Global Scale Modeller

Hi all

I made a start to this kit ages ago and its been on hold while I completed other projects.
The engine is mostly done, and have been working on the brakes, adding a lot of extra detail to both components.

There is a lot to love and hate about this kit. Lots of nice detail everywhere, but that is offset by the stupid location and use of screws.
Meng didnt know if they wanted to make the kit a top quality detailed model, or a screw together toy. There is a lot of work to be done....

The screws issue seems to be common to Meng. There was a bike build recently had the same issue.

Here's another issue to highlight meng's stupidity.

the cowling is white and flouro red. Meng decided to mark the colour separation by raising the plastic height of the red about half a millimeter or so.

Ive been sanding it down, but you can still see the lines in the pics.

It's weird with the screws.

Meng are like most things Chinese, they look good but don't bare scrutiny. Those bloody screws and mould lines just ruin what could be very nice kits.

I'm sure you'll over come them, some lovely detail up work and mods

Kevthemodeller wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 5:02 pm Meng are like most things Chinese, they look good but don't bare scrutiny. Those bloody screws and mould lines just ruin what could be very nice kits.

I'm sure you'll over come them, some lovely detail up work and mods

Most things Chinese - yep.

I wont be rushing out to buy another Meng kit, which is a pity because they have a nice selection of larger scale vehicles. Their stuff just isnt up to even 50 year old Tamiya kits.

However this will be a nice model once the mods are done because some parts of the kit they did do very will with.

But another screw up was the colour of the carbon fiber decals - they have some printed very yellow. The actual car has all black cf according to my reading of people who say they have seen it in person, but some photos show it fairly yellowish under different lighting conditions. I think the research was based on a photo of the yellow image, and not of a. comprehensive viewing of the car.

So I sprayed a bit of clear black over the yellow to tone it down which looks more like the yellowish images online.
There is something strange about the yellow colour, and Meng just went too yellow, so overall Im happy with the dark yellow green tint on the oversprayed decal.




work on the monocoque: paint some thin glue on then press the mesh into it to imprint texture - holes drilled where the bumps of rivets were - i will use some thin wire to make the rivets.












The real car vs the overspray - unfortunately I didnt get a pic of the unsprayed yellow decal.








The Marlboro sticker is a bit big, but these are tricky to find online, and looks all right.








Some pics showing the areas where the screws were removed and the brake lines and fitting I added. Meng provides no brake lines, but the do give you a lot of other wiring and tubing for the electrical systems.










And finally some shots of the drivers tub. I made the shift knob by turning a bit of aluminium wire on a dremel. Added a bit of detail here and there.

The screw issue has been solved for the front end, and I think turned out very well.

Meng uses screws everywhere when a bit of glue would suffice.

There are 10 screws visible on the front end alone. Other places not visible but unnecessary: Holding the steering rod, attaching the floor to the cockpit, attaching the exhaust pipes!?!

Anyway, this is how it turned out:



Screw location

A few pics on a bit of work

Started on the body as I want the paints to fully cure before polishing
The masked red came out well. white and red are tamiya rattle can

Really good so far. Love what you did to improve the screw points. I noticed in the photos two different steering wheels, the highly detailed digital one and the more normal sports car style wheel. Which one are you going to use in the build ?(I like the digital one). The shift knob is a nice touch as well.

Looking forward to the next update!

Ben

DRUMS01 wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 10:12 pm Really good so far. Love what you did to improve the screw points. I noticed in the photos two different steering wheels, the highly detailed digital one and the more normal sports car style wheel. Which one are you going to use in the build ?(I like the digital one). The shift knob is a nice touch as well.

Looking forward to the next update!

Ben

Thanks Ben.

The digital display is fixed to the car behind the steering wheel - its basically the dashboard. The wheel isnt fixed on the column yet.

Meng provided some really nice decals for this kit, and the dash benefits from that.

Decals and clear coat.

Marlboro decals are third party. They were for the MP4/6 not this 4/4, thats why the white marlboro on the monocoque is too large.

Meng did a great job making the carbon fibre decals, as the geometry for the fit around the 3D shapes is pretty much perfect.

Lovely paint job.

Cracking paint and decal there top draw work It's a iconic paint livery

MrBowcat wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 10:37 am Lovely paint job.

Thanks man. Pic is a bit crappy, real thing is a cracking fluro red

Kevthemodeller wrote: Tue Mar 18, 2025 7:13 pm Cracking paint and decal there top draw work It's a iconic paint livery

Thanks Kev. Really eye popping car this.



some more pics. I've added a lot of cables, the pink tubes out of the radiator are optic fiber with a bit of fluro pink paint.
Radiators are photo etch, and the intercoolers are coated with aluminium foil.

Lots of cables to add on those computer boxes, and a lot of work on the floor before the last major assembly of attatching the monocoque and engine onto the floor.
The floor has massive holes visible where the cowling screws on the floor - more of those ridiculous screws to fix up...

Nice job with the metal foil.

digger303 wrote: Tue Mar 25, 2025 11:23 pm Nice job with the metal foil.

Thanks digger. Ive been using the foil for a while now and can get a good result. Its really great stuff.


Almost done. a few more details, and waiting another week or so for the body paint to fully cure before polishing.

Here's where its at:

Lovely plumbing mate really adds to the model

Ya this is fantastic.
Meng seems to make seem good kits rivalling Tamiya

Beautiful work all round

Kevthemodeller wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 5:31 pm Lovely plumbing mate really adds to the model

Thanks Kev. Adding the wires is my favourite part of these cars.

