Rich Chernosky

Mark..had to re-take these photos as "somehow" most of my earlier phots are missing. All three of these kits were completed in August of 2008 and all on the same day. Yes I am a glutton for punishment. Most of the tips and pictures you have gotten are great. Best advice I can give is to follow the instructions to the letter. They are very good. Colors on mine are a custom mix laquer that a friend gave me that was matched off a piece of the real car for the orange M8B. Mr color Character Yellow will do in this case. Motschenbacher's car is Tamiya clear red over gold. Oscars car is Tamiya TS12 orange, TS26 white and TS14 black. The blue streak Goodyears were done with vinyl tape cut down real thin then varnished in place when done. Just flow some white paint into the recesses and wipe smooth for the lettering. The rear radiator will have to be lowered for the rear deck to fit down. I did not use the kit supplied hinges for the doors. In retrospect I would only use the supplied hoses as patterns and make new ones out of aftermarket parts. The seam lines on the vinyl are way to hard to clean up and none of them fit all that well anyway. I had more extensive notes on one of my instructions but unfortunaterly gave them to another modeler. I also have another kit of Mclarens version (still sealed) that I have no idea what to do with. May do another livery if I can find decals and re-visit this kit. I may have learned a few things in the 17yrs since I first built these. Hope all this helps.

Still looking to finish projects started long ago. This one was sprayed in December of 2017. Color is Mr Color 109 Character Yellow. This paint comes very close to to the original shade of orange used by the early Mclaren team. The car represents the pre-season testing version of the race car. A wonderful kit loaded with lots of detail and a fun build. More details in the picture captions. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. Chassis and body ready to be mated. Body snapped quite easily over the front and rear tabs. Lots of detail of the 6litre v-12 engine used in this car. Carbon fibre decals were included in the kit but not mentioned on the instructions. Everything fit quite nicely. Interior was well detailed as well and probably could have used more. The Mclaren is a 3 seater and the middle position is where the driver sits. Finished car on its wheels. The Character Yellow sprayed on nicely but it is a semi-gloss so Tamiya TS-13 clear was used. Rear end has some nice detail. Wing went on nicely and all the exhaust pieces met up well. Really like the stance of this kit. It all says "racecar". Body panels all come off and the door' despite their complexity fit well and snapped in place.

Mark...I have built all three versions of this kit. Think I did it at the same time. I only saved one instruction sheet and will check it for notes if that will help. One thing in particular I remember is the front wheels stick out just a little too much. You will have to grind off some of the hubs and some of the wheels. They are great kits and I enjoyed them a lot.

Mark...what an awesome conversion. Followed your WIP . Can fully appreciate all the time and work you put into this. I have the conversion kit plus a lot of extra parts from two more AM kits. This is the incentive I need to dig into this project.

Interesting project Pierre. Shows your versatility. I am sure your creativity and talents will give us a worthy model to admire. Good luck with this. You are off to a great start.

Vince....1/12 scale is the perfect genre for us "visually challenged" modelers. Old age is great...eh!.

Cpontinuing my series of 1/12 kits. I dug this one out of the stash and was pleasantly surprised to see everything painted . Looked like and easy finish project. Well thqat is just the wrong thing to think because it rarely turns out that way and this project was no exception. For starters this whole kit had to be re-engineered as the body was an upper and lower half. I cut the bottom chassis plate away from the lower body and then glued that to the upper half so I could fill in the seam that ran through the middle of the car. That was done a long time ago and I had to remember how to install everything once done. No notes either. At least the hard part was done and it had a real nice finish. Color was 1830 Testors laquer Diamond Dust with their Wet-Look clear. More information in the picture captions. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. . Finished car on its wheels. Some thing fit well, like bumpers and window surrounds and others had to be massaged into place. This kit was originally produced by Renwal in the 60's. Revell aquired the molds and changed nothing except the box and instructions. It showed. rear veiw. Trunk opens and there is a spare tire inside. Had to make new tail lights and a trucnk latch as they somehow disappeared over the years. I am bot usually critical of the proportions of a model but this one is just plain off. The green house and the windows are just way too small. I suppose this was done to compensate for the working gullwing doors but it really shows. Since this was painted over 30 years ago I wouldn't have thought to try and fix this. It would have been more work than I bargained for anyway. So I just finished it the way it was. Not the worst but not the best either. This particular car has been made by many manufacturers and I have it in several scales. I recently posted a 1/16 version. The Tamiya 1/24 is the best example in my opine. Aaahh those working door struts. One of my favorite features of this kit. But if you knew how much trouble it was to get here. Lots of engineering here mostly with the hinges but in the end the doors fit fairly well and operated to spec. Even the door latches work and hold the doors closed. I(nterioor of the car was nice and had all the details including the special luggage. I add carpet and dash decals. Paint isd Testors flat red. Engine was painted various shades of Testors metalizers. There was lots of chrome in this kit and most of it was sprayed with Tamiya Smoke to tone it down slightly.

