Founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren in 1963, the McLaren Formula One team is the second longest-running team, bested only by Ferrari. It is also one of the most successful and dominated the sport in the ’80s, winning the constructor’s championship four times. In 1988, McLaren won 15 of the 16 races with drivers Ayrton Senna (eight wins) and Alain Prost (seven wins).
McLaren race cars have been well represented in plastic models, but mostly in 1/20 scale, not so much in 1/24. Gunze Sangyo produced an MP4/4 kit, but it was a simplistic and motorized. The new Meng 1/24 scale McLaren MP4/4 plastic model kit looks like a scaled-down version of its 1/12 scale kit. It contains just over 150 parts, crisply molded with no flash and minimal mold lines. A small sheet of photo-etched metal (PE) and die-cut seat belts are also included. Decals for both Senna and Prost and a large sheet of templated carbon-fiber and Kevlar decals for the chassis are provided, but, sadly, the full sponsor decals are not.
The kit’s engine and transaxle are things of beauty. With an exquisite level of detail, the well-engineered parts fit nearly perfectly. The paint instructions are good, but I suggest visiting ultimatecarpage.com for those who want to add even more detail. Assembly is complex and the suspension components fragile, so follow the instructions for a trouble-free build here.
Speaking of trouble, I struggled with the multitude of decals that covered the chassis monocoque. If the decal overlapped an edge, it just did not want to settle. I used Micro Sol, Tamiya Mark Fit (Strong), and even Solvaset and heat didn’t seem to help. I finally found that waiting a few minutes for the decal to soften slightly and then carefully but firmly pressing it down could get it to conform. Once that was figured out, the rest of the assembly went without a hitch.
Call me concerned when it came to mounting the wheels to the spindly suspension arms. The kit uses the now-usual poly cap, which can sometimes require a firm push to get the pin inserted. Thankfully, these slid in without much resistance.
The only place I deviated slightly from the instructions was leaving the exhaust manifolds off the engine until the latter was mounted into the chassis. That way I could ensure it would align properly with its mating components.
My next hiccup came while painting the white parts for the body. I didn’t get all the mold release cleaned off the parts and ended up getting fish-eyes in the paint. After stripping the paint and another good scrubbing, I was able to get a solid base coat of Tamiya Pure White (No. TS-26 ). Splash Paints MP4 Fluorescent Red (No. SP-132) worked for the second color; although it dries flat, it covers well and isn’t coat sensitive like Tamiya Fluorescent Red (No. TS-36).
The small locator pins on the main rear-wing supports made attaching them somewhat fiddly. It might have been easier to mount them to the wing first and then use the attachment points on the chassis end plates as a guide.
All in all, the Meng 1/24 scale McLaren MP4/4 plastic model kit is fantastic. The outstandingly detailed engine bay may be complex, but the part fit is so good that everything drops neatly into place. Just make sure you give the white parts an extra thorough cleaning and you should have no problems. The biggest drawback is that the kit doesn’t come with full markings for the Marlboro sponsorship. However, I’m sure the aftermarket will take care of that. If you like F1, be sure to check out this model kit!