Mulsanne Express

[Dr. Austin]

I had planned to make a deal at Daytona for one of Nicolas Watts' fine prints "Mulsanne Express." It depicts the torrid duel between the lone surviving Rothmans Porsche against five healthy Silk Cut Jaguars. The Porsche ranks had been decimated early on by sub-standard fuel provided by the orgainizers.

The second Rothmans car was out before an hour was complete. Some cars barely made four or five laps. Any Porsche that survived the first hour did so only by pitting to change the Bosch motronic engine management chip to a more conservitive one.

Against the odds, Porsche's only real chance was to go flat out so that no team tactics would get in the way. No one can block you if you are in front. So Stuck, Bell and Holbert went flat out until all the Jaguars were run into the ground. It was a stunning victory, made even sweeter because the previous year's triumph was dulled by Jo Gartner's sad demise.

At Daytona, I was unable to swing the deal for the print. I did get a close view of it, though, and I wanted to cry everytime I looked at it. It is absolutely the most stunning and beautiful piece of art I have ever seen. The lighting, the speed, the mood were all perfectly captured by Watts. Because of the way the light and treelines were painted, coupled with the position of the sun, the cars appear to have been shot out of the sunset. It is truely a magnificent piece. I was so devasted that I was unable to acquire it that I immeadiately began work on two 1/43 Rothmans 962's, the 86 and 87 LeMans winners.

These have been difficult pieces for me in the past. I will post pictures of the construction process with comments on how the work is going. In the meantime, the rest of you could please leave your impressions and rememberances of the mighty Rothmans 956/62 cars.

[Aysedasi]

As you already know Doc, I share your admiration for this print and I'm sorry you didn't manage to lay your hands on it.

(By the way, there were only 3 Jags in '87 - it was the following year when 5 were entered ).

[Dr. Austin]

Here is the kit. actually, this is a Liqui Moly 956 kit, but i substituted it because the Rothmans car was underway before i remmebered to take pictures. But this is what it would have looked like, except this is a 956 and it has humps on the rear fenders to clear the bigger Michelin tires.

As you can see, the instructions are, errrr, what they are. The body has some flash on it, but generally, the Starter 962's are as clean as anything outside a BBR. The parts pack contained the turned metal wheels, rubber tires, plactic backing plates to support the photo etched (or P.E. for short) wheel inserts, resin headlight covers, rear wing,steering wheel and axles. Taped to the box lid is the P.E. BBS wheel centers. You peg them to the plastic backing plates with the supplied wheel nuts.

One modification I am planning to the kit is to substitute the wheel inserts. The kit comes with the Porsche/BBS wheel cover discs, but I want to build it with the six spoke speedline wheels. The car started on wet tires, and the wheel covers won't allow the brakes to get enough temperature in the wet.

So, here is the kit in all it's glory. As you can see, there are only about 25 parts or so, but each one must be massaged, so this is no short task.

[Aysedasi]

That conjures up an awful vision of you massaging your parts into the small hours.......

[Dr. Austin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aysedasi

"As you already know Doc, I share your admiration for this print and I'm sorry you didn't manage to lay your hands on it."



I'm not done yet. the vendor will be at sebring and i will take something with me he won't be able to resist, a Goodwrench corvette GTP. the kit is going for around $285 on e-bay, so it will really get his attention.



"By the way, there were only 3 Jags in '87 - it was the following year when 5 were entered "

OUCH! I can't get away with anything as sharp as you guys are! Yes, it was 88 when they had 5 cars. It was a really exciting era and it is really hard to keep it all in focus. especially when you are as old as me......




Here is the body almost as it came out of the box. I have already punched the flash out of the front and right windows. All the windows must be opened up and the edges sanded smoothe. The flash is paper thin, so it is not a tough task, but you do have to be careful not to dig into the body and cut away the window trim. My best advice is to use a new, sharp Xacto #11 blade and work very slow. It isn't a speed contest, and going fast will only screw it up, which I have done plenty of. If you hurry, you can also carve yourself up, which is a really bad and painful thing to do. expensive, too, if you require stitches. These Xacto knifes are tools, not toys, and I have bled a bunch through careless use of them. It is no joke to tell you they must be treated seriously. You can really hurt yourself, so please be careful.


If you have no patience, this hobby will teach you really quick. Also, the wheel arches and bottom of the nose, tail and rocker pannels will need to be cleaned. On the bottom edges, I just use a hobby sanding stick, but a disposable fingernail board will work just fine. the hobby tool is a coarser grain and the board itself is stiffer.

