MFH 1/12 Williams FW16 San Marino (Damon Hill)
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:40 am
Finally finished this project on Monday after a six week build. After having completed the MFH Jaguar XJR-9 a few weeks previously, this was a refreshing and (fairly) straightforward build of a really attractive car. I could not bring myself to complete it as the Senna entry at San Marino for obvious reasons and so whilst it is certainly a tribute to him, it is also nice to celebrate Damon Hill – another World Champion. (Perhaps controversially, I still believe that Schumacher should have had points deducted for his actions in Adelaide in 1994 and if so, this would have been Damon's first Drivers’ Championship Winning Car).
This kit certainly had its challenges (see below) but overall I found it a rewarding experience and I think the final product looks an excellent replica of the real thing. I built it pretty much out of the box and I used Zero paints with their Two Pack Diamond lacquer. I chose to insert two magnets behind the front footwell bulkhead and two more inside the nosecone so that it attaches without locating pins. (I always lose these over time!) I added detailing to the front suspension and bulkhead areas and spent many days working on the plumbing and wiring around the sidepods and the engine. In the end I felt the effort was worth it - although at times I began to wonder if it was ever going to end!
I was delighted by the decals which fitted, and settled down, really well with a little red Microsol and a hairdryer. I was expecting more problems here. Likewise I loved the little mechanism with a lever that protrudes from the floor of the car that allows you to “suck” in the sidepods by about 1cm overall. A really clever detail - as it enables you to put on and take off the top bodywork without it fouling all the detailing work in the sides of the sidepods. Having spent so long working on that area, it would drive me to tears if I knocked some of it off in order to display it!
I struggle to upload photos to the site (as they are always too large) but my photographs of the build can be found at;
https://hhms.info/recent-projects
I had three major issues during the build (and a fourth that was my fault entirely);
1. I found that the two small pieces of rear bodywork that attach to the underside of the two driveshaft shrouds ended up 2mm wider than the main bodywork on both sides. These parts fit into locating holes on the underside of the driveshaft shrouds and as the shrouds fitted perfectly to the gearbox (and the gearbox fitted perfectly to the floor) I am pretty sure that the holes themselves were mis-sited. I don’t know what other people who have built this car think but if I were building the model again, I would drill my own holes 2mm inside the marks on the shroud pieces. This would lead to some additional hassle as the various pipes and supports will all have to be shortened but it would certainly neaten up this area. Thankfully though, the rear wheels hide this gap pretty effectively.
2. I found the fit of the “clamshell” rear bodywork around the cockpit was not great – particularly on the right side where there is a 0.7mm “step” between the two parts. I tried to obtain a better fit with repeated dry-fittings and some gentle sanding but didn’t want to sand TOO much away as I didn’t want to create more problems in this highly visible area. In the end, to secure the clamshell body around the cockpit and the front part of the airbox (and at the same time make the parts fit as tightly as possible), I used two 2mm x 1cm screws which pass through the outer bodyshell through the two points on either side and then enter both sides of the cockpit itself below the mirrors. Not only did this secure the bodywork tightly but they also enable me to remove the bodywork quickly and easily if I want to display the sidepod and engine work underneath. Even then, the one piece bodyshell also did not fit the one piece floor shape very well - or the driveshaft shrouds. In the end I concluded that my entire rear cowling must have been slightly misshapen.
3. The third issue I had was the alignment of the rear wing. The assembly itself was fine so long as you made sure that the two lower “v” wings had the exact same width as the top horizontal wing. However both of mine required some "bending" to fit each other and also to achieve the correct width and it is possible I didn’t get resulting central angle exactly symmetrical. Whatever, whilst the wing is exactly vertical and front of the wing is at right angles to the centreline of the car, the top wing still “leans” a little to the car's right by about 0.5mm. My son couldn’t spot it but to me it is really obvious!! (I always find that we modellers are our own worst enemy. When I look at my own models, all I see is the things I could have done better – and I ignore all the bits that are done well.)
4. There are two horizontal “shields” along the bottom of each camcover with cutouts for a hydraulic cylinder. These attach to the camcovers with 4 1/12 scale “bolts” and nothing else. I SHOULD have attached these when initially attaching the camcovers but chose to leave them until later so as to make attachment of the exhausts underneath easier. However I found that I had no way to support these parts when trying to align and glue them. I tried and tried and in the end started to experiment with plastic strips and things – all to no avail. I even tried to prop them on wires sticking up from the floor - and managed to dislodge an entire bank of exhausts!! If you have the car in your stash – please don’t do what I did. Get them on early and maybe attach the hydraulic cylinders later on. Whatever you do, it will be less hassle than they were for me!!!
OK that’s enough. I hope you like it. If you are building this car and have any questions by all means get in touch here or privately through my site itself.
This kit certainly had its challenges (see below) but overall I found it a rewarding experience and I think the final product looks an excellent replica of the real thing. I built it pretty much out of the box and I used Zero paints with their Two Pack Diamond lacquer. I chose to insert two magnets behind the front footwell bulkhead and two more inside the nosecone so that it attaches without locating pins. (I always lose these over time!) I added detailing to the front suspension and bulkhead areas and spent many days working on the plumbing and wiring around the sidepods and the engine. In the end I felt the effort was worth it - although at times I began to wonder if it was ever going to end!
I was delighted by the decals which fitted, and settled down, really well with a little red Microsol and a hairdryer. I was expecting more problems here. Likewise I loved the little mechanism with a lever that protrudes from the floor of the car that allows you to “suck” in the sidepods by about 1cm overall. A really clever detail - as it enables you to put on and take off the top bodywork without it fouling all the detailing work in the sides of the sidepods. Having spent so long working on that area, it would drive me to tears if I knocked some of it off in order to display it!
I struggle to upload photos to the site (as they are always too large) but my photographs of the build can be found at;
https://hhms.info/recent-projects
I had three major issues during the build (and a fourth that was my fault entirely);
1. I found that the two small pieces of rear bodywork that attach to the underside of the two driveshaft shrouds ended up 2mm wider than the main bodywork on both sides. These parts fit into locating holes on the underside of the driveshaft shrouds and as the shrouds fitted perfectly to the gearbox (and the gearbox fitted perfectly to the floor) I am pretty sure that the holes themselves were mis-sited. I don’t know what other people who have built this car think but if I were building the model again, I would drill my own holes 2mm inside the marks on the shroud pieces. This would lead to some additional hassle as the various pipes and supports will all have to be shortened but it would certainly neaten up this area. Thankfully though, the rear wheels hide this gap pretty effectively.
2. I found the fit of the “clamshell” rear bodywork around the cockpit was not great – particularly on the right side where there is a 0.7mm “step” between the two parts. I tried to obtain a better fit with repeated dry-fittings and some gentle sanding but didn’t want to sand TOO much away as I didn’t want to create more problems in this highly visible area. In the end, to secure the clamshell body around the cockpit and the front part of the airbox (and at the same time make the parts fit as tightly as possible), I used two 2mm x 1cm screws which pass through the outer bodyshell through the two points on either side and then enter both sides of the cockpit itself below the mirrors. Not only did this secure the bodywork tightly but they also enable me to remove the bodywork quickly and easily if I want to display the sidepod and engine work underneath. Even then, the one piece bodyshell also did not fit the one piece floor shape very well - or the driveshaft shrouds. In the end I concluded that my entire rear cowling must have been slightly misshapen.
3. The third issue I had was the alignment of the rear wing. The assembly itself was fine so long as you made sure that the two lower “v” wings had the exact same width as the top horizontal wing. However both of mine required some "bending" to fit each other and also to achieve the correct width and it is possible I didn’t get resulting central angle exactly symmetrical. Whatever, whilst the wing is exactly vertical and front of the wing is at right angles to the centreline of the car, the top wing still “leans” a little to the car's right by about 0.5mm. My son couldn’t spot it but to me it is really obvious!! (I always find that we modellers are our own worst enemy. When I look at my own models, all I see is the things I could have done better – and I ignore all the bits that are done well.)
4. There are two horizontal “shields” along the bottom of each camcover with cutouts for a hydraulic cylinder. These attach to the camcovers with 4 1/12 scale “bolts” and nothing else. I SHOULD have attached these when initially attaching the camcovers but chose to leave them until later so as to make attachment of the exhausts underneath easier. However I found that I had no way to support these parts when trying to align and glue them. I tried and tried and in the end started to experiment with plastic strips and things – all to no avail. I even tried to prop them on wires sticking up from the floor - and managed to dislodge an entire bank of exhausts!! If you have the car in your stash – please don’t do what I did. Get them on early and maybe attach the hydraulic cylinders later on. Whatever you do, it will be less hassle than they were for me!!!
OK that’s enough. I hope you like it. If you are building this car and have any questions by all means get in touch here or privately through my site itself.
