Tomcat's Aoshima McLaren F1 GTR

[Twokidsnosleep]

Yep, pretty darn sweet
Would not have noticed the decal missing if you didn’t say
Ever try aluminum tube tail pipes??? So simple

[Tomcat64]

Starting to look like a race car now, amazing the difference when you start to put the decals on.

Thanks Tay - yep they really bring it to life, especially with so much black!

Yep, pretty darn sweet
Would not have noticed the decal missing if you didn’t say
Ever try aluminum tube tail pipes??? So simple

Thanks Scott - yeah the missing decal is irritating because I know about it but not a total disaster.

Haven't tried the ali pipes, but this is my first car kit in <mumble mumble> years so I was trying to keep it fairly simple and out of the box for this one; will add the pipes to the list of possibilities for the next one

So I managed to get another couple of hours at the bench this afternoon and installed the headlight reflectors (including getting glue where it shouldn't be...) and spoiler uprights


Then put the wheels & tyres together; the wheels are Ultimate gloss black with the nut picked out by brush in Vallejo metal air copper. The tyres needed some attention as the seams were recessed in places (I was expecting raised) but using a medium sanding stick cleaned them up and scuffed the surface up nicely. I was also a little dubious about adding the decals directly to the rubber surface but Solvaset sat them down nicely


And then with them added to the build...


I've also added the brackets & hinges to the doors, but they'll probably be the last to be installed as I think there's going to be some fiddling and tidying up once they're in.

I'm away for work this week so that's it until next weekend unfortunately now that I've got it going again.

Thanks for looking!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Mr Cat, that looks spectacular!!!
First car in a bit, but absolutely a fine one
The wheels and tires are stunning. I have not done tire decals before...my Lotus doesn’t seem to have any tire logo on it?!
The small details like the copper nut on the wheel show your skill....all of them are perfectly painted
Really nice job, not just blowing smoke up your.....

The aluminum pipes are so simple...give me a holler when you want a go at them

[Tomcat64]

Mr Cat, that looks spectacular!!!
First car in a bit, but absolutely a fine one
The wheels and tires are stunning. I have not done tire decals before...my Lotus doesn’t seem to have any tire logo on it?!
The small details like the copper nut on the wheel show your skill....all of them are perfectly painted
Really nice job, not just blowing smoke up your.....

The aluminum pipes are so simple...give me a holler when you want a go at them

Thanks Buddy - really appreciate it

So with Mrs T unexpectedly having to work today I've taken the opportunity to dive at the bench and move this along after a decent session yesterday as well.

I've been nervous about screwing up the glasswork but finally took the plunge the kit has masks which is great - I thought they had the left/right masks the wrong way around, but I've since realised I was probably supposed to mask and paint on the inside not the outside Anyway - I did it on the outside using the reverse masks - here they are all masked up and ready with the insides protected by Tamiya masking tape


And the results - I've also freehand painted the light mounts. There's a couple of fuzzy edges, but the one on the top of the windscreen will be hidden under a strategically placed decal so not going to worry too much about that; likewise the bottom edge will be hidden under the rim of the bodywork.


Headlight lenses attached - all the glasswork has been fitted with Krystal Klear


Tail-lights installed


Windscreen installed and left door fitted in the closed position - I wanted to install the door first but on dry fitting found that would be even more of a hassle when it came to getting the screen in place so the windscreen went in first. The quarter-light and door windows were fitted after the door was in place


The right door was fitted in the open position to add some variety and also provide a better view of the internal details - this took a little fiddling to get the hinges lined up and in place. As you can see the wiper has also been fitted.


The hydraulic strut was fiddly to install and basically had to be done after the door was in place to get it lined up correctly, luckily the tweezers didn't rebel during this process


And here's the internal junk on show - I've also fitted the antenna at some point along the way


So here's how it looks with the rear panels back in place






So that leaves me with a couple of tiny details (wing repeaters for the indictors and the door switches) and the rear spoiler where once again I'm struggling to get a decent surface, but hopefully I can knock that into submission this week and add the final couple of decals.

Thanks as always for looking.

[DrSprue]

Wow its really looking quite amazing bud!

[Tomcat64]

Wow its really looking quite amazing bud!

Cheers mate

So things moved along pretty quickly after I thought I'd finished for the day...

First up some of the small parts that I mentioned - in this case the door buttons... looks pretty easy on the instruction sheet, but the parts are the size of a gnat's tackle so I've done my best with them!


And installed on the car (must remember to dust before final reveal photos!)


Here's the indicator repeater I mentioned as well - to get these off the sprue I stuck them to blu-tack and then snipped them off with sprue cutters using the blu-tack to hold them and avoid pingage to the carpet monster


A quick decaling session later the spoiler was constructed and installed... aside from a final blast of Aqua Gloss in a couple of strategic areas we're done






Thanks again for looking and offering encouragement - final reveal should be up sometime in the week

Edit: Final reveal is up here

[Gary30]

I've just picked up the Gulf version of this kit, and wow your build is amazing!

[Tomcat64]

I've just picked up the Gulf version of this kit, and wow your build is amazing!

Thanks Gary - the kit went together really well and was a lot of fun to build.

Looking back at those pics though - all that dust! One of the occupational hazards of having two cats