1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Models in progress... including non-F1 models.
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whatisdeletrazdoing
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1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by whatisdeletrazdoing »

Hello everyone,

This is my first WIP here and my first F1 car since I was a kid. I'm building Tamiya's lovely MP4/8, but I will be finishing it in the configuration Mika Hakkinen drove in the last 3 races of 1993. That means some minor modifications, including getting rid of those awful bargeboards! I will also be wiring and plumbing the engine compartment.

The first order of business was to remove the mounting arms for the bargeboards.
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Then I filled in the mounting holes in the monocoque with styrene and cement. (penciled arrows)
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And sanded and primed it smooth.
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The wing given in the kit is a high-downforce specification, only used to my knowledge at Monaco.
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The wing Hakkinen's car used was thankfully a medium downforce wing that had identical elements and just a smaller endplate. I used a saw to cut the elements and sanded them even.
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Radiators done in Alcald chrome for lexan (that's all I had)
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Rear pushrods were painted, with wiring added and a small piece of copper wire wrapped around the pushrods to simulate the adjustment mechanism near the mounting points.
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The engine block was done in Alclad chrome for lexan as well, with the heads in semi-gloss black. The logo details were done with a dry brush and Vallejo silver.
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I scratched the heat shielding between the headers and the block using tin foil glued to mesh from a screen door.
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Cut to shape, and with a wash of Tamiya Smoke and titanium silver.
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And affixed to the block.
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Finally, here's the engine with a few hours worth of wiring. There will plenty of touching up. the wiring is copper from stripped wires.
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Thanks for looking!

Jake
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mobiusone
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by mobiusone »

WOOOAHHH now... You sure this is your first F1 car? Like, seriously. Amazing work so far, and that heat shielding idea is tops! Might be borrowing that 8) Can't wait to following along, the 4/8 has to be one of the best kits to start in F1 IMO.
And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

- Ayrton Senna
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by daveyman »

Impressive work. Welcome to the forum and nice one for jumping straight in with a WIP. Can you tell us more about the rear wing? Did you separate the endplates from the wing profiles? Looks very clean and sharp. I like your heat shield idea too.
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by whatisdeletrazdoing »

daveyman wrote:Impressive work. Welcome to the forum and nice one for jumping straight in with a WIP. Can you tell us more about the rear wing? Did you separate the endplates from the wing profiles? Looks very clean and sharp. I like your heat shield idea too.
I considered separating the endplates, as it would've given me the chance to thin the wing elements. However, I decided against doing so as the odds of me getting it all back together straight and aligned was very slim! There were 5 different rear wings run in 1993 to my knowledge, with the version I'm building being right in the middle in terms of downforce. There was an ultra-high downforce spec used in Hungary, essentially the Monaco wing with an added element. Then there's the Monaco wing and my wing, with the only differences being the endplates. Then there were two low downforce wings with three elements and tiny endplates.

Here's the mid-spec wing, note how much smaller the endplate is compared to the original wing in the kit.

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I taped off the wing and cut it with a razor saw.

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Here it is with one side finished. I traced the new endplate on paper to use as a template for the other one.

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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by daveyman »

Looks very sharp considering how you did it. I like it. Keep up the good work and keep us updated...
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by vekkuli »

Good Start & Wellcome :) .
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by whatisdeletrazdoing »

Some more progress on wiring up the McLaren.

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That's pretty much everything I'll do to the stock block, I've some smaller ancillaries to scratch build that will require some more wiring. I also have MFH carbon decals coming in the mail, so when those come I can do the airbag and all the wiring that connects to it. I went ahead and painted the floor with Tamiya Mica Silver from a rattle can.

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And I couldn't resist a quick test of what it looks like so far...

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Pretty cool, but it needs some more work. While I wait for the decals, I'm starting on the bodywork. here's the engine cover primed with Tamiya White. Then i'll add Tamiya Pure White over it.

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That's all for now, thanks for looking!
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by CBartholomew4677 »

Fantastic work on the McLaren, super impressed!!
Nice technique on the heat shielding, turned out great.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers,
Chris
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by Eagle50 »

All lookin' good!
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Re: 1/20 McLaren MP4/8 Late Season

Post by Shunter »

Nic ework so far, i really do like this car.
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