Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Carbon Fiber part 1 of 5605938

Ok, my title might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I'll be spending a lot of time on carbon fiber decals on this kit.

What have I been doing for the last few days? Well, a lot each day, but nothing really to show. A lot of spray painting. Unfortunately I have run out of primer, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about that yet. I'm almost done painting gloss black as well. I spent some time painting engine and brake parts

Here are the brakes, they are done.


Side view of the engine so far.


I tried my hand at detail painting the "Jordan" insignia on the gearbox. Results are ok.


And now for the carbon fiber decal application. Everywhere. I'm going to use Scale Motorsport for this kit. It's been a long time since I used Modeler's decals (no longer on the market?) The Scale Motorsport decals look very nice.


My weapon of choice. Yes it's made in my hometown. Yes I had to get it shipped from America. Yes the shipping cost way more than the product. But seriously...It's my weapon of choice.


One of the things you learn when making a blog about building model cars is how to take flattering pictures. This is a very nice picture of another so-so part. I started applying carbon fiber decals to this cockpit piece first because almost all the detail will be obscured by the seat. Seemed like an appropriate place to experiment, without wasting decals. My setting solution is HOT!


Looks like I won't have the problems with decals on suspension components like I had with the BMW Sauber kit.


And before you start grilling me for carbon fiber decals on suspension components of an F1 car from 1991 - BANG - there is the evidence that the front pushrods where constructed of carbon fiber, and I've even got the lay of the fiber right


Total: 37 h

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

more painted

Not much going on today. Sprayed another coat of primer and gloss black paint. Brush painted another coat of titanium silver on the brake calipers, and flat aluminum on the engine block.

Total: 31

Monday, March 23, 2009

The monocoque is ready

Today I made a couple final modifications to the monocoque

Here it is


Here is the real thing with Schumacher in it during the Belgian GP weekend.


As can be seen above, the windscreen around the leading edge of the cockpit is a separate part, and quite thin. I have already ordered a Studio 27 photo etch set which includes this part. So it was necessary to remove the molded in part.


I also filled in the old holes for the mirrors, and drilled new holes to take my .5mm steel wire


Here's a picture of the real Ford HB for reference.


According to the refence picture and the kit's instructions, I painted the engine block flat aluminum. Also notice the holes I drilled at the bottom of the gearbox to take cooling hose.


Finally back to the brakes. According to this reference photo, the brake calipers should be a titanium silver color. The kit would have me mix chrome silver and orange, in other words titanium silver.


Here is the first coat of paint on the calipers.


Total: 30.5 h

Friday, March 20, 2009

Almost done priming

After the coat of primer last night, many of the parts are painted to my satisfaction. So today, I prepared many of the parts to be painted black. I also have some parts that still need another coat of primer. I also put another coat of gold paint on the wheel hubs.

Total: 27.5 h

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Lots of painting

Yesterday I prepared pretty much all the parts for another coat of primer. Today I spray painted them. I also started painting the brake disks.

Since this is my blog, and my model, I'll express my opinions and my style in the build. Please note, that I'm sure many people will disagree with me, remember it's only my opinion.

On that note, I think that brakes on 1:20 scale models are overrated. I know that people spend a lot of time and money kitbashing brakes, adding aftermarket brakes, scratchbuilding brakes, etc. In the modern F1 car, you can't see the back of the brake due to brake ducting which is completely enclosed in the wheel. You can see any vent holes unless you leave the wheels off, or somehow manage removable wheels. The brakes are behind the wheels, and well, how much time and money do I really want to spend on parts that are hidden behind other parts. I find the stock brakes that come with the Tamiya Jordan 191 to be perfectly adequate. I didn't even bother sanding the flash of the calipers, because it won't be seen once inside the wheel.

The Tamiya instructions ask for X-12 Gold Leaf, and the below reference photo confirms that, so Gold Leaf it is.



This will definately take 2 coats of paint (or more). Tamiya gold goes on a bit thick and can be a little transparent, so we'll just brush paint as many ultra thin layers as necessary.


Total: 26 h

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Finished priming some parts

Well, I've got a few parts that I finished priming





After reviewing some reference photos, these ignition coils need to be modified.