Once all the wheel and window openings and the lower edges are smoothe, I assemble the entire model, sans paint. Using super glue (or epoxy), put the wheels on the axles. sometimes the axles are too long and must be cut dow. I use a dremel tool and a tough grind fiberglas wheel, but once again, be careful not to drop the spinning tool in your lap as this is another dangerous device. I usually use slow speed and take longer to do the job. The tool is easier to control and does less damage if you slip. Wear eye protection and the sparks (and metal filings) will fly.

The plastic wing must be trimmed so it fits in the recess inside the rear fins. Trim a little at a time and test fit often. I have done so many 956/62 that I just eyeball it and cut, sanding out the margin of error. But, it screwed up 100 of them before i got that good at it. Take your time and use a miterbox and razor say. Use a magic market to mark where to cut i and the miterbox to keep it square. Do not glue in place just yet.

I trim the vac form windows fairly close to the edge and it neatly jams into place in one shot. All three windows go in as on unit, a good feature for someone like me who doesn't do very well with glass.

The headlight covers are moulded in resin. On the back side of them are two round recesses. Once you fill these with paint, they become the headlights. I will try to post a picture so this becomes more clear. Trim the flash so they drop into the headlight buckets and then paint the backside blace. After the model is painted and decalled, glue them in and clearcoat over the whole thing. they look dynamite like that.

Once the wing, glass, headlights, wheels and interior unit are fitted, screw on the bottom plate and make sure the model sits right. I drill a hole in the bottom plate, just between the "E" and the "R" in the starter name, using that hole to secure it to a base. As a last step, I drill the holes for the mirrors on the "A" pillars.

If there is any confusion as to how the pieces are fitted, make a note of it and I will post a picture of how I do it.


Then I soak the body (and interior)in a solution of water with a heavy dose of Dawn dish detergent. I also throw in a capful of bleach. When the bodies are cast, the moulds are coated with a release agent (rumored to be Crisco cooking grease) so the body won't stick to, and ruin, the mould. Paint absolutely won't stick to it, so it must be taken off. Once it has soaked overnight, I use a toothbrush to scrub the body down. Be careful with the fins so as not to break them. If you are scrubbing one side, support it with a finger from behind. these bodys are brittle, so take care.

Painting techniques will take another entire thread, so i will bypass them for now and leave you with the uncleaned body, just to show what it looks like before.....

[Dr. Austin]

I shot the body with Plastikote white primer. It is dull, but tghe clearcoat will make it shine. since it is primer and it is white, I save putting on paint and covering up the detail and panel lines.

You will have to develop your own technique of painting, but one good trick it to shoot paint into the vent first. It is difficult to do with a spray can. Using an air brush, you can turn down the amount of paint and just put it exactly where you want it, but with a spray can it is a really tough job. I hope to have my spray booth and air brush operational soon.

Either way, try not to get too much paint into the panel lines as those are what seperates the model from looking like a bar of soap.

Here is the model with the paint dry and the decals for the side on. these are tricky as you have to be careful to get the stripes on top straight. Once the decals on the side are dry, i fill in the wheel arches, underside of the tail and nose vents with Tamiya royal Blue, a perfect match for the blue in the decals.

Here is is before the touch up. Notice how I have cut the decal away from the exhausts as the decal covers them. i will paint that in later, but should have done it before decalling. see what happens when you get in a hurry?

If you look inside the right rear fin, you will see some white. That is where the decal split when I pushed it into the recess with a damp spounge. I generally use a decal solvent and manipulate the decal with a wet packing spongue. This mashes it into place. So, you can see where and how the rear wing mounts in this photo by looking at the white recess. The white won't show anyway, so i won't bother to touch it up.

[Dr. Austin]

This will give you a better idea of how the headlights go in. The clear piece already has the lights painted so it would show up in the photo. You paint the backside royal blue (for rothmans cars) and plug it in. You will notice the lights on the car look hazy.This is because, once again, I got in a hurry and painted them black instead of blue. Once i realized the mistake, I stripped them in lacquer thinner, causing the haze. Since they will be clear coated over, the clear will fill in the rough spots on the lens and they will look great. Clearcoat hides alot of evil.

[Dr. Austin]

Here is the rear wing. You will notice i drilled a tiny hole in the end and inserted a pin to hold it with. Yes, i have really good reading glasses. Once this is cleared, the pin gets pulled out and the edge trimmed. Since the end hides inside the rear fin, this won't show.

