1/12 Matra MS11

[Starr]

Excellent scratchbuild skill!

Thanks for share with us,

Starr

[mvc]

Thanks Starr!

Small update again. Hope to get things ready for primer in the weekend.

It's this thing I'm trying to get right for a while now. (The shape that holds the suspension arm in place) It is completely different than the kit part, in a different position than the kit, and the main bolts are oriented vertically instead of horizontally.

This time I try making it from layers of plastic card

Had to remove the previously modified suspension supports

Some filling and some more sanding and they can be fixed to the chassis tomorrow.

[Paul_OFarrell]

Hi Marcus,

Great job with the mounts, they look promising and should be very convincing after they're mounted and painted.

The latest work you've shown is one of the main reasons why I enjoy modelling - finding the problem and successfully modifying the identified fault into something far more accurate creates a great sense of achievement.

Looking forward to your next update.

Cheers, Paul
Sydney, Oz

[harveyb258]

Nice job with the suspension mounts, Marcus....great scratch work!
Looking forward to the next installment!

Cheers, H

[RE60B]

Very high level very god ideas i learn!!

keep on man!

cedric

[mvc]

Thanks for your comments! Keeps me going

Today I finished yesterday's suspension mounts and started work on the nose cone.

That's one of the suspension mounts fixed in place

The gap for the inlet is too wide, and it should be a little more to the front

Cut a new, slightly narrower gap more to the front and thinned down the inlet "walls" before fixing in place

After a lot of measuring and test fitting, added a strip with some pins that should fit exactly in the nose mounts I made before

That strip also helps holding the piece of plastic card to fill the old gap

It works! :)
The big cutaways on the sides are not correctly shaped, but I'm not sure if and how I would fix that...
As you can see, I filled the holes where the wings would go: I'm going to build the early version without wings and without the extra fuel tanks.

[Eagle50]

Wow Marcus, this is an amazing build!

Thanks for sharing all your efforts and ideas!

Cheers, Chris

[gavrob]

Really excellent improvements you are making. I'm enjoying your work.

[mvc]

Thank you for your compliments guys!

Started work on the pedals, because they need to be in place before the chassis can be assembled and painted. I never spent that much time on a model before even thinking of paint!

The real thing...

Clutch on the left, brake on the right (and upside down)

Attached the brake and clutch cylinders to a piece of plastic card that's inserted form the back (can still be removed and modified). Also applied a first layer of primer (Tamiya can). I'm not happy at all with that strip of pseudo-rivets, so I'll do these again shortly.

First test fit... not too bad! All rods and pins have yet to be cut to the right size. Nothing has been glued yet, so it still looks a bit flimsy and un-aligned ;)

Most metal hardware in this pic is from Albion Alloys, my local shop has a complete rack in all sizes. I think it's really good material (brass rod fits perfectly in alu tube, alu tube fits perfectly in bigger alu tube, etc)

Test fit in the cockpit... I'll have to modify the brake pedal slightly, because it can't be pressed further down than this ;)

Thanks for watching!!

Cheers, Marcus

[mvc]

Things are starting to get fiddly now
More work on the clutch and brake pedals.