Scale-Master Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 Model Factory Hiro kit. The parts are well done, and as far as white metal bodies it is one of the thinner castings Ive seen, but some clean-up is required. Here is the body after the basic flash has been removed, ready for primer. Note the bonnet is a separate piece. The engine is very well rendered especially for its diminutive size. Heres five pieces to make up the block, cylinders and transaxle, also all white metal. Here is a bit more added including a translucent cast resin piece for the shroud.
cobraman Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 That's going to be nice. I'm surprised with your talent you didn't build it from scratch. : )
superbike-shaun Posted June 19, 2014 Posted June 19, 2014 Hi Mark, im guessing the engine parts you posted are 1/43rd,(im not that good @ guessing scale sizes,even with the measure stick ya got there?) looks pretty fun!. Shaun.s
Scale-Master Posted June 19, 2014 Author Posted June 19, 2014 Yes, it is 1/43rd. The internal frame sections are 3D grown, not molded or cast; first time I’ve built a production kit that has that material from the factory. The thicker areas have to be cut away, but they were packed very safely and the material is very similar to resin, about the same effort to work with it.
fitforbattle Posted June 20, 2014 Posted June 20, 2014 Seems like a very... What to say... Ambitious kit for 1:43. Will the details even show? Not in any way disrespecting, just wondering. It is indeed a cool kit and I'm sure it's fun to build with all the "different" materials. Also, why a metal body? Did they do it for fun or just to shoot the production costs to the roof? Any clear reasons that I'm missing?
Jantrix Posted June 20, 2014 Posted June 20, 2014 Yes, it is 1/43rd. The internal frame sections are 3D grown, not molded or cast; first time I’ve built a production kit that has that material from the factory. Very interesting. I'm told 3D printed parts tend to have a texture. Any issue with that?
Scale-Master Posted June 20, 2014 Author Posted June 20, 2014 There was a little texture on the bottom of the front frame section, (the only one I cleaned up so far). But it is so minute and in areas that will not be visible once assembled it is not an issue. The little bit of it I cleaned up took only a matter of seconds.
Scale-Master Posted June 20, 2014 Author Posted June 20, 2014 The fan is made from the same resin as the shroud and has a PE part as well.
DynoMight Posted June 21, 2014 Posted June 21, 2014 Wow that's amazing, considering that's 1/43 scale..
Modelmartin Posted June 22, 2014 Posted June 22, 2014 I will be curious to see what you think of this kit as it goes through final assembly. MFH kits have a rep for assembly issues. Do you know what the price was for the 1/43rd? I know the 1/24 of this car is about $350.00. I do have to say that I am very impressed with how those frame sections look. How thin are the frame tubes? How sturdy?
Scale-Master Posted June 22, 2014 Author Posted June 22, 2014 I didn't buy this one, I don't know what it costs.The frame tubes are very thin, but not too brittle. When I was removing the support "sprues" a couple tubes broke, but I just glued them together before proceeding to remove the excess areas.Since I have been test fitting as I build, I have not had any fit issues that were surprises or not correctable. But I did have to do some moderate adjusting to get a few of the parts to fit correctly.
Scale-Master Posted June 22, 2014 Author Posted June 22, 2014 The top of the airbox is made up of 3 pieces of white metal and 4 pieces of PE.
Scale-Master Posted June 23, 2014 Author Posted June 23, 2014 The rear fiberglass colored resin section was warped. I used a hair dryer to soften it and bent it into the approximate proper shape. Then I assembled the main chassis tub and pan parts together. After I did most of the body work and fitting of the top body sections I taped the body and chassis together making sure the resin pan was aligned properly to the rear body. Again I hit it with the hair dryer to soften the pan, and then I let it cool before removing the tape.
Scale-Master Posted June 24, 2014 Author Posted June 24, 2014 In an effort to preserve the fiberglass resin color on the inside of the part that needed to be painted silver, I masked off all that will not be silver and shot a coat of tan on the exterior as a base before shooting the silver. Here it is after the silver base coat is applied.
Scale-Master Posted June 25, 2014 Author Posted June 25, 2014 The headers are two pieces of white metal each, well rendered too. And installed on the engine…
Scale-Master Posted June 26, 2014 Author Posted June 26, 2014 Thanks Carl. This is rear frame section after being trimmed and painted. A couple of white metal parts have been added to it too.
Scale-Master Posted June 26, 2014 Author Posted June 26, 2014 Engine installed, and the rear upper roll bar too.
Scale-Master Posted June 27, 2014 Author Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Thanks! The tail section of the rear frame with the ducting and a couple other details has been added to the engine/frame assembly. I missed a couple reinforcement “beams” on the main frame that I had to cut out after the engine was installed. I didn’t see it in the section of the instructions that shows what areas to remove, but it is shown in the step pertaining to this assembly. Fortunately the material is fairly forgiving and relatively easy to work with. I think the gaps between the top rear frame rails needs to be there at this point to fit this assembly into the chassis. Edited June 27, 2014 by Scale-Master
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