Caspers Honda MP4/4 Build Diary

[casper]

After a long wait the Honda MP4/4 has finally reached the UK
Before i start the diary i would like to add a paragraph from wiki to give an insight into this fantastic formula one car driven by the late great Ayrton Senna.
"The McLaren MP4/4 was a highly successful Formula 1 car that competed in the 1988 Formula One season. It was designed by American engineer Steve Nichols, with assistance from the team's Technical Director Gordon Murray. Nichols based the design on the lowline Brabham BT55, designed by Murray for the 1986 season when Murray was chief designer at Brabham. It is one of the most dominant Formula One cars ever built, winning all but one race and claiming all but one pole position in the 1988 season"

[casper]

The first delivery contained issues 1-3 and one magazine that is full of interesting info on the car and drivers. Packed with some great photos and track info.

[casper]

The first set of parts include the front wing, nose and upper and lower nose box. You also get the left cam cover (diecast) and Honda logo. The parts are very nicely done and the decals look almost painted on.

[casper]

You also get a tube of adhesive and a very small strip of wet and dry sand paper for cleaning areas before adding the glue
you need three types of glue for assembling the car. Instant (superglue)-HIPS (high impact poly) and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)

[casper]

Left side cam cover and Honda name plate

[casper]

[casper]

Blister pack two contains...
front tyre, engine block front (diecast), front wheel (diecast), left and right front wing end plates (ABS), left and right front flaps (ABS)
Two part crosshead screwdriver and a selection of screws

[casper]

Blister pack three contains.......
Rear tyre, Engine block (ABS), inner and outer brake callipers (diecast), two brake pads (ABS), Inner and outer parts for the brake disc(ABS) and the left rear wing endplate (ABS)

[casper]

[casper]

Need help
I need to re-size this lable to 4.5mm width by 11mm hight and retain proportions. I tried to do it with photoshop but it keeps coming out blurry. Can anyone help please and hopefully keep some detail. I can email the pic if needed

[baby_astons]

I'll resize in corel casp and send you as a mail attachment...

[casper]

I'll resize in corel casp and send you as a mail attachment...

Thanks BA
shall i email you the image.
not sure if this is the correct thermax image as some had the letter "B" instead of "D"

[casper]

on the outer edge of the calliper there is a nasty sink mark that will need filling or sanding flat then re-painted

[Mark]

Shame about the sink mark, but overall it looks superb ! Looking forward to the rest of the build diary Casper

[casper]

Shame about the sink mark, but overall it looks superb ! Looking forward to the rest of the build diary Casper

Hi Mark
once the wheels are on you wont be able to see it but I thought while waiting for the next batch of parts I would do some small mods to the disc brakes like temperature strips and braided brake lines. The details on the parts are very good, you get pipe inlet points with nuts so you can add the various pipes later in the build. I will also be drilling out the vents in the brake discs to add more detail, this will all be visible when the wheels are off. The sink marks are where the temperature strips will be placed so will need to be filled and sanded then painted before they can be added. I like the way you are able to set the flaps on the nose to adjust the down-force even though the car wont be driven and the overall quality of the paint and decals is very good, cant wait to get stuck in.
Hopefully more parts will be delivered soon.

[casper]

I carefully drilled out the vent holes in the disc from the front with a 1.5mm drill making sure I didn't scratch the silver paint

[casper]

Drilling the disc from the front meant the burrs from the holes were on the back-side where they wont be seen and then with a 2mm drill carefully removed the burrs. I will leave the holes as they are now without painting as the dark colour of the plastic gives a little depth and contrast.

[casper]

Thankfully as you can see from the photo in the last post the sink marks on both sides of the disc are on the inside and wont be seen when the two parts are eventually glued together looks much better now, simple but affective.

[Mark]

Looks good Casper. Are you going to give the bolt heads a dark wash to bring them out a bit ? Will the finish take a wash ?

[baby_astons]

looking really tempting, if you go for the full monty you should replace the nuts by real ones