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Wed Apr 02, 2025 9:38 pm Ya this is fantastic.
Meng seems to make seem good kits rivalling Tamiya

Thanks Scott. Although its good and bad, not up to the same quality as a 50 yo Tamiya kit imho. Meng needs to address the many issues I encounterd.

Stokesy44 wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 8:20 am Beautiful work all round

Thanks Stokesy.




Its finally finished - All final pics are here



Heres a few pics

Beautiful work. Looks great in racing trim but I also love the brutal angular engineering of the chassis when the bodywork comes off.

Hi,

Bravo!
Really well done.
Great details and enhancement as for the wishbone installation.
A beautiful model to display for sure!

I took interesting pictures of the real car during the F1 Exhibition in London. This is a spectacular Formila one!

Pascal

Stokesy44 wrote: Fri Apr 04, 2025 8:02 am Beautiful work. Looks great in racing trim but I also love the brutal angular engineering of the chassis when the bodywork comes off.

Thanks Stokesy. I appreciate your comments.

pg265 wrote: Sat Nov 01, 2025 8:22 am Hi,

Bravo!
Really well done.
Great details and enhancement as for the wishbone installation.
A beautiful model to display for sure!

I took interesting pictures of the real car during the F1 Exhibition in London. This is a spectacular Formila one!

Pascal

Thanks Pascal. I worked really hard on this kit. The suspension really paid off. Id love to be able to see the real thing. You're so lucky.

Outstanding.

Albeit a late response, you should be proud of this one and I'm pretty sure it is a centerpiece of your collection; not saying that you don't have quite a few show stoppers. As they say, it's all in the details.

Ben

digger303 wrote: Mon Nov 03, 2025 1:02 pm Outstanding.

Thanks digger.

DRUMS01 wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 2:02 pm Albeit a late response, you should be proud of this one and I'm pretty sure it is a centerpiece of your collection; not saying that you don't have quite a few show stoppers. As they say, it's all in the details.

Ben

Thanks Ben. This is currently the centrepiece in the local hobby shop display window.
It gets a lot of attention from the customers.

These big f1 cars are probably my favourite subject.

It finished out very nice indeed

cor-This is outstanding model building! The engine detailing makes it look like the real thing. The body painting and decaling is first rate too. Well done!

Phillip1

Phillip1 wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 3:24 pm cor-This is outstanding model building! The engine detailing makes it look like the real thing. The body painting and decaling is first rate too. Well done!

Phillip1

Thanks Phillip, I'm glad you like it. It is one of my better builds.
One of the staff members at the hobby shop where it was displayed liked it so much he bought it.
These big size F1 cars are my fav subject.

cor-Congratulations! When another person likes your work so much they are willing to pay for it then you know "you dun gooood"!

Phillip1

Phillip1 wrote: Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:23 pm cor-Congratulations! When another person likes your work so much they are willing to pay for it then you know "you dun gooood"!

Phillip1

I agree Phillip. Its a real sense of satisfaction. My wife likes it too, which, needless to say, makes my hobby look a teeny bit more acceptable to the Great Uneducated.

cor wrote: Mon Jan 19, 2026 2:16 am

Phillip1 wrote: Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:23 pm cor-Congratulations! When another person likes your work so much they are willing to pay for it then you know "you dun gooood"!

Phillip1

I agree Phillip. Its a real sense of satisfaction. My wife likes it too, which, needless to say, makes my hobby look a teeny bit more acceptable to the Great Uneducated.

cor-If you do not mind would you walk through the steps and products you use to obtain a high gloss, slick finish on the body of the car models you build? I am especially curious about when decals/setting solutions are applied, and what products or actions (i.e., buffing) are done to get the decals to have the same finish as the rest of the body. I am asking since you seem to have a lot of success with your car models.

Phillip1

Phillip1 wrote: Mon Jan 19, 2026 9:03 pm cor-If you do not mind would you walk through the steps and products you use to obtain a high gloss, slick finish on the body of the car models you build? I am especially curious about when decals/setting solutions are applied, and what products or actions (i.e., buffing) are done to get the decals to have the same finish as the rest of the body. I am asking since you seem to have a lot of success with your car models.

Phillip1

Here you go Phillip. Hope this helps:

Car body prep and painting with decals

Corey

cor-Thanks so much for providing this information!

Phillip1

Man! This one turned out great, as all yours do. Really impressed with the changes you made to "clean" it up.
Glad I read through this though, as I have thought about getting a large scale Meng kit. Will probably pass now.

Impressive work man!

I have to agree with all the commenters so far; truly outstanding work! Hats off to a really great build.

barryf1fan wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2026 2:03 am Man! This one turned out great, as all yours do. Really impressed with the changes you made to "clean" it up.
Glad I read through this though, as I have thought about getting a large scale Meng kit. Will probably pass now.

Impressive work man!

Because they are pricey you really have to weigh the options.
I consider Tamiyas old big scale kits better value, even though they can vary in price.
A 50 year old Tamiya kit has detailed tyres for instance, with great sidewall detail.
The Meng kit tyres had zero detail , completely flat. The Chinese do not impress me with their modern kits.

marcowine wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2026 6:21 pm I have to agree with all the commenters so far; truly outstanding work! Hats off to a really great build.

Thanks man, keep on detailing away on that Tyrell and it will be great.