Saturday, November 17, 2012

Frankenstein ?

It looks like one, but it's really is Fujimi MP4/27 kit. I continue to dry pre-assembly of it. Parts seems to fit, but just barely. As I've said already some big panels are a bit skewed and that does not help a good fit at all. I'm afraid after all painting and gluing is done, I will still end up with famous "Fujimi gaps" :( Last photo is traditional "family" shot. MP4/25 looks out of proportion compared to MP4/27 there.



Saturday, November 10, 2012

Fujimi MP4/27 started

Finally received long awaited package with this kit. Fujimi keeps putting out kits of exciting subjects I like and I keep starting them. Every time I see a new kit of my desired subject I get excited and start it right away and I always forget how problematic their kits could be. Anyway it's much better to have a bit problematic kit of desired subject, then have no kit at all. I've started to detach parts from trees and test fit. Fit of body panels is off again, as it was more or less the case for every previous Fujimi kit I've built. I used to think it was design problems. But looking at parts of this kit, it seems parts were designed well, but many of them seem to have got a bit deformed during manufacturing. So, now I think there are manufacturing issues with Fujimi kits, which lead to poor fit. Or may be it's a combination of both. With all that said, I'm still determined to do my best to improve fit as much as I can. There are some design decisions in this kit that I still don't like. For example, separate front parts of side pods. They are quite difficult to align with rest of body panels. Side pod parts of engine cover are also a bit deformed, which in turn prevents top part of engine cover from sitting well. I'll see what I can do to correct these fit issues. Because this model is going to be curbside, hopefully I will be able to just glue some of the panel shut and stretch them a bit while gluing in.

Below are photos of arrived kits and initial test fit assembly of body panels.



Thursday, November 1, 2012

RB7 is finished (at least for now)

I have finished it up to this stage last Saturday, before Ajax IPMS contest. It took second place in "Open Wheel Competition" category. I don't think there was much competition between models, though, as my own models took 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 1st was Lotus 79 1979 and 3rd MP4/22. Model is still missing some PE bits and steering wheel needs to be detailed. But I'm kind of sick and tired of it by now and need to switch to some other builds. I'll complete it later, when muse comes back.