McLaren MP 4/4 - 1988 Candian GP

The next step in my “British Connections” theme.

The story so far has been

Tyrrell P34 which had a connection to the Lotus 25 (and Jaguar XK120) which in turn has a connection to the…..

McLaren MP4/4. The most successful F1 car - ever
I will be building the chassis #1 Senna car from the 1988 Canadian GP



This is some of the material I have accumulated for this project. I am not planning a majorly detailed project this time but I would like to do some serious CF work for the first time and concentrate on the body colors and declas.\

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_001.jpg


I am not too sure yet what to make of the S27 p/e set. Will it add much or not? We’ll see I guess LOL

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_002.jpg



The kit itself is I guess a rather old Tamiya kit and I was actually very surprised by how few parts there are – only 3 sprues. All the bits seem to be there however – including an engine and 4 wheels ;)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_003.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_004.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_005.jpg


I screwed up with this. I bought this brake set thinking it would be good for the 4/4 but in fact the 1988 car had double calipers on the brakes grrr… I may make some resin copies but again, we’ll see because I am hoping that there may be an interesting alternative on the horizon :evillol:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_006.jpg



I am guessing that this is an antenna attached to the roll bar? I will need to find some better refs of this

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_007.jpg



Not too sure yet how I will approach things like this electronics box. Cut it off? Leave it?

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_008.jpg


Seat belts will have to go though!! Yuck :p

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_009.jpg



First attempt at fitting parts together and it looks quite good. I hope it stays that way :evillol:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_010.jpg

See you next year ;)

Nice start on a classic car..!!! I have this one to build myself at some point so I'll be watching your build with much interest. You have my attention....

The MP 4/4 was a technical monster. The Tamiya kit is a bit blobby, but spectacular things can be achieved with some patience. I have the S27 pe set as well, there are a few pieces which can really add to the finished kit, so it's worth the bread I think. The brake calipers are also slightly different being ap lockheed and the MP4/13 are Brembo's I believe. Good luck with the build, I will be following it closely. Happy New Year!

Wow, look at all the parts! :D

What a way to start the new year. "I am not planning a majorly detailed project this time", ummmm yes we all believe you. Really looking forward to this thread, never fail to be stunned at your innovative detailing and great commentary. I always leave your wip's with added knowledge.

I'll be watching this :-)

For the electronic box my vote goes to "cut it off and replace it". Anything you can do will be an improvement!

The things on the roll bar are antennas as you guessed:

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b288/jaykay640/Diverse/rollbarantennas.jpg

What a way to start the new year :smooch:

All the bits seem to be there however – including an engine and 4 wheels ;)

:rofl:

You are not going to "majorly" detail it, yeah right I see that from the three billion detail/decals sets you bought :iceslolan:iceslolan

Ah Ah ......!
Interesting.....
I have one on my workbench..........
Really been intereting.

Jamme

Maybe this could be of help. Although I can't understand a word Japanese it's nice to see these people at work. Scroll down to SP-4 there's a guy also building the Mc-Laren MP 4/4.

Hope you enjoy...

http://sl-blag.blogspot.com/2007/11/gunpla-tutorial-videos.html

Eric

Now you're talking! I was pretty sure that Power of Dreams will seduce you some day ;)

Thanks guys :)

Hiya J-M!!! Good to see you are alive and well! So where can i see your build?

JayKay, please don't look too close or you will die laughing when compared to your project! LOL


Not too much progress since I started this.

Most of the time spent on the kit so far has been filling sink marks with putty and thinning out parts to get a more in-scale thickness where it shows such as on the rear diffuser fins. I have also separated the nose cone form the cowling

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_011.jpg


My lack of progress was also largely due to the fact that I wasn’t too sure how I wanted to proceed. During test fitting, I was really disappointed with the front suspension. It goes together quite well but the Tamiya use a lot of awfully ugly (not to mention unrealistic) solutions such as the awful join lines shown in the circle, the horrible poseable wheel joints, the very poor fitting upper strut joins and holes where there shouldn’t be holes…

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_012.jpg


It seems to me that the front suspension on an open-wheel racer is one of the most visible parts of the car and if I don’t do something about this, there would be no point in adding CF decals as the cowling would need to stay on anyway to hide most of the ugliness. You can see here how part of the front arm joints sticks up in the air and how, if you follow the kit instruction assembly, you end up with joint lines.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_013.jpg


Since I don’t have the skill or equipment necessary to take the same approach as in JayKay’s formidable build, I applied something I have a lot of – angst :D After spending I guess 2 weeks just holding the parts in my hand and looking at them, I finally decided today on a line of attack LOL

The first thing I did was to fill in the hole on the body with Tamiya polyester putty (greta stuff BTW) and smooth it all flat for painting and CF-ing

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_015.jpg



The front upper arms were cut up into separate sections and the bits that slid into the holes on the body were cut off and smoothed flat. These will finally be fitted to the body with glue and maybe pins. The hole in the A-arm was plugged halfway with some styrene rod and the arms removed from the fixing points.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_016.jpg


The fixing arm sanded down and then drilled to accept pod ends that I will make later. This part of the assembly can now be glued in place, the holes puttied and smoothed flat for painting and decal work. Once I have made the joints, the arms can then hopefully be attached cleanly after this process is completed.

TBH I am not sure how this will work out but it’s worth trying.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_017.jpg


I have also made a silicon mold of the Top Studio MP4/13 brake calipers so that I can have the correct 2 per rotor for the MP4/4 if I decide to leave the wheels off.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/klutz100/WIPs/McLAREN%20MP4-4/mp4_014.jpg



Q: would this car have had a 4 point of 5 point seat belt? I’d be grateful for some info on this :thumbsup:

excellent start to what will be another impressive build steve.

as for the question, I'm sorry but I have no response, but I'm pretty sure someone on here will know :)

I believe it would have had a 5 point at least, if not a 6 point seatbelt.

Nice sollution to your problems. You're right, this part is highly visible and so you really had no choice on cleaning up the suspension parts. I should try some Angst too, it really seems to work on your projects, but it's probly one of those mail order items that take forever to arrive.

...it's probably one of those mail order items that take forever to arrive.
Not to worry, I've got a lifetime supply :D

I did a similiar thing with the front suspension on my 5B, including filling the chassis cutouts under the lower arms. It did involve some angst and stuffing around.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/scudera1/IMG_6502_edited.jpg

It worked pretty well and looks much better than the stock setup. Only problem is that there is now a lttle flex in the arms so the front of the car sits on the ground. So keep an eye on that if it concerns you, or make a small spacer to go under the nose to raise the car slightly
I also removed those horrible dampers and scratched some new ones. It will be real easy for you to do the same and look much better than the stock setup.

Great start, can't wait to see this come together.

Looks like you're heading down the right alley :-) The suspension arms will definitely look better. To re-attach them drill holes and add metal pins ( I did the same on my Jordan ). But dry fit and build everything up before you start painting and decaling or you run the risk of messing the surface up :-)

The little blobs you cut off at the rear attachment points of the upper A-arms to the chassis are actually not completely wrong...just quite simplified :-) On the real car there are little brackets that hold the bodywork...

The seatbelt is 6-point btw :-)