Side tracked? Of course! Jacques Villeneuve 95' Indy Winner

[adrian29341]

Well I gone and done it again guys ... started one project which lead me to start another at the same time lol ... story of my lief if you ask my wife

I couldn't resist picking up the 1995 1/18 Minichamps release of Jacques Indy 500 Winner - a beautiful model in it's own right and very collectible, rare really, they can run you up to $500 now on ebay. I have always loved this race car .. it's quite possibly one of if not my favourite Indy cars of all time - the Players color scheme and the Classic Reynard body are just so beautiful. The thing is that it lacked detail and realism from Minichamps, so I have embarked on a full strip down and re build - re decal with accuracy - real leather seat - all the fun stuff. I had to remove Jacques and I am going to use his helmet to create an empty helmet that will sit on the sidepod once displayed. The biggest modification/addition I am making right now is the Dorsal Fin that was run on the car at the 500 and the small right side head support that was common on these cars at the time given the G's being pulled from turning left that many times over a 3 hour period.

This will be so much fun and a chore of passion for me considering how much I love this race car - I will attempt to create the most detailed and race accurate 1/18 scale version of this car in the world - that's the challenge and the goal I've set for myself - you guys will be the ultimate judges of whether I pull it off or not

[arcticwolf]

I'm looking forward to this Adrian. I wish someone would make a 1/20th or 1/12th kit of these cars, they were the pinnacle of Indycar racing.

Especially Villeneuve's, the winner of the Indy 505! 

cheers Paul

[adrian29341]

Jul 21, 2021 11:54:24 GMT -8 arcticwolf said:

I'm looking forward to this Adrian. I wish someone would make a 1/20th or 1/12th kit of these cars, they were the pinnacle of Indycar racing.

Especially Villeneuve's, the winner of the Indy 505! 

cheers Paul

Thanks Paul! I'm super excited to do this project and hope to get really rolling on ti this weekend - with just having started a new job and a move on the horizon I have
to try and fit it in every chance I get

I to would love to see kits made of this era in 1/20 and in 1/12 - can you imagine if Tamiya was to make them - Holy Cow! 

My favorite Era of Indy car: 1987-1995 and then again from 99 through 2003.

[Joel_W]

Adrian,
Just found your self challenge World Class detail up build for the 1995 1/18 Minichamps Jacques Villeneuve Indy 500 Winner. After seeing what you accomplished on Tracy's Cool car, and Lagano's stock car, I have absolutely no doubt that you'll create the exact model you're looking create.

I'm not 100% sure of the reason that there's no current Indy Car kits being produced other then they have the same basic deal with the die cast companies as Nascar does. I've also heard that the resin guys have periodically gotten letters from Nascar's Lawyers to stop making current spec body shells without a authorized license to do so.

joel

[adrian29341]

Jul 26, 2021 5:42:44 GMT -8 Joel_W said:

Adrian,
Just found your self challenge World Class detail up build for the 1995 1/18 Minichamps Jacques Villeneuve Indy 500 Winner. After seeing what you accomplished on Tracy's Cool car, and Lagano's stock car, I have absolutely no doubt that you'll create the exact model you're looking create.

I'm not 100% sure of the reason that there's no current Indy Car kits being produced other then they have the same basic deal with the die cast companies as Nascar does. I've also heard that the resin guys have periodically gotten letters from Nascar's Lawyers to stop making current spec body shells without a authorized license to do so.

joel

Thanks for the encouragement Joel!

As to the whole licencing resin body thing that's crazy - I can't believe the lawyers have actually got into it - don't these guys have anything better to do with their time?? apparently not. I suppose Mike will be dealing with this at this stage quite a bit because he is the go to guy for the Nascar Resin Bodies all the way back to the 70's and earlier - and man I loved working with those Resin Bodies when it came to the Stock cars - a whole different level of fun.

[adrian29341]

Well as I promised myself I would try and add as many updates as I can because I tend to get so entrenched in a build that I forget to take progression pics lol. I am trying a new approach to modeling this time around, it's one of patience, and so far not to bad. I had a bit of time each night this week to fiddle at a few of the smaller tasks on Jacque's ride. The Cockpit: this is where I want to get as much detail as possible - as accurate as possible - and as clean as possible. I completed the full seatbelt assembly and took it one step further this time by scratch building the Shoulder pads/straps that they never include in the photo-etch sets - each pad is made from real leather from a leather glove I had sitting around the house - perfect as it is a very thin leather. The seat is a real leather wrap as well. Flat blacked and matt coated all the front suspension in the process of blacking out the tub. Applied full Carbon Fibre decaling to the inside of the Tub and then hit it with Flat. I'm not sure if there is any interest in the pics of my working table but i thought I would just include them for fun seeing as it's a new set up for me with a big focus on tidiness and organization - I think with both comes a much better build and a much better relationship with my wife  I also includeda pic of my wife's birthday gift to me - H & S Infinity Plus - this brush is unbelievable - it's on another level from any airbrush I have ever used.

[Joel_W]

Adrian,
your new work bench looks exactly as I would have expected of you since your compulsive about these things. Organize, the sub organize as needed. One thing I've always done is put whatever I'm using back in its proper place as soon as I'm done using it. Bench stays always basically neat and things don't tend to get lost.

As for your new H & S Infinity Plus air brush, you're going to love it. My brother has one and it's his favorite AB out of the 5 he models with these days. I'm slumming it with three Grex Genesis EW ABs with different setups for different purposes.

Looking forward to your 1st update as I can't wait to see those shoulder harnesses.

joel

[arcticwolf]

It's sure not mine, I lose everything.

[Joel_W]

Paul,
At least you have an excuse for loosing things. I loose parts all the time and have no excuse other then the good old Carpet Monster crept up on my workbench when I wasn't looking.

joel

[adrian29341]

Jul 28, 2021 10:51:18 GMT -8 Joel_W said:

Adrian,
your new work bench looks exactly as I would have expected of you since your compulsive about these things. Organize, the sub organize as needed. One thing I've always done is put whatever I'm using back in its proper place as soon as I'm done using it. Bench stays always basically neat and things don't tend to get lost.

As for your new H & S Infinity Plus air brush, you're going to love it. My brother has one and it's his favorite AB out of the 5 he models with these days. I'm slumming it with three Grex Genesis EW ABs with different setups for different purposes.

Looking forward to your 1st update as I can't wait to see those shoulder harnesses.

joel

Thanks Joel! Yes the Harder is an incredible brush for sure - makes it possible to create such fine detail it's crazy. I loaded the photos but they didn't show up for some reason so I'm going to try again now.

[Joel_W]

Adrian,
sure hope that your photos show up. Must be the server as you've been posting pics just fine so far.

joel

[adrian29341]

Here are the photos that didn't load yesterday guys:

[Joel_W]

Adrian,
The 6 way harness is amazing. Love the shoulder pads and leather seat.

joel

[adrian29341]

Thanks Joel!

[pnance26]

They sure didn't believe in protecting the driver's feet and legs back in 1995, did they?