[Dr. Austin]

This is the body before i touched in the wheel arches, rear underside and exhaust holes.

[Dr. Austin]

And after.

[Dr. Austin]

Now, it goes away to my friend bob Davault for one of his perfect clearcoat jobs. Since we use toxic two part radio active paint, I really don't want to posion my nice neighbors. I just send it to Bob, it comes back perfect and my neighbors stay healthy.

Bob has done all my clearcoat work for about three years and always does a great, fast job. I aslo send him some pieces that are just a little too difficult or ones IU am afraid to screw up. I just got a BASK Sauber C-7, and i could probably handle it. But it took five years to find the kit, so i just send it to him, write the check, and forget about it. In about a month I'll post the pictures of it.

Anyway, it is off to Bob. While it is gone, I'll build the wheels and paint the interior. And, of course, work on other projects.

[Dr. Austin]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
That conjures up an awful vision of you massaging your parts into the small hours.......

It's more than just a mere hobby!

[Blue2]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
That conjures up an awful vision of you massaging your parts into the small hours.......

For 's sake, man. It's just constant smut with you, innit?

The Doc's really serious about the models, eh Doc? I like to see the pics posted on here, but I doubt I'd have the patience to go for the build myself! How many hours (in total) do you reckon you spend on a model like the one shown?

[Dr. Austin]

Oh, it's waaaaaaay too many, for sure. I guess it would be about 20 on a standard build. This is a tough one for me. There is nothing really difficult about the Rothmans cars, but I always seem to struggle with them. I think I have built so many of them that I always want the next one to be better and I probably stress myself out too much trying to get perfection.

Now you may think you don't have the patience, but no one had less than me when I first got serious about modelling. I couldn't wait for the paint to dry before I'de start assembling things. The biggest thing I have learned is to let things sit and cure. I generally have about 10 going at once, so i can always move over to another model.

So if you build, it will teach you patience. Really, it will. You either learn to be patient or you spend alot of money buying more kits to replace the ones you screwed up. A good piece takes time. There is no other way around it. Once you learn that, the rest is just getting the techniques perfected, and repetition takes care of that. If you build enough of these, you can't help but turn out a couple of good ones.

[FastJoel31]

Have you done a Texaco Havoline Porsche 962 (from 1990)? If you have can you post a pic or two? I'm about to build the Tamiya 962 re-release and I'm deciding whether or not to buy the Havoline decals. Thanks.

[Dr. Austin]

The Havoline ran in this bodywork in 1990. But I seem to remember the car running in this livery with the stock group C bodywork. I can't find a picture of it though. It was driven by Dominic Dobson and was featured every issure of On Track magazine in a Havoline advertisement, but i can't find the darn thing. I have 1/43 decals that will work on the stock bodywork because the big red emblem has cutouts for the turbocharger heat outlets that are on top of the fenders just in front of the rear wheels. On the Bayside car pictured here, the vents are on the side.

If you have a picture of the Group C bodied car, i'de love to see it.

[Dr. Austin]

And here is another view. Please excuse the pics taken with low res camera. These are stock photos from my hardrive, but I plan to re-photograph the entire collection with my new camera, when I can stop building long enough, that is.

[Aysedasi]

I don't know how you find the time Doc to make the models, as well as photograph them and post them on here! Patience? No, I'd never have the patience to do one model, let alone the hundreds that you must have done.

I wish you luck with acquiring the print at Sebring.

Now, I'm going to sign off this thread before I get all smutty again and Blue threatens to censor me! (I would have used the appropriate smiley at this point but they're not working for me - and no, I've not disabled them - before you ask!!).

[Dr. Austin]

You don't see much of the interior anyway, but i always trick them out just because you don't want to lose you touch when it comes to doing open topped cars. Plus, some people really get down and critique the cars, so don't disappoint them. I like to paint the interiors of all my coupes either in alumiunm of light grey as it casts less shadows. With a black interior, all you get is just black. It looks like the windoes are painted. With the grey, everything lights up alot better. The early Porsches were all grey inside, so it is not innaccurate to do this, but the 956's were aluminum. Still, the grey shows up better, so I use it.

No, i didn't handpaint the instruments. that is decal. And i hjaven't painted the seat belt bucklet yet. I throw a coat of dull clear on the whole tghing as it cuts on the reflections and you can see in better. Then, the shiney buckles will put your eyes out!

