sanding and gluing

I got some normal sandpaper at the local hardware store to sand down the putty on the monocoque.



Kasia and I missed our train to Hel. This turned into a blessing in disguise. While in Gdynia waiting for the next train, we found a toy shop that had decal setting solution, which I have had a hard time finding elsewhere.



With my new sandpaper, I set to work smoothing out the putty on the bottom of the monocoque. Notice the grey lines, where the bottom of the monocoque didn't quite exactly sit flush with the top.



Then I smoothed out the top of the diffuser. See the grey dots, these are where the pins from the turning vanes underneath fit into the diffuser.



Here is a test fitting, it's not quite perfect, but it's a good as it's going to get until the lower sidepods are attached.




Later, I finally glued together the lower sidepods on both sides, and the roll hoop. Due to previous part preparation they slid together perfectly!





Looks great! I bet real F1 cars don't go together this easy.



View of parts glued together from the bottom.



Total: 20.5 hours

Why it takes so long to build a plastic model

I just got back from my weekend with Kasia in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot and Hel. I thought I'd try to show Kasia why it takes so long to put one of these kits together using the front wing as an example.

The parts are all attached to a tree.



First, I use a pair of nail clippers to snip the parts from the tree.




Then these little plastic nubs are left on the parts



So, I grab a hobby knife and cut them down a little closer to the part



You can still see that a bit of these nubs remain



Then, now that it's much closer, I take a normal emory board that can be bought at any drug store, and file the part down smooth.




Now that the nubs have been filed smooth, I use a regular nail file that can also be bought at any drug store and use it to really polish the edges of the parts to remove any flash or scratches.



And now, one plane of the front wing is ready to be test fitted, but I'm not done with it yet.



I still have to repeat this process 5 more times for other components of the front wing.



Then, I test fit the parts, to check if they will need any modification before painting. As can be seen below, the main plane of the front wing that attaches to the nosecone is nowhere near straight. This would look really crooked on the finished model.



So I get out the emory board again, to file down one of the wing pilons that attach the front wing to the nosecone.



It's not exactly perfect in this picture, but I'm satisfied it will be straight to the eye when painted and assembled.



Next, I test the fit of the turning vanes that will go on the underside of the wing. I'm not gluing these on yet, because they will be painted black, while the rest of the wing will be painted white on the top and black underneath.



And then finally, I test fit all the wing components together with the endplates to make sure that they are straight. This assembly is now ready for painting, and I can move on to the next part assembly.



I recently picked up some tweezers to help in assembly of smaller parts



Total time: 16.5 h

Who likes putty?

Today was a day of sanding and applying putty.

See before and after pictures of the underside of the monocoque:




Also spent a ton of time working on the rear crush structure and diffuser. I have to say that this is the only part of the kit that I think was poorly done. It's tough to make these shapes, but Revell made the rear of the car like a toy, while the rest of the kit is great in detail and engineering. Only one complaint about an F1 kit is pretty great. Really hard to explain what is going on here and why, if you try to build the kit, you'll see the problem I'm confonting. It'll all come together smoothly later. Arrows below show filling in gaps in the diffuser.



And here, the diffuser gets some turning vanes.



I'll be heading off to Gdańsk for the long weekend, so this is a perfect time to apply some putty to the kit and give it about a week to cure.

Total: 12.5 hours

big progress

Not only did I get a job in Krakow today, but I made big progress on the model as well!

I decided on an unconventional solution for the monocoque. I glued in the upper wishbones and idler arms, and then the lower section of the monocoque. This will allow me to putty the seams and prepare the monocoque for painting, cleaning up the lines significantly.




Next I moved on to the airbox.



As can be seen in this photo that my dad took at the 2006 USGP of Jacques Villanueve, this hole under the role hoop goes all the way through the monocoque to the point that you can see through the car. This hole is for the marshalls to put a strap through to lift the car if it gets stuck on track.



So, I set about opening up this hole with a drill bit and an hobby knife.



Then put the two halves together.



As can be seen in a test fitting below, modifications to the gearbox were successful in straightening out the kit. This Revell model is great!





Spent about 4 hours on the kit today.

Total: 8h

gearbox work

I'm back from my long weekend in Krakow. I'm sure that Kasia will be delighted that I actually glued something together today! I'm really only looking at the gearbox today, as this seems to be the key to getting the whole thing to work.

Here is a before picture, it looks like it fits well, but it's not straight, it's way too tight, and it's throwing off the alignment of the whole kit.



So what I did, was use a drill bit by hand to open up the alignment holes. Then I was able to successful test fit the lower A arms along with the rest of the gearbox. Once I had everything aligned correctly, glued it together.



Also glued the rear wheel hub and driveshaft assembly together in anticipation of a lot more work here.



And here is the media of my labor. Stopped by my favorite hobby shop (http://www.zabawki-modele.pl/catalog/index.php) at Blue City in Warsaw. Picked up some Tamiya basic putty that will be used for smoothing this kit out.



Spent about two hours on the kit today.

Total: 4h

now blogging

Didn't work on the kit today, I wanted to spend the day starting this blog. The previous posts were back dated to fit when I did things. I hope this is enjoyable so far. I'm having fun with my first model in years.

The first test fittings

Definately looks like the beginnings of an F1 car



I'm a little suprised that it looks like the gearbox is going to need so much work. The red arrows show points at which the fit needs to be improved.



The fit of the sidepods to the monocoque does not suprise me. Modern F1 cars are made up of all sorts of weird shapes in order to be aerodynamically efficient, and this doesn't translate well into plastic. Anyways a little putty should do the trick.



Looks like the nose will need some work too. Revell's concept will net a strong suspension, but not the greatest fit.



I must say I am really impressed with the fit of this "chimney" to the sidepod. I don't plan to touch this at all.



Everything looks great from the front



It's clear from the rear view that the gear box needs some work, and this should probably get worked on first, because it looks like so much else is dependent on it.



Also should note that I got my first brush today.