Honda RA272

I bought this as a Christmas gift for myself.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0132.jpg
I started with the wheels, pianted in Alclad II Magnesium, should be a bit more orange but I think I'll live with it. I added Scale Motorspor PE nuts and some really nice air valves from Hobby Design.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0138.jpg
The biggest problem with this model is that it lacks a footwell. This was an easy fix with some cutting...

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0140.jpg
And some plastic.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0145.jpg
Finnished everything off with some mounts for pedals. Also test fitted the master cylinders.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0141.jpg
Last thing to to for now was to clean up the air outlets on the front.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0142.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0143.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0137.jpg
This is where it stands right now, I hop to have some paint on it tomorrow.

Great subject choosen! I will watch your WIP with pleasure.

This would make a nice follow-up to my recently completed Lotus 25.
I'll happily follow along and check it out ;) :thumbsup:

A very unique formula one, I have this one on my to buy and to build list too! By the way, is it Tamiya one that you are building?

Thanks for sharing your build with us. This car reminds me of an engine with a race car attached. Lots of cool detail to add to that thumpin' V-12 in the back!

If you decide to use Racing White (TS-7) as Tamiya recommend there is a tendency for this paint to vary in color in my experience. It's translucence leaves white in crannies and beige in flat open areas - Adding more paint makes it worse. I ended up polishing the darker areas to thin them out so they matched the other areas. What a pain!

Thunder Valley ( http://www.thundervalleyf1.com/main/ ) makes a detail kit for this one that has some nice turned intake trumpets and some resin and metal copies of the kit pieces. It's not a "must have" but it's worth mentioning. I believe they also sell the trumpets separately for $8 which seems fair to me.

I look forward to more. Please keep the details coming.

CrateCruncher: Tanks for the warning, but I'm using Zero Paints Hpnda RA272 Racing White.

Small update, all the body panels are painted and cleared and the declas are on.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0149.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0148.jpg

Right now I'm waiting for the second coat of clear to dry so I can polish it and I have started to detail paint the chassis.

Good start on this build. Can't wait to see the progress.

Started with the engine today, firs thing to do was o get to a electronics store and get some cable end sleeves. They look pretty good as intake trumpets.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0151.jpg
Now I just have to come up with a good way of cutting all twelve of them to the same length

Looks good. Regarding the length, I'd roll cut them a tiny bit long and adjust the final length with a file.

Here's a Japanese video of the RA272 with some close-ups of the engine induction and other details. This is a cool race car and an important piece of Honda history - and that tiny V-12 sound!....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnMTyp3qX0A

Looking really good Jon - those intake trumpets are perfect!

Regarding cutting them down...here's my method that I use for all cut tubes.

Find a piece of bar/tube around 100mm long that fits tightly inside the trumpets.

Cut the trumpets by hand, but leave around 1mm over length (in case of mistakes!).

Get 3 different grades of wet & dry sandpaper and lay them flat on a surface.

Put the bar inside the trumpet part and drag it across the sandpaper using long strokes and rotate the part as you go. The bar should let you hold the piece so that it is perpendicular to the sanding surface. You should be able to hold the bar in position with your hand while you push the piece down with two fingers.

Practice will tell you how much material you can remove on each stroke (dependant on sandpaper grade).

It's well worth getting a digital vernier gauge to check lengths as you go - you can buy them very cheaply these days.

Finish the job with the fine paper and you should have perfect edges.

If you want to go really mad with it you can do the same with an old t-shirt and some metal polish - should come out looking brilliant.

Hope this all makes sense! :)

Started with the engine today, firs thing to do was o get to a electronics store and get some cable end sleeves. They look pretty good as intake trumpets.


They look really good!

Have you got a picture of the original item (maybe with packaging?)? I'd like to track this down if I can.

Keep up the good work - I'm enjoying this.

Hi,nice work ! i have the same model

here you see reference for ra272 :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amika_san/sets/72157600130725408/

Thanks for the reference material and for the tips on cuting the trumpets.

What I ended up doing was cutting them about 1mm to long by rolling a knife over them. I then drilled a 2mm hole in a 2mm thick steel plate. I could then insert the trumpets and just file them down until the plate. This way they all came out the same length and I didn't have to check it all the time.

lotus123: The packaging was just an unmarked zip lock bag. This (http://enghofer.de/03e_engl.html) is the company that makes them. I got them from ELFA (http://www1.elfa.se/elfa~ex_en/go.jsp?s=ex-en&a=48C9404C992462E6E10000000A0A036A), not sure if they deliver world wide but you can always check.

I have started to detail the engine, all the spark plug leads are on and most stuff is painted.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0161.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0163.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0165.jpg

I have also started on the dampers. The end where cut off and a new body was made from styrene rod and piano wire.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0155.jpg

So tomorrows work will be fuel lines and some detail painting. Right now I'm going to start polishing the body, and with a bit of luck I might finnish this before the new year.

Looking good. I've got this kit also to make and I will be watching this thread closely. Maybe some detail pictures of the engine when done?

It's getting close to the end for this build. Most of the things are done, there is just a few details left.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0167.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0168.jpg

I also test fitted the cowling and wheels, I'm really starting to like this.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0170.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/JonMW/Honda%20RA272/PICT0171.jpg