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Matt Bacon

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Everything posted by Matt Bacon

  1. If it’s engineered the same way as the 1/12th version, it’s trivial to flip the outer side of the brake disc, leaving the grooves invisible inside and a smooth surface on the outer side, as it should be... best, M.
  2. Read any of the books or watch the restorers videos, and one of the things you’ll hear pretty quickly is that those non-repro/continuation GT40s are all different. Shelby and Holman Moody built them up differently with fittings and components in different places, joints and fixings done differently. And the cars continued to evolve through their lives. There’s a pretty good chance that the #1 and #2 cars weren’t the same when they sat next to each other on the grid. The best you can hope for is to have good reference of the specific car you want to build on the occasion you want to depict and work from that. That’s what the Rare Drive guys did when they restored the #2 car five years ago. I’ve got a pretty good library, years of research time on the internet, and helpful people have sent me pictures of cars in collections and museums, but I’ve not found any detailed reference images of what the #1 car looked like under the hood and in the cockpit in the pits at the Circuit de la Sarthe at 3pm on Saturday 18th June 1966. So I’ve done the best I can with what I CAN find. best, M.
  3. It looks from the CAD as if they’ll leave you to do your own wiring and plumbing. 90% of what’s “wrong” with the 1/12 version are the start and/or end points of the hoses or wiring harness. And 90% of that 90% isn’t obvious or even visible when it’s built. So if you’re doing it yourself, you can fix all that (for the specific car you’re building, since there’s no such thing as standard in the originals) and it’ll be as accurate as you can make it... best, M.
  4. A lovely build of a real classic car. Beautifully finished and detailed. best, M.
  5. Thanks @Dann Tier those boxes are the “boot” or “trunk” demanded by the 1960s Le Mans regulations. Goodness know what you could put in them without cooking it, but hey... They are a “hangover” like the spare wheel (handy ballast if carefully placed) and the second “co-driver” seat which only a midget could fit in (see Porsche 917...) best, M.
  6. So, I have been painting lots of pale blue, some of it less successfully than other bits, hence slow progress... but at last, progress there has been. Still no glue, no filler, and some well-hidden screws! best, M.
  7. It really captures the look of the original very well: best, M.
  8. Yes. It’s a good kit that builds into a great-looking model. The hardest part of using the etch is building the “egg-crate” grille. This is how I did it on mine: best, M.
  9. Depending where you are in the process, 15m. doses is between about 1lb of pure RNA vaccine and 2000 gallons of liquid. Making it Is a complex biological and biochemical process that’s a lot more like breeding winning racehorses than building cars, and you don’t know what you’ve got until the end. And believe me, I’d rather be safe than sorry when it comes to injecting a cocktail of teeny tiny supposedly tame disease machines into my arm... best, M.
  10. Thanks, guys. Although it may seem like slow progress, off-camera I'm working my way through prepping and painting the main body components. Trying to get them properly painted while making sure all the precise snap fit location sockets and pins remain usable means a lot of masking! The cabin firewall insulation is probably not totally accurate, but I think it captures the spirit of the real thing -- quite "artisanal". I also need to make sure that it doesn't get in the way of the close fitting door interiors or block the functional latches. As you can see, I have some of Zero's colour matched paint for this car on the go! The front reservoir is just dropped roughly in place to see the effect. It doesn't fit permanently until after the core central tub and door assembly is put in place and screwed down. Although it's only 5 pieces, I think the detail is quite nice, even in unforgiving close up. Looking pretty solid and reasonably busy in all the right places. The rear clam interior clips on, swings open and closed and pins neatly into place when shut. Another nice bit of engineering. I think there'll be acres of pale blue in the next update... best, M.
  11. Thank you both! @935k3 the exhausts are a mixture of AK Interactive “Extreme Metal” Stainless Steel and Bronze. Though I say it myself, I’m very pleased with how it came out! best, M.
  12. Thanks, both! Getting near to completing the chassis now... Fuel pumps and hoses: there are only two of the flexible vinyl hose harness pieces, but they do the job pretty convincingly. Having found a really good reference picture of the distributor in the latest Octane magazine, I came down this morning determined to rearrange the ignition harness. And then looked again at this and realised you couldn't see anything! All those years of picking up foil and cigarette packet paper paid off... this is the section between the seats, which at least on the 1966 cars is covered in insulation -- the radiator hoses go through there. The seats are very clever. These two pieces fit into slots in the soft vinyl "hammock" moulding to provide some structure. Tamiya Titanium Silver spray paint and a fine black marker pen... And this is where we are tonight. The other seat is having its seat belts built. best, M.
  13. Look like Car and Driver has the pics and the production Z400 will look very like the Z Proto concept. Given Tamiya’s symbiotic relationship with Z cars, the only question seems to be whether we see a kit this year alongside the 240ZG in 1/24, or have to wait until next year... best, M.
