Getting wired

I know I haven't posted for a couple of days, but I've been plenty busy. Let's get wired!

Just a couple nice reference photos




The starting point is these Top Studio kits, and a drill.


After drilling through the connectors, painting them, and painting the wire id tags with Tamiya flat yellow paint, here are the results










Started working on the sidepods as well




This whole time I've been polishing and painting.

Total: 114 h

Hoses

Today, I'll be doing some engine detailing

Note the hoses I'll be replicating today. First is some sort of pipe on the engine that looks like it's wrapped in heat tape (on the left). Next are two hoses, one on each side of the engine, wrapped in black nylon, going from a component on the engine to the gearbox. If I had to guess I would say these are all related to hydraulic systems.


So, here is my starting point, braided wire with flexible metal rod inside, all from Detail Master


I'm going to gently and precisely cut the braid without cutting the metal rod inside


Here's where we're at so far


Because I only have 8 A/N fittings for this size hose and these hoses are very low on the engine, I'm going to skip the fittings and simply paint the mating surface on the gearbox.


For the brass-looking compression fittings, I'm going to use hit shrink tubing from this Top Studio kit.


Cut really small pieces of heat shrink tubing


Yeah, like that small


Slip 'em on to your hose


Get our your handy-dandy Alonso Bic


And there we have it


Cut the braid again, make sure to have the heat shrink tube on your part of the hose before cutting the braid


And that is what it looks like before painting


This red hose was a bit less work, just slipped the metal rod inside the insulation of a wire.


Little bit of work to form it right


And then covered it in Matte Aluminum Bare Metal Foil


Here are my hoses after painting


And after assembly




I also sprayed another coat of green paint. The monocoque is coming along

Total: 104.5

Let's go green + epiphany

Wow, I'm getting way too into this. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with an epiphany. Braided hose is braided over something. If you don't braid the wire over something, the braid should be ultra flexible and open up...allowing you to put a wire inside. This would make using braided hose on the model way easier, because I wouldn't have to mate the hose with a pipe. I would just put the pipe inside the braided hose.

Time to test the theory:

Here is the hose, I'm going to sharpen a toothpick and use it to open it up


So here we go, sharpening up the toothpick with a razor blade


Open that hose right up...


And slide the flexible metal rod inside. Yeah, it worked. This is huge. I don't know if this is what Detail Master intended for these products, but I'm going to declare this brilliant. It will make the braided hose posable, and I'll be able to slip fittings right onto the rod making for an ultra clean build.


After applying Bare Metal Foil to the heat shields on the undertray, the top side of the undertray is now complete.


I did a quick test fit to see if I needed to do any touchup on the undertray.


Here we've got the back of the gearbox. On the far left is the spot where a starter would be inserted. The real gearbox has a hole here with a visible gear. I'm going to open this hole up.


I painted the suspension mounting points.


Now we're really getting somewhere. Here I have the lower wishbone attached to the gearbox. I opened up the starter engagement point and applied a bit of Bare Metal Foil Matte Aluminum to emulate a machined mating surface.


Here we can see the lower wishbones attached. Not the big gap this leaves in the bottom of the gearbox.


Let's go green!


A major milestone, I'm done priming and moving on to green.


Painted white on the wings as well.


Total: 97.5 h

Making progress

I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant to start up again with this kit after so much time has passed. I guess I forgot how far along I was.

Today I spend a lot of time detailing with carbon fiber decals.

The topside of the bottom of the car is nearly complete


I've still got some work to do on the wheel hubs, but I made a lot of progress


Total: 87.5 h

Unemployed and overjoyed!

Wow it's been a long time since I last worked on this! I recently had some weird things happen that have left me temporarily without a job, so I've got a bit of time on my hands.

First order of business is to figure out where I'm at. Here I've got all the parts laid out. (Note the new computer!)


Nothing like a good ol' test fit to get your day started


Always painting


It's all coming back, it's coming back to me now. I've got to file down this putty...


Done, time to prime


After some spray painting, I thought that chroming the exhaust headers would be a nice, fun way to get back into the swing of things.


We'll be applying Chrome Bare Metal Foil


Partially completed


Here I'm cutting the foil, doesn't need to be too precise


Lift up the edge with the knife blade and position with tweezers


Gently use the tweezers to smooth out the foil


And here we have it








Tomorrow I'll probably be applying lots of carbon fiber decals.

Total: 81.5 h