1/20 Treasure Hunt
McLaren MP4/15 Australian G.P.
Ok first thing I will say about this kind of kit, is to clean it with oven cleaner or similar, This will stop the paint from dropping off!
I am a dye hard Mika Hakkinen fan, to me he was the fastest driver since Ayrton Senna, Its sad that he has now left the sport but with 2 WDC to his name he has proved his worth. The MP4/15 was the car that carried the number 1 on the nose but also missed getting his 3rd WDC with, after his mid season drop in form I was surprised he was that close to getting it.
I will put this car in the cabinet with the Signed cap. :o)
I got this kit at the same time as the Studio27 Willaims FW23 but I did not plan to build it for a while. What I did do was fit the front wing mounting posts and the top air duct peace. The reason was because the filler can shrink and leave marks, this solved the problem.
This was my point earlier, the area where the paint can be seen, has been sanded, the rest of the car was primed but when a washed it, the paint came off. oven cleaner will solve the problem!
Modifying the car first
There were many things I didn't like about the Williams FW23, this kit has the same, but I plan to fix them (good luck to me!) The biggest problem is the suspension and the rotors. Lucky I melted 2 MP4/13 kits because I plan to nick the bits. First been the steering wheel and the wind screen, I used a brass tube and rod to attach the steering wheel, they will be painted with highly polish aluminium.
Now for them dam air ducts, the ones that came with the kit where no good, I have used some styrene sheet to fill the gaps in the ducts and sanded them down a little.
Comparing the air ducts and brakes off the Tamiya and Treasure Hunt now you can see why I have used the Tamiya parts.
Front suspension fit.
On the hub carriers I cut off the lugs and drilled hols for the screws to fit, I looked at using the suspension arms from Tamiya kit but they was the wrong size and shape. not a bad fit on the front. 1 problem I have now got is the wheels don't fit now I will have to use Tamiya's wheels which the tyres are 3 groves and not 4. hmm I'll sort it! some how!!!???
Rear suspension fit.
The rear suspension did not go as strait forward as the front, the camber was terrible looking at the left photo, it look a bit better with the wheels on but not much.
If I lengthen the lower arms it should sort the problem out, I did this by sticking some tape under the arm and some styrene squares to make a mould (see left photo) I was surprised it worked and not melted the arm into a blob like my MP4/13 :o(
A little bit of sanding and it should look ok.
I must of made the car up about six times to test it and the rear wheels fit perfect now.
Now time to sort out that nasty rear wing.
One problem with white metal wings is the hols that the wing elements fit in, they are too big and can be seen when its complete. This needs to be changed and I see it been a lot of work. I hope it's worth it! ( or will it be a melted blob?)
First thing I did was make all the elements the same length and then test fit. Look at that gap!
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they are there to represent a more exact scale model
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