  14. Thanks, both! The back end is starting to look pleasingly busy and solid.There's some clever engineering in there to get the transmission in, but it's nerve-wracking. There's one "polycap" in the whole kit, which goes inside the transmission. "What's that for?" you say to yourself as you put it together. Well... fitting the transmission in place involves unscrewing the lower wheel carrier axle screws, folding the hubs, carriers and brakes upwards, sliding the transmission through with the half shafts in place, getting the poly cap over a pillar on the chassis, then angling the engine and transmission upwards to locate the tabs on the transmission in the slots on the engine and flexing it back downwards to snap fit the block and transmission together, which is only possible because of the flex the polycap provides. After that, bending the driveshafts at the universal joint, bringing the wheel carriers back down with the shafts inside at the hub and refitting the lower carrier screws is child's play by comparison! All that reference is going to really come in useful as the rest of the engine bay and plumbing is fitted! best, M.
  15. Meng did a very good job on these. Each pipe locates snugly but crisply into the X-socket at the engine end, and they pop neatly over and around each other to end up in the pair of 2x2 squares ready to go into the 4:1 reducers. I've built other kits with the same exhaust arrangements that have been a NIGHTMARE to align.... I'm looking at you, IMC Lola. The engine can now slot in place in the chassis while work continues on the transmission... best, M.
  16. Made good progress on the engine: The vinyl for the spark plug wires is fantastic... super flexible, pops over the nubbins on the distributor and "plugs" really easily. The only question is that I'm not sure it's in the right place; the drawings of where it's meant to end up are not completely clear, and there's nothing to positively locate the wire-holding "brackets." That said, looking at my reference photos, there are a variety of placements of the real thing as well... best, M.
  17. I don’t think there’s much of the original P1800 left when the “restomod” is done — the roof and chassis number IIRC. It’s more a badass carbon supercar with some P1800 design cues... best, M.
  18. Thank you very much @vamach1 they will indeed be very helpful. I just need some 1/12 Dymo tape! best, M.
  19. Thanks, guys. It's an interesting kit, which is clearly designed to be assembled without any glue and minimum paint if you choose. I guess the pre-painted one doesn't even need the latter! All the parts are made from a variety of different grades of ABS, running the gamut from very crisp and glueable via tough and resilient to rubbery and rather flexible. I think the fact that a lot of the suspension parts are the resilient stuff is one of the reasons why screws are used to give strong joints. I don't think the tougher grades of ABS respond well to styrene cement. The dash is only six parts and some decals, but cleverly done to give chrome switches and instrument bezels with minimum effort. BTW, if anyone knows where to find any interior pictures of the Ken Miles car either in period or in the Shelby collection please point me at them! All I can find is a video of a couple of guys standing around the car and talking, with very little visible of any modelling reference use at all! I'd particularly like to know if all those switches were labelled at the 66 Le Mans race, because they seem to be in most restored or currently-raced cars, bu I can't find any evidence in period either way, still less what they actually control from left to right on that car (there seems to be no "standard" configuration in extant examples). This is the initial build up of the chassis completed, which means it's time for... ...work to begin on the engine. Again, no glue so far, and just a couple of screws holding the heads onto the block. If you paint anything on this kit, especially with primer, you need to mask or scrape clean the mounting pins and sockets. best, M.
  20. Oh, that’s obviously a kit-bash... best, M.
  21. I'm not going to document this one in the same depth as the Silver Ghost (which is probably a relief), because I think there'll be more along any minute... The journey of 1000 miles etc... the first part the instructions would have you build is the pedal box. Rear wheel hubs. I've flipped the outer disc face, because as moulded it is deeply grooved, unlike any real functional brake. Humbrol Metalcote Steel makes for a convincing finish, though. See those anti-roll links coming out at the right hand side above? Don't fit them at this stage, or if you do, tape them into an out-of-the-way position. You will break them off wrestling with the rest of construction later if you don't. I know this... Those front brake cooling ducts were a complete swine to get into place... the vinyl seems very flexible, but isn't when it comes to the crunch! best, M.
  22. Thanks, guys! @ChrisR I have to say was using pictures of the 1/12 Franklin Mint version as reference during this build... it was famously well researched! Interestingly, Airfix planned to follow up their 1/12 Bentley with the Silver Ghost. I remember a bunch of drawings and perhaps even a prototype model being sold off a decade and a half ago when Airfix’s archive was auctioned when Hornby took over. That would have been quite the kit if the mid-70s oil shock hadn’t got in the way! https://www.vectis.co.uk/lot/2953-airfix-archive_149132 best, M.
  23. Thanks, all! The WIP is here in case anyone wants all the gory details: (no idea why that picture is on the link!) @bbowser the kit came from eBay, sold by a charity shop as “possibly incomplete” for only £25 including postage. I figured at that price I could make anything that was missing. In the end I was short one hood side, half the rear muffler and one door handle. The nice guys at Finecast sold me all three as “spares” for another £10, so the whole thing cost me £35 instead of £135 with postage! It was really only intended as a cheap(ish) “mule” to practice on before tackling any of the other Finecast kits I have... @peteski I painted the suit with an overall neutral grey acrylic, then used very dilute transparent AK “black ink” to paint wide vertical stripes followed by horizontal ones when it had dried, leaving a check pattern, darker where the stripes cross. Finally I used a lighter blue-grey in thin lines between the wide stripes, for the last criss-cross effect... best, M.
  24. Definitely outside my comfort zone, but I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. The kit is exquisitely cast and detailed, and remarkably designed and engineered, considering it was all done on paper in the early 70s... Probably time for something a little simpler now! best, M.
  25. Shimmed the radiatoor and shaved the hood slightly to get a better fit in response to constructive criticism! best, M.
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