AAR Eagle Weslake T1G, Dan Gurney, 1967. MFH, 1/20.

Good evening,


Well, well here it is, I finally chosen the superb AAR Eagle Weslake!
It changes from red, but orange and green were not that far away .. the red (s) either either!

The kit is not more complicated than that, but the installation of the rivets promises to be... sporty and time-consuming.

I started by cleaning the parts of the bathtub / chassis, the interior of which is almost invisible once the tub is in place.
Only a small part on each side is polished.
The assembly is, as often, carried out by welding.





The main parts of the V12 are also assembled





And we start to put a little color



The body parts are prepared, adjusted and the locations of the threaded fasteners for solid fastening.
And then, we had to get there, the hull is pierced (0.35) in anticipation of riveting ...
Resin rivets with semi-round head of 0.5 for a tail of 0.3.
There are many!!



Riveting is ... DONE !!
I decided to use rivets of different sizes for different reasons.
For the lateral parts, rivets of 0.5 for the most part, of 0.4 for the outline of the hatches and of 0.8 in aluminum for closing them.
for the upper part of the hull, 0.4 convex / flat head.
These are used for:
- appearance / aesthetics, a kind of scale effect as with painting,
- ease of applying decals.
FYI, there are 1620 ... rivets.











The body parts have been primed and, for some, painted or partially painted







The engine has progressed well









I took the opportunity to work a little on the exhausts and their pronounced traces of heating.
Temporary assembly.





The gearbox is fitted with pretty accessories which I decided to modify: The filter holder, one of the fuel pumps and its filter.
The oil filter covers are redone in aluminum, as is the crankcase of the fuel pump motor.
Machined aluminum and brass hardware is added to provide a little detail to these subsets.
As with the exhaust manifolds, the filters are chemically burnished, then polished and slightly "worn".











Here is the set with the gearbox, painted with a mixture of Gun Metal and semi Gloss Black, 53 and 85 Humbrol.





Make way for the dashboard.
It is primed and painted in my beloved Humbrol 85, a little more diluted than usual and applied in thin coats a little more diffuse to make it slightly less satin.
The counters have their strapping polished.
The decals installed will be covered with "glass" cut to the punch for more realism.
Small machined switches from Top Studio and a few instructions complete the package.





The steering wheel is prepared in the same way as the dashboard.
The original mold is removed and the Allen hardware and its washers installed instead.
A passage of oil allows to shade the colors.

Finally, the tank connection pipe is polished and painted with Candy Electric Blue ZP.



You have to believe that I didn't have enough to rivet ...
The front partition receives its own in diameter 0.5.
Then also received a good part of its attributes.







The steering rack will be installed later



.. just like the radiator.
It is modified, as well as the pipes connecting to it, in order to weld the fluid inlets / outlets on the body of the radiator.
I brought a little detail with the lateral perforated reinforcements and the manufacturer's plate.
The interior is quickly fitted with a lead wire to simulate the cooling circuit behind the grid and fill the void.





The wheel disc is primed and painted, then finalized, a machined valve installed.
Everything is assembled to the machined rim.





Masking of the bodywork parts before the passage of the sublime blue whose glitter base is extremely fine.





The parts exposed and presented in a white assembly





The hubs are detailed, primed and painted



he original discs are decked out with important grooves that I don't like ... at all!
As for my other models on which I reproduce the scratches of the discs, I made a tool allowing me to maintain them.
The shoulders must be thin, both in diameter and in thickness, in order to be able to machine most of the disc.
The small "jaws" on the second image are those used on a 312F1 for example.
They then went on the lathe to give them a better appearance.






Installed on a wheel for control: could be worse.



The body of the rear shock absorbers is hidden and then painted.
The springs receive a layer of gloss black.



The radiator is painted and the tin solders reproduced according to the images I have.



The dashboard is finished, wired and the windows installed on the meters.
I did not really manage to take a photo that shows it correctly ... Sorry.





Last masking step before varnish



A shot of white



Disassembly of the parts and installation on their support for the varnish step and presentation in the box so as not to be bothered during this step.



Gravity (EU) sprayed, fresh (Flat Pattern 0.3 Meng)





It dries quietly





It's dry!!
I couldn’t really resist a little "Test Fit"









For fun:
I made a small sheet of carbon this morning to dress small aluminum plates.
They help me to present the pieces for photos, supports for models ...
And, in the afternoon, I decided to make one to present the Eagle with the extra decals and old dry transfers.
It's funny, it relaxes and above all I like it!








I may shoot a layer of clear coat on it tomorrow to standardize everything and protect transfers, more fragile than decals ...

More soon,

Pascal

WOW! That's some awesome kit. You're doing a great job on it. Plus I like that you can heat stain the exhaust system with actual heat instead of painting it.

This is, in my opinion, probably the prettiest looking F1 car of all time.

Wonderful work again Pascal.

Excellent work !....the iconic Eagles beak air intake - compares well with the equally iconic 1961 Ferrari Dino 156 nostrils...

Hi,

Thank you very much for all your kind comments!

The inside of the nose is painted mat black and the decals installed.
The reinforcement plates of the anchorages of the tie rods are painted in Polished Alu Metal Cote with a paintbrush and slightly polished.
The tank caps are modified and fitted with machined banjo connectors.
It remains to tweak them a little with oils.

Finally, as mentioned yesterday, I varnished the small presentation plate.
It will be used to brighten up the table during exhibitions!
It remains to polish the edge of the 2024 Alu plate.











Connecting session.
The gear box is now installed on the engine.
Done for rear with engine/oil filters, fuel connections, underside tubing from engine to radiator...

Next step will be the front radiator hoses and ducts installation and the rear drive train.

 






The part, the lower left anchor of the rear axle push bar (or tie rod ...), has been rebuilt.
I quickly turned a piece of 2x2.25, glued to a plastic card base.
A 0.8 stainless steel tenon and a resin bolt to finish and install.
Quite a few mods and parts for the upper arms to do what I wanted, but it's done.

Sorry for the quality of the photos, but the episode "Carpet Monster" (and I don't even have a carpet!) Made me a little ... irritated.
I hope it will fit anyway.












Pipes, ducts and radiator connected and installed.
Lower suspension arms and steering rack in place.















More soon.

Pascal

Big difference between assembling an old plastic kit and what you do Pascal, that's real engineering.

You sure have a contest winner there!

Hi,

Thanks a lot!

A bit of cleaning in the working area...



Front end progress with radiator mounts and air scoops.
Rear completed with anti roll bar and exhausts.











It begins to take shape.













Rear brakes are done.
Everything is modified and scratched to match my doc.
The cockpit is finished and the upper part of the hull will be glued.
I also added the welds at the junction of the exhaust pipes and the 3 in 1.
Then we have to deal with the front ...






Pascal

A really fine model, without doubt.
I know these kits are expensive, but for the detail, there is little to match them
......then adding more detail is fantastic, as previously mentioned : Engineering in miniature.

Superb detail work!

Superb workmanship and detailing. The paint detail is beautiful.

I have this same model in my "to do" pile. I agree with the comments about the beauty of this car. For me, it's one of the nicest looking F1 cars ever.

Hi,

Thank you very much!

Last details added...







I can call this one done.









Sorry for the poor quality pictures...

I will post more pics in the completed projects topic.

Thanks a lot to you for following this build.

Pascal