Matra MS80 Ford - GP France 1969 - WIP

This is the Matra MS80 in which Jacky Stewart became 1969 World Champion F1. I will use an old FDS kit to replicate this car in scale 1/43. 

As you can see in the instructions, I will have to upgrade quite a lot of parts to achieve a fair level of detail... 

So I cut away the engine intakes (red arrow), as well as a lot of other detail (green arrows). Then I had to rescribe the panel lines (blue arrows). 

The simple dashboard will have to disappear as well (red arrow). 

The cast safety belts will have to be removed as well (red arrows). 

Of course, this is a kit from 1977, so don't be surprised to see the lack of good detail... 

The rear wing is adjusted by adding some plasticard allowing me to correct the angle of the wing. 

The complete rear suspension is a disaster. I decide to leave it behind an scratch a complete new one. 

The front suspension is slightly better. I decide to replace the shock absorbers and keep the suspension arms. The exhausts are adjusted and hollowed out. 

Then I try do to a dryfit with the new suspension parts. Looks good to me. 

The dashboard still needs to me removed, but the rear suspension looks a lot more realistic from this angle. 

Another shot of the still to remove dashboard. 

From behind you can clearly see how important the new suspension is. 

I scratched a complete new dashboard, and I also scratched a gear lever support. The safety belts have been removed. 

This is how the new cockpit should look once installed. 

The old dashboard has been finally removed and the front cooling openings have been drilled out. 

A support was fabricated for the intakes (red arrows) and the lost details have been restored with plasticard (green arrows). 

Next I scratched the platform on which the aluminium turned intakes will be attached. 

Next I scratched the front splitters which were also sanded off to be replaced by more realistic parts. 

The body received a coat of white primer. I intend to spraypaint the model in white first, next I will mask the white areas and roundels, before I will spraypaint the 'French blue'. 

The aluminium parts such as the front wings and part of the rear wing will either be covered with bare metal foil or I will paint them with Alclad aluminium; I haven't decided yet. 

Thanks to the quick service of spotmodel.com I already got the inlet trumpets, which enabled me to install them on the piece of plastic sheet I prepared earlier, as well as a small oil tank (red arrow). I also added an extra detail (green arrow). 

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the kit before I started building it, but thanks top the internet I found a pic of the untouched body. Notice the ugly inlet trumpets, and the way they are lined up is wrong as well. 

To prove my theory, I add a ref pic of a real Matra MS80. Notice the inlet trumpets and the way the are lined up. 

The Matra received a coat of pure white. Next I cut and fix masking tape to mask the white areas. Then I spray the alu areas which will be masked before spraying the french blue. 

The funny dots in the middle of the roundels cover the spot where the calliper was positioned.  

In the meantime I can do some detail painting at the rear suspension. 

Once the rear suspension has been painted I dryfit the rear wheels which have been finished as well. I added the front wheels, the steering wheel and a 2 eurocents coin to give you an idea of the dimensions. 

When the french blue has dried for a while, I quickly remove the masks to avoid paint breaking off.  

Of course the whole paint job still needs to be trimmed and the body still needs to be polished. 

I also spraypainted the cockpit tub in French Blue. The gear lever was installed as well as the dash. 

I spent quite some time assembling the tiny seat belts with real buckles. I now have a lot of respect for the 1:48 airplane modellers 😉 

Since the gearbox should be semigloss black, I had to change the color of the central piece from gun metal to semigloss black as well... 

Not quite happy with the way I handled the front suspension earlier, I decided to remove the white metal supports as well and replace them by metal wire supports. 

The inlet trumpets got an upgrade as well. The space between them was a bit too narrow, so I adapted everything. 

I fixed the decals on the body. They were in surprisingly good condition for 35 year old decals (made by Cartograph). 

Next I sealed eveyrhing with a clear coat. 

Chassis en body were fixed together. 

I left the wheels off to allow you to take a look at the scratched suspensions. 

When dryfitting the chassis and body I noticed that the steering wheel and the gear lever were a little far away for Jackie; so I decided to reposition them both (red arrows). 

The gear box shows a fire extuingisher at the ref pics, so I scratched one (green arrow). I also added exhaust supports (red arrows). 

The front suspension was still not complete: so I added the anti-torsion bar and the steering rods (green arrows) as well as the last support leading to the body of the Matra (red arrow). 

Then I can finally attach the wheels to the car. 

I also added the rear supprts to the suspension. To give you an idea of the dimensions, I put a 2 eurocents coin next to the model. 

The Matra isn't finished yet, but slowly we can get an idea of the end result. 

Nevertheless it will be the last details which will make the difference between a diecast model and a handbuilt model. That is the challenge that is still lying ahead of me...