Nacho Z

This turned out great, Rich! Not a surprise coming from your bench. I have picked up and put back this kit, (the Heller one), more than once. I have heard and read mostly negative comments about it. You have proved that it can be built into a very nice looking model. Bravo!

This is simply stunning! You have done a wonderful job with it.

I think it turned out great, David! I like your thought process regarding this build. I have some buddies who basically never finish anything because they want to correct every flaw or add every detail and so on. They get bogged down and never finish, (and that is fine if that is what your into). I think it is great that you set a goal and saw it through. Onto the next one!

Just fantastic!

Lots and lots of stories that are exactly like yours. I have never used Gravity USA but I have used Gravity Spain a number of times, some were pretty large orders, and never had a problem. I cannot say enough good things about them.

I always enjoy your builds, Tommy, and this one is no exception. Great job as usual!

What a gorgeous model, Urs! The pictures really make it stand out. Thanks for sharing!

Great looking pickemup, Steve!

While working on the new injectors I also worked on trying to make a mesh air funnel cap. I am fairly happy with the results. I had some fine mesh that I bought years ago. I had these tools that I use to form parts when I build metal models. The mesh pieces are not 100% uniform and I may have to do some tweaking on a few of them. It is not really noticeable to the naked eye. I do think they add a nice touch. I will leave them brass. I have seen plenty of photos of F1 cars from this era with both silver and brass. I think the brass will add visual interest. I made the rings by wrapping 24 gauge wire around the appropriate sized drill bit. Just a mockup, nothing glued in place yet. I like it! Here is a shot of all the pieces that will go into the air funnels and injectors.

You are off to a good start, Curt! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on this one.

This is just too cool, Craig!! I love all of the colors on all of the things...lol. But really, they all play so well together. Great job!

Andrew, I’m not sure how we’re not best friends…lol. Maybe we were separated at birth? ?. I’m a big fan of Andy’s work. When I decided to do the Williams FW14B I started to gather aftermarket items and reference material. My wife reached out to Andy and I have an autographed copy of his Clearview book. I was really looking forward to getting the Ferrari one too but I don’t believe it was ever published.

Hmmmm, I have the Lotus, still sealed. I have heard that about it. Another motorized kit I believe (?). I have older friends who have these kits from the original releases. They give me the horror stories…lol. They are also good sources for knowing how to fix some of the issues and where to get corrected aftermarket items. I have got just about everything that can be had for the Williams FW14B. That may very well be my next large scale kit on the bench.

Unfortunately, Andrew, I believe you are correct about Master Club. I have a decent stash of them. I also agree with you about the air funnels. I will shoot them with Alclad or AK Interactive Xtreme Metals. I will lean toward the highly polished finish vs. a duller finish. Thanks for the reply. I appreciate any feedback that I get. I don’t think this build is everyone’s cup of tea. It may pick up a little steam the further along I get in the build.

Hi, Curt! I think we just met today over on FB…lol. Welcome to the forum. BTW, I have a current thread going on my Matra MS11 in the WIP section.

Keeping on the subject of air funnels and injectors. I have been concentrating my efforts and work on these. At this time they are not finished but are close to being done. I will share the progression of my work. I will keep repeating that I am not the world's best scratch builder. I have a general idea of what I want to accomplish and then it takes me several tries to figure out how to make it. The kit supplied injectors are incorrect for any Matra engine that I have seen. The kit supplied injectors are also poorly molded and would have taken a lot of work to make them look presentable. Here are two pictures from the internet of what the 1:1 look like. This is what the kit supplied setup would look like. I came up with a basic game plan of how to make new ones and how to correct the existing air funnels. I glued the incorrect injectors into place on the funnels. I cut off the injector "arms" and then filled the leftover gap with CA glue. I hit the CA glue with accelerator and sanded the area smooth. I tried to create the base for the new injectors by hand but quickly realized that I would never get 12 uniform bases. My wife cut them out for me on her Cricut. They are slightly oversized. I wanted to be able to add the injector nozzle and two bolt heads to each one. I cut two different sizes of brass tubing to represent the nozzle and its base. I used .7mm MasterClub bolts. Here is the first mockup. Nothing is glued into place yet.

Good question, Bruce. I’m sure they thought about it and came to the conclusion that this was the best way to go. I have scratch built new, correct injectors and shot the funnels in primer to check my work. I have found that I had more sanding and/or putty work on those attachment points.

I really like this one. It takes me back to my high school days when those cars were just used cars and they looked like yours. Great model! Thanks for sharing.

Very nice, very nice indeed!

She really is beautiful, Chris! Like Pierre stated above, these kits have huge potential but only in the right hands. Outstanding work!

I’m a little late to the party but I do want to wish the best and a speedy and full recovery to whatever is going on with you, Snake!

I have been horrible about commenting on your other builds even though I’m blown away by them. I am going to follow along on this one and try to do much better on commenting. I know for me it is nice to see others appreciate my efforts. It gives me a little extra incentive to keep posting my progress. Not that you need it but good luck on this build!

This is just fantastic!! Kudos to you!

I'm still early enough in this build that I can jump from one step in the build sequence to another. There is still a lot of work to be done before I can start gluing and painting. I'm actually still figuring out what I'm going to leave as is and what I'm going to try to detail. I'm also trying to test fit as much as I can. Here is the underside of the front where the nose will attach. There was a gap that could not be ignored. I added sheet styrene. Looking from the front to the rear. Sheet styrene has been trimmed and sanded. Another view. I have started work on the engine. There were a lot of kit parts that were chromed and the 12 air funnels were some of them. Unfortunately the air funnels and injectors needed to be cleaned up. There are terrible attachment points on the funnels and the injectors are incorrect for the Matra V-12 engine. I have made new injectors. But first, look at how Tamiya tooled the funnels. The attachment points are on the delicate and highly visible funnel lips. I did two sessions of oven cleaner on the kit chrome trees. The chrome came right off but the lacquer coating gave me some issues. Here is a picture of all 12 air funnels cleaned up. The opening at the base is where the kit injectors go. I had one air funnel that had a chunk broken out of it at the attachment point. I did some careful filling and sanding with Tamiya putty.

Like Dan said, I've been following him on IG for some time. Never get tired of seeing his posts.