Studio27 Penske PC4 F1 1/20

Hello guys,

My first post on the new site - hopefully all goes smoothly!

A while back I started this build, resin body, white metal, and etch. It’s almost done now, but thought it’s as good a time as any to start, so, here we go:

Lots of bits and pieces - and on we go:

Quite and extravaganza! nice clean parts - lots of them. Some odd features too - while a big screw is provided to attach the engine area to the driver’s cabin, the part the screw is attached to is just glued in place - not idea, so, as you can see above, added those three pins to tie the engine to the connecting part (a tank)

The headers on this - not fun. The left side, shown above went together pretty easily, the right side was a headache - I ultimately wound up pinning the tubes to both the collector and engine. I eventually figured out that the headers are asymmetric - yet the parts are not - perfect -

There’s a lot going on back here! The kit doesn’t tell you how long the links should be, nor does it tell you how to connect them to the cabin…so, lots of good times figuring this out. You can also see my beautiful scratch distributor. The kit includes one that looks really nice - except, it’s made of rubber, and is not predrilled for wires. It was easier to just make my own. As you can also see, the castings are really nice - almost a shame to close that in.

On to the front end. The kit doesn’t indicate if the nose should be removable or not, so I decided to make it removable, but, that didn’t reveal to much - only a steering rack - so, I added the column, (tubing with a cap), added rivet holes, and kept going:

All sorts of odds and ends. The shiny brass above are very short lengths of thin rod, curved and cut to at least look like Heim joints - plus ball joints, brake and clutch cylinders etc -

Above with some paint - and the same for the front:

I’ve worked on a variety of other bits - but am now focused on the body. Waiting for the second clear coat to set, then on to decals.

So, let’s hope this posts!

Cheers
Nick

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More F1 super-detailing shenanigans! Looks great Nick, excellent start.

Cheers, D

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Nice work!
If you need more detail parts, this site is a gold mine .

You may know already.
HTH

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Looks great, top quality work, as always.

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Nick,
I’m even a bigger Penske fan then a Porsche fan having actually met, talked to, and shook hands with Mr. Penske & Mark Donahue more then a few times at Bridgehampton for the old USRRC, Can Am, & Trans Am series back in the med to late 60s. Both of them were very approachable and certainly friendly to a very young 20 year old driving around the pits in his MGB thinking how cool I was. I was crushed when Donahue died at a F1 race after walking away from the accident later that night.

Penske’s F1 team wasn’t around very long nor very successful, so I’m more then surprised that even a Multi Media Kit has been produced. The scale seems to be more inline with that Tamiya F1 series, then the universal 1/24 scale that almost all the other kits are other then 1/12 scale are made in.

1st off and most important, is that your advanced skill level clearly shows in everyone of those pictures. Multi Media kits aren’t shake in the box Tamiya style, or even at the difficulty level of the most complex injected molded kits. But every step of the way especially the engine/transaxle/rear suspension, and front suspension clearly shows how you were able to solve every fit issue so that the viewer gets the sense of a well fitting super detailed kit. To say that I’m more then impressed, is putting it mildly.

I was kind of surprised that the kit comes with molded shocks and springs rather then separate ones as these parts will be clearing visible on the finished model. And my first impression of the exhaust headers to the collector pipes was that Studio 27 actually nailed the fit to a “T” till I read your descriptive explanation of the various fit issues. Very well done for sure. The overall engine area really looks quite outstanding.

I’m certainly looking forward to your next up.

Joel

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Hello guys, glad you like this so far.

Markiii, thx - yes, I know RB Motion, some really nice parts - mostly in 1/12 though. I’ve looked for parts there that might translate to other scales…

Hi Joel, I did not know you were a Penske guy! and more than Porsche? Wouldn’t have guessed that, except, these cars do run Ford motors, and I know you’re a Ford guy!

On to some updates - first up, some paint:

So far so good - better than hoped! woo hoo - smooth sailing…well, not quite:

So - above my “usual” mirror like finish…hahaha! not quite - can’t believe this worked out as nicely as it did. BUT, the smartly placed decal, on both sides, yeah…it will be mostly covered by the cowl over the driver’s area…nice…In some ways, the least of my problems, but some good too:

The assembly is going pretty well, and I think the time spent on bits an pieces is paying off - and the test of tests, will it sit flat??? I have bad luck getting plastic kits to sit flat, so white metal…but, YES! it does, on all four:

Tires only dry fit, so will be corrected, and the tie rod end above - fixed.

Other headaches - the decals on the tires are falling off, so I’ll stencil the letter on all four. The bigger headache though is the cowl over the driver’s area. While installing the windscreen, a big sheet of paint flaked off!!

What the **%%$$??? I washed, primed, painted (2 coats), clear coat (3 coats) and polished along the way - well, crap. So, the windshield is on for good…so what to do? I’m thinking of masking it off and repainting the damaged area. Ahh, the light hearted, good times associated with model building!!

