Out of pipeline

Worked a bit on P34 - added seat belts, PE flaps to the front and clear plastic inserts into cockpit surround. For now it is completed and out of pipelane as far as I'm concerned. I still have to do tires at some point, but don't have motivation at present.

Putting it together for P34

Getting it all together relatively fast. I'm trying to complete it to presentable state before local contest next Saturday. It's not really built to contest standards and some things will still be unfinished before Saturday, but I like to present my Formula One models on local contests, because beside mine's there isn't many (sometimes none) models of Formula One cars here.

Beside tires, velocity stacks and seat belts there only few small items left to add.

P34 is back on track

After been building 1/24 F1-GTRs for months, I finally got a bit tired on them and inspiration returned to continue with P34 build.

Main blockers were 2 out of 4 front axles glued incorrectly. I managed to glue them at weird angles, so wheels would have never fit right on them. Last night I've fixed them. Cut off old axles, drilled wholes into uprights and inserted pieces of round rod. Funny that original car didn't have any carbon fiber parts (I think), but my model does :) My local hobby store did not have metal or plastic rods, so I had to buy fancy CF ones. After that blockage was removed I could go ahead with assembly. Installed front suspension sub-assemblies to the body and mate body with the floor. Installed radiators and roll protection bars as well.

Next night I've finished all suspension elements. Installed steering column and gear shift. Finished routing of fuel lines and radiator hoses. Few PE items left to attach. Then rear wing, wheels, tires and seat belts and it will be finished.

P34 is back on workbench

It's been on a long hiatus, but I've finally made some progress on this build. Installed exhausts, fuel distributor, injectors, head covers and finally mated engine and chassis. Ignition wires aren't fixed in place yet and fuel lines still have to be routed. I use beading lines to simulate those. Beading lines are quite flexible and not difficult to route, but big pita to attach. Only CA glue works on them for me. I've also started routing some houses of cooling system. Before attaching I've detailed head covers with PE bits, painted ignition plug boots in flat black and highlighted few bolt heads. I think they look a bit better this way.

Some progress on P34

I've returned to this build after a while. My worst fears came true. Exhaust headers were huge P.I.T.A. They just didn't want to align properly. Big contrast to the exhaust from their recent Lotus 79 kit, which were easy to assemble and attach. I've spent an hour on left side and 2 more hours on right side headers. I've initially planned to putty seams, prime and then paint them. But I've changed my mind. I don't think it is worth my time to make them any better. I'm going to just shoot TS29 onto them and put them in place.

Also worked on radiators, rear suspension and details of rear firewall. Studio27 PE set includes front and rear faces for main radiators and oil radiator at the rear of the car. I've decided to skip faces for all the internal radiator surfaces, as they don't add much to appearance, if anything at all. I've only attached 2 external faces, which are visible from outside, as well as faces on rear oil radiator. Last, I've installed rear shock absorbers, rear of gearbox and attached pedals to floor.

P34 is back on the workbench

I have worked a bit on P34. Assembled gearbox and most of the rear suspension parts. Attached gearbox to engine. Attached items to the rear of the gearbox. This way I can use this incomplete assembly as a jig to align parts of exhaust system. Next, I've installed PE faces to the rotors of front brakes. Decided to skip them for the rear. Attached cooling ducts to front uprights and processed with sub-assemblies of front suspension frames. They are ready to be installed onto chassis.

Decals applied to P34

Put pretty much all the decals on. Only small numbers from beside front wheels remain to apply. Will add PE items as needed and then it's off to final clear coat.

More painting completed for P34

Masked and painted aluminium and black on chassis, seat and cockpit cover. Ready for decals now. I run out of Alclad aluminium, so painted SG black first and then used Alclad polished aluminium instead. Looks OK, I think.

Progress on P34

Finally an update. I have not stopped, and while body parts were waiting for clear coat, I've continued painting and working on small parts. Most are done, either with air-brush or hand brush painting. FORD logos were dry brushed. I need to work more on that technique, but I think it's better this time. I've attempted for a second time to do some weathering with Tamiya smoke. This time I think I've got better results. It's hard to capture on photos, because effect is very subtitle. I've applied smoke on engine, gearbox and some suspension arms. I feel it did make a difference. From plain coloured, parts went to somewhat used look. This build will pretty much be the first one, when I start assembly long before all the parts are ready. One of the reasons, is that I need engine/gearbox assembly to play a role of a jig, so I could align all the pipes of exhausts and glue them together properly before putting, priming and painting. I don't see any way to get them ready before that. Body parts were clear coated with Zero 2K afterwards and are almost ready for decals. But first I need to mask and paint aluminium colour on the chassis.

Tyrrell blue is on P34 parts

Here is how Zero matched Tyrrell blue looks like on body parts before clear.

P34 build continues

Plan is to build this model in spec similar to Belgium GP from 1977. It'll be pretty much OOB build with addition of rain tires, items from Studio27 PE sets and some fuel lines and electrical wires. Made good progress on it during recent weeks. Pretty much all parts, except PE were primed. Painted SG black, aluminium and steel shades on selected parts. Gloss black is also on and parts are waiting for Alcald HPA.

Some quick snaps to show overall state.

PS: Parts of F10 model are worked on as well and show up on photos.

My first P34 build

This build was actually started sometimes this spring. However I've only worked on it for an hour or two once a month during model club meetings. Couple of weeks ago it was finally moved permanently to my worktable and I've made more progress on it in one night, then in previous 6 or 7 months. Basically all the parts are detached from trees, mould lines removed and I'm doing preliminary test fitting and gluing of some parts before putty and primer. That's a second kit of F1 car powered by DVF engine I'm building. It appears to be nice kits as well, except for assembly of exhaust pipes. There are 4 pipes on each side of the engine and not much in terms of guiding them to their correct positions. Lotus 79 has a much better solution with long exhaust pipes moulded as one assembly right out of the box. Alignments wasn't a problem at all.

I've also removed moulded on parts, which will be replaced with PE items from Studio27 PE set.

Here are some pictures of parts pre-assembled before paint.