BMW 320i Group 5: Complete (#12 for 2019)

First complete build since May: this was a quick build, since the kit, which is intended as a slot car, is pretty simple.



The orange styrene was good enough to allow for a quick polishing, followed by decals and clear. It would have been much slower if I had needed to paint it. Overall the build is good but not competition level; however I might show it anyway at some of the shows this fall.



The kit came with Studio 27 decals and photo-etched detail sheet to convert the European version driven by Hans Stuck, to the North American version driven by Gilles Villeneuve. I added BBS wheels from Scale Productions and front discs from Model Car Garage. The BBS wheels are very nice, and Scale Production has little centre wheel nuts that are a nice snug fir on a 2 mm thinwall brass tube.



Decals were a pain and I forgot to scan the sheet before cutting them up. I am missing a #27 for the right side door, which blew up into a million little fragments. Sadly I am guessing this is long obsolete and will not be reissued unless Tamiya reissues the kit.




The 2-litre Formula 2 engine is a lovely little thing, and I added spark plug wires and fuel injection tubing. The exhaust manifold is lovely and it is too bad it doesn't connect to anything.



Sadly the engine compartment has very little detail beyond the engine, with no firewall or plumbing. Again most builders are going to leave the engine out and glue the hood shut for slot car racing where weight matters. I suppose I could have scratch-built a lot of stuff but decided to get it done rather than obsess over perfection.



So a quick build of an iconic car, as driven by Gilles Villeneuve to a Group 5 win (second overall to a 935) at Mosport in 1977. I am assuming he hadn't quite signed on to F1 at the time as I can't imagine any sensible F1 team leader allowing him to risk his life in sedan racing...

BMW 320i Group 5, part 2

The 320i having been designed initially as a slot car, the chassis detail was pretty poor, so I scratch built front hubs to take a better quality set of wheels (from Scale Production) and disc brakes (from Model Car Garage).



The brakes peek through the BBS wheels quite nicely.



Stance looks good, even if the rear wheels don't fill the wheel wells the way I might like. Final assembly looms large. In the rear I didn't bother as it all rests on a solid steel axle. (Yes, ethanol is a useful tool in getting these projects built).



Sadly Fred has been pretty obstinate about refusing to wear the appropriate gear for a test driver, and so has been relegated to cruising around in old barges. He's been replaced by Gerhard who has a much more serious approach to his Occupational Health and Safety responsibilities, even if the helmet does ruin his hairdo. I must say Fred could have gotten away with the tux and loafers, but the helmet was non-negotiable.



The header is wild! 300 hp from a 2-litre. Stay tuned.

BMW 320i Group 5

With the fall contest season coming up (Quebec on October 20, Ottawa on October 27), I figured I should finish one of the dozen Works In Progress (WIP) currently marooned on the Shelf Of Doom (SOD). On the other hand, I could start something new, and hope to finish it in time! What could possibly go wrong! So being an eternal optimist, here's the 1977 Group 5 BMW 320i with decals and other aftermarket bits to reproduce the car as driven by one G. Villeneuve (maybe you've heard of him) to 2nd overall, 1st in class at Mosport. 



The sponsor was Jagermeister, except in Canada where it was forbidden by rules against advertising booze. The kit, which I bought at a model car meet some time ago, came with a range of aftermarket bits, including Studio 27 decals for the Canadian version of Gilles' car.



I figured the orange plastic was good enough to allow for polishing without going through the hassle of painting. Decals went on after polishing, and were a major pain. Most cracked as they came off the sheet, and while very thin decals are nice, they are also fragile. Most could be moved around to get the pieces to line up, but a couple exploded into a fog of little shreds and had to be thrown away. The left side looks OK but the right side is missing a #23 and a Goodyear decal. 



So I am looking for another copy of this decal set which is discontinued. 

The photoetched sheet includes hood pins and window surrounds, also flimsy, but no major issues so far. A coat of  clear has locked it all in. 





Turns out the kit is meant to be a slot car, and chassis detail is poor as a result. I have aftermarket BBS wheels from Scale Productions and disc brakes from Model Car Garage that will look good. 



As for the engine compartment, the kit does have the 2.0 Formula 2 motor, so there is room to build this up nicely. 



