Rich Chernosky

Really nice work Noel. Very creative too. A worthy model and great addition to any Bugatti fan. Well done. Gerald Wingrove was the ultimate modeler. I had a friend who met him and saw some of his work in person. He said he was "frighteningly talented"

Mario..I have this kit built and you are right ..it was a joy to build. And you have done is wonderful job on it as well as all the other models there.

I rarely if ever prime under Tamiya. And I use a LOT of it. Tamiya is made for plastic. Try stripping Tamiya off plastic after it has cured (about 10 days) if you are worried about adhesion. On another note you will get a higher shine with less coats if you paint Tamiya over a smooth shiny surface. Prep work for me includes sanding down mold lines then shining the plastic back up, then a good scrub with a soft toothbrush and scouring powder to remove mold release and oils. Most of my work is airbrushed so I don't have very heavy coats.

This is Fujimi's 1/20 Mclaren MP4/7 that powered Ayrton Senna to his third World Championship. Car was powered by Honda's V-12 and was the last car to win a wolrd title with this engine configuration and a manual transmission. Model is painted in Tamiya YS-26 white and Tamiya TS-36 Flourescent red over TS14 orange. I have done several Fujimi 1/20 F-1's and enjoyed them all. This one was the fussiest one by far and much careful work had to be done to get it right. Glad this is over but am still very happy with the results. More comments below the pictures. There was so muchdetail and many tiny parts that made this engine assembly very fussy. The exhaust was particularly troublesome and ahd to be re-engineered. I was so stressed that I decided there was enough detail there for now and didn't add any lines or other detail. Body is completly removable and that can be done at a later date. For now I just wanted to be done. Interior was faily well detail and the seatbelts came with the kit, Thought I would take a picture of the car without most of its decals to show off the very clean lines of the car. Notice the three chrome buttons along the bottom of the body. These represent the Dzus buttons that attach the body to the chassis. In reality they are pins inserted into posts glued to the chassis bottom (visible is the first engine pic) and they serve the same purpose. This is typical of F-1 kits with flat bottom chassis as they are just a little warped and tend to spring apart. This solution got a better fit without having to glue which is iffy at best. Finished car on its wheels. The suspension was very fussy but it all fit right in the end. Got lucky and all four tires touch without any adjustments. Rear veiw. Rear wing was a real bear to glue together. Top mounting had to be re-'engineered and the wing struts had to be pinned to the transmission. Glue points were very small and vague and were never going to hold. Body fit surprisingly well in the back. The only real addition to this kit were the after market tobacco decals...which were exceptional.

Harry, that's a great little kit and you did a bang up job on it. Really like all the little details and the interior is cool.

Beautiful build Dave. A lot of creativity and hard work are obvious here. Sad to see it written off but you have preserved it in scale so it is not lost. The history of the car just adds to this build...thanks.

Dave...now you really have my attention. I posted a 1/32 Airfix build of this car a couple of years back. I think one of the major resin companies made a 1/24 version of this car but the price is probably way out of sight by now. Of course, any self respecting Ford GT modeler (they know who they are.....<G>) has to have one of these in 1/24 in their collection. 3d modeling is the answer so I will be following closely to your efforts. Thanks for putting this up and look forward to your results.

Keith...that kit is not an early Tamiya...it was their very first 1/12 kit. It was issued around 1968 and was state of the art then with many working features not found anywhere else. By todays standards it is not so much. Still, it is an impressive kit and can be made into a great model but many areas will have to be re-engineered. Of particular note is the exhaust. That was the way it was engineered at the time. I bought this kit from my good friend Oscar at Auto World just as it was released. He sold over 1500 of these and received an award from Tamiya for his efforts. It was my introduction into the world of 1/12 . Some 70 kits later I have not looked back. I have a re-issued kit and plan a re-build of this as my kit is very dated. Do some research on this site and the web. I have seen in the past some very creative and detailed builds of this kit. Its been around a long time and still a favorite of detail builders. Good luck and post your results here.

Matt...thanks for the response and the picture. That's a pretty wild interior.

Looks real good Matt. The Espirit styling is a timeless classic. The photography is alone a work of art. Would have liked to see how you did the tartan on the seats and door panels. I painted this pattern on Tamiya masking tape then laid in on the seats on a 1/16 version of this car.

Pierre...you have taken on a real challenge. Metal kits are something else. But you are off to a good start and have gotten lots of good feedback. I am quite sure you will persevere.

Couldn't agree with you more concerning the quality of this kit. (I built one) It is definetly one of Tamiya's finer efforts. Yours turned out fantastic. That color suits it so well.

Paul....I decant a lot of spray cans and there is a trick to it. I also collect a lot of the "empties" from fellow modelers because there can be as much as 1/3 of an ounce left that won't spray out because the tube doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the can. Most of my friends don't airbrush so I have a huge supply. Here is the trick. Lay the can on its side, don't shake it as this only increases the pressure. Fold a paper towel over several times then take a sharp awl and go right through the towel into the can slightly. If there is any residual pressure you can slowly release it while squeezing the paper towel around the awl. This prevents you from getting sprayed. Most empty cans have little or no pressure. Once done take the awl and poke it through at the bottom at an angle and then backward to split the metal. Be careful pouring as it is just like soda and will bubble up over your container. Stirring it will do the same thing. Adding thinner will help release some of the propellant but it is still best left for it to sit awhile and fizz out. Don't cover your container either or you might find the top stuck to the ceiling. You will have to thin it anyway to airbrush it by the way. I have done half full or less cans but the more paint in the can the more pressure and the more careful you have to be. If your can has a lot of paint in it I would definetly go outside.

Here is a project that was well underway before the big move. Fisher resin Matra MS 670 driven to victory at the 1972 Lemans by Henri Pescarolo and Graham Hill. This win made Graham Hill the only driver to ever win the Indy 500, Lemans, Monaco and become World Champion. Quite a feat. Car is painted Tamiya TS44 blue, TS26 white and Testors 1124 green with a little yellow added. Some extra details included steering wheels, seatbelts, aluminium tube exhaust , gear shift, mirror strut. Avery nice kit to work with. See captions for extra information. Thanks and comments always welcome. Nice bright sunlight takes a good picture. Background is my Watkins Glen bleachers. Car sits low and mean Rear veiw shows just enough engine and suspension But I still added some details. Decals in this kit wer an absolute joy even though they were almost 30yrs old. White stripe is vinyl tape. If you were driving at Lemans in 1972 this is not what you wanted to see in your rear view mirror. They were fast and loud and came in 1-2. I have heard a Matra V-12 at full song (in an F-1 car) It would hurt your ears at 50 yards. Best shot of the interior I could get. Not much detail but still worthy of a picture.

Pierre...nothing quite like a couple of quick builds to keep your enthusiasm up for finishing projects. Both of those turned out very well. Now that you are stoked we can't wait to see what you finish next.

Thomas...congrats on your first resin/multimedia build. And she's a real beauty. I probably had about 20 resin kits before I finally tackled one. They were quite daunting considering the fact that I was a long time plastic builder. They require a different skill set and mind set. But you have risen to that challenge. Look forward to your next one.

Nice Job Jim...some good attention to detail. And a nice informative post....thanks.