You go John,,,I'm sure you will knock this one out of the park.

Thanks Trevor. The body sat in the back of the Ferrari case for many years. Eventually it will come out and get its own case. It takes up the room of 5 1/24 cars. My displays are constantly being re-arranged.

I dug this body out of my display case where it has been sitting for the last 35yrs. It was all polished and the front and rear windows were installed. I originally purchased this kit as a Renwal and my intention was to super detail it with working suspension and every concievable detail. I had lots of reference as I had spent some time with a real one and even got to drive it. But that was a very long time ago and I am over that now. I just wanted it finished. I have three of the kits so there was no shortage of parts. One of the biggest problems with this kit is the roof either caves in or is warped. This is usually from having something sit on the box. All three of mine had this problem. It was solved by breaking the window posts and gluing the windshield securely in place. The rest of the kit is mostly box stock. Color on this is Testors 1103 red with their clear over top. More details below. Getting the body over the chassis was way easier than I thought it would be. All the body pieces open and fit well but the doors were a little tight. Rear veiw has some nice detail. Raised Ferrari script was real cool. Bumper is held in place with epoxy and poster tack. This model is quite large (as is the real car) and surprisingly heavy. Hollow rubber tires were nice but had to be filled with urethane foam to prevent collapsing. Original kit has two piece hard vinyl tires that were horrid. I threaded the axles and threaded the wheels on so if I ever find a really nice set of wires they get changed. Interior is done is several shades of Tamiya LP. Woodgrain on the dash is decals from the stash. Doors attached nicely and opened well. Renwal (the original issue of this kit) molded the Ferrari logo on the steering wheel upside down, Go figure. Steering wheel operated the front wheels. Had to take a shot of that big v-12. Its really a lump of plastic but it had real nice valve covers that I sprayed with a combination of smoke and semi-gloss. All the chrome was srayed with this or just semi-gloss. Thanks for looking. Comments welcome.

John...really like your take on this kit. Followed your WIP. That liquid blue turned out spectacular. Congratulations on an excellent completion.

Continuing on a finishing tear is this Tamiya 1/20 Mclaren MP4/8. A relatively simple kit this one went together quick in only 3 days. Color on this model is Tamiya TS-26 white and Pactra Odds N Ends Flourescent red. Once again this was clearcoated with a latex clear and was done some time ago. More details in the picture captions. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. All the finished pieces ready for final assembly. Engine detail. Very simiar to my last post but a different engine. Mclaren had to switch to the Ford Cosworth 2.5 litre customer engine when Honda pulled out at the end of the 1992 season. Engine was down on power compared to the Renault and Ferrari engines but was more compact and lighter. Fished car on its wheels. This was a fun build and went together quickly and easily. It was also very similar to the MP4/7 that was done before. Rear veiw and once again the wing attached nicely. Bodywork also went down nice and snug. Once again I pinned it down. All four wheels sit flat on this one too. Side veiw. This is the first Mclaren to feature these side barges. Careful assembly here and they went on without glue. Mclaren won five races with this car due to its outstanding handling but once again they came up short in the drivers and manufacturers championship. This is Michael Andretti's car. Andretti had a lacklustre season in his only try at F-1. His best finish was a third at Monza. He was replaced by Mika Hakinnen

Its back to the bench as i continues my finishing spree. This is Tamiya's 1/20 Mclaren Mp4/7 that competed in the 1992 season. This one was painted some time ago and recently sorted and bagged into painting lots. I have many kits sorted this way so it is relatively easy to just pick one out and finish it. Most of the planning and hard work is already done. Color on this model is Tamiya TS26 white and Pactra Short Cuts flourescent red. Clear finish is a latex clear. This finish dosen't distort the flourescent color but takes a long time to cure. But when it does it is rock hard and polishes to a nice high shine. More info under the pictures. Thanks for following. Finished chassis ready for the bodywork. This fit very well. There were four attachment points that i drill through on the floor pan. I inserted wires into the bodywork and when lined up with the floor pan I bent them over. This is what holds the bodywork securely with out gluing, which cabn get messy. Nicely detailed front suspension with working steering. Engine detail. exhaust fit well and is sprayed with a combination of silver and copper. Honda letters were bare metal foiled then sprayed semi black. The letters were then exposed with some thinner on a tightly folded over paper towel. All this went together cleanly. Finished model on its wheels. This is a nice kit but was not without its problems. The plastic in the center of the wheels was very brittle and two of them had to be very carefully glued back together. Many of the decals had to go on in several pieces as well and that included the after market set of tobacco sponsers. Nice detail in the rear as well. The wing went on easily and in the correct position. Careful assembly of the suspension and this sits on all four wheels. This version was very similar to the MP4/6 that it replaced. But many refinements were under the skin. An automatic transmission, traction control and a lot of electronic upgrades. The team had some success, winning five races but the championship fell to the all dominant Williams team. Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna were the drivers and this represents Senna's ride. This is the last car to win with Honda's V=12 engine. The next year Mclaren had to switch to Ford for the MP4/8 and that model is next in the cue. Thanks for looking.

Hot off the bench. Another double project. I remember buying both these kits at the same time. Looked at them many times but always felt a little intimidated by the scope of all the work. Finally took the plunge. Color on both these is Tamiya TS51 blue and TS26 white. Doing two kits at once is not new to me. It does save some time but can be a little frustrating keeping them seperate. While both kits are basically the same there are some differences . Of course the obvious is the bodies but there are also differences in the wings and the clear version has a lot of extra detail parts. Still, it was a fun project and I am pleased with the results. More information in the picture captions. Regular version on its wheels. Really like this paint scheme. Silver decals were a real terror though. Rear veiw. Lots of detail back here. Wing was a real pain to get right. Wheels and tires went on easily and all four touch. Side veiw. I like this body style. This is just at the beginning of adding all those little winglets and doodads. Rear view clear version. Note the different rear wing. This is the German Gran Prix car of Ralf Schumacher. Regular version was done for the Italian Gran Prix as Jaun Montroya. Williams had some sucess this year winning a few races but came up short in the championship. Both models together. The clear version had a lot of extra detail with it. Extra interior parts, carbon fibre decals, photo etch and chromed parts. 1/64 diecast is a Hot wheels. Some oif the detail through the bodywork. Tamiya did an excellent job on the chassis . All the bodywork fit very well although the clear parts take some sopecial handling and gluing. Plastic glue crazes the parts. Revell clear parts cement (in the bottle) was my glue of choice.

Still getting the message to manage attachments to free up space. How do I do this? Is it necessary? Can't upload photos as there is no box to do so. Got some cool stuff to post . This is frustrating.

Nice conversion Pierre...very well executed.

Thank you Helmut. I kinda knew that would happen but I am glad you figured it out and got to see it. And , as always thank you for the kind words. Got a couple more F-1 builds (Tamiya) in the works so be on the look out.

John......you are not alone on starting kits and getting them going only to put them away. I have boxes and boxes of them and lately been on the warpath to finishing a lot of them. I built this one but am really digging your take on it. That liquid blue is going to be stunning and i know you will do it justice. Keep at it!!