Originally Posted by Vyger

Well I got some time tonight to get back to the Sauber. I put the stickers on the rear wing and helmet. I finished the interior and even added a front antenna to the car. Now if I only had mirrors???

Getting started with the helmet I first applied some of Tamiya’s simi-gloss black on the visor and around the edges. Since the helmet is painted white and the sticker has black around this area (the visor). I didn’t want any white seems to show up between the three sticker pieces. So I applied the black paint around these areas. I decided to paint the whole visor so I didn’t have to worry about getting a white shadow burning through the center because only the edges where painted. After the paint had time to dry I laid the remaining stickers. I also pulled out the flat black paint and put an edge on the bottom part of the helmet.





My finished Tamiya Sauber C12 Mercedes














After snapping the pics above and referring to some pics of the real car from the internet. I thought I’d try an old plastic modeling trick I’ve heard about. Since I’m trying to simulate the photo’s I needed to have an antenna on the front of the car. I’ve heard from friends and plastic model builders you can make antenna wires from plastic sprue’s (a sprue is found on injection molded products).

What you’ll need. A third hand (if you don’t have one naturally you can buy one of these at any decent hobby shop), forceps, lighter or candle (I’d suggest a candle it would be way easier to control the heat with one of those), flush cuts, and a sprue.



Trim off a nice straight piece. Then lock the forceps down to hold the sprue. Secure it with the third hand and slowly heat the plastic. Let it get hot and start to cool down before you start pulling. If it’s to hot and you pull it too fast it will just come apart. You want to encourage the plastic to stretch out once it’s loose from heat.








Once the part cooled down I snipped off the end and bent it ninety degrees to make an L shape.




Since the hole I’m needing is smaller than any drill bit I own, I used the tip of a new Xacto knife to slowly make a what I needed. I stopped and measured for size a few times to ensure a snug fit. Once the whole was complete I secured the antenna from the inside of the car using a piece of painters tape. Then I added some black paint. Let me know what you guys think.





My newly finished Sauber C12 Mercedes