Fresh off the 3D printer! My new printer (Elegoo Mars 3 Pro) can finally achieve the kind of resolution I need to make this long-standing project a reality!
Since I've already designed the 3D model in Blender, this project isn't about assembly, It will all come down to a very careful paint job around some homemade decals - not a lot of 1/144 scale F1 decals on the aftermarket. 😉. The first step is just a regular print on paper to check that the tiny tiny sizing is accurate enough.
Decal test for all three cars complete. The Williams FW14 was the first casualty. I snapped off the wing while trying to straighten it a bit. Very careful handling required.
Ok…here comes the paint. This will be a slow methodical process. The trickiest part is that I have no white decals… so I have to decal over a white background and then carefully mask (and likely touch up) the paint job.
First coat of paint (Mr. Color 329 Yellow) complete. This one was going on before the decals (under the Camel logo) so we haven't really got to the tricky part yet.
Some VERY careful masking over the tail logos on the McLaren MP4/6. The idea is to cover up as much of the decal as possible to blend the transition between decal and paint as easily as possible, while keeping the white background behind the logo itself intact.
Pulled the masking off the decals... so far so good. Very gentle touch required not to pull the tiny little decals off with the tape, but so far so good. Some Mr. Color 65 Blue overspray on the Williams... yellow and blue make green... that'll be tricky to touch up.
It's the 1991 season and Ferrari's new interim T-driver, the Japanese/American IndyCar driver Man Yao, ignores team orders and overtakes Senna's MP4/6 McLaren before going wheel to wheel through the tunnel at Monaco with Nigel Mansel in the Williams FW14. Based on the scene from Kaoru (Area 88) Shintani's F1 manga, "Gentle Man".