1/12 Meng F1 McLaren 4/4 1988

[cbk57]

4 minutes ago, jenshb said:

Thanks for that enlightenment.  Yes, it's an odd contraption that early season configuration.  Sucking in warm air that has passed through the radiators and then warming it up even more before trying to cool it before feeding it into the cylinders...  I suppose the car looks better without the periscope intakes though.

 

Actually there was a set of ducts that bypassed the radiators for the intake.  The air did not go through the radiators first.  My memory is the dust go outside the radiator inlets.  

[nichenson]

6 hours ago, jenshb said:

Thanks for that enlightenment.  Yes, it's an odd contraption that early season configuration.  Sucking in warm air that has passed through the radiators and then warming it up even more before trying to cool it before feeding it into the cylinders...  I suppose the car looks better without the periscope intakes though.

 

 

I did a little diffing.  Those intakes were introduced for the British Grand Prix which he won.  Most of his wins that year came with the later setup.  The spoiler appears to be the very early season at that so it leads me to think it is supposed to be Monaco, which again would be an odd choice.  He won the pole but in the rain.  He crashed out of the race.  So who knows???

[malc]

The early season car was WITH periscope air intakes, the late season did not have them to reduce aero drag.

The cars ran with periscope intakes at Brazil, San Marino, Monaco, Mexico, Canada, USA, France and Silverstone.

It was only at Hockenheim that they were moved inside the car where separate air is taken through the shared radiator duct to the turbo then round the intercooler to the engine. All races following are WITHOUT the periscopes.

 

The rear wing shown in the Meng renders is representative of Brazil and San Marino, so medium downforce.

Detroit and Monaco are high downforce, San Marino, Silverstone and Monza are low downforce. 

 

At Motorsport images you can see the car progresssion and race setups.

https://www.motorsportimages.com/

Just type 1988, the race (e.g. France) and McLaren in the search box.

 

Malc.

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by malc

[vince14]

To my eyes it looks like it's in Japanese GP configuration (medium rear wing and no periscopes).

[Juggernut]

I may even have some Marlboro decals left from the MP4/6 I never built.  Someone will probably release some aftermarket Marlboro sponsor decals for this kit though. 

 

Maybe, just maybe, Meng will provide configurable race options.  I'm not a huge F1 fan but I like it enough to say I'll buy this kit when it's released, provided it's not $500 or more....then I'll have to miss out.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Juggernut

[malc]

On 4/17/2023 at 3:43 PM, nichenson said:

Here is the late-season setup.

 

 

The photos above in order top to bottom are taken at:-

San Marino 2nd round

Monaco 3rd round

Silverstone 8th round

IE all early season

[malc]

4 hours ago, vince14 said:

To my eyes it looks like it's in Japanese GP configuration (medium rear wing and no periscopes).

Yes I agree as Senna got pole position, won the race (after stalling on the grid!) and became the world champion there, would also make sense for the Japanese market, but from the aero set up it could also be made as Australia (16th round) or even Portugal (13th round). I think the car remained the same for the final two races apart from the radiator outlet blanking plates being slightly different lengths, which are not shown in the Meng renders.

 

Malc.

[nichenson]

On 4/22/2023 at 5:06 PM, malc said:

The photos above in order top to bottom are taken at:-

San Marino 2nd round

Monaco 3rd round

Silverstone 8th round

IE all early season

 

Not sure what I was thinking.  I got it entirely backward.  Thanks for the correction.  The Meng is the late season.  I should stick to closed-wheel racing, lol.

[Eric Aitala]

HI,

If anyone is interested, Fat Frog Models posted an unboxing video of the Meng kit today at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUAz0pWXLf8

The first couple minutes of audio is not quite right, but the rest is fine.

 

Eric
 

 

[ringleheim]

On 4/12/2023 at 6:07 PM, vince14 said:

The Italeri McLaren is a re-pop of the ancient Protar kit, so it's not worth bothering with unless you really want a 1/12 MP4/2C.

 

The Meng kit will almost certainly be both significantly cheaper and less complex than the MFH kit.

Don't be so hasty to judge Protar.  Unless the MP4/2C really sucks.

 

I built their Ferrari 126/c2 in 1/12 many, many years ago, and it was actually a really nice building experience with good detail and and it went together nicely.  Looked damned nice in my display case when I was done.

 

I have found Protar and Italeri to be very hit or miss.  Just built an Italeri 1/35 German Sd.Kfz. 10 halftrack; great little kit with detail and fit.  Just as good as Tamiya and almost on par with Dragon.

 

The Italeri 1/12 Fiat Mefistofeles is another I am working on; not perfect but not bad either and the finished result will be stunning with some  modification.  Nice kit overall though.  Not a horror story.

 

Other kits are, yes, horror stories!   LOL

 

 

[ringleheim]

On 4/22/2023 at 5:30 PM, malc said:

Yes I agree as Senna got pole position, won the race (after stalling on the grid!) and became the world champion there, would also make sense for the Japanese market, but from the aero set up it could also be made as Australia (16th round) or even Portugal (13th round). I think the car remained the same for the final two races apart from the radiator outlet blanking plates being slightly different lengths, which are not shown in the Meng renders.

 

Malc.

For those thinking about building this kit, you will notice that in PHOTOS of McLaren's of this era, the carbon fibre tub (in places) can look very much something OTHER than black.  Sometimes it has an olive green tone to it, sometimes it can almost look goldfish, or gray, and I have seen models with various colors depicted in various areas.

 

Having seen most of these cars (including the 4/4) in person, I can tell you in person the tub is 100% BLACK.  Very boring.  All of these cool, interesting color shades you see in photos are products of photography.

 

I have the Tamiya 1/12 McLaren Mp-4/6 in my stash, and will be painting the whole tub and related carbon bits black.

 

Might want to vary the black you are using or the sheen to create some visual interest, but it's all black.

 

Here's a great photo showing what I'm talking about.  Look how "GREEN" (?) that section of the monocoque looks!  

 

I'm telling you this is ALL PURE BLACK in person! Worth noting if you are going to build one from this era.  

 

 

[Juggernut]

On 4/12/2023 at 12:10 PM, Juggernut said:

This is what I was trying to view when kept getting blocked by a popup for The Modeling News.  I think I've fixed that issue now but: HOW COOL IS THIS?

 

 

I had the Tamiya 1/12 MP4/6 several years ago but never built it.  Now I can get this (alibeit the price has increased substantially!).  It's due for July 2023 release...Oh I gotta save my milk money for this puppy.

 

Just placed an order for this from HobbyEasy...$199 (including small packet tracked shipping).  I'm refreshing my Adobe Illustrator skills to create some tobacco sponsor (Marlboro) decals since it doesn't come with any.  I may have some aftermarket sponsor decals for the Tamiya MP4/6 but just in case I don't, I have Tango Papa decal paper, an ALPS MD-1300 printer, the Marlboro type face, and a generous supply of black ink.   May have to cut masks for the little pennants on either side of the wing sponsor decals but that's not an issue either.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Juggernut

[Juggernut]

 

After watching a portion of this video, it appears that the markings are a flat black on an otherwise glossy white/vibrant red surface.  I may have to cut masks for the sponsor decals (and some others as well) instead of using decals.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Juggernut

[scvrobeson]

On 7/13/2023 at 9:50 AM, ringleheim said:

Look how "GREEN" (?) that section of the monocoque looks!  

 

 

It's a different weave on the carbon kevlar section of the nose

 

 

Matt