The exhaust system is lovely but a real pain to assemble as the four individual pipes are very loose inside the head; I had to make sleeves by putting a 1/16" drill up a 3/32" styrene tube. 



Stay tuned! 

MAZ 537: Payload III

A quick survey of Facebook modeling groups led to a decision to expand the cab for the Hitachi to something closer to 1/24, rather than use the Suzuki cab (which I have now cut up to see how it looked).



The main objection to the Suzuki is that the profile of the Hitachi cab, surprisingly, mimics that of the White truck cab quite well.



So the main issue was to widen the cab to fit a Recaro seat from the bin. This was done using 3/16" X 1/16" styrene stock along the roof, floor and back of the cab.



This was sufficient to clear the second joystick.



The clear portion was cut from sheet stock to fit, backed with Scale Productions radiator mesh as a rock guard. It's a bit fine but will do. I did not increase the cab dimensions in other directions (height or length) because it would have been a lot of work, and I just want to get it finished.



So it's still a squeeze but for a burly contruction worker, 5'6" and 225 lbs, it will fit fine.



I also decided to use the platform the MAZ V12 motor would have gone into as the basis for the supporting the diggers. That required a bit of cutting to get it to fit on the rear of the chassis instead of the middle section where the Freightliner engine is now located.



In parallel I have been working on the truck cab, but this will be reported separately. I'll also need a front bumper and a structure to support the rebar nipper and rubble gripper when parked over the cab in order to drive to the next disaster.



Finally it will need extendable legs off the rear to prevent the whole thing from toppling over, such as on the Italeri truck accessory kit. This will be scratch built from square styrene tubing once I get to a hobby shop and see what's available. Stay tuned!

MAZ 537: Payload II

The Hasegawa kit of the Hitachi double arm digger is a very nice one. Everything fits and the level of flash and mold seams is minimal. The coloured plastic is well done, with only the grey bits showing signs of swirls in the mixing of the styrene pellets prior to injection molding. That being said, I have painted most of it, using Tamiya TS-12, Orange, and TS-48, Gunship Grey.



Lots of rubber tubing serves to mimic hydraulic lines, and flexes as the functional hinges and cylinders are moved. (The main boom with the grapple is not complete, there is lots of tubing still to go).



I think some sort of rack to carry the grapple and rebar nipper above the truck cab is going to be essential. 



The operator's cab goes in here. Space is tight for a 1/24 operator. To illustrate this, Fred tries out the 1/35 cab, which is held together with tape for test fitting. It's a bit tight but not impossibly so.



Plan A is to move the left side outwards by up to 10 mm, which is the upper limit set by the width of the MAZ chassis and White truck cab. Widening the forward-facing glass would be the biggest challenge. There isn't much room to lengthen the cab, except by removing a component (HVAC system perhaps?) that sits in behind the operator. The cab roof would also need to be raised by about 15 mm.



Plan B is to cut up a particularly poor Aoshima kit of a Suzuki commercial vehicle, which is also a squeeze for poor Fred. Believe it or not, when I bought the Suzuki many years ago, it was to use the cab for some sort of operator console for a crane or something, so this is exactly why it's in the stash. 



In any case it would be a shame to do away with the Hitachi cab entirely as it is a very nice unit. Maybe I'll assemble it and we can all 'pretend' that Fred fits. Stay tuned!

MAZ 537: Cab and payload

So I finally got some paint to stick to the resin cab, partly by letting it all sit for a month.
The second colour went on OK with only minimal problems that can mostly be fixed with a brush.



I also identified a donor for a payload: this neat Hitachi double-arm digger designed for clearing rubble after a disaster (earthquake, tsunami, whatever). It's 1/35, but given the existing mix of scales, that should not be a problem; the only issue will be to enlarge the operator's cab to fit a 1/24 person. Essentially dimensions need to be 1.5X the 1/35 scale dimension.



It's a very detailed kit, with lots of rubber tubing to mimic hydraulic lines.



The colour photos in the instruction sheet are actually full-size so you can see how it will sit on the back of the MAZ. A great combo, I think, perfect for rumbling out into the muck and cutting through crumpled rebar.



Here is the first of two tools, the rebar cutter, missing just the hydraulic lines.



So this will sit on the back of the MAZ, either on a skid to be lowered to the ground on its tracks, or bolted to the chassis. To be decided.