[Dr. Austin]

As you can see, weven with no direct light going in the car, the grey interior is still visible. Remember that the sunshade blocks a lot of light, just like it is designed to do. And the dash is black, but you can still see it because the rest of the interior helps illuminate it.

This is an earlier version I built of the same car, but greed overcame me when someone threw money at me. Actually, he threw a bunch of kits at me in exchange for this model. Kits are more tempting for me than any woman.

[Es Nes]

doc, have you been to this site before? http://homepage.mac.com/mfc143/models.html

i found it on my searchings for more info on the 905

[Dr. Austin]

BAdda bing !!!! Thanks for the link. Lot of great stuff here. Good reference. But some of the models here make my work look shabby so don't let the others know about it!

[Dr. Austin]

I went to the beginning of the thread and noticed that the painting is really a bunch darker on the post than in actuallity. I ran the thing through photoshop and lightened it to where it looks about right to me. When i saw the print in person, the sunset was just exploding down Mulsanne, but when I put it up here, that dissapated somewhat. So I craked it up a little and I hope this will give a more true representation of what the painting really looks like.

I've noticed my photos come out darker on the forum than on my screen, and I don't know if it is my system or if the site runs a little dark. Or, it just could be my pitiful computer skills. Please give the print another look as I don't think the first photo did it true justice.

EDITED TEXT;

Yes, this is more like it. Of course, with everything that scanning, resizing and editing does to the print, alot is lost, but I think this is a better example of how beautiful the print is. I am more determined than ever to get it now.

[powermite]

DR,
I also collect 1/43 LeMans cars but built ones.I really admire your skill and patience to build these things.
I know i'd find it so difficult to do as i've been blessed with fingers like pigs tits
PM

[Dr. Austin]

Keep checking back on my modelling threads and hopefuly you can find a few tricks that will help you. Tweezers is a definate must for some of the smaller parts like tow hooks and wheel nuts. And a good pair of reading glasses is essential as well. I use -2.0 diopters but you might require something different. Like with any job, the tools are critical to a good result.

John Simons (of Marsh models) has several excellent books out on 1/43 and building tricks. One is called "The world of 1/43" and the second one is, I believe pt.II.

If you have an interest in building, the best way to learn is to get some old Solido models. They come mostly finished except for decalling. Once you get that down, you can move on to painting. With the all metal body, you can just chunk it into the old lacquer thinner if you have any big problems and start over. They are dirt cheap and if you mess it up, you can just have a good laugh and throw what is left in the sparts parts bin. Plus, some of them come out nearly as good as handbuilts. Check my 908/80 thread to see what can be done with a Solido, smoke and mirrors.


Once you have dinked around with a bunch of those, you can try your hand at some rein kits. The best way to start those is to pick kits with as little tricky parts as possible. I always like the Porsche 908/3 series because there is no glass and hardly any photo-etched parts. They are really straight forward and quite a snap to build. Then you can move on to tougher projects. I also like the 956/62 series because the windows go in with one shot, all one piece. And the headlights are resin, so there is no tricky vac-forms to screw up.

Also, some of the new BBR kits are just a blast to build, especially the open top cars with no glass. You still have to do the headlight cover vac-forms, but they are done beautifully and the lines are very clearly marked so it is easy to see where to cut them out. I did a 1999 Sebring Audi R-8 and it was such a breeze that I was depressed when it was done. Simple paint job, simple decals and good quality resin to work with. All the parts fit perfectly. In my estimation, the BBR and Marsh kits are the standard, but the Province Moulage kits are getting better all the time and they are more than good enough. The others are just a notch higher quality.


But mostly, you need to find someone who is a good builder and lean on him for advice. It is too costly to learn all the tricks by making mistakes, but even then, I hammer one out of frustration every so often. It is a big myth that there is a lot of skill involved in this. Yes, you do need some, but it is more the refinement of technique that is required, and repitition takes care of that. Technique and patience is what you really need. The patience is the hard part, but this hobby will really teach it to you.

If you still don't want to build, Spark models is making excellent models of all the current LMP cars. They are so nice that I don't bother to build anything current because they are as good, and sometines better, that anything I can build. And the Starter factory built kits can be had for around $75 US and they are getting better all the time too. I have a Starter MK.IV Ford that i am really pleased with and it was only about $35 more than the kit would have been.

As a last resort, I have been known to think out my collection every so often, and, yes, i can be insulted with money, but trading me some kits is definately more effective.

Good luck in whatever you chose to do with you modelling. I keep all of mine in my gym, and they are nice to look at when I am wheezing between sets!