Last Private moments – (For Roland) – Imola 1994

Senna 2541

The photo above is just one shot of the finished piece which I entitled “For Roland” – click here for a full Gallery.   “Senna the Movie” has generated an unprecedented amount of discussion and interest into Ayrton Sennas life and indeed, his untimely and tragic death.  And while the movie has unleashed many new insights into different aspects of his racing career, it has also raised many more questions.  Ever since Senna burst onto the F1 scene back in the early ’80’s, I have always been a fan and I often found myself watching somewhat boring races just to see him perform.  I always felt once he was on track his mere presence held promise of something “different” happening, even when the race had established a definite pattern or more often than not, when he was struggling to wrestle with an under-performing car. Continue reading “Last Private moments – (For Roland) – Imola 1994”

Getting ready to be famous!

I set up this little vignette using a modified Denizen 43rd scale metal figure and a Minichamps Lotus.   It’s based on the famous photo taken before he clinched his first victory in Portugal in 1985.  Ayrton Senna sits dejected at the rear of his JPS Lotus 97T after it’s clutch broke during practice for the Portugese Grand Prix in Estoril.  He overcame a number of technical problems (switching to his spare car) and qualifying on pole for the race.  Continue reading “Getting ready to be famous!”

A Prancing Horse of a different color finally passes the post!

Revell F10 - a (What-if) Fiorano Test

I finally finished my build of the Revell F10 back in early December.  Christmas seemed to start so early this year – the whole month of December became a bit of a blur and I never got posting the final pictures.  Between decorations, parties, Ebay sales and my son doing a revamp of my Website (I’d be totally lost without his technical know-how- so a sincere thanks to him) I’m way behind on my Blog postings – so this is the first of 2012 with hopefully more to come on a daily basis (after all, New Year resolutions are made to be broken!!).  A few words on the F10 build -its more or less an “Out of the box” job with a few additions, however, there is one major difference; this version never existed in reality! Continue reading “A Prancing Horse of a different color finally passes the post!”

Senna Imola ’94 – WIP

I’m still trying to decide on a satisfactory composition for the various elements of this little diorama.  I want to give prominence to the Senna figure and try to convey a sombre mood as he takes a few private moments planning his own tribute to the tragic passing of a fellow driver – Roland Ratzenberger.   So I’ve concentrated my painting efforts up to now on the figure and the flag.  Continue reading “Senna Imola ’94 – WIP”

More on that F10 – are we there yet….are we there yet……are we….??

Painfully slow but looking good (I think!) – anyway I’ve let my imagination “run” a bit when applying the decals – lots of improvisation and creative license! While I’m committed to the all matt black finish, it occurred to me that it might be a little more pleasing to the eye if I created some “echoes” so to speak which would break up (a bit of a contradiction on my part- apologies) the overall black but would at the same time create a kind of harmony!  So I added some of these “echos” by applying some additional carbon-fibre to the upper body to echo the under-body floor finish finish.  Continue reading “More on that F10 – are we there yet….are we there yet……are we….??”

Black Art and a Dark (prancing) horse!

In between applying decals to the F10 I’ve been doing two sketches of it in ink using a “cross-hatching” technique .  I attached the model to a piece of cardboard with some shrink wrap in order to protect the matt paint finish from my own finger marks.  The paint is quite durable and so far it’s “mark free”, but I thought it was worth taking the precaution while applying the decals.   Very nearly there – more later. Continue reading “Black Art and a Dark (prancing) horse!”

It’s that smile!

I bet Lewis was smiling inside his helmet during his fantastic battle with Mark Webber in Korea last week-end – Webber is a very strong competitor and Lewis drove brilliantly to hold Mark off for third place.  It was a fantastic battle to watch lap after lap but Lewis (with his Mo-Jo back) was absolutely back on tip top form and he gave us a sublime performance of driving skills.   Lewis displayed a very solemn expression on his face all week-end even after qualifying on Pole he didn’t give the customary wave to the crowd when he got out of … Continue reading It’s that smile!