1/43 Tameo FW16

[43k]

Greetings to you all again! I finally have another “WIP” to share here. This time, I decided to keep to the Senna’s theme following the MP4/6 last time out, and went for another Tameo kit of FW16 from the 1994 season. I think this F1 racer needs very little introduction and I’m sure it is one of those rare occasion in our life that we can remember exactly what we were doing during that horrible weekend.

The car in this thread is actually from the Brazilian GP and I did have the full intention of converting it to the San Marino GP. However, I found out it was more difficult than I thought during the build process and so Brazilian GP it is then!

A very typical Tameo kit of its era in that it is well proportion and relatively easy to build together. I think I paid £30 for it many years ago. However, upon closer inspection, there are many areas that I would like to improve on. I also would like to apologise in advance for any continuation error in the following photos as I often don’t plan my build as well as I could!

One of the area is there was a lot of casting shrinkages on top of the side cover, and so I piled on some epoxy putty before sanding down flat again.

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The other area is the air box which was closed up in the usual with most kits of it era. However, the main issue was the shape is wrong so I opened it up carefully before reshaping.

I bent a 0.7mm brass wire into the correct shape before soldering it onto the air box surrounding. Note the kink on the bottom.

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Note the plastic card I added to the inside of the side pods. I added them to reduce their openings as I found the actual car had a rather slimmer line than the kit.

I also shaved off some of the excess metal so the side pods are flush to the floor.

I also found the nose cone to be too short and so on went more epoxy putty before reshaping. I used my mounting jig in order to set the correct height for the front wing at the same time.

Lots of white metal to be thinned……… Although it may sound like a tedious task but I actually find it OK. Having the correct tools definitely helps, though.

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Once I thinned out the rear of the engine cover, I thought why stop there and so onto the floor and diffusers. This is when I went a bit mad and decided to open up the central portion of the diffuser, not that anyone could see it……

I then decided to flatten the base of the floor in order to remove the raise engraving that’s usually found on all Tameo kits of this era, as I found them interfering with my ride height setting.

[daveyman]

Nice attention to detail. Will really push the base kit on to something special.

[43k]

I also found the tea tray under the chassis tub to be poorly made and so I modified it by separated it so the “tea tray” is more pronounce.

I noticed there should’ve been a clear rear light cover on the actual car and so I made a template in the hope of making my own further down the build process.

Before I can move on and set the ride height with all the suspension components, I need to sort the wheels and tyres out. I made myself a mandrel by gluing two unwanted Tameo F1 wheels together.

This would allow me to mount the rubber tyres onto it and spin them over a sandpaper in order to get rid of the moulding seems.

[43k]

I also found some tools in my tool box that happen to fit the photo etch wheel hub which allows me to press them in order to provide a more curve and 3D effect.

[gp-models]

Love it! Great start on it!

[MotorsortModelKit]

Really a great job!!!!
Fantastic!

[RE60B]

Keep on very good work. Bad kit at the base jewell born in your hand

Cédric