TAMIYA McLaren MP4/13 Mercedes F1:
I’ve always been a huge fan of F1 and an even bigger fan of Cart.. The F1 R/C cars have always been something I’ve wanted to build.. As a racer I knew that performance wise they can’t compare to the Parking Lot Racers out there (HPI/FSR etc.), but I just wanted to build one for my love of everything F1..
When Tamiya came out with their new McLaren Mercedes MP4/13 complete with rubber tires, I knew that this was the car for me.. I ‘had to have’ it.
As usual, I managed to wait until the Toronto Hobby Show before buying my new F1 McLaren.
The Tamiya McLaren F1 sells in our local Canadian hobby stores for about $175.00..I managed to get mine for $140.00... Yahoooo!!!! Proving once again you can still get good deals at the Hobby Show.
The Tamiya McLaren MP4/13 comes complete with a VERY sticky set of rubber tires.. In all of my years of R/Cing I have never seen tires this sticky..
The chassis is semi-double decked, Fiberglass Re-inforced Plastic (FRP).. I think it has a “graphite” look to it.. Very cool..
The rear wheel drive, Ball Differential’ed, tranny is not adjustable and for those of us not used to running rear wheel drive only cars, it is definitely something to get used to.. However, after putting in a little driving time, I have found that a gentle throttle coming out of the corners is the answer to taming the rear end..
The thing I liked most about building this car as compared to my other road cars is the totally different suspension setup.. Gone are the four wheel independent wishbones and shocks and shock towers..
Two little 1/2” springs are all the shock used for the front end.. Its a very simple yet effective method of front wheel suspension... The shaft that supports the front uprights also has this little spring on it and the front upright is allowed to move up and down on this spring.. After market springs are available to adjust the spring rate..
The suspension in the rear is actually provided by the chassis.. There are two halves to the chassis and they are allowed to flex back and forth at their joints.. This is controlled by the friction damper for side to side flex and the spring/friction (shock) damper for forward/rear flex..
I’m very impressed with the mechanics of this setup.. It might not be as effective as my touring cars but it was certainly a new experience..
The steering is bolted directly to the steering servo by way of adjustable ball ends and rods.. Adjustable turnbuckles would be a nice first hop-up to make fine tuning the toe-in a little easier.. But, at least it is adjustable..
The rear axle is supported by ball bearings and right rear wheel and differential (this is one unit) is shod with plastic bushings.. The front wheels are fitted with metal bushings.. I can handle the metal bushings in the front, but I think the plastic bushings in the drive system have to go... Because of the direct drive and basically ‘open to air’ design of the tranny, there won’t be any closed in overheating type problems of the Tamiya TA0’s and TL-01’s, but I still think that plastic bushings are a definite ‘no no’..
Electronics.....I was a little worried about my equipment fitting in this car.. There isn’t a lot of room... I am using a JR Python Transmitter with a standard NER 102 JR receiver... I had to replace the JR Z250 servo with a standard Futaba S148 servo... The JR servo case is very ‘lumpy’ on the gear side of the case..(gear housing)...It didn’t fit properly into the servo mounting area of the car... Whereas the Futaba case is smooth and was a perfect fit, after trimming off the mounting tabs which aren’t needed in this application..
The Electronic Speed Control was a tight squeeze though.. I wanted to use the Novak Rooster I already had, but it is the largest ESC that Novak currently makes.. Before attempting to install it, I was lucky enough to be talking to a racer friend of mine-Varoujan Arman(The Airman)-and he just happened to mention that he was running his F1 with a Rooster... Length and width wise it fit perfect..(I mean exactly!!).. But the height was a slight problem.. The damper mount - part #ma3 in step #5- was preventing the Rooster from snuggling up against the battery holder assembly.. We simply installed some spacers (I used a 2mm plastic shock spacer-spare HPI part) between the upper deck plate and the damper mount to solve this problem... I also cut some of the bottom thread of the ma20 ball connector off, ”after” it was installed in the damper mount.
