MG TC - 1949 - Reference pics

First I cleaned up the bodyparts. Quite a lot of flash and/or sink marks to deal with here, but nothing to worry about. 

The bonnet was a little too short, so I had to stretch it a little. The piano hinge in the middle of the bonnet had to go; it will be replaced by a metal wire hinge. 

The gas tank at the rear had to be 'reshaped' because it showed an odd shape. 

Now the bodyparts are ready to be put in primer. 

But first I tested one of the aftermarket wire wheels. To the left you see the standard plastic kit wheel, to the right the aftermarket wheels with photo etched spokes and a different tire as well. 

Next I put the bodyparts in the Tamiya pink primer, which is the logical primer colour to use if you want your model to be sprayed red (like I do). 

Here a picture of the MG body on the spraystand in the pink 'Barbie'-look 😉 

I started by spraying the bodyparts in Tamiya TS-08 Italian red. 

After a few weeks the body was very dry 😉 

So next I polished the body parts with Tamiya polish pasta. 

I now am wondering if it is nessecairy to clearcoat the body or not... 

Building the chassis is not as easy as it looks because of the very brittle plastic. It breaks by merely looking at it! So I had to replace a lot of parts with plastic sheet or metal rod. The metal discs came with the aftermarket wheels.  

Same story for the rear suspension. I cut away the plastic disc covers and I added a metal axle, making it easier to fix the scratchbuilt parts, and the joints are stronger too. 

I also did the pre-assemblly of the engine to be able to do a dry fit. Since the aftermarket wheels are slightly larger than the kit wheels I wanna know if they still fit the body without modifications. 

So I dry fit the rear suspension into the chassis... 

... next I dry fit the engine into the chassis... 

... and I put the wire wheels in place. 

Now all I have to do is dry fit the body over the chassis to see if the wheels still fit. 

Here we go. I seem to be lucky here: no modifications are needed; the wheels still fit. 

The ride width seems to be ok as well. So I'm ready to move on 😉 

Next I sprayed the chassis gloss black and I added the brake lines. 

The engine was assembled, painted and fixed, and so was the exhaust system. 

The best views on the assembled engine can be taken before the wheels are fixed in place. I added quite a lot of parts and wiring; thanks to the dozens of reference pics available on the net. 

View from the right hand side. Fuel lines were added as well. This part of the engine still has to receive a X-19 Smoke wash. 

Dry fit with the front wheels. 

A lot of extra wiring is still hanging in the air. This is because those wires will be attached to the body, or at least some parts attached to the body. 

The chassis is now almost finished, except for the smoke wash everything is in place. 

View from the opposite side. 

Dry fit of the body: the engine will be less visible of course. 

But at least the extra added parts don't obstruct any bodyparts. 

This is how the MG looks at this point of construction, with the bonnet detached. 

And this is the MG with the bonnet in place. 

Now I concentrated on the steering box. The kit part looked pretty bad, so I threw away everything except for the rim of the steering wheel. I scratched a complete new steering box, steering rod and I improved the steering wheel and the dashboard. 

This is the dashboard of a real MG TC; I will try to copy this in 1:24 scale as well as possible. I also want to replicate this 'cherry wood' color. 

I cut off all the switches and drilled tiny holes instead so I can fix small switches later on. I also sprayed the color that I was looking for. The thick plastic center of the steering wheel was cut away and I replaced it by photo-etched leftovers. 

Now I concentrated on the interior which was very basic and incorrect too. I removed all the detail and started from scratch, using a scraper (1), lead-foil (2), plasticard and metal (3) + (4), copper wire (5), a pin (6) and metal wire (7). 

The brown plastic parts are the only original kit parts left. 

Now the interior is ready to be air brushed. 

And this is the result. Lots of color tones and washes later of course. 

All what I have left to do is to pick out the details manually. 

The chromed parts were stripped to be re-sprayed with Alclad. I added little pins to the headlights to get a stronger fit, but I might change the way of fixing them completely. 

The rear license plate was 1) too thick (1mm!) 2) incomplete (only 1 taillight) 3) damaged (sinkmark). So in the end I decided to replace it and scratch new taillights as well. 

The protection strips on the sidewalks were missing completely, so I scratched them as well. 

The shape of the rear cover was wrong as well. It didn't cover the 2 holes left and right of the seat where the roof supports are located. Since I want the top down I had to adjust the cover. 

Now it sits correctly and covers the ugly holes as well. 

The interior is still missing the detail painting, but the shadow effects do their work. 

At the rear I added the gas tank which was partly covered with BMF. I also added the small supports of the gas tank with PE-leftovers. 

Rear view of the MG so far. 

Front view of the car. The louvres left and right of the bonnet were painted as well. The wind screen has to be sprayed with Alclad of course. 

Next I re-sprayed the chromed parts with Alclad (most of them are in the picture, not all of them). 

I finished the dashboard and the scratched tail lights. 

The interior received all the details and I painted them manually. 

I notice only now that one small button is still missing 😉 

I also tried to give the rear cover a color wash to give it a more realistic appearance. 

View from the rear. 

An example of things which didn't work out quite the way I would have liked: the bottom side of the car's floor. But you won't see it when the model is finished, so I don't bother trying to improve it. 

Before I could join the chassis and the body, I needed to add the details in the engine compartment which are fixed to the body. The brown part is the only kit part, the green arrows point to the scratched parts. 

A not so great picture. But you can notice the spare oil bottle in its support. MG obviously doesn't trust its own engines enough to send its owners on their way without spare oil... 

Here are the scratched parts painted in color and with the decals in place. 

At the left hand side (right hand side of the car) you see the fuse box. 

Almost ready to make the connections now. But first the body and chassis have to be fixed. This is only a dry fit. 

Once all the wiring will be connected, I won't be able to separate the chassis from the body without damage... 

So I fixed the chassis and body together with superglue. The wiring is still waiting to be connected. 

Same from this side. 

And here we are: all the loose ends have been connected correctly. 

Front view of the engine compartment. 

And of course the dasboard and the steering wheel are fixed in place, together with the interior. 

A lot of the interior's detail has gone lost in the darkness, but at least I know it is there 😉 

The MG is far from completed, but it starts to look like a real car now 😉 

View from the right hand side. 

The steering rod has been fixed as well of course. You can see it barely; it is the black rod in the engine compartment. 

Now I will concentrate on the radiator and other chromed parts.