Scale-Master Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 After building the new Gordon Murray GMA T.50 last month I felt the need to build this. Western Models white metal kit in 1/43rd from 1981. Like many of these kits, some of the parts are a little deformed. Besides the bent cockpit area, one wing is missing part of the leading edge and it also has some missing material at the fill points. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Rivard Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 The one race wonder, spitting debris on cars attempting to follow. Gordon Murray at his best! Look forward to following your work on this one! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 13, 2023 Author Share Posted August 13, 2023 After straightening and some clean up (there was a lot of filled in and crusty areas due to a worn mold) it's starting to come along. A small chisel was very helpful. The fan fits pretty well but the casting is rough. The rear wing still needs more work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absmiami Posted August 14, 2023 Share Posted August 14, 2023 You must have gotten the first T50 off the boat - how’d you like it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 14, 2023 Author Share Posted August 14, 2023 16 hours ago, absmiami said: You must have gotten the first T50 off the boat - how’d you like it ? Yeah, I got it in June. It's an amazing collection of excellent tooling. You can read all about it in the review I wrote for another model magazine soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 14, 2023 Author Share Posted August 14, 2023 The leading edge of the left wing was filled in and reshaped. That's a little better… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 15, 2023 Author Share Posted August 15, 2023 The aluminum rims were pretty rough inside and the lips were not consistent sizes, so I cleaned and trued them up on my lathe. The centers of the front wheels are white metal so I polished them to brighten them up. (The one on the left is raw white metal.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 16, 2023 Author Share Posted August 16, 2023 The decals were very yellowed. I taped them to a window for a few days in direct sunlight and they bleached out quite well. (The set on the bottom still need to be sun-bleached for comparison.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 17, 2023 Author Share Posted August 17, 2023 I shot the body with Tamiya Italian Red. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 19, 2023 Author Share Posted August 19, 2023 The rear rims were very rough inside too, so I machined a clean bevel into the centers. This is a mock-up to determine the track width of the axles. The decals and instructions are interesting… There are multiple errors on the instructions, and some of the decals are shown to be applied in multiple places, but there are not enough of them despite the kit coming with three complete (and different) sheets. They don't fit well either (too small in some cases and the casting is irregular left to right) so I mixed a dark blue to do a good bit of freehand touching up and filling in. I made a couple decals to make up for the missing ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 19, 2023 Author Share Posted August 19, 2023 Nothing like a coat of clear to even things out… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 22, 2023 Author Share Posted August 22, 2023 The windshield is not a positive fit, and it's also short and stubby at the front, on par for these kits... (I trimmed and fitted it before painting.) Canopy glue did a good job of hiding much of the fit issues. It is vac-u-formed in the tinted blue color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete75 Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 That looks great - amazing, even, when i look at what you were working with! Thanks for the illustration with decals in the sunlight - i recently acquired my first kit containing such yellowed decals and was unaware of this remedy. Timely! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale-Master Posted August 23, 2023 Author Share Posted August 23, 2023 It's done: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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