An added bit of advice from Airman-- "If you ever use a speed control with 2 seperate heat sinks, such as the Duster 2/Explorer 2, and you are going to mount it under the shock mount, do several spacers so that it is at least a centemetre above the heat sink.. The reason for this is that the shock mount is conductive and if the two heat sinks get electrically connected it will short circuit and fry your speed control and maybe even the battery even if the speed control has reverse voltage protection. The shock mount needs to be a whole centemetre off the heat sinks because if it was any less it could touch in a crash and even just during acceleration due to chassis flex."
Because this is an Official F1 McLaren paint scheme I wanted to make sure I used the recommended colors.. I had to go to a couple of different hobby stores to find the right Tamiya colors.. I finally found a huge supply of them at Advance Hobbies in Scarborough....
Two main colors for the body.. Silver(Tamiya PS-12) and Gunmetal(Tamiya PS-23)
One thing to note.. This car does not come with a protective plastic covering.. Therefore, I left all five separate body parts in the one piece mold they come in.. This includes the main body, induction cowling, left and right rear cowling and nose cone..
You need to remember to mask off the entire outside of the body mold area when you have finished masking the inside.. Don’t forget to cover all the small holes already in the body!!
With a two color paint scheme you have to tape off the last color to be painted first.. In this case the first thing I masked off was the areas to be painted silver... It is a little tricky working in such a confined space but take your time and you will be fine.. Just be sure that you seal the edges of the tape real good because its a long line between the two paints colors and you want to be sure you prevent seeping... Go over with a very light first coat of paint to seal the edges. Three light coats of gunmetal should be good enough.. The trickiest part is getting in all the small crevices with the spray paint without just holding the can in one area for a length of time.. Keep the can moving to avoid running paint..
I like to leave at least an hour between coats and at least a day between colors..
Once the gunmetal is done you simply remove the tape covering the area to be painted silver and you are ready for the final color..A quick peak at the outside of the body to check for a good finish at this time isn’t a bad idea..Just be sure to seal it up good before continuing..
On the outside of the body.. In the cockpit you have to use polycarbonate bottle paints for the detailing.. Black and silver finish it off nicely.. You can use regular plastic model paints for the helmet.. Tamiya recommends black and blue, but I felt like making something that matched the McLaren scheme a little better and used Silver and Red..
The Decals in this kit are great.. You will actually find that they will cover up some imperfections in your paint job, if necessary.. I will say though that this could be a very frustrating job for a first time decal’er..
Everything has to be laid down perfect and in the correct order to work right.. Be sure to follow the numbered order of the decals... Try to center your decals and if possible work from the middle of the decal and press it down in a circular motion towards the outside edges.. It sounds difficult and it is.. That's why I say this is a harder job than most decal kits... It was a lot of fun though...
Lets make it likes and dislikes this time..
Dislikes: Since Tamiya has a reputation for paying such close attention to detail, I was a little disappointed that the box details didn’t match the kit details.. No mirrors or camera/antenna mounts.. The only thing behind/above the drivers head is the induction pot.. I knew the grooved rubber tires weren’t there but they are on the box picture and the tire decals are coming off as soon as my pictures are done. As sticky as those tires are the adhesion of the decals isn’t very good....
Likes: Dislikes aside.. This is still one of, if not the best looking R/C F1 car on the market today.. If you are an avid racer or if you just want a concourse worthy F1 car in your stable, then this is the car for you.. As for performance... This car may not be great coming out of the corners but the acceleration and straight line speed is amazing.. I’m positive this F1 (c/w stock kit motor)could leave my HPI RS4 Pro in the dust in a drag race..
As a Final Thought??? I’m hoping that Tamiya has started to regain peoples interest in F1 R/Cing with this McLaren MP4/13.. And I’m hoping that some of you out there will consider picking up one of these beautiful looking open wheel machines and come racing with us.... Talk to you soon.. Keep on R/Cing.. The R/C Guy
The Paint;
Final Thought;??
How Much??
Reviewed By; THE R/C GUY
