Radiator part 2

I fitted the metal braids and things went well. The steel sleeves make a good work hiding the roughly cut ends. The copper wire is now in its final place and I did not even have to make a groove at the top of the bulkhead since the nose cone fits perfectly well.
See also Radiator part 1.

Radiator part 1

The radiator is kept in place with only two thin plastic parts glued to the front sub frame. So far, no big deal beside the fact that those parts are from the dreaded chromed tree. The assembly is much stiffer than it looks like, but not enough to fight the load created by the tubes connected to the radiator. That is where it gets interesting... Four tubes are expected to be running to and from it: two to the lower section of the body, one from the engine running along the left hand side of the cockpit and one to the oil tank. Dimensions for all four are given in the notice and the user is supposed to play with the soft black tube already used on the engine. I wanted to do something a bit different and a bit more appealing to the eye.
I got a piece of shielded thermocouple cable, which has a diameter perfectly compatible with the model. I cut it a bit longer than required in order to open the braid and allow me to remove the cables inside. Then I cut it to the right length. Without its content, the braid may gain a bit of length, but it is not a really big problem. With rough cut edges, I needed to find something to make the connections to the radiator look good. I used a tiny bit of steel ribbon rolled onto itself (thanks to the round handle of a small brush) and slid over the braid, then squeezed a bit more over the braid in order to make it fit tightly around the end once in the right place. The final view should be available in the next few days.











I spent a lot of time trying to find a way to enhance the look of the tubes and I was really happy when I came across the thermocouple cable. However the material is quite stiff and I was not able to replace every plastic tube by a metallic one unfortunately. I am not saying that it is impossible to do, but I could not find a way to use them and maintain the radiator in its intended place at the same time. I made the choice to use the braid only for the lower tubes and I used the plastic material for the other ones. It will then have a mixed finish despite my efforts. The main difficulty was with the tube which is connected to the side of the car. The braid was too stiff for me to bend it correctly over the oil tank tube and around the oil tank and left front suspension. I could not place the radiator on the miniature tubular frame afterwards. So I replaced them with their plastic equivalent and glued together the front sub-frame, the radiator and the chromed parts. That should give enough strength to the whole thing for me to put the braids in place.

Front sub-frame part 4

I painted the master cylinders in Boltgun Metal and left their covers as from the tree, in the original chromed finish. The only thing to check is to have them in the right position and parallel to one another, especially since they will be clearly visible behind the oil tank.










I then glued the oil tank in position. I put my temperature sensor mock-up into place to get the right feeling about it. I tried to make some plug at the base of the tank to make the connection look more realistic but with no success. The attempt was made made with Milliput but I was not able to make it stick to the surface of the tank.
I made it with a copper wire found in a electronic connector. I will have to shape a groove on the top of the bulkhead in order not to get in the way of the nose cone.

See also Front sub-frame part 3, Front sub-frame part 2 and Front sub-frame part 1.

Front suspension

With the damper rods and upper attachment hooks left in chrome, I chose to paint the body of the dampers in semi-gloss black and the lower attachment hooks in Boltgun Metal. Then came the tricky part... I chose not to cement the front plate to the body so as not to pry on it to put the springs into position, so every mobile part was ready to fall off if my hands got too shaky! I worked with the chassis in a vertical position and snapped the dampers to the lower suspension arms. With the springs in place at both ends of the dampers, the game was to find eventually a way to slide the upper part into the lower part. Once it is done you have to lift the front plate in order to attach the lower arms to the frame. With both sides ok, all that is left is to cement the plate to the sub-frame and make the proper paint repairs.
The only disappointing thing is that he springs were not made with suspension in mind. They should have been flattened at both ends to match the end plates of the dampers. That is why something looks wrong in the pictures: with only so little contact area between the spring and the plastic parts, the spring tends to bend a bit. I am not sure I can do anything about it now since access to the spring is uneasy but I will make sure I modify the rear suspension springs when the time comes to use them.

Front sub-frame part 3

It is really not a bad thing to check how parts fit together before making the assembly permanent! There were quite a few modifications to make. The pins of the rocker arms were way too thick, especially those which are to fit into the bulkhead. In that case, it is almost impossible to widen the holes because there is too little material left to hold everything together. Same thing with the pins of the lower arms, but then using a file on the bulkhead is no problem. Fortunately there is no trouble at all with the front plate.
I found something terribly wrong with the instructions. I may use it the wrong way in fact, but I am no fan at all of cementing the front plate of the sub-frame before prying it open to create enough space to slide the lower arm pins when putting the springs and dampers in position. I think I will try a safer method: I will complete the assembly and only then cement the front plate, hoping for everything not to fall apart...
See also Front sub-frame part 2 and Front sub-frame part 1

Front sub-frame part 2

After some cosmetic adjustments on the front bulkhead, it was time to start assembling the front sub-frame. The "C" tree of parts is chromed and always a disaster (whatever the model I made, I have always been disappointed by the chromed plastic parts). The moulding is way below par for a Tamiya product: either there is a lot of flash that cannot be erased (or a matt line would appear in the middle of the part), or the moulding marks are in plain sight... Beside of that, some un-chromed parts must be added at some places to make for new attachment points. I painted those in chrome silver, but it is definitely not the same finish as the main pieces. Anyway, it is better than nothing...
I must remember that chromed plastic is quite vulnerable to acids carried on the fingers (fingerprints become final prints after a few years time), so most of the time I manipulate them with a handkerchief.
See also Front sub-frame part 1

Front sub frame part 1

I am painting this one from black and white pictures from Michael Oliver's book, so it is hard to tell the right colours. However I did not choose to have it painted the same green as the body, as can be found on race cars. The main plate is covered with two brushed layers of Tamiya flat aluminium. With primer applied beforehand, the paint covers the part nicely and a good finish is easy to obtain. The small diamond-shaped plates and bushings were painted Citadel boltgun metal and then covered by a slightly diluted flat Al layer. It gives them a different shade of aluminium. I spread a black wash to the part in order to hilight the different elements of the subframe.

The arms were painted with Citadel chainmail, so as to get a darker metal shade. From pictures of the assembly of chassis R1 in Oliver's book, the arms looked to be painted, as some chipping was visible around welded areas. As the pictures are in black and white, they can't reveal the colour of this paint. I chose to go with stiffer steel-like arms attached to an aluminium plate. The rugged effect on the model will help to give a welded look.












The steering rack was painted flat aluminium and inserted as described in the notice. The operation damaged the paint somehow but all will be hidden behind the oil tank, so that is not much of a problem. It needs some play to work properly inside the brackets. The pinion get into place with some effort, as the rack bends in order to accomodate the metal part. As I do not plan to use the steering wheel, it may as well be glued to the subframe...








The two parts of the oil tank were glued together and the parting line leveled a bit before some Tamiya putty was applied. I used a piece of plastic bag to spread a small drop of putty over the parting line, and with 2 layers of it it is not visible anymore. Of course, sanding is required between layers in order not to get a rough and uneven surface. However I really like the textured aspect left at some places. After all the real part is a welded gathering of bent sheets of metal, hammered into place to leisure (and even kept there with a bungee!).

Radiator

Both parts were cemented together before painting. The whole radiator was painted Flat Aluminium: two brushed coats on the perimeter, in order to give an even surface and a good finish, and only one coat on each grid side. I just wanted to give the minimum metal effect to the grids before giving them a thorough black wash, which gives the part some depth. Then the grid bars were highlited with flat Al again. As the result was not very obvious, I did a second, darker wash.