CNC Lathe conversion

Conversion is finished. Installed and configured latest EMC2 version with lathe support. Ran simulation of the sample G-Code script from EMC2 community. Seems to run fine. Might need to play with settings on each axis to optimize feed rates. One more learning curve to concur is setting up of tooltable, so I could change tools on my quick tool change post and run them without touching off axis again.

MP4/22 rescue build

Most of the decals are on the main body shell. Quite a few more to go onto wing elements and then lots of CF decals for floor, wings and suspension elements.

MP4/22 rescue build

It's being a while since MP4/22 had my attention. Finally it get some. Painted black areas on wings and body. Those black surfaces are ready to accept Carbon Fiber decals. Started application of main decals. Studio27 decals aren't easy to work with. Quite thin and a bit firm at the same time. React to Micro-Sol decals solution quickly and strongly. I've learned to position them as good as I can first, using extra water, drain water next and only then apply Mirco-Sol. As soon as decal solution is applied it's almost impossible to move/adjust decals location. It's also easy to damage decals after Micro-Sol is applied. Below is my regular "family" shot of MP4/22 beside MP4/5B. Work on MP4/5B build kind of helped to draw me back to MP4/22 build.

CNC Lathe conversion

I've made a decision to convert my manual Sherline lathe into CNC controlled one. The idea is to use same control box, which connected to the CNC Mill at the moment. I plan to unplug Mill's steppers and plug in Lathe's steppers. Separate configuration for EMC2 should do it fine, I think. The downside of course is that I would not be able to run Mill and Lathe under CNC control simultaneously. That'll be fine until Lathe get it's own CNC controller. All components are in house at present. Couple of basic steps are completed. Got holes drilled and tapped in Lathe's base to accept stepper mount. Changed lead screw and installed all mounts. It's ready to accept steppers. Couple difficult steps left - soldering of connectors to motor wires and configuring EMC2 to control Lathe. Otherwise the rest seems straightforward.

F2008 RC car for conversion to static model

Got F2008 RC car for future conversion to static model. Arrived from Spain from my friend James. Here are some photos of it beside F2007 I've got earlier from a friend from Japan. These RC cars look surprisingly accurate, and appear to be a great base for conversions. There are no available 1/12 scale plastic kits of modern Formula 1 cars, so I left with the choice of complete scratch building or conversions from RC cars. At least RC cars provide good starting point. Lots of scratch building and new decals are still required of course.

Original high definition photos are available from
following album

Focus shift

As 248F1 and RB5 builds are heading towards finish line I need to make new brake rotors, hats and calipers. F2007 and MP4/22 also need those. Started with rotors. I've been thinking about how to machine square venting holes using round milling bits. Came up with 2 halves design. Made quick 3D CAD model to check if design would work. I wrote g-code by hand to control my CNC. Having rotary table made it quite simple. Plan is to make metal masters and then cast number of resin copies for all mentioned kits.

RB5 2009 British GP winner Vettel

Finished applying decals on main body and wings. Put Zero 2K clear coat over them. I'm pretty happy about how it turned out. Almost perfect. I guess at 1/20 scale it would be almost impossible to not get some contaminants while painting. So, few places will have to be polished out. But over all much better then 248F1.

RB5 2009 British GP winner Vettel

Started to apply decals. According to references I have stripes on sidepods should be shorter. Looks like EJan (MFH) made a mistake there. I followed technique described by jaykay and put Alclad smoke over CF decals on the rear ends of sidepods. I'm very satisfied with result. It's a right solution, imho. Decals look quite dark, as I wanted, but you could see a patters at a close distance.

More decals are on. I just love when decals go on and car comes alive. For OOB plastic builds and curbside multimedia kits decals application is a real highlight for me.

RB5 2009 British GP winner Vettel

Clear is on. I polished it a bit before decals. More spots appeared to be touched up with blue. Hope finally to get to apply decals soon.

F60 WIP

Masked and painted black.

F60 WIP

Prepared most of the parts and put TS85 and TS26 on. TS85 definitely has some metal flakes in it. It also has some kind of pink hue visible at certain angles, which I don't like at all. I'm not convinced it's a better choice than Zero paints. I need to see how it looks under natural sun light. But I didn't want to pay for Zero order from UK and didn't want complexity it requires to apply. So, I should be content with TS85 for this build, I guess.

Excalibur #2400 Dehydrator

Bought Excalibur #2400 Dehydrator. While this is the smallest unit in their line, I think it has good amount of space and should even accommodate 1/12 scale body parts (M23 are shown for example). Another thing I like is that I can turn it vertically and put bodies mounted onto holders (MP4/22 body on second picture). Hope this unit will be quite handful in my modeling workshop and will help a lot with painting process.

F60 WIP

Painted number of parts in Alclad's metal shades - aluminium, polished aluminium and stainless steel. Alclad continues to impress me. Colors look great.

RB5 2009 British GP winner Vettel

Got myself a set of SMS clear CF decals. Very nice decals. Have no problems compare to old ones I was using before. Much better experience. They produce pretty convincing results, imho. Only had issue with overlaps, when my templates were not precise.

F60 WIP

Progressing according to build plan. Put dash board inside and "closed" main body shell. Puttied seams. Will do sanding as soon as putty is dry.

MP4/22 rescue build

Not a real update. Just made this photo in attempt to show that cleared parts are quite similar in shade to uncleared yet body. There is some effect of clear coat, but it's hard to photograph.

F60 WIP

More work done. Filled in injection pin marks, glued number of parts which are ready for body color and puttied seams. Next I will close main body shell and putty seams. Then it all goes to bath and primer.

F60 WIP

Work on F60 is picking up speed. Filled in injection marks. Lots of sanding to do. Painted black inside of parts, which will be "closed up" - nose, main body shell, roll hop, etc.

RB5 2009 British GP winner Vettel

While I might agree that CF decals application could enhance model appearance and could be a satisfying task, the time it takes is just enormous. Spent 2 hours to apply decals to front part of bottom tray and another hour for rear wing's lower element. With more experience I guess my skills will improve and time will shorten a bit. However it'll always be an optional for my builds, because of time it takes. I would even call it another nightmare, "CF decals nightmare" this time ;)

F60 WIP

Started Tamiya F60. What a great kit. Fit is basically perfect, parts split is very clever, overall engineering is on very high level. Haven't build 1/20 Hasegawa kit yet, but Fujimi still has a long way to go to catch Tamiya's level. Has been building Fujimi and multi-media kits for most of 2009 and forgot how well engineered and designed kits feel like. Pictures of first mock up, traditional "family" photo and F2007 mock up.

Attempt to paint CF

I've made my first attempt to paint CF pattern on model parts. Painted black as base then put piece of old woman tights around and spayed Light Gun Metal over. Doesn't look right to me. It appears when tights are used, I need to paint Gun Metal as base and then spray black on top. I think squares in tights are too big and too much Gun Metal got onto parts. Will experiment with more rigid patterns - Tamiya's and Hobby Design meshes.