1/20 MFH Ferrari 312B3 - 1974 German GP

[edi956]

Flemming: many thanks for your compliments.


Before finishing engine area, side radiators and their connections had to be placed:





Then I applied the rear tubes of the roll-over bar, which are an unique piece with the supports of the engine covers and which have to be fixed to the support of the rear suspension:

[edi956]

Now it's time to put the oil tank on the right side:


The oil tank is in two pieces which don't fit very well, with evident gaps when glued.
So putty is needed and therefore we cannot leave unpainted this tanks.
Since it was matt aluminium I painted it with two aluminium coats + one matt coat.

On the left side there was the oil-radiators:



Oil-tank and oil-radiators had to be connected UP:


...and DOWN:



Ended this hard work it is now possible to place the engine covers.
Like the seat and air-intake for brakes, engine covers are resin pieces with the right colour.
So we can leave those pieces unpainted, even if I sanded and washed a bit (on the left the original one):


Here the engine covers in place:

[edi956]

Here a couple of pics of the engine of the time:



As you can see, the mesh over the trumpets has an "O" at the base and an "X" on the top, which have to be done since the mesh of the kit is the usual Hiro one.
After some attempts, I decided the solution I'm going to explain.

First I glued a 0.4 mm lead wire at the base of the mesh to make the "O":


Then I sanded it to make it as thin as possible:


Third I glued a 0.3 lead wire on the top:


After sending it, then I glued a second 0.3 lead wire over the first:


Finally, after sending the second 0.3 lead wire, this is the final result:


Even if the mesh done in this way were thin, they were not thin enough to allow the whole trumpet to be placed in position, over the cylinder and inside the engine cover.
So I had to short the part of the trumpet which goes over the cylinder...and this is the final result:

[tony126c2]

Very Impressive model! ....and very nice detailing on the mesh.

[edi956]

Here the gearbox finished:





The only things I could add are:
1) a nightmare making rear suspension;
2) brake disc air-intake has been sanded and washed;
3) brake discs were painted matt black inside;
4) like the engine, also the gearbox was painted with TAM Titanium Gold and washed with TAM Smoke;
5) since I seem it was too bright I added 1 coat of Gunze Matt Clear: in this pics it seems shining again...but it is due to the flash.
6) all mounted OOB...but, as usual, the Hiro forgot brakes wiring...

...so I took a "T" connector from my spare parts. It was painted like the gearbox and three 0.3 lead wires were added:


Then it was glued in the right position over the GB:



On the right side of the GB there is a box: it was the oil reservoir tank.
Hiro's instruction says to paint it white but I noted that its colour changed every GP: sometimes it was white, sometimes black and other times it seemed the same resin colour as the seat.
For the German GP I seem it was semigloss black.

[edi956]

To complete the gearbox area, the battery has to be mounted.
OOB, but the wiring was missing; so I added two thin black wires:



Then I glued the battery to the left side of the GB:




Finally the group rear suspension/gear box was fixed to the engine:

[Greg23]

Fantastic build!

[puffyrs]

very nice

[edi956]

Thanks all for the compliments.

To complete the rear of the car we need to fix the exhausts, which have to be painted semi-gloss white + matt black inside.
Very nice all the p/e parts to keep in place the exhausts: just like the real car...very good job by Hiro!
These are the p/e parts:


Here they are mounted on the kit:


Finally the tube which runs from oil tank to reservoir oil tank, which has to be painted with clear green:

[edi956]

After finishing all the rear zone, now it's time of the front area.

A couple of pics of the time.
The first at the Great Britain GP, the second at the German GP:



The kit by Hiro contains all we need to make the front area but, as usually, they forgot all the connections, as you could see in the previous pics.

First I made the connection between the boxes of the brake fluid (green arrow), with two little transparent tubes from each box, in the middle connected with a 0.5 brass tube, fixed to the chassis:

[edi956]

Let's go on with wiring of the front area:




Then I washed the air-intakes for the front brakes (on the right the original one):



Here the whole front suspension:



Here the front frame (green arrow):



Finally I made the wires for the front brake with 0.3 mm lead wire:


...and I remade the rear arms of the front suspension (on the right):


Here the rear arms of the front suspension (green arrows) while the wires could be seen near the lower arm of the front suspension, running from the calipers to the chassis:

[edi956]

This is a pic of the B3 during German GP:


Pay attention to the tape which usually covered the 4 air intakes for the brakes: it was not present during the race.
Another thing is that the number "11" on the side is not completely in the middle of the white plate but placed toward the front.
Moreover, the "V" of the rear aileron was reversed, as you can see in the following pic taken in another race:


Noted all those features, it's time to mount the different parts of the bodywork.

Like the real car the kit has the sides of the bodywork in two parts.
One covers the chassis (glued to it), whereas the other one is fixed to the first with rivets:




Also like the real car, the two pieces which cover the mouth of the tanks are alone:

[edi956]

At this time I was not able to wait...so I fixed the GoodYears:




and, since the whole nose had been completed, I fixed it too:

[mrgixxer]

You Sir... are an artist

[edi956]

Many thanks to mrgixxer for his comment

Few words on the "medical" air.
It was fixed to the roll-over bar, as you can see in the following picture:


Here the whole roll-over bar in place:



The white wire from the bottle is connected to the driver's head, