Tyrrell P34 Pendle Slot Racing kit how-to

Tyrrell P34 build how-to
A. Parts required for this build:

1. Complete kit from Pendle Slot Racing:
This comes with all wheels, tyres, chassis, body parts and drivetrain.

If for any reason you wish to use other rear tyres and wheels for your build I would advise speaking directly with Pendles.

If you wish to create your own chassis / drivetrain then you should purchase the Body Kit only and the front wheels and tyres separately as they have been specifically designed for this model.

The kit includes the 3d printed chassis I have designed and that is only available through Pendles.

2. Paint for the body:

The preferred colour to use is Halfords Vauxhall regatta blue which is widely recognised as an accurate match for Tyrrell cars.

A gloss white, as bright as possible. I use Tamiya TS-26 Pure White.

You should have a Tamiya white primer too and a clear coat of some sort. I swear by Tamiya Clear but know that it can eat decals so go with what you are comfortable with.

My advice is to do some tests first on prepared off cuts using thw same base coat build up before lacquering the actual model.

3. Detail paints (hand):
A bit of flat aluminium, semi gloss and matt black and whatever your chosen driver and helmet might need:

Patrick Depailler
Primary Red, white and blue gloss for his helmet and a mid matt blue for his overalls.

Ronnie Peterson
You can probably use the same car body spray colour for his helmet (although I think his helmet might have had a metallic sheen) and add that dark yellow visor by hand. His overalls were also matt blue.

B. Assembling the chassis and running gear:

The 3d printed chassis has the four front wheel inserts moulded on top. Cut these off with a scalpel and trim off any excess sprue from the inserts and the chassis top.

Take the Policar motor mount and cut off the front screw hole position leaving the three screw points, one fore and the two lateral. Screw the assembled policar motor mount to the chassis using the screws provided.

Solder on the wires to the motor and feed the wires through to the guide. Screw or clip in the guide and mount the wires / braids / eyelets (or grub screws depending on your preferred appraoch).

Mount one front wheel on each of the axles and push it through the chassis ensuring it turns freely. Mount the grub screws top and bottom if required to adjust the height and ensure friction free rotation. If the axles bind use a 3/32 reamer to cut any excess flash off the chassis.

Screw on the other wheels, carefully glue in the inserts.

Disassemble the wheels for spraying. Doing the assembly this way ensures you don't end up with glue in the wheel bore that will prevent the grub screw and / or the axle not fitting accurately.

Add the rear wheels ready for spraying all 6.

Run some masking tape around the outer central wheel ridge to prevent build up of paint and mount them on an old axle or anything to prevent paint in the bore. Undercoat and top coat the wheels (semi gloss black) inside and out.

Pick out the centre of the insert (nut) in red gloss paint.

The chassis does not need to be painted overall but can look more accurate and attractive that way. You can prime and spray these 3d printed chassis or hand paint the parts that will be seen like the front suspension. These should be in chrome or aluminium.

The rough 3d printed surface will tend to look better with a number of coats and can be sanded although the complexity of the parts makes this very difficult.

Assemble the two front axles completely and fix on the rear wheels.

Test the chassis for running on the track, ensure all wheels touch the ground. Glue and true the rear tyres if required. Note that I prefer a rear tyre diameter of 20mm for these cars while the supplied tyres are around 21mm. This may affect stance and the ability of getting all tyres sitting on the track.

Now is the time to fiddle with the front axle height grub screws if you are using them.

C. Body preparation:

The body has been specifically designed for this chassis which reduces issues such as body post fixing, height and position.

As one would expect from a George Turner moulding the body parts are excellent quality.

You will need to cut off any flash from around the edge of the body as well as the cockpit, roll over bar hole and side wind screens (which allowed the driver to see the front wheels).

I use a scalpel for most of this followed by 800 grit sandpaper or needle files.

Getting all edges as smooth as possible is important. It will make the model look more realistic and also prevent the spray from 'seperating' (where you get a white line) on sharp edges.

The body will look like this:

Now is the moment to fit the body onto the chassis. Dry fit it and potentially use blu-tack to hold it while you look at the model from all angles when sitting on the track. When everything looks symmetrical and level flip the car over and mark through the mounting screw points with onto the mounting posts using a sharp pencil.

Drill the posts again ensuring the body is straight. Use a drill smaller than the screw diameter but larger than the screw centre rod.

Test mount the body. Screw in slowly and turn back regularly as the screw cuts the resin so you avoid any risk of splitting.

Once the body sits perfectly again look all around the car to ensure all is square. Mounting posts can be height adjusted if necessary.

Now dry fit the rear wing. I found this did not naturally fit perfectly straight so some fine trimming of the wing and the body was needed to get it sitting straight. This made it slightly loose but by the time everything has some paint on this won't matter. Better trim now rather than at the end when handling should be kept to a minimum.

Wash all the resin parts in mild washing up liquid and warm (not hot) water. Scrubbing them with a toothbrush is good. This removes any chemical residues and release agents from the moulding process.

Mount them on sticks or purpose made spray mounts. Never try holding in your hands when spraying.

Don't glue anything together yet.

Spray all resin parts with the white primer. I use 3 dust coats and two top coats. There are numerous websites that can guide you through spraying.
If any blemishes appear wait a minimum of 48 hours sand using 800 and then 1200 grit sandpaper. If you sand through to the resin you'll have to use the undercoat again to cover that area.

If you have sanded you should wait 24 hours then gently wash the car to remove the fine grit.

Then wait 24 hours to ensure it is dry before spraying again.

Now spray the main body white all over and evenly. Again I use three base and two top coats to ensure even spread.

Leave the car for as long as possible. A minimum of 48 hours in a warm environment. Preferrably a week if possible!

Mask off the white body top area. Masking is an art... use as thin and crisp edged tape as possible. Tamiya do some thin stuff but other brands are available. I use a 5mm wide role for edging which allows a degree of stretching around corners.

Faceting around curves can be done but ensure the edges of overlaps are well bonded down to prevent bleeding. Ensure spray can't waft inside the body and exit throuht eh cockpit and other holes. Tape these on the inside.

Spray the top blue coats, again 3 base and 2 top coats. Spray the rear wing at this point.

Set the body aside for about half an hour so the paint sets. Then, carefully remove the masking tape without touching the setting blue paint. You don't have to do this but I find it creates a softer line between the two colours.

Set aside the body for minimum 48 hours but preferably a week.

Add the decals and then set aside for 24 hours to dry.

Clearcoat using the manufacturer's recommended method. I have found 3 waft coats will stabilise the decal enough to add two top coats without melting the decals but please test this as I mentioned above.

The driver and side screens are a single vac form. Cut the base off and then begin to work up removing excess until you have the side screens and driver that can be pushed up firmly into position.

Once you have the right fit paint the driver using matt paint externally. Gloss paint the helmet and glue it on the driver's body.

Paint the roll over bar (chrome) and glue that in.

Glue in the windscreen / driver last and use a non Cyanoacrylate (super) type glue.

Go and race it!