1/12 tamiya RA 273

[Brudda]

Hello. This is a RA 273 Honda f1 car. Nothing really special. Had an incomplete kit from years ago. Found another incomplete kit that had the missing parts I needed. Then I looked at the tires. Both sets were garbage. For some strange reason I seem to be the guy who gets kits that are messed up that people gave up on. And another strange thing these kits are high end.  1/8 Agora and DeAgostini kits, model factory hiro and tamiya kits. I have like a wrecking yard of parts. So I put together the parts to build a complete Honda f1 kit. I am using model factory hiro wheel rims and tires. I shaved the tamiya f1 plastic wheels to fit the mfh wheels. So now I have a really nice set of wheels for the f1 car. Now this is not going to be an accurate build of the Honda f1 car. It will be close. Just because I might have to make or find parts and other things. For instance, The paint is supposed to be like an ivory or Wimbledon white, but I have a pearl white in stock , so I will use that. It’s not going to be exactly correct, but it will look ok. Here we go…..p.s. I have a complete set of new decals from indycals. They look really good. 

[Chris Smith]

Should be a good looking car when you’re done, hopefully it doesn’t have those plastic links that snap into place. 

[Brudda]

18 hours ago, Chris Smith said:

Should be a good looking car when you’re done, hopefully it doesn’t have those plastic links that snap into place. 

Hello Chris. Yes it has those fragile links. 

[Nacho Z]

I’ll be following along, Bruce.  I love watching these 1:12 models come together.

[Rich Chernosky]

Bruce , this kit was my first introduction to the world of 1/12.  I still have my original build from 1969 but it is getting a little old not to mention dated. I have a re-issued kit in the wings and have always planned on re-visisting this kit. Your WIP will be very interesting. I like what you have done so far. Wheels are cool. 

[Brudda]

6 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Bruce , this kit was my first introduction to the world of 1/12.  I still have my original build from 1969 but it is getting a little old not to mention dated. I have a re-issued kit in the wings and have always planned on re-visisting this kit. Your WIP will be very interesting. I like what you have done so far. Wheels are cool. 

Hello Rich. The one kit I have is a 1969 kit. So far it does not seem to be different than the newer one. I wish I had the aluminum intakes and the photoetch set. I’m going to make it with what I have. I used citadel primer from the gaming industry. Works great but it is expensive. Thought I would try it. Automotive paint, a pearl white toner. And a urethane clear. The decals are from indycals. Super decals. Only thing is you have to cut them out. The color looks silver at night, 

[Brudda]

17 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

I’ll be following along, Bruce.  I love watching these 1:12 models come together.

Hello John. The build is not going to be an accurate build of the ra273. I already changed it to a pearl white instead of the ivory white it is supposed to be. Not going to get to carried away with details. Of course that may change. 

[Brudda]

4 minutes ago, Brudda said:

Hello Rich. The one kit I have is a 1969 kit. So far it does not seem to be different than the newer one. I wish I had the aluminum intakes and the photoetch set. I’m going to make it with what I have. I used citadel primer from the gaming industry. Works great but it is expensive. Thought I would try it. Automotive paint, a pearl white toner. And a urethane clear. The decals are from indycals. Super decals. Only thing is you have to cut them out. The color looks silver at night, 

 

[1959scudetto]

Bruce, these wheels and tires look great ! Did the original kit have "Bridgestone" on the sidewalls (I got a gluebomb some years ago and I think those were the kit's tires, IIRC)?

[Brudda]

17 minutes ago, 1959scudetto said:

Bruce, these wheels and tires look great ! Did the original kit have "Bridgestone" on the sidewalls (I got a gluebomb some years ago and I think those were the kit's tires, IIRC)?

Hello Helmut. Here is a pic of the original tire on the right.  Both kits had these tires, 

[Brudda]

8 hours ago, Brudda said:

Hello Helmut. Here is a pic of the original tire on the right.  Both kits had these tires, 

 

[steveracer]

Maybe I missed it.  What tires and rims, which look different, are on the left?

[Brudda]

1 hour ago, steveracer said:

Maybe I missed it.  What tires and rims, which look different, are on the left?

Hello Steverscer. The tires and wheels came from a model factory hiro kit, wheel rims are the centers from the tamiya kit. I seem to be the guy that gets ruined kits that people gave up on. What is strange is that they are very high end kits. Model factory hiro, 1/8 agora and DeAgostini kits. I have a wrecking yard of parts on these kits.,I made a 1/8 GT 500 that was kit bashed from DeAgostini and agora kits. Here is a pic of the kit bashed GT 500

[1959scudetto]

14 hours ago, Brudda said:

 

Thanks, Bruce. Then it must have been Tamiya's big Lola T70 Coupe with Bridgestone on the sidewall.

[Pierre Rivard]

Wheels and tires are so important when striving for realism and these upgraded parts shown next to the original kit wheels & tires provide compelling evidence. 

Ok Mr Tanaka, time to get down to business. Show us how to make spaghetti exhaust pipes! ?

