Converting Fujimi FW16 to FW15C?

[kimi_8]

whats the forum opinion on this?

I absolutely love the FW15C. Can get hold of the FW16 kits no problem, and doing the paint job for an FW15C is no problem.

Decals may be an issue. Bodywork wise the cars seem quite similar, however the sidepods are lower on the FW15C to me?

thoughts? would appreciate the forums input before i start sourcing decal sheets and kit

[Schumi]

Nice idea and a great looking car!
As you probably also know, the biggest difference between the '93 and '94 car is underneath the skin, the ban of very specific electronics.
I think the biggest challenge is to cut out the whole sidepod and recreate it like it was on the 15C.
Not impossible of course, but not the easiest work to get it all smooth again
Wings etc. are just a matter of slight changes, but nothing really special.

Cheers, Martijn

[JamesB]

Been there, tried that!!
Yep it's definitely possible.
I did that with a resin FW16 body. You need the early season one, the late with shortcut sidepods is more different. You should add the "lips" where sidepod matches chassis (fw14 style) to begin with.
Nose and vhassis cockpit included is quite similar. The engine cover, you gotta smoothern the dorsal profile. Easy.
Yes the most complicated thing is sidepods. Apart that the undercut in the lower area is a bit smaller on the FW15C (fill) and you need small protuberances at the end (add, easy), the lion's head of the job is that sidepod main upper face is horizontal on the FW15C and slightly slanted on the 16.
On a solid model like mine it's easy: sand (though sanding resin heavily is never nice), but with a hollow body... maybe you need to fill nderneath first.
Effectively it's lower on the 15, so you just have to lower the front area. I'll post pics of mine, later.
And yes, I made decals for it!
There was a S27 set for that, but I guess it might be hard to get, alone...

[kimi_8]

great advice gents thank you

ok so we need the early season FW16. Perfect, as i was looking to do a Hungary 93 version, which using this kit



could be converted into this



edit:

FW14B - FW15C decals are available. 1/12 scale though

http://www.bestbalsakits.com/tamiya/tam ... umber=1990

[JamesB]

DEcals I have, don't worry
Yes, the similar wing does help.
Nevertheless the "yes or not" point is on the sidepods. Wait a minute...
OK let's see:
See here the different shape of the two cars...

Obviously first thing you need to deal with is that marked portion of sidepod is part of the tub on the 16. In my case, being a solid block it was easier and I could make the different sidepod borderline as you see...


Never mind the putty patches! Bad casting... but see the different profile, lower sidepods at the right, on the 15C


These are the areas where I had to sand to remove stuff... more complicated on a plastic thin wall model, sure...



Here you can see in white plastiline what still is to be added. Roughly!


Hope this helps

[Starr]

Sorry if it's a dumb question:

It wouldn't be easier if someone uses the Hasegawa FW14 for this conversion?

Starr

[irb]

If you want you can use my 2D drawing, which I made me for creating paper model of FW15c:
http://modely.blaschke.sk/FW15c.pdf
(my drawing was done by oversketching pictures, so it should be quite accurate, however, papercraft meaning of it is clearly apparent )

And I have a bunch of various FW15C pictures, collected from internet, as well.

[kimi_8]

Irb - Nice one, is that 1/20 scale? i see it says 1/20 at the bottom but wanted to check

Starr - 1/24 isnt really a scale i bother with

James - Those pictures are a massive help as well. Decals you say?

[irb]

Irb - Nice one, is that 1/20 scale? i see it says 1/20 at the bottom but wanted to check

It should be. I scaled 1/1 CAD drawing to 1/20 and exported to PDF. But with dimensions in F1 it is always a bit tricky

[Icon_Modeler]

Starr - 1/24 isnt really a scale i bother with

Why not use a Fujimi 14B? Having the decals from that kit would no doubt compliment what you can get from James B.