Simtek S951 3

The last time I went to Marty's store and chat with the guys there, I learned a new airbrushing trick - use lacquer thinner to cut acrylic paint! Yes lacquer thinner. I added a bit more clear and lacquer thinner to the Tamiya X-16 and sprayed the car body. So now they looks like Barney the dinosaur. After it is dried, the body will need some polishing, then I'll need to spray the top of the air-box white and the inside of the body with flat black.

The base got a coat of flat black.

The wheels, head rest, front wing, front and rear brake cooling duct all received a coat of matt black. The rear wing needed more work. First the side plates were sprayed purple, dried and then masked before spraying flat black on the inside of the side plates and the 2 horizontal wing elements.

The 4 Brembo brakes with gold calipers were also put together.

Simtek S951 2.5

Well, I am still waiting for the primer to dry before I can continue work on the car's body.

Simtek is one of those short lived F1 teams, but they've been around long before they compete in F1. They have been an engineering consulting firm which was founded by Max Mosley (yeah, that Max Mosley) and Nick Wirth. The F1 competed in 1994 and (part of) 1995. Simtek was an unlucky team. 1994 San Marino GP, everybody remember that because of Senna's death. But not many people still remember the day before Senna's crash, rookie Roland Ratzenberger was killed during practice in the Simtek S941. The team finished the 1994 season without scoring 1 single point. In 1995, MTV the main sponsor of the team cut back their sponsorship and then other sponsorship deals all fell through. The team only competed in the first 5 races and then went belly up.

The team was only in existence for 18 months.

 

Simtek S951 2

All holes are drilled. The body pieces cleaned up. And a coat of white primer on.

Suspension arms were bent. Rear wing partially assembled.

Could have done a bit more, but I'm a bit lazy.

Simtek S951 1

Debated a little bit which kit I should work on. At the end, I picked the relatively simple kit of Simtek S951 1995 San Marino G.P.

Got most holes drilled. And now is just cleaning up all the flashings and fix any body imperfection.

Bigger issue ahead is to get the right purple paint. The paint chip provided is some kind of metallic purple. Not quite sure what to do yet. May be I'll just use an off the shelf non-metallic purple.

After 1 whole evening of elbow grease, got the body cleaned up.

Williams FW07/FW07B Complete

I think I am done. Overall a good learning experience. Building this S.R.C. kit made me appreciate the thought that Tameo put in when designing their kits even more. For one thing I think all kits should come with 2 sets of decals. Wheels should be turned machine parts rather than cast pieces. The mistakes I made in building this kit caused me to salvage parts from the FW07 kit. So, instead of 2, I only have 1 car built.

Another note - I did it again. Went down to Marty's store and picked up a Tameo SLK015 BAR 006

Idle

Just found out my current project at work will be wrapping up this week. So, I pretty much can resume my Williams FW07/FW07B full time! So, it's actually possible to finish before end of the year!

Read about the upcoming movie that director Ron Howard was shooting in the latest issue of F1 magazine. A movie about the 1976 GP season and the Rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. On top of that I just got the Model Art Extra Auto Modeling vol. 23 on 70's F1 cars. One project idea came up, build the McLaren M23 and Ferrari 312T2 that Hunt and Lauda drove in the 1976 season. Tameo made both kits, but both of them are super kits. Not sure if I have the skill and patience. But I just shot an email to my supplier to see if they are available.If not, I am out of luck. Even if they have them, the lead time is going to be 2 months.

Meanwhile, I'll be building my 3 recent purchases: Tyrrell 023, Simtek S951 and Benetton B189b.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Searched through my boxes of stuffs tucked away in Mom's garage and found these 2 books that I bought years ago.

Alan Henry's book about the turbo era is especially interesting read.

My continuing effort to help the Italian economy

Building the SRC kits made me appreciate the thoughts that Tameo Kits put in when designing their products.

Even though I have way too many kits on the shelf that I couldn't possibly finish in a year, I bought 2 more in the recent weeks.

Both are the backmarkers of the 1995 season. Tyrell 023 and Simtek S951. Simtek folded in the middle of the season, but who can forget the purple car with the MTV logo on? I like Tyrell 023 may be because of all the Tamiya marketing of its 1/20 kit back in the days.

I know I'll build the Simtek to Jos Verstappen's #12. But for the Tyrell, I cannot decide whether it should be Mika Salo or Ukyo Katayama.

Williams FW07/FW07B 13

That's all I can do before leaving town for the Thanksgiving week.

Williams FW07/FW07B 12

Have been very busy at work even though I didn't need to travel. Very very slow progress. Will be spending the entire Thanksgiving week out of town, so won't be able to work on the model at all. I hope I'll be able to finish at least the FW07B before year end.

Bailing out Italy

They arrive! 2 old kits from FDS. A Ferrari 312T and a Ferrari 312T3. They are pretty simple kit with not much detail. It'll be fun to build, probably won't take too much time. Can't wait to build them. But I'll have to finish the Williams FW07 and FW07B first.

For the 312T, I'm planning to build it into the Niki Lauda version. For the 312T3, I have no choice but to make it the Carlos Reutemann version. The body is molded with the air inlets that are on Reutemann's car but not Villeneuve's car.

My way of bailing out Italy

Adding a couple more pieces to my collection

I know I should not. But I can't help it...

Bought 3 kits on the bay.

1. Provence Moulage kit Senna's Ralt Toyota F3
2. FDS Ferrari 312T
3. FDS Ferrari 312T3

The hobby store just got a shipment from Tameo Kits! Not sure what new stuff do they have, can't wait to check them out this Saturday.

(Even though right now, I have way more kits than I can finish)

Williams FW07/FW07B 11

Making progress, though not a lot. Here we have FW07 on the left and FW07B on the right. Both are number 27 - Alan Jones, my F1 hero when I was in 2nd grade.

Williams FW07/FW07B 10

Decal time! A couple of decals make a big difference. Too much stuff going on, didn't have a lot of time to build. Luckily, no need to travel this week, will have more time to work on the car.