[Brudda]

On 9/3/2024 at 10:37 AM, 1959scudetto said:

Thanks, Bruce. Then it must have been Tamiya's big Lola T70 Coupe with Bridgestone on the sidewall.

Yes sir, I have that kit and it has Bridgestones. I wonder what Tamiya was thinking when they put Bridgestones in that kit. Were Bridgestones even around then? Firestones or Goodyear would have been better. But I do not know the political stuff that goes on or in a model company. Maybe Goodyear and Firestone put one of their trademark lawyers on it, speaking of that when Goodyear did that to models, I stopped buying their real tires because of that.

[Brudda]

More finished. Gluing the interior to the out side bulk head is a real pain. My model was so warped. I added evergreen plastic to to reinforce it. But be careful , it starts to crack the plastic. I guess sitting in a box since 1969 really warped the parts. Also whoever took the parts they needed maybe put it back in the box like that. I superglued it with an activator. Heard cracking of the plastic all night, never had that happen to me, ever. But here is what is completed. Put the denso decal on her because there is a crack there from the plastic warping. 

[charlie libby]

Looks great.you do this for fun it doesnt have to acurate .thats why i build things that have never been built. Your talent shows in the finish. Keep up the nice work.

[Brudda]

On 9/8/2024 at 4:44 PM, charlie libby said:

Looks great.you do this for fun it doesnt have to acurate .thats why i build things that have never been built. Your talent shows in the finish. Keep up the nice work.

Thank you Charlie. You’re a master builder and your comments mean a lot. 

[Brudda]

More finished. The dashboard justs floats in mid air. You have to fabricate a mount. Out of evergreen. Or extra plastic. Have to scratch build foot pedals as there is none. I guess batteries were supposed to go in its place. Has a plus and minus sign on the bottom floor. And the driver hides all of that. He has no feet so it’s clearance for the batteries when this car was motorized. I have a very early matra Bandi kit that looks just like a tamiya kit. It’s motorized. And Bandi made a lotus 49 that is exactly like my tamiya kit. I wonder if Tamiya bought those old molds from them.  Here is an update. Also a pic of the windshield. It’s also warped. This is the whole kit. I’m glad I have another that is not warped. This is what I have been fighting on the whole kit. I guess it’s just old. 

[Brudda]

On 9/7/2024 at 5:16 AM, Pierre Rivard said:

Wheels and tires are so important when striving for realism and these upgraded parts shown next to the original kit wheels & tires provide compelling evidence. 

Ok Mr Tanaka, time to get down to business. Show us how to make spaghetti exhaust pipes! ?

Hello Pierre, yes this is not so bad. The ones on my ferrari p4 were a challenge. The thing is there is no exhaust manifold. They just hang in mid air. Only supported by the hangers. Weird. So I’ll have to make a manifold so the exhaust comes out of something. My dash board was the same way. Said to mount it, but to what? It also hung in mid air. Had to make a bracket out of evergreen to mount the dash board. Well the kit is 55 years old. Not the tamiya of today. 

[Brudda]

On 9/7/2024 at 5:16 AM, Pierre Rivard said:

Wheels and tires are so important when striving for realism and these upgraded parts shown next to the original kit wheels & tires provide compelling evidence. 

Ok Mr Tanaka, time to get down to business. Show us how to make spaghetti exhaust pipes! ?

Oh boy Pierre, I’m kind of at a stand still on that. They just hang there. Go nowhere. Either I need to make an exhaust manifold or buy a 3d printed part. Unobtainum 3d printed parts has an exhaust for the old tamiya Honda f1 kit. I also was thinking of making my own with solder. But either way the spaghetti exhaust is going to be fun. 

[Brudda]

Well getting back to the build. Had a fire evacuation order a couple of weeks ago. Just put the house back in order. So I can get back on the Honda. Trying an experiment. Sanded the seam line on the chrome suspension arm. Painted with a brush, molotow chrome on the edge of the part. Got rid of the seam line in the chrome part. Looks convincing enough. The pics are blurry but the seam line is gone. 

[Brudda]

Not a lot accomplished. Front suspension arms in place. They are fragile, I hope they can hold the weight of the new tires and wheels. Plus I’m hoping to use the brake rotors from a mfh Ferrari. They are white metal and add more weight. Might be too much for this suspension. If so I’ll use the tamiya brake rotors. The molotow experiment on the chrome gets rid of the big seam lines in the suspension arms. They look pretty convincing. Not perfect but will make it less toy like. Once again not built to be like the real thing. Painted the seat tamiya flat red. Had to spice up the super bland interior. And I will paint the rear view mirrors red. They were white on the original car. 

[Brudda]

A little more. Totally not accurate. Will wire the engine soon.  Nothing too fancy. This build is not going to be very detailed. I’m saving myself for the model factory hiro 917/30. That will be detailed. The exhaust is still confusing. They just hang there. Tried to contact unobtainable for the 3d printed exhaust but no reply. So I’ll be using the kit exhaust. Will see how it plays out.