MPC Mclaren M8d 1:20

Well it feels great to be back at the bench so I'm going to kick off with this:



The kit was given to me by my good friend Shay (dublin boy) on the occasion of my wedding in February 2022. (Much, much better than a toaster. LOL)

My eyes and hands have deteriorated since last building regularly so we'll just have to see how I get on.

There is so much chrome in this kit that is all going to have be 'dull coated'.

Before:



After:



I used 'Army Painter' Anti Sine for this and I think it turned out well. Both chrome sprues will now be sprayed with it.

That's good. This forum has been dead for a while. So I decided to post some models as I saw that they show in a window on the Home page. I figured they would be there a long time. But about a week later I got a reply and saw a new posting from Mr. Hirakawa. So we've been posting one after the other as it seemed like our own private forum. We will continue to post.

Great guys.

The exhaust manifolds are molded in four pieces and have considerable mold lines to clean up.

Looks like a flex file will be good for sanding those mold lines. Will you be heat staining those headers?

Hi Mike and thanks for your comments.

The kit calls for the headers to be white (ie. to replicate Sperex HTP) and the Accurate Minatures kit stipulates semi gloss black. In addition, this photo shows them as being a sort of bronze colour, although I suspect this is the restored car of today.




But to answer your question, I'm going to go for 'Sperex' white.

Still a bit of clean up to do on the right header. Also, rather than hollow out the tips, I slimmed down (crudely) the tail pipe and replaced it with some brass tubing. The collector box to tail pipe join will get a little 'weld' line before painting.

Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will look good. I've seen the white headers with some brownish heat staining on them.

Looks a fun build.

Good to see there's life in the old dog yet! ( the forum!!!)

Back before I "retired" from building, I had two (!) of the kits.  I bought extra decals, intending to do one as driven by (Gurney??) (not the kit supplied numbers and drivers).  Sadly, lthey stayed unbuilt, like many other kits I never got to.  I am most thankful folks like you are still building and posting!  YOU GO!  Thanx.

The flat clear on the chrome looks good Al.

Thanks guys.

Progress has been slow just now but I have the exhaust manifolds and tail pipes blended in with a little two part epoxy and sprayed with white 'Sperex HTP'



I also have the tub sprayed with Alclad Alluminium. The sides will be done body colour before assembly.





I originally thought I could get away with spraying the kit chrome parts with semi matt clear, to represent polished alluminium. It worked well enough on the wheels but there are far too many mold lines on everything else. Going to take a while and test my old eyes and fingers to get them acceptable methinks.

You knew well you had to strip that chrome you chancer!

Bottle of Domestos is what you need

Already done with Fairy Powerspray Shay.

Good man.

Hi Al,

I think the wheel look much better now you have sprayed them; I'm looking forward to watching this come to life...

Andy...

Skid wrote:

My eyes and hands have deteriorated since last building regularly so we'll just have to see how I get on.

Al, by now you could build a model with your eyes shut.

Most of mine were Sam.

Been rather busy of late but I now have the body in Can-Am orange with two light coats of gloss clear, ready for the decals.

Sorry no update yet.

The kit has a serious amount of cleanup to do,so progress is slow, but then it does date back 52 years to 1971.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/mpc-1-0571-mclaren-mk8d--176564

Paint looks good Al.

Keep going.

Good evening,

Great start!
I love the car, Bruce McLaren and all its F1 and CanAm racers!

Pascal.