Ferrari 348 GTS (Fujimi 1/24)

I finished something!

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This is Fujimi's highly mediocre Ferrari 348TS kit. I have no real idea when I started this kit- likely it must have been on the order of 15 years ago. But it's done now.

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For years, these kits were cheap and easily available on ebay- maybe they still are. Some of you will still remember Cobracolors. I started this build to try out my first ever bottle of Rosso Corsa. I had a lot to learn, about important topics such as lacquer thinner and clearcoat. Happily, my skills with lacquers progressed fairly quickly on other builds- but that left the 348 relegated to being shuffled around the back of my workbench for years to come. Eventually it found it's way into some isopropyl alcohol, and I resprayed it in Tamiya TS15 blue. For curiosity and fun, I oversprayed it with TS65 clear pearl. The pearl adds a nice touch, but it is more subtle than I would have expected (and hard to photograph). I've decided the combination is Genova Blu Pearl.

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I always thought the taillights on the 348 looked like an afterthought. The rest of the car is fairly pretty, but the back end to me looks more Toyota then Ferrari. Fujimi paid tribute to this afterthought by half-assing the taillights as well. I couldn't do much with the kit parts, and so the 348 sat undisturbed for another few years.

Turns out that many in the 348 owner community seem to agree with me. Retrofitting 355 style taillights onto the 348 has been popular for years. It's a real improvement in my opinon- but it updates the look to make it look like everything that came after the 348. I wanted to do something that would look better than original, but also period correct for the 348. Happily the classic round orange and red lights that Ferrari had been using for many years were still being used to good effect on the F40- so a contemporary solution existed. Combined with the Testarossa style grille, they manage to look to me like what the car should have had in the first place. I pulled the parts out of my spares bin- I think I must have made them many years ago as a set of spares when I was building my F50.

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The interior is mostly kit parts. Ferrari has long used a lovely earth red shade of leather they call Modena. I combined it with Chianti coloured carpeting to evoke my recollections of driving about the northern Italian countryside.

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Because it's a GTS, the top is removable! The kit roof fits in place pretty well.

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I am very happy to have this one finished- the kit was a frustration to work with, and I've been doubtful for years that I would ever really get around to completing it. Windows and wing mirrors took a lot of fighting to get into place, and the windshield wipers were completely unusable.

But it does manage to look like a Ferrari when completed. I just can't say I'm particularly encouraged to move onto Fujimi's F355....

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Alex, you will have a MOTY entry from me this year.

Thanks for looking!

You did some nice changes/extras on this one. But I think the rear grill should rather be semi-gloss black than flat black.

Nice build! Good to see 348 in an unusual color! Entering it in AFMOTY?

Great result and nice story :)

A beautiful model to display.

Thanks guys!

You did some nice changes/extras on this one. But I think the rear grill should rather be semi-gloss black than flat black.

Now that you point that out, I agree with you. With the lighting directed to show the tail lights, the grill does look pretty flat.

Nice build! Good to see 348 in an unusual color! Entering it in AFMOTY?

Alex, you will have a MOTY entry from me this year.

:thumbsup:

I built the f355,turned out pretty good.

Good to get a model done! I am trying but its hard when i cant paint du to not having a box and negative degrees outside.

Nice one! I really like your idea with new/old taillights! :bigthumb:

Looking good! Wouldn't it be great if Tamiya did a version of this or better yet the 355?

Good to get a model done! I am trying but its hard when i cant paint du to not having a box and negative degrees outside.

I'm lucky enough that I have a paint booth, with exhaust ducting to outside. I can't paint bodies in auto lacquer over the winter, but I can do interiors and chassisies in acrylics. Which means that this time of year I can't really start something new, but I can work to finish builds started in warmer seasons. Modeling in the winter in Sweden must be challenging.

Looking good! Wouldn't it be great if Tamiya did a version of this or better yet the 355?

Hasegawa actually does a really nice 348- proper full engine and everything.

As for the Tamiya 355....
I've given up on ever seeing a good F355 kit in 1/24. :disappoin
But then, I did also say that of the E30 M3.

The Hasegawa kit is great. I built two of them, one for the road and one for the track in MonteShell livery. I would post a pic but I don't want to interfere with your thread.

I do have the Fujimi 355, it looks a bit too wide and not so well engineered. Nevertheless, its a 355.

I do have the Fujimi 355, it looks a bit too wide and not so well engineered. Nevertheless, its a 355.

I searched out your Monte Shell 348 build- unfortunately it seems that photobucket has infected your thread with their brand of love and joy.

The Fujimi F355 looks like a cut corners version of their 348 kit- they couldn't even be bothered with cockpit sidewalls. (Ok, to give credit where due, the cockpit of the 348 is really not bad, and is the best part of the kit.) But also, that F355 body does look odd, doesn't it? Unduly chunky- like Fujimi chose to cross the graceful lines of the 355 with a brick. The body looks a little too much like the box that the kit comes in- and unfortunately I don't mean the box art.

Nevertheless, it's a 355. And I really want to do a 355....

Yes .. Photobucket.

I updated the links and now you can see the photos. You can check the thread if you wish and let me know what you think. Maybe something inspires you.
In the posts bellow there is a photo of the 348ts I did, actually my first kit. You can see by how it (doesn't) shine.

Fujimi does some box art that doesn't really reflect in the content .. like the Porsche 964 series.

Good looking build! I may have to do that Hasegawa kit. But I fear my next Ferrari of that era may be Fujimi's 288 GTO. (How hard can it be...?)

I did a Fujimi 964- happily enough it was fairly straightforward without any major problems. Not a great kit, but it did look like a 964.

that F355 body does look odd, doesn't it? Unduly chunky- like Fujimi chose to cross the graceful lines of the 355 with a brick. The body looks a little too much like the box that the kit comes in- and unfortunately I don't mean the box art.

Nevertheless, it's a 355. And I really want to do a 355....

It's really odd.

I have the Hasegawa 348 on my shelf and the Fujimi 355 looks like the 348 took steroids.
I also have the Tamiya Testarossa on the go at the mo and by eye, the 355 looks wider when the real 355 is supposed to be 100mm ish narrower.

Beautiful model of an IMO less beautiful 1:1 car.