McLaren MP4-4 by Meng

[406 Silverado]

This build continues to baffle me with all of the details that you are throwing into it Paul. That's frickin' CRAZY about the turbo missing in this kit and I could almost understand on a lesser quality kit but for a Meng to have this part missing....?? 

[tcoat]

The detail packed into these large scale kits and the extra lengths you guys go to improve it even more will always amaze me.

[joelw]

Paul,
The chassis to date looks great. The amount of kit detail is about the most I've seen in a plastic 1/12 scale kit. I would venture to say that the next step up would be MFH kits.

Never would have thought that a brand new, shrink wrapped factory Meng kit would have a missing piece. But I guess that these days the QC is just packers starring at tree after tree packing kit boxes. Your attitude about just casting another pc then modifying is super positive. Nothing seems to stop you. If it were me, I'd be on the phone to Meng Customer service requesting a preplacement part as my only alternative.

And thanks for the basic info on where to start to make my own decals. Not sure if I want to invest in another printer right now.

joel

[arcticwolf]

Sept 27, 2024 7:03:42 GMT -5 joelw said:

Paul,
The chassis to date looks great. The amount of kit detail is about the most I've seen in a plastic 1/12 scale kit. I would venture to say that the next step up would be MFH kits.

Never would have thought that a brand new, shrink wrapped factory Meng kit would have a missing piece. But I guess that these days the QC is just packers starring at tree after tree packing kit boxes. Your attitude about just casting another pc then modifying is super positive. Nothing seems to stop you. If it were me, I'd be on the phone to Meng Customer service requesting a preplacement part as my only alternative.

And thanks for the basic info on where to start to make my own decals. Not sure if I want to invest in another printer right now.

joel

Joel, it's a very nice kit but to be honest, it's on par with the newer Tamiya kits. The Williams/Renault from Tamiya is just as good for example. It's nowhere near MFH quality, but neither is the price, lol.

I'm wondering about the Nunu Lotus 99 kit, it looks great but the price is just too much.......

[kyledehart5]

The Nunu MP4-2 was a delightful kit to build (smaller than you desire, of course) so I’d hope their 99 would be a nice example too.

As for this build, you’re sure doing some outstanding work!! That’s all looking great. What a bummer about the turbo. Looks like you’re already on track for taking care of that issue.

[paddy]

What i find interesting here as someone who doesnt build this sort of thing but has this Kit ready to go as a change of scenery is...

The finish on these cars in real life is pretty much perfect, this means you cant really weather them and weathering is the usual path to add reality to the finish.
So as i see it this makes the need for a perfect finish, step by step, vital as you cant hide even small mistakes with "a wash" later

[joelw]

Paul,
I've built several NuNu kits over the years (all 1/24 scale of course), and honestly they're still the best bang for the buck. I've been waiting for nearly 2 years for their /124 scale Porsche 911 RSR GT3 car in the Pink Pig scheme, and Spot Models is expecting them Oct 10th, so for the 1st time ever I've pre-ordered one. Of course there's 44 guys in front of me, but since they took my cash I'm figuring I should get one.

joel

[arcticwolf]

Sept 28, 2024 7:24:12 GMT -5 paddy said:

What i find interesting here as someone who doesnt build this sort of thing but has this Kit ready to go as a change of scenery is...

The finish on these cars in real life is pretty much perfect, this means you cant really weather them and weathering is the usual path to add reality to the finish.
So as i see it this makes the need for a perfect finish, step by step, vital as you cant hide even small mistakes with "a wash" later

Paddy, it's the old question. What are you building? If you're building a scale replica of a car in a museum, or a restored car, you're absolutely correct.

Race cars as originally built were never perfect, they didn't have mirror finishes, half the parts didn't fit right, even in 1988 they had flaws.  In 1968 they had lots of flaws.

I build my cars to replicate how they showed up at the track back in the day. It's just a personal choice.