Here they are after modification


Prepared the rest to be primed again.

Total: 25

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

St. Patrick's Day

Well believe it or not I actually got St. Patrick's Day as a holiday considering I work for a company based in Ireland. Seems fitting to spend this time to build a green Irish F1 car.

Here is a pile of parts. Some primed some not. My big accomplishment today is that basically everything that can be prepared for painting is. Some items still can't be prepared for paint because I'm still waiting for the Studio 27 photoetch set I ordered.


For those unfamiliar with my technique as shown on my BMW Sauber build (http://f1modelcar.blogspot.com/) Here I've got parts that have been inspected, test fitted, and filed, taped to the top of a shoe box


I'm using Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer, and I've got a mask, which is rather inadequate, but it's all I've got for now. I'll take this out to my spray booth at this point.


As can be seen in this picture, the Jordan 191 had mirrors fixed to the body by a very thin metal post, which is not located in the center of the mirror. This makes the mirrors in the kit inaccurate.


I cut the plastic posts off the mirrors and drilled out new holes. I'll use a metal wire to affix the mirrors to the car.


Here are the results



Also drilled out the valve covers and distributor caps for ignition wiring before priming.


Here you can see a nice comparison


The distributor caps didn't turn out as well as I would have like. Don't buy cheap tools. I bought the cheapest 80-60 gauge Chinese drill bit set and pin vise I could find on the internet. The drills are not sharp, they take forever to make a hole. Two of the drill bits broke in the process of this task, one of them breaking in such a way that I accidentally stabbed myself in the finger with the remainder of the broken drill bit. I'll be looking into get X-acto drills and pin vise.


I have finally finished filling in the ejection holes and polishing the undertray. I have high hopes.




Total: 24 h

Monday, March 16, 2009

Cowling modification

Simply more test fitting, sanding, checking primed parts, and priming.

The centerpiece of my work today was a cowling modification.

As can be seen in this picture, there are two plastic posts on either side of the gearbox that hold this cowling component in place. I find them to be entirely unrealistic, so I'm removed them.


Here is the engine and gearbox combo, puttied and sanded, ready to prime. Notice the filled in holes where this pins used to mount.


Shroud with pins


And without


Total: 19 h

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sanding, filing, and...drilling

I spent some time this weekend prepping parts for primer. Some of the parts that already had a coat of primer, I just inspected, sanded any surface imperfections and primed again.

I also got a new toy in the mail

Here is my (extremely low quality) drill set and pin vise


Here I play to open up the exhaust outlets in the undertray


After using these drill bits and vise, I think it would be wise to spring for name brand stuff, like Tamiya, I'm pretty disappointed with what I got, but in the end, it basically cost me nothing. The pin vise doesn't hold the drill bits well, and compared to what I'm used to (I used to have an X-acto set) I find the drill bits to be dull on arrival.


Here we are going to open up the intake trumpets


Here is the view afterward


All in all, spent about 5 hours this weekend on this.

Total: 16 h

Friday, March 13, 2009

Painting

Today, I just cleaned up some dust that got into my first coat of primer, and got a couple more parts ready to paint.

Here is my turntable after a coat of paint.


Here we are ready for another coat.


Total: 11 h

Thursday, March 12, 2009

More part prep

Today, I sprayed the first coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer on the parts that were prepared yesterday.

Here is a test fitting, Engine cowl looks good from the back


This mating point where the side pods join the monocoque is always a problem. I think generally a builder has a choice of gluing the cowling on and having a curbside kit, or detailing the engine and leaving the engine cover off. This kit comes with a couple of tabs that should hold the cowl in place. Doesn't really work on my example. Since I'm going to be heavily detailing the engine, I'm going to cut the tabs off the cowl and fill in the holes in the side of the monocoque.




Here are more parts that have been prepped for primer.


Total: 10.5 h

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Preparing to paint

After some sanding work, I identified some air pockets in the putty that I applied. So here are parts that I had to apply putty to again.


I got some new toys in the mail from England recently. Here is one of them. A detail master polishing kit with Micromesh sandpapers. I used them for the first time today to polish the undertray.


And here are parts that are already prepared for a coat of primer tomorrow.


Total: 9.5 h