paddy
Well-known member
Hot on the heels of my MS11 1968 F1car from MFH comes this. Could there be a bigger contrast in a similar subject? While the method of construction, the detail and the materials differ widely , I wonder if they can compete , side by side on display with 60 years between launch dates?
So this is Tamiya’s first ever “big scale 1/12” model released in 1968. It’s a 1967 Honda 1500cc V12 Formula one car RA273. Cutting edge at the time of its release both as a racing car and a model. By todays std’s its rather under engineered with not a huge parts count and has the obligatory fret of chrome parts that even now, 60 years on, manufacturers still insist on putting in the box to boost sales of household bleach. I can’t be sure, but I very much doubt that this car had any chrome on at all. The challenge here will be to make this look like a model of a famous racing car and not a plastic toy car. To that end I think the legless driver will have to sit this one out and certainly the recommended “Racing white” Tamiya colour that is anything other than white. The Racing white looks like you painted it white and lacquered it with a low-quality wood varnish 20 years ago and the lacquer went yellow. Looking at pictures of the original in the Honda museum it’s not a modern bright white but neither is it a yellow white. Its hard to pin down a colour in a photo as monitors and personal setting give a huge variation, but it doesn’t look to far off my own car which is Audi Ibis white.
Anyway, the plan is to strip the chrome and either use a metallic paint of replace parts with alloy or stainless, add some detail if practical and generally set my self up for a very public fall if it all goes wrong
an original in the Honda museum
and another in the Fuji museum
So this is Tamiya’s first ever “big scale 1/12” model released in 1968. It’s a 1967 Honda 1500cc V12 Formula one car RA273. Cutting edge at the time of its release both as a racing car and a model. By todays std’s its rather under engineered with not a huge parts count and has the obligatory fret of chrome parts that even now, 60 years on, manufacturers still insist on putting in the box to boost sales of household bleach. I can’t be sure, but I very much doubt that this car had any chrome on at all. The challenge here will be to make this look like a model of a famous racing car and not a plastic toy car. To that end I think the legless driver will have to sit this one out and certainly the recommended “Racing white” Tamiya colour that is anything other than white. The Racing white looks like you painted it white and lacquered it with a low-quality wood varnish 20 years ago and the lacquer went yellow. Looking at pictures of the original in the Honda museum it’s not a modern bright white but neither is it a yellow white. Its hard to pin down a colour in a photo as monitors and personal setting give a huge variation, but it doesn’t look to far off my own car which is Audi Ibis white.
Anyway, the plan is to strip the chrome and either use a metallic paint of replace parts with alloy or stainless, add some detail if practical and generally set my self up for a very public fall if it all goes wrong
an original in the Honda museum
and another in the Fuji museum
.
