Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

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Jose01jr
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Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Jose01jr »

:(

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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Jose01jr »

Take 2 So with Covid19 I decided to finally build my McLaren MP4/6 which I started last month. I also decided to write about my build since I will have loads of time. A bit of background about me. I’ve been building model race cars since in my early teens. I was a race car mechanic by trade from F3 to F1 and Indy. I’m semi retired now so I got back to building my models. I decided on the 1/12 scale McLaren because it’s a big model and I can apply the Top Studio p/e and Thunder Valley upgrades I got from Paul. It’s a beautiful race car and always liked the M@r!b*r* livery. I hope you will enjoy my build.
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Jose01jr
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Jose01jr »

So I don’t know how familiar modelers are with this kit but this particular model as is with all Taniya models the company molds the gearbox to the engine in one piece. I being a race car mechanic and how I was used to building my race cars, I decided to do it my way meaning I separated the gearbox from the engine. Unorthodox I must admit but it gets worse. The Tamiya instructions want you to glue the wishbone brackets and bell crank mounts to the gearbox which I didn’t like as I thought it would be better to build the gearbox in one piece therefore eliminating the seperation lines from the individual parts and would also make it easier to paint so that’s what I did. I also managed to get some bearings which I applied to the side of the gearbox where the CV joints will be joined to allowing the driveshafts to spin freely. So I glued all the parts apart from the side covers. I putty the seperation lines and sanded. I primed it and now I have a complete gearbox casing.
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RookieDetail
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by RookieDetail »

Great to see a(former) mechanic build a model! Which teams did you work for? Great choice of model by the way, will be following closely. Adding gaskets as well?

Is Paul still in business? Haven't heard from him in a while.

cheers
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Seema »

I still have to build this kit with accessories. Your beginning looks very good. I look forward to your progress and will follow with interest.
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by dr_gn »

Nice to have another current WIP on this car with the Top Studio sets.

BTW, on the MP4/6, the rear wishbone mounts were separate bolt-on parts. All you need to do is add some mounting bolts. I found it easier to paint and assemble them separately as per the instructions. However, the front panel of the gearbox does have a joint line across the front, which in theory needs filling (I did on mine), but in practice it is almost entirely obscured by wires and pipes. If you assemble as per instructions, again it simplifies painting the mounts that are sandwiched by that front cover.

Looking forward to more updates. Cheers.
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by gp-models »

Just a wish, but some bigger pics would be nice! ;)
Looking forward to your progress, keep it coming!
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Jose01jr
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Jose01jr »

RookieDetail wrote:Great to see a(former) mechanic build a model! Which teams did you work for? Great choice of model by the way, will be following closely. Adding gaskets as well?

Is Paul still in business? Haven't heard from him in a while.

cheers

Paul Raterink is still around but when he wants too. I bought what I needed from him about two years ago. Nice guy but unreliable now it seems. He gave me extra bits for this build free of charge which I may not need. What he sells he will put it out on eBay. About three months ago I emailed him but haven’t heard back from him.

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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Jose01jr »

I drilled .4mm holes on the end covers, side covers and on the gearbox where I will add nuts with studs after it’s painted. I found the correct paint mix for the gearbox to my liking which was completely different to the instructions. I’ve worked with hundreds of race car gearboxes made of magnesium so I was happy with the results. However the pictures gave it a different hue. It’s a lot darker. I’ll try to get that corrected. The next step was getting the top bell crank bracket from Top Studio corrected. The walls where slightly too thick for my liking as wasn’t really to scale so I thinned the walls with an X-acto knife. This also allowed me to glue nuts that connect to the gearbox. The next step was to cut it in half, painted semi gloss black and glue it on. I also scratch build the support brace from brass for the bell crank bracket as the one from Tamiya was not realistic. I press fit the CV joints to the side bearings. I purchased the Top Studio driveshaft kit and it was worth the purchase. I also scratch built the gear linkage u-joint from brass as the Tamiya one was not up to standards. I glued the nuts with studs to the end cover side covers. The right side cover was a lot of work but I was happy with the results.
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Jose01jr
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Re: Tamiya 1/12 McLaren MP4/6 w/ upgrades

Post by Jose01jr »

For those modelers that would like to build this kit to a higher standard, I would highly recommend these two manuals.
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