1/20 MFH Eagle Weslake T1G

[CelicaGT]

This WIP is of one of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time, Dan Gurney's 1967 Eagle Weslake T1G!

I started this kit a while ago and then put it on hold when life got busy. Recently I got back into it, so here's my progress so far. I have mainly been working on smaller parts and trying to get as much ready for assembly while avoiding painting the body at all costs as I still haven't picked a blue yet...



cockpit



The engine is basically done and just waiting to be mated to the cockpit





I painted the wheels flat black and then sanded the paint off the rim and spokes.



This has been quite a project, the headers. I was not happy with MFH's solution (pictured below in two pieces). I wanted to recreate the wonderful heat-stains on the T1G and the best way to do that was with real heat-stains. I measured the diameter of the MFH piece and then ordered some thin metal tubing online.



Next I decreased the diameter of the MFH piece with sanding so the metal tube would slide over.



Using a flame I heat-stained the exhausts. The metal tubes themselves look fantastic and exactly as I'd hoped. The metal pipe + MFH manifold I'm not as sure about.


The instrument cluster

[lezdep]

Great progress. Thank you for sharing

[dingo07]

Looks great so far.

I have used Allclad II's Hot Metal paints to do TI exhaust colors, perhaps you should try them

[pgarat]

Hi,

Great build!

Glad to see another build of this beauty!
I really loved building this MFH kit few years ago.
Painting the white lips on the nose is a bit tricky but far more realistic than the decal.
I also used Stainless Steel tubing for the exhaust pipes heat stains.
An advice if I’m allowed, the grooves on the brake discs are just not to scale and the result is far better if you succeed in removing that « toy detail ».

Following the WIP with interest.

Pascal

[wastgate]

I follow.

[CelicaGT]

Thanks guys!

Dingo07, I will look into those if I don't end up happy with the exhausts.

Pascal, I have used your WIP as a guide and marvel at your work, so thanks for that! I was just thinking about whether I wanted to paint the white parts or not. I will definitely paint the white on the nose based on your advice. The grooves on the brakes bothered me too but when the wheels are on it's barely noticeable (to me) so I decided to not worry about it.

[gp-models]

Another cigar build, realy cool!
Exhaust is looking promissing, will follow your work closely, good start so far.

[Jeff]

Beautiful work so far, you're off to a great start

[CelicaGT]

My progress has been slow as I've only had a few days to work on this.

The tires require a lot of sanding. I know this is an older kit but I wish MFH would take a page from Ebbro's book and provide tires without an ugly seam that look fantastic right out of the box.





I finished the wheels and tires and after looking at many period pics of the car I decided to skip the dreaded blue circles on the tires! What a relief, I just hate putting those on. I may do a flat clear over the Goodyear decals to knock down some of the shine.




I finally started working on the body panels and they need a lot of cleanup. The detail is very sharp but for a kit of this price the amount of flash is disappointing.



I've also done lots of other 'small' work that isn't really visible, like drilling! So much DRILLING!


I ordered some dark blue MCW paint that I think will have the deep blue with minimal metal flakes. More updates once that arrives. Also, it requires an airbrush...which I do not have. All this time modeling and I've managed to just use rattle cans. How bad are those $30 ones from a hobby shop if I'm just painting a car body? Can I get away with that?

[gp-models]

You surely can use them, watch out some youtube videos about how to improve such gun and the rest is just a bit experience.
Mean problem with such low cost guns is that the manufacturing process is not realy good, but can be improved by re sanding the tip of the needle and polishing it, lot of youtube videos around to see what you can do on this.
Only thing left over is a compressor which delievers the right presssure, go a bit further and overrate the settings you need, then you have a solution which works for years ahead, most important is that you have a steady supply of air!
Rattle cans are allways a mess of material your using, too much is going to the drain, an airbrush leaves you the oppertunity to bring colour spot on in areas where a rattel can sinks everything aroung in a thick coat, whis can be erased with an airbrush gun and bring you better results, so don`t mess with the wrong material and stay happy with a matching solution!