1972 Sunoco McLaren

[illeagle10]

I have always wanted to do a hybrid of this car using both Lance Seller's 1971 McLaren kit and Bill Jorgensen's 1972 McLaren update kit.  As I was trying to put parts and pieces together Michael of Indycals started putting out parts via Shapeways.  I might also be using some of those parts such as the rear wing. 


Here we have a comparison of Lance's 71 kit on the right and my hybrid kit on the left.  I have replaced the radiator pods and part of the head rest with Bill's update.  I also used the nose of Bill's kit as a template to shorten the nose on Lance's kit.  I also cut off the rear fairing that holds the rear wing. 

Jim

[illeagle10]

Here's an angled view of the hybrid kit. 

Jim

[Chris Hale]

Sweet I cant wait to see this WIP...Chris
I have been looking for a Jorgensen McLaren for years, I think Bill would make a killing on an up-dated re-release.....

[illeagle10]

Oct 31, 2014 14:03:13 GMT -5 Chris Hale said:

Sweet I cant wait to see this WIP...Chris
I have been looking for a Jorgensen McLaren for years, I think Bill would make a killing on an up-dated re-release.....

You're right Chris, it's a good time right now for many of these kits.  There's a new generation of modelers that never saw a lot of this stuff from twenty years ago!  I think that Bill has sold a lot of his masters and I lost track of who bought them all.  I would love to get a couple of 94 Lolas along with a few others.  However, Lance and Calvin have been keeping us pretty busy lately!

Jim

[illeagle10]

To be honest I had got this car out about a year ago and picked out and cleaned up most of the parts for this build from Bill's parts and Lance's kit. I also started building frames on the side pods to house the radiators. I started the left side and stopped working on it about the same time I stopped on the Reynard. So now since I started back on the kit and got the bodywork together, I finished the side pod frames and made radiators. I used Evergreen plastic stock on the frames and the radiator bodies. I cut out brass mesh for texture on the radiator. Once finished with the radiators I fitted them into the frames for fit.

Jim

[illeagle10]

After I fitted the radiators I didn't like the size of the mesh I used. So, I replaced it with smaller mesh. I also pinned the radiators at the bottom edge and drilled the body so I get the exact fit each time I check the fit of the car.

Jim

[illeagle10]

Here the side pods are temporarily fitted to the body along with the nose of the car which is also pinned to check the fit.  Now I need to run some radiator hoses from the top and bottom of the radiators to the engine.

Jim

[illeagle10]

I was able to make a tip for my Dremel tool to mount tires on, resin or rubber, to rough the tire. However, with the resin tires I had to take most of the tread off, since the 72 McLaren had slick like tires. The tool works great! It getting close to priming the body, nose, cockpit cowling, and side pods, so I can see all of my mistakes.

Jim

[Art Laski]

Jim,

Looking good, Jim. One question-why a hybrid? Is it for accuracy, or just more of a fantasy build? I'm looking forward to watching!

-Art

[illeagle10]

Nov 6, 2014 0:18:18 GMT -5 Art Laski said:

Jim,

Looking good, Jim. One question-why a hybird? Is it for accuracy, or just more of a fantasy build? I'm looking forward to watching!

-Art

Hi Art!

You have some pretty good questions, I'll try to answer.  I've always wanted to build this kit and the 71 McLaren.  My first Indy type race that I attended was in 1971 at Poncono.  The McLaren was a cutting edge car at the time and surely caught my attention!  I was an Al Unser, Sr. fan at the time, because I just loved the Johnny Lightning car, but the McLaren with the big wings just looked like it was going to take off!  The McLaren won Pocono that year.  Then the following year Donohue showed up at Indy with the updated McLaren M16b and dusted off the competition, including my own guy Al Unser, Sr. in his own "neat" 72 Parnelli.  I was really pleased when Bill came out with an updated set for the AMT McLaren, to do the 72 McLaren.  In my update kit from Bill I had only received a few pieces, such as radiator side pods, cowling, nose, wheels, wind screen and rear wing. I never actually got a body in mine as some others had.  That was some twenty years ago.  Then I was pleasantly surprised when Lance came out with his 71 McLaren.  I sat down and started comparing the two and thought that I would use the much more accurate body of Lance's McLaren instead of using an AMT body as a donor.  I am also going to use some new pieces that have just come out, like Michael's Shapeways 72 wing.  I hope Michael doesn't mind that I let the cat out of the bag, but he is working on a 72 Offy engine.  I'm hoping he'll be done when I get to it!  I will also be using Michael's decals.  Let me just say that I consider Lance, Michael and Bill master modelers and it's my honor to take the best of all their work and try to make an outstanding car from the pieces. 

Now to your questions! 

Here is a picture showing Bill's McLaren body on the left from a 74 McLaren that I obtained a few years ago.  On the right is Lance's 71 McLaren body.  Lance's body has the suspension humps on the front and right number of fuel receptacles, even though the front one gets a blank in it.  Both bodies are accurate in size and shape, it's just that Lance's body is somewhat newer and has a few more details. 

Jim

[illeagle10]

Next is the cowling. Again both are accurate in size and shape. One may look smaller than the other only because of the way I took the pictures. Again, Lance's cowling around the cockpit is a little newer and has the NACA ducts however the headrest was improper for a 72. So, I removed the headrest from Bill's cowling and put it on Lance's removing the rear wing support at the same time. Using Lance's engine for a mock-up I saw that the cowling didn't totally cover the engine as in my reference photos showed, so I extended the cowling over the engine.

Jim

[illeagle10]

Next were the noses. Here we have Lance's 71 on the left, Bill's 72 and then 74 on the right. We have to remember that Bill's 72 nose was made for the AMT kit, and since I was using Lance's 71 body it made more sense to use the nose from that kit for the best fit. However, the nose was too long for a 72. So, I used the nose that Bill had as a template and it just seemed to all come out just right! If you look at previous pictures posted. The 71 seems to have a thinner core which seemed just right, along with having the NACA ducts on the sides of the nose, just a little more detail than Bill's.

Jim

[illeagle10]

Finally looking at the radiator pods, we have Lance's 71s on the left and Bill's 72 on the right. The 71 has a much thinner core. While the 72 had a much thicker core, however keeping the shape of the 71. I believe Bill's sidepods capture the look, so I used them.  We also have to remember that Bill's parts are much older than Lance's, almost twenty years older!

Jim

[illeagle10]

Here are some comparison pictures between the 71 and 72 McLarens. Now if I get Michael's(Indycals) 72 Offy engine it should make my job much easier. Hopefully this answered you questions. If not, just put it down to eccentricity on my part! LOL!

Jim

[Deleted]

This is alot of fun to watch!