Brabham BT45 - Model Factory Hiro - 1/12

[DocRob]

Yesterday was the day of mano negra, the black hand . Polishing white metal makes your fingers black with the metal residues, but despite the dirt, it is fun.
I used sanding sponges of 1200 to 6000 grit, to get rid off the cast imperfections, then it was about polishing with a cotton swab and Autosol metal polishing paste with works really well. I like the shiny look a lot and it could pass for polished aluminum to my eye.
Today, i test fitted for some hours, as now is the decisive  step, where the tub has to fit into the body, along all the mating parts.



Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks great Rob.  I wouldn't have thought you could get that kind of result from polishing white metal.  Very interesting.

[DocRob]

5 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Looks great Rob.  I wouldn't have thought you could get that kind of result from polishing white metal.  Very interesting.

Thank you Mike, the white metal polishes really easy in fact. I did a lot of polishing with my Crocker motorcycle build as well. The only problem are slight superficial imperfections due to the casting process, which need to be removed first. This can be quite tedious, as it is not easy to sand the parts without losing detail and not all areas are reachable for proper sanding.
I don´t know about other metal polishing pastes, but Autosol is a classic and it works perfect for me.

Cheers Rob

[belugawhaleman]

Looks great Rob😀  Do the polished white metal parts eventually tarnish again?

[HubertB]

I could not resist …

😉

Hubert

[DocRob]

9 hours ago, belugawhaleman said:

Looks great Rob😀  Do the polished white metal parts eventually tarnish again?

Thank you Paul, about tarnishing, I don´t know, but I guess, very little so. These kind of metals are not overly reactive. My Crocker motorcycle with many polished surfaces looks completely unchanged after about a year.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

7 hours ago, HubertB said:

I could not resist …

It was a trap, Hubert and you fell in . I knew, somebody would bite and I guessed it might be you or Martin. I was about to link a Mano Negra video myself, but thought it to be funnier that way.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

There is not too much to show at the moment, as I´m preparing all the resin parts and some of the metal parts for the next steps. Test fitting is time consuming, but helps to recognize, where everything fits and how.
During this test fitting period, I made a mock up workbench build up.

Cheers Rob

[Landlubber Mike]

Hope everything is cooperating on the fit - a really cool subject to model.

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Hope everything is cooperating on the fit - a really cool subject to model.

Until now everything seems fine Mike, the kit seems to be easier to build than the Cobra Coupe. Fit and engineering is very good so far. There are only these damned coil springs for the exhausts, which I couldn´t attach and that is nagging me. I may try to insert a wire into the spring coil for easier bending.

Cheers Rob