Sidetracked 8 - whew~

I think the liquid decal film solution works, as seen in this piece on the right side of the car.

Sidetracked 7 - Oh NOOOOO!

I was going to put the decal on, unfortunately, the decal disintegrated in front of my eyes!

Now I need to figure out what to do. Bummer.

For the remaining decals, I just brushed a coat of Microscale Liquid Decal Film on it. Will see if that can save the rest of the decals.

Update:

Attempt to save the disintegrated piece of decal. This is how it looks now. Hopefully with some touch up after it all dried and set, it won't look too bad.

Sidetracked 6 - Patience

Primed and sprayed a coat of gloss white. This is the part that I hate. I cannot do anything but just sit and wait for the paint to cure.

The real reason why I am sidetracked

The real reason I halted the CG901 work is that I have been waiting for these guys to arrive.

Shift levers

Tire valves

Antennas

Template to paint the tires instead of using decal

Now that they all arrived, I can resume, probably after the Porsche is done.

Sidetracked 5 - tow hook

Made the front tow hook. Also cut the front and rear axle to the correct length. Washed all the pieces. Getting late tonight, will start putting a coat of primer on tomorrow.

"Heat Wave" hits Chicago

It was really really cold in Chicago in the past couple of days. Air temperature on Monday was -13°F (-25°C), and windchill was -40°F (-40°C). Chicago river, at least for the part that is connected to Lake Michigan, which normally don't freeze over was frozen.

Today it warmed back up to something closer to normal, 11°F (-12°C). It's amazing that how our bodies adjust. After a couple of sub zero (I am talking in °F, not °C), now single digit temperature actually feels warm. So, it is almost like a heat wave now that we are having temperature in the teens. 

I heard that this weekend we will be in the 30's (above freezing). I guess it is going to feel like it is summer!

Sidetracked 4 - My bad

No wonder the Tameo 1/64 scale 64T series can have that much detail while the Le Mans Miniatures Porsche GT1 that I am playing with now is so crude. It is because the Le Mans Miniature is actually 1/87 instead! When I was cleaning my coffee table and was about to throw the kit's packaging material away into trash, I flipped the cardboard over and saw: 1/24, 1/43, ... 1/87? Then I went to Le Mans Miniatures' site and sure enough, they don't do 1/64. Only 1/87.

Why 1/87? It is the very popular HO scale in the model train world.

Here's a link to a site dedicated to 1/87 scale model cars that I found, pretty interesting stuff.
http://www.87thscale.info/

Sidetracked 3 - here goes the straight build...

For this little guy, I was going to do a straight build. But then I saw the steering wheel of this kit:

It's a flat piece of photo etched piece. Not really realistic. (Who's going to look at the interior? No body!). But I just counldn't resist.

I made a new steering wheel using a piece of bronze wire. I need to rest my eyes a bit now.

Sidetracked 2

Soldered the rear wing together today. This is actually not the smallest thing that I have soldered. When I was an engineer, I have to make prototype electromechanical gadgets. Some of the electronics components were surface mount. I actually had to do it under a microscope. Now, all I have is a pair of 3.0 reading glasses. I guess I'll have to buy a loupe eventually.

Also, as you can see in the photograph, I also engraved the resin body a bit to make the lines a bit deeper. After primer, paint and clear coat, I am sure whether the lines will still show.

Sidetracked

I can't help but play with this little guy today. This is just for fun. A 1/64 1996 Porsche 911 GT1 from Le Mans Miniatures. 

*Update - it is actually 1/87, not 1/64

2014 Happy New Year!

There is no better way to spend part of New Year's Day at the work bench. I managed to spend a couple of hours to get the front right brake and brake duct fitted.

Here I wish everyone good health and prosperous in 2014.

Since I only managed to build 2 kits in 2013, I am going to be conservative and set my goal to build at least 3 kits, including the CG901 that I am currently building. Then 881 and 891 to complete the "Before Famous" theme.

The rest of the grid

People admire winners, they love champions. So, winning teams, cars, and drivers are popular and they have a lot of fans. For obvious reasons, model companies make kits of those cars. For the rest of the grid, not so much.
The rest of the grid is what make races interesting. And sometimes, fight among back marker are much more interesting than the front (it's boring to watch Vettle's Red Bull on pole and run away).
And I found some of the mid field or back marker cars quite good looking too.
I just stumbled upon this site called F1 Rejects, a celebration of the rest of the grid. Enjoy!

Looking back 2013

Found this little guy when I was at home in California. This was my starting point. I believe this was the first 1/43 car that I built. A Nissan Skyline GTR Nismo, a plastic kit from Rosso. (The first white metal 1/43 kit would be the BBR Ferrari F399).

Time really flies. We're less than a week away from 2014. What happened to 2013?

Completed Projects

Although the amount of travel I did was a lot less than in 2012, model building productivity did not improve. This year, I managed to finish only 2 kits:

Ferrari F1-90 (641/2) French GP 1990

Audi Quattro Monte Carlo Rally 1981

The Racing43 Audi kit was the first of many things. It's the first non-F1 model, the first non-Tameo kit completed for a while. Most importantly, the first time I participated in Ws43-san's 皆で作ろう会. It was especially fun to read about other participants' build process and learn from it. 

Kits Purchased

Just like almost everyone's new year's resolution, my self imposed 5 kits purchasing quota failed. The kits I bought this year included the following:

Formula Models

1968 McLaren M7A Belgian GP

MFH

1978 Lotus 79

Racing43

1981 Audi Quattro Monte Carlo Rally

Renaissance

1997 Gulf Racing McLaren F1 GTR Le Mans 24H

SRC

1984 Toleman TG183B

Starter

1983 Rothmans Porsche 956 Le Mans 24H

Tameo

1988 March 881 San Marino GP

1989 March CG891 Monaco GP

2006 Renault R26 British GP

2013 Red Bull Racing RB9 German GP

Way more than 5. Sigh...

Planning ahead, I should finish the CG901 first and then figure out what to do next.

Wings

Just returned from a 2 weeks trip to London and Amsterdam, and this Friday I'll be heading back to California for Christmas. So, this week is the last week of 2013 that I'll be home in Chicago. I was going to do a bit more on the CG901, but yesterday I got sick and didn't do anything. Kind of recovered today, so after dinner, I soldered the rear wing together. This thing is taking shape!

In 2009, the F1 rules allow the front wings were changed to full car width, which I think makes the car look ugly. Now in 2014, with the lower nose height and narrower front wing, I hope the new cars will look a bit more "balanced".

This could be my last post for the year. I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

2014 Let's Build 43

WS43 san just announced that the topic for 2014 is Mazda. I had fun building the Racing43 and read about other participants' build. (Really impressed by WS43 san's Porsche 911 build in just 1 week!)

As much as I want to participate again in 2014, I have a big problem. I do not have any 1/43 kit of Mazda. (I can count the non F1 kits that I have with just 1 hand). And there aren't a lot of options out there. Once in a while, there will be a 787B available. Other than that, pretty much nothing. And I would like something less common, such as the 1991 Mazda RX7 IMSA GTO. However, I have yet to come across such a kit. (3D printing and scratch build? Not sure I am ready to go down that road)

I'll keep looking and see what I can get in the next couple of months.

That means 1 of the 2014 quota will be a mazda kit (if I can find one).

If anyone knows of any 1/43 Mazda kit for sale, please let me know.