R26 '30 Ans' finished

[43rdMichael]

This is SilverLine's kit of the show car that Renault painted up to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their entry into F1. The kit was released in late June and is the same as the race versions of the R26 released back in late 2006, except the decals have been replaced for the show car livery. As a result, a bit of filling is needed on the body where attachment points remain for race aero parts. The other point to note is that this kit is cast in Tameo's new, high tin white metal, giving sharper detail and significantly reduced pitting.

My 30th birthday is coming up soon and when i saw this kit announced, I thought I would order one and build it quickly as part of the run in to my own 30 Ans..!

This model was built essentially over 3 weekends (prep the parts, paint during the week, decal on the middle weekend, clear coat during the week, then final assembly). Only modifications were the replacement of the exhaust photoetch part with sections of tube and then whatever thinning (defuser, airbox and various edges) I could get done in about an hour.

Anyway, here's a few pictures from the build.

SilverLine's decal placement guide and a photo of the decal sheet:





A couple of pictures of the raw body parts after adding the 'half moons', chimneys and front wing mounts.





Rather than try to fill and clean the bare metal, i shot coat of Tamiya grey primer to show up any imperfections in the surface and in my construction





the imperfections were painted with Tamiya surface primer and then sanded smooth. a final primer coat of white was applied.

[43rdMichael]

After covering the body in Tamiya yellow, I applied a thin line of black decal to give a sharp transition on the main side flip ups, and then masked the sections that needed to stay yellow.





After spraying the black, the decals were applied. this took a fair amount of time (perhaps 15-20 mins for each major decal), but after the 7 large sections were added, the model was well on the way to completion! This is always my favourite part of building a model car as it changes from a yellow lump of metal into a mini race car very quickly.





some gaps in the decals were supposed to be sprayed before decalling, but i decided to leave these and brush paint the black afterwards. the result seemed neat enough.

[43rdMichael]

While the body had been progressing, the undertray and suspension arms had been painted. Given this was a 'quick build' no carbon was added beyond the decals included in the kit. With everything dry, the lower suspension was added to the undertray.



the seat was also painted with the belts added. as the belts are etched in nickel silver, i could simply scrape away the paint to reveal the silver metal where needed.



the rear wing parts were painted separately (black for the lower element, yellow for the other parts), the kit carbon and sponsor decals were added and the parts clear coated before assembly.





Undertray had driveshafts, track rods and uprights added before the rear wing was attached







As many parts as possible were added to the body before it was joined to the undertray. This picture shows the front suspension being assembled and also the exhausts in place. I also glued the main part for the front wing in place so the endplates and the black upper element part could be test fitted against the nose and then painted separately.

[43rdMichael]

In the final stages of assembly, the barge boards, wing mirrors and various other detail parts were added - all as per the instructions. To be fair to SilverLine, I need to note that I swaped the tires in this kit for an older set from the Tameo F2004. I really wanted to have these nice new tires for that more detailed build and used the older versions here.

Anyway, here's the finished car





and a few of the obligatory 'artsy' shots...











Overall a simple and fun project.

Now, back to the 248 F1s....

[Manu]

LOOKS REALLY COOL. Too bad they' don't open the chimneys on the side (maybe they' were closed on some display cars)
Great build !

[Zubski]

Very good job. Nice finish. Great build.

[43rdMichael]

Thanks guys!!

Manu, you're right that the chimneys should be open. There is no black decal for the top and to tell you the truth, I couldn't be bothered cutting them open... If it bugs me too much I'll just cut some black decals to create the illusion!!

[flatspot]

Michael - love the walk through...thanks for sharing. Even though a 'quick' build, it looks fantastic. Superb!!

Craig

[Gooch]

AWESOME JOB Michael looks FANTASTIC!!

[JohnnyFerrari]

Wow amazing, great work im always imspired by your builds and motivated to work more on my 1/43s... I love Renaults and u made this one stunning, i resently started my R25 Imola GP 2005, i must say im impressed by Silverline kits i really like them, in the future i would love to get more..


Johnny