Brabham BT45 - Model Factory Hiro - 1/12

[DocRob]

My next project after the sweet Honda RC166 build will be a bit more demanding and time consuming. I picked the red Brabham BT45 "Press Version 1975" out of the stash and started to get a bit familiar with it´s content.



Press Version meant, it was the car, how it was presented to the press before the 1975 season started, the car in this configuration actually never raced. The press version has a white paintjob with Martini branding, where the BT45´s used during the 1976 season was painted red and had some alterations, mostly around the nose section. The #7 car was piloted by Carlos Reutemann, the #8 car by Carlos Pace. Bothe Carlos´s didn´t had any success with the car, but I found the design absolutely cool.
I the seasons before, Brabham had their very successful BT44 (b) on the track, but decided to switch from the 8 cylinder Cosworth DFV engines to the Alfa Romeo flat 12 cylinder engine for economical reasons. The design from the BT44 to the BT45 changed a lot and the latter was ultra flat with the Alfa engine. Unfortunately the engines were not very reliable.



Some pictures to show the car a bit better were borrowed from the net.





MFH kits are not easy to build and you need to be organized. Starting a build requires some preparations, the first being cleaning the white metal parts in a magnetic tumbler filled with soapy water and 0,3 mm stainless steel needles.



Drying time



This is followed by a very eye straining task, checking if every part is there with printouts from the part list and then, all whit metal parts are sorted into boxes, according to the steps in the manual.





I generally like MFH kits for design, engineering, lots of labor and love, which went into issuing their kits, but there are some points of critique as well and I think, I will communicate that to MFH, because, these issues are easy to solve.

The parts list are only shown on the MFH web page as pictures, you have to print out, in my case in relatively bad quality. These part lists are immensely important throughout the whole build. I would appreciate, MFH including these into the manuals.
As we speak about manuals. You get a printed version, but it helps to have a second set for notes. For some of the MFH kits, there are PDF versions available, but not for all. I would like MFH to issue the manuals on their web site, which is not the case.
Tamiya always shows the wire or tube length, which needed to be cut in their manuals. MFH only mentions in which step of the manual the other end of the tube / wire leads. This causes endless page turning.

Cheers Rob

[Martinnfb]

Another magic in the making. 

[Count0]

Watching this one. I don't like their kits too much myself, as the two I have both have some worrying flaws. So I won't spend $600+ (US)on one of these big ones. That won't stop me from cheering you on though. Not my Favorite Brabham, but it's an F1 car, so how bad can it be? 

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Count0 said:

Watching this one. I don't like their kits too much myself, as the two I have both have some worrying flaws. So I won't spend $600+ (US)on one of these big ones. That won't stop me from cheering you on though. Not my Favorite Brabham, but it's an F1 car, so how bad can it be? 

Hehe, just preordered the next one, the may release of the Aston Martin DB4 GTZ. I love their kits and they build up to a unmatched result, if everything goes well. They are demanding, complex and truly multi media, but also lots of fun to build. The big challenge with the Cobra Coupe was to fit the doors and foremost the bonnet, after all the previous steps, where even the slightest tolerances can add up. I think, there was a design error with the funnels, not fitting under the hood, something that not happened only during my build, but another one.
Other than that, I cannot think of many flaws with the kits. 
The Crocker motorcycle was my first MFH build and it was completely doable, with the chain being the worst part of the build, but apart from that, it was pure joy.

What are your observations on your kits, Count? I think older kits made by MFH were less refined, but I have the impression, the quality improved over time.

The BT45 is definitely not the first Brabham coming to mind, when you think about the brand. What I like about it are the cool looks, especially in white and what was possible technically and design wise in that golden era of F1. There is a completely new designed car from one year to the next, impossible in todays boring times, where cars look like a piece of soap and F1 cars look like a piece of soap with wings.

I thought about starting the Tamiya 1/12 Brabham BT44b, but saw all the parting lines, which needed cleanup and thought no.

Cheers Rob  

[Landlubber Mike]

Looking forward to this one Rob.  Thanks for showing how you approach the beginning of the build.  I have a few MFH kits in the stash and need to get one of those magnetic tumblers apparently.

[Count0]

I don't understand how the tumbler "cleans " the parts without destroying the detail? Or, how that parts themselves tumbling doesn't  wreck them.

[DocRob]

On 4/27/2025 at 3:12 AM, Landlubber Mike said:

Looking forward to this one Rob.  Thanks for showing how you approach the beginning of the build.  I have a few MFH kits in the stash and need to get one of those magnetic tumblers apparently.

Preparation is everything with MFH kits, Mike. I still study the manual and toy with the parts, to see where needs to be drilled with what diameter. The start isa always a bit slow, but then starts the fun. I wouldn´t like to miss the magnetic tumbler polisher, as it prepares the white metal parts very good.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

12 hours ago, Count0 said:

I don't understand how the tumbler "cleans " the parts without destroying the detail? Or, how that parts themselves tumbling doesn't  wreck them.

Under a microscope, you might find loss of detail with the parts after cleaning them in a magnetic tumbler polisher, but what you gain in better surface appearance is worth the practically non existent loss of detail. You need the correct medium though. I experimented first with a simple tumble polisher, filled with steel balls and there was a great amount of detail missing afterwards and there was a unrefined ring around every protruding detail.
With the magnetic polisher shown above, it depends on the stainless steel needle´s diameter. I tested 0,5 mm and 0,3 mm which gave the best results.
The parts tumble only slowly through the water filled plastic jar, so the parts don´t tend to scratch each other. The needles move faster and hit the surfaces of the parts permanently. In metallurgy this equals hammering on a very low level, I guess, where the surfaces become more even and harder as well. 
You can also play with the time settings. I started with all the parts for one hour and then left only the larger parts with bigger surfaces for another half hour in the jar. Smaller parts polish easier and faster than the big ones.
It´s my third MFH build and the tumble polisher is one of the most important and time saving tools. Of course, you can clean the parts with other methods, but that is very time consuming and leads to having black hands permanently.

Cheers Rob

Cheers Rob