Cheers,

Nick

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Again,

OUTSTANDING details as usual. I Need to get my but in gear and post pics of the start of my recently started build… Trying to figure the best fourm, as it’s kind of a cross-over build.

Matt

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Nick,
You’re just killing it. The kit looks just as well detailed as a 1/12 scale Multi Media kit for sure.

Paint job is as you said, certainly up to your usual A+ standards.

Can’t wait till your next update.

Joel

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Welcome to the new forum Matt!
So what’s the build?

Check in the “Trucks” forum Mark, it’s a cool looking project!

Cheers, D

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Looks amazing Nick. You work as fast, as these cars could run.
Bummer about the chipped paint. Fingers crossed you can fix it.

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Well guys, thanks for having a look.

Joel - my comment above about my painting skill was a joke! Half the time my paint looks just OK, but not great - or, 80% of the car looks just right, and then, there’s some wonderful flat spot - no shine, no gloss - nothing! This time though, the paint looks fine - except, and a big except, for the big flake/chip on the driver’s cowl - no idea why??? cleaned the kit, put down primer, two coats of paint, three of clear coat…and a big nasty chip!! in a very obvious place…nice…

Hi Jesper, thanks - yeah, the covid days - I’ve been working from home now for months. Which means - work when I need to work, and do some model building when I can, like painting!

So, on to my problems - the cowl over the driver’s cabin. I decided to repaint it, so did some sanding, taped off the part I could save (looked for new decals on line - between $35 and $55!! - NO new decals), and re-primed. Along the way, I wondered -maybe this car could become part of a dio - of the car in a shop - with the cowl off, set on a rack, and the car on a stand, wheels off?

And that’s what I decided to do - and now, this project is changing direction. I went back to the cowl and added some scale tape and hit it again with just a bit more primer.

And the dio now under way. A quick pic of the base - the light colored area the footprint of a shop, and the other, the aprons get in from the street:

And, shops need racks so, I made some! and an engine puller:

As you can see, these parts were scratchbuilt - aluminum and brass, held together with brass rods, rivets and CA. I went this route because this car is really heavy! resin and white metal and flimsy parts won’t cut it:

For scale, the parts with a 1/24 figure. Ordered some in 1/20 but who knows when they’ll get here:

The base has since been painted, and those open squares you see - those have now been filled with brick. There’s more to this story, but I need to run -

Happy model building and stay well!

Cheers
Nick

Outstanding!

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Wow, those scratch build parts look incredible.

Sound like “Yard of bricks” :grinning:

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Nick,
Great change of direction for sure. The cockpit cowl really looks like the real deal being repainted. As for all the scratch built shop parts, I’m just super impressed. The engine lift really came out looking great.

Looking forward to your next update with more of the Diorama roughed in.

Joel

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Hi guys, thanks very much!

Hoping this plays out the right way. The concept is now that this is an F1 restoration shop, focused on cars with the Ford DFV engine. The idea is to make a shop and adjacent yard - In the shop will be the PC4, and in the yard, a Type 79 - not sure yet if it will be restored, or maybe the body in primer? Next - I have several detail kits for the Type 79, including a white metal engine. So, the Type 79 will get all the fancy details, except the engine, which I’ll place on an engine rack so you can see the details -

So, on we go - I hope you boys will tolerate some dio WIP images - the plan is to make the dio as detailed as the cars - piece of cake! :smile: :smile:

Happy model building,

Nick

Hello guys,

The workshop is no longer dealing with resin, etch, and white metal - instead, dio supplies. Moving a bit slowly here, as work and life are intervening a bit. That said, a guy has a project to build. First, as the racecar is fairly detailed, the dio needs the same, so starting with the base:

I know the internet is changing brick and mortar business, but, shops need brick and mortar! and lumber:

Might as well get these colored all at once - almost as exciting as the brick work…lol

And of course, some concrete. Normally, I would have done this first, but as this wasn’t exactly a planned dio, I’m making it up as I go - I spaced and forgot about the idea of a foundation, and remembered a bit late. But, I’ve built these before, so know how to do it.

It’s funny, a real foundation is almost more forgiving to pour than this. In real life, a blow out of a form board is usually small and easy to fix with a shovel and hammer - not so this way. The “concrete” is soupy and if something not good happens, it can be a headache. You’ll see form boards and rebar:

And, with some “concrete”:

It’s getting there. Along with this adding shop tools - a tubing bender, trans jack, and high lift floor jacks -

I’ll keep you posted - thanks for having a look!

Cheers
Nick

Most outstanding work Nick :slight_smile:

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Thanks as always for sharing so much detail of your process here Nick, this is shaping up very nicely and it is great for us to be able to follow the steps and products that go into it.

Looking forward to more updates!

Cheers, D

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Cool, looking forward to seeing this as it goes together.

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