kensar

Nice work on the weathering so far.

Distributor I didn't have a 1/12 distributor, so I'll be making one, starting with the black part in the last picture I posted. Fortunately, the shape was pretty close to the basic shape of a distributor and the right size. Another complication is the plug leads are at 90 degrees coming off the distributor cap. First, I milled out slots for the posts. Then, glued in 0.035" styrene posts. The silver cylindrical part is a starter motor I made on the lathe. My plan going forward. I found some vinyl tubing about 0.035" ID x 0.050" OD. The spark plug leads are 0.030" wire. I cut 90 degree notches into the tubing, not cutting all the way through. I used a sharp scalpel for this as the blades are sharper than hobby knife blades. The plan is to press the tubing over the posts on the dist. cap, insert the plug wires in the other end, then place some CA glue in the notch and fold over the plug lead end into a 90 degree bend allowing the CA to set in this configuration. Should work. I'll be using the same tubing for the spark plug boots on the other end of the wires.

Thanks for all the information posted about GT40s. I am certainly no expert on the subject and the pictures and information help a lot. I suspected that the oil lines and fuel lines shown in the Trumpeter kit are not 100% correct in their routing and Rex's (Vamach1) pictures are a great help. I was having trouble finding pictures detailed enough to use as references. Due to many inaccuracies in the kit, I am not replicating a GT40 MkII or MkIIb, but attempting to build a feasible vehicle and trying to correct some inaccuracies, being reasonable and patience willing! This also affords me the justification to use whatever colors and finishes I want. The engine and trans are not molded correctly to build an accurate FE engine, so there will be numerous compromises in accuracy. The show must go on! (Gotta bring yer own popcorn)

Starting my first build thread on this forum - the trainwreck called the Trumpeter Ford GT40. There are many inaccuracies with this kit if one wants to build the 1966 LeMans winner and I have read that it does not represent any particular GT40. I don't know how accurate that statement is, but in any case I like to do my own thing from time to time, so I will build this up as I would like it. Visually, it will resemble a MkIIb, but there will be differences under the skin. The first hurdle to overcome is stripping the chrome off of almost all the chromed parts. This was no easy task as the Trumpeter chrome is the most stubborn I have come across. I did find a way, however. Starting with the engine, I cut off all the nodules that are supposed to represent bolts and nuts, and stripped the paint off. Looking around for nuts and bolts to improve the model, I found that Meng makes styrene nuts and bolts and prices them very reasonable, so that is what I am going with. This is a great improvement over the as-molded kit. I have place 57 bolt heads so far and more are sure to come. I'm liking that price on those Meng bolts! The kit left out some necessary components, like the distributor, starter motor, and crankcase breather, so I will be adding these. Must have slipped their mind. The beginnings of a distributor and the breather I knocked out on the lathe. You're welcome to come along for this ride, but it won't be a short one.

Thanks Curt and Ace-Garageguy for the explanation regarding the electroplating. It makes more sense to me now. I would prefer to strip the chrome and paint with solvent based paints for better paint adhesion to the plastic. Poor adhesion to the plastic is why I don't use aqueous based paints. Thank you everyone for the discussion.

I believe a urethane clear coat such as 2K is a base monomer that must be mixed with a catalyst before spraying. It yields a very thick clearcoat that takes some weeks (yes, weeks!) to fully cure to a hard finish. I have used it a couple of times on models. My personal opinion is that it's more trouble than it's worth. Definitely use a respirator when spraying this stuff.

I wanted to remove the chrome because it is the wrong finish for the parts I am working with. Removing the mold lines is also another reason to remove the chrome, but for some parts, they would need to be re-chromed. I am unfamiliar with the process to electroplate an unconductive material, such as polystyrene. Can you explain more about this? I am a Chemical Engineer and I have never heard of this. As far as working with this highly corrosive material (NaOH), I am familiar with the hazards. I am not advocating that anyone else use this method just because some clown on the internet did. Every person should familiarize themselves with the hazards associated with whatever materials or processes they are using!

Well, after an extensive internet search, the only method of stripping aluminum coatings I found were to use bleach (7% sodium hypochlorite) or lye (sodium hydroxide). The bleach did not do an adequate job, even after soaking overnight. I went to a hardware store and got 100% lye, used for clearing out stopped up drains, and mixed up a strong batch of about 40% - 50% NaOH. Soaking the parts for 2-3 hours removed the plating (but not the clear yellow coating that makes the surfaces smooth). So this is what I will do to strip the chrome from the parts. I guess the aluminum coating is thicker on Trumpeter parts than parts from other manufacturers.

Moderator - how many more posts must I put up before they don't need to be reviewed? The forum information says six, but I have posted far more than that.

This may have been covered somewhere before, but I can't find the topic. What will take the chrome plating off of Trumpeter's sprues? I have tried Easy Off oven cleaner, bleach, Super Clean, and Floquil Easy Lift Off. None of these have cleaned the chrome off. I have used all of these before and each one has worked on chrome plating from other manufacturers. Any other ideas?

Very nice models, Allan. My condolences for your lost brother.

This is the Dora Wings version of the Caudron C.631 in 1/48 scale. The C.631 is a sport plane built in the 1930s and was used to set transcontinental speed records, mainly from France to places like Japan and Madagascar. This depicts one flown by Andre Japy from Paris to Tokyo. Unfortunately, Japy crashed it in Japan and was seriously injured. This is an out of the box build. Thanks for looking!

Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone. I was motivated to do a good job on this because I have been wanting to do a subject from this racing era for awhile now and there doesn't seem to be any very good kits. The box art from the Heller box is also very cool looking. I just hope some company would do a decent Alfa Romeo 158 or a Ferrari 500 and not want an arm and a leg for it (like MFH does). As for the wheels, I basically try to duplicate the kit rim and hub. A lathe and mill are needed for this kind of work. I find that the hub can be made of aluminum but the rim is better made with a softer material like PVC or polyurethane resin, which machines good and won't break the 0.013" drill bits used for the holes. The hub is not drilled for the spokes, but the spokes lay in a slot or on a ledge, then superglued there when the lacing is completed on that side. The monofilament spokes are threaded in a pattern that enables me to use one piece of monofilament for each set of spokes (inside and outside spokes). This pattern requires the number of spokes to be an odd multiple of 4 spokes: 3x4=12, 5x4=20, 7x4=28, etc. On this model, there are 28 spokes on the inside and 20 on the outside. A jig is also needed to hold the hub and rims in alignment when lacing the spokes and I make this from aluminum usually.

Just finished this Heller Talbot Lago Grand Prix racer. Even though this kit is lightyears better than the SMER version, it still needs some help. The typical main upgrade in kits of subjects from this era are better wire wheels. I took the opportunity to do this by machining some brake drums and wheel hubs from aluminum and rims from PVC pipe. The spokes are nylon monofilament fishing line. The spinners are not exactly correct, but I think are passable. The grill in the front was replaced with wire mesh. The dashboard is aluminum tape that I did machine turning on using a grinding stone in a Dremel tool. The instrument bezels are machined from aluminum with aftermarket instrument faces. I added a few extras in the engine compartment to make it more interesting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. If you have any questions just ask. Thanks for looking.

Will be great to see this reissued. My builds below: Tamiya in the front, Gunze behind it.

To round out my intro, I am posting a few of my previous builds. Abarth Carrera - resin body with Fujimi chassis 1/12 MG Models Plus Ferrari 375 MM, 1954 LeMans winner. This model took 1st place in the large scale class at the 2019 IPMS National Convention. Lots of scratchbuilt parts, including the wire wheels. 1971 Porsche LeMans team in 1/24 scale. Courtesy of Fisher Models, LeMans Miniatures, and Fujimi. Fictitious Porsche 910 spyder. Based on 1/12 Tamiya kit. Body modified and lots of scratchbuilt innards. One of my favorite models, a Jaguar XJR-5. Can't remember if it's from LeMans Miniatures or Profil24. Porsche 935 gaggle. Early and late 1976 version, 935 Baby, and 1977 works version. And lastly for now, a Tamiya 1/12 Williams FW14B, mostly OOB. Thanks for looking in. Hope you like the pictures.

No, no relation to Michele Mouton, Kurt.

Thanks for all the nice comments, everyone. I should be finishing up the Talbot Lago in the next few days so you will see another post from me soon.

Hello all. I just joined the forum and thought I'd open with this recently completed subject. It's a fictious Carrera Panamericana racer based on a Fujimi Enthusiast kit. I had started it many years ago and just lost momentum on it until recently. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm nearing completion of a Heller Talbot Lago T26C Grand Prix racer, which I will post when completed. Thanks for looking in.

Hello all. George - I live on the north side of Hendersonville. Can't be far from you. Bob - Sorry to hear of your recent health setback. I did miss seeing you at Spartanburg and hope to see you in Sville. Thanks for the forum welcome, everyone!

Hello from western NC. My name is Ken Mouton and I use the screen name kensar. I've been building models since 1994, first starting with cars and then switching to aircraft for the last few years since in 2017. I recently retired and now have more time for model building, so I have been expanding my range of subjects back into cars and other subjects. I'll be posting a couple of my recent completions before too long. I enjoy scratchbuilding parts and sometimes entire models and have invested in a lathe and a mill several years ago, which keeps things interesting. I'll see you in the threads! Ken