I built my Bugatti as it would have rolled out the door back in 1929, you built yours looking like it just finished the Targa Florio. Neither one would have, or should have, been "perfect".

My approach is simply "build what makes you happy".  

PS: I really liked your Bugatti!

[arcticwolf]

The turbo saga. I just cut the top off the resin replacement, rotated it 90 degrees (with a small filler sheet in between) and glued it back on.

The kit parts, installed:

The right side is the resin turbo dry fitted.

The parts are indexed, but that doesn't work on the mirror image, so I drilled the holes out round.

Here the parts are installed, the turbo is not glued but everything else is. That way I can rotate the turbo to fit the headers later. It's captured in place, it won't go anywhere.

I'm happy enough with how it turned out.

[406 Silverado]

Oct 1, 2024 13:53:29 GMT -5 arcticwolf said:

I'm happy enough with how it turned out.

  Heck I would be too after all of that fancy foot work. This is going to look pretty dang snazzy with everything all together Paul. 

[arcticwolf]

After step 8, you stuff the engine in the car. It put up quite a fight, but it all fit in place, eventually.

I temporarily fitted the wheels, and as I suspected, had a bit of a tripod. Some tweaking of the right rear suspension cured it. I really don't like the "attach suspension arms with tiny screws" method, too much room for error. But it's fixed.

[arcticwolf]

Now I can give the body a final test fit. I've had a lot worse.

[joelw]

Paul,
The cast replacement half for the turbo came out looking perfect. One would never know just by looking at it.

Honestly, nothing seems to really phase you as you just go about your business step by step. The body test fit looks darn good. Can't wait to see it with its paint on.

joel

[paddy]

This is odd, all the pictures in this thread have disapeared ?

[greg]

Great save on the missing turbo, Paul!

[kyledehart5]

Oct 1, 2024 15:24:15 GMT -5 paddy said:

This is odd, all the pictures in this thread have disapeared ?

maybe a temporary hiccup? They’re here now.

[kyledehart5]

Looking really exceptional!! Your fixes on the missing turbo have turned out awesome. Doing some really great work.

[handiabled]

Your scratched turbo is perfect!

[arcticwolf]

Thanks guys. It worked out easier than I thought.

[arcticwolf]

So, as far as what the kit supplies, this is the finished chassis. It really doesn't need much more detailing.

[keavdog]

That looks great. Plenty of detail.

[greg]

Chassis looks awesome!

[joelw]

Paul,
The chassis really looks exceptional. Love to see some closer pics of the rear suspension and engine.

joel

[kyledehart5]

Oh now that looks outstanding!!

[406 Silverado]

Oct 2, 2024 11:49:10 GMT -5 arcticwolf said:

So, as far as what the kit supplies, this is the finished chassis. It really doesn't need much more detailing.

   Heck no it doesn't!! Incredible work so far Paul. This kit does seem to have pretty much everything in it without much need to go outside of the box to make good detailing happen. 

[paddy]

Shame i have lost all pictures from this build. rebooted, reloaded ...nothing
All other forums/sites seem fine ?

[arcticwolf]

Oct 3, 2024 12:11:58 GMT -5 paddy said:

Shame i have lost all pictures from this build. rebooted, reloaded ...nothing
All other forums/sites seem fine ?

All my photos are stored on Imgur and linked to here. I have no idea why you can't see them.

PM me your e-mail and I will send them to you if you wish.

cheers

[paddy]

This is what i get. I could see your pictures up till 1st Oct

Dont worry but thanks for the offer, it is just this thread, all others are fine.

Server Error in '/' Application.
Runtime Error
Description: An exception occurred while processing your request. Additionally, another exception occurred while executing the custom error page for the first exception. The request has been terminated.

[project510]

Looking good!

[paddy]

Just for information The problem seems to be with imgur which explains why its just this page /blog

{"data":{"error":"Imgur is temporarily over capacity. Please try again later."},"success":false,"status":403}