WIP: Brawn BGP001 - Australian GP - Silverline kit

[jaymtford]

I think it has been at least 4 or 5 years since I've worked on any kits. I just kind of lost interest; had other things going on etc. Anyways I recently got the urge to want to finish some of the many kits that I had started back when I was building more often. This Tameo/Silverline kit of the Brawn BGP001 that won its debut race in Australia was one of the first that came to mind. I started this kit when it came out (which I think was the year it was racing, so 2009). Hard to believe that is almost 15 years ago now

So over the last week or so I have assessed where I was with the kit the last time it was worked on and got going on continuing with the build.

The subject of this build. The Brawn BGP001 in the late afternoon sun at Melbourne with Jenson Button at the wheel. It is an interesting subject as the lack of sponsors creates a very clean look that is rare in the modern era.


The kit parts as they were the last time I worked on it.


Checking fitment and alignment of the front suspension.


A few good references for this car. F1 Modeling Vol 39 and F1 Car Story Vol 42

[jaymtford]

First thing I worked on was painting the day-glo yellow on the nose. The decals have most of the yellow but the small protruding aero on the top of the nose needs to be painted as there is a void in the decal so you don't need to conform the decal to that area. I thought it would be easier to paint all the yellow, but there are some very fine taper line and the masking would be difficult. I was still thinking about painting all of the nose yellow and cutting the decal into just the upper and lower black pieces.

Toned the Mr. Color fluorescent yellow with some primary yellow to knock down the green tinge and match the decals


Masked the nose. Didn't need to be super accurate as the black decal would trap on both edges


All the masking removed. Picture is not accurate. It looks too green


Comparison with the decal and my test swatch. I applied the decal to some white waxed board as I didn't want the blue backing paper of the decal sheet to throw off the color.

[AJP01]

I'm logged in but for some reason can't see the images....

[43rdMichael]

Great to see.

Cool story. Cool kit. Great progress.

Please keep us posted.

[jorgeralvear]

Great start and the color match of the day glo yellow looks spot on

[jaymtford]

I'm logged in but for some reason can't see the images....

I changed the image host on the first image from my webhost to imgur. Does that image show up now?

[AJP01]

The first image of the real car shows up, but the other build images do not.

[AJP01]

Now I see everything! Thanks!

[jaymtford]

I love the smell of decal setting solution in the morning

As I feared conforming the decal around the nose didn't work out too well. Fluorescent inks/pigments are more brittle than traditional colors and thus the decals that are printed with them tend to be a bit stiffer than a regular decal.
Luckily I had another one of these kits so I could steal those decals rather than having to wait for a replacement sheet. So I will paint all the yellow on the nose and cut the decal into the three pieces that have the black striping and apply those separately.

Start of the decal removal from the nose


I made a few color photocopies of the decal sheet so I could cut templates and use them as guides for masking


I decided to apply the rest of the stripe decals and then get a coat of clear over them. I am thinking it will be easier to get the masking for the yellow accurate if have the section that it will meet up with in place.
The long stripes were very delicate as they run from the mid-nose all the way to the end of the engine cover. Getting both side to be symmetrical is key are they are no other markings to hide any mistakes!
Taking pictures helps to check the symmetry too as sometimes errors aren't as obvious to the eye. I think everything looks pretty good here. I wish I had slimmed down the engine cover fin a bit more as I had to hand paint the black on top to a vanishing point that doesn't really exist on the real car.







Got the decals on the rear wing endplates as well

[waxdart]

Very nice!!