despite all the things people say about US Postal Service, they have been doing a darn good job and the price is much more reasonable than these expensive premium shipping that charges people through the nose but provides service not even up to USPS standard.

Return to the workbench

Even though I still have a shit load of boxes to unpack, I returned to the work bench and worked on the Audi. Didn't do much, but it's a start.

Attention Deficit Disorder

The main reason that I have not been updating the blog was because of the moving. I was too fed up with the old apartment being flooded too many times. Looking for a new place, packing and moving took up most of my time. Now that things are more or less settled down, hopefully, I'll be able to finish up the Audi, and start building something else.

When I was packing, I was shocked to see the number of kits that I have. And I thought they are enough to deter me from buying new kits. That was true for a short while. And very quickly, I have forgotten.

Last week, I saw the news that Tameo's accepting orders for built Red Bull RB9 German Grand Prix, I know they're going to release the kit soon. So, I placed my order with my supplier even before Tameo's announcement! It will take some time before it is ready to ship. I can wait. May be the next project will be building RB6, RB7, RB8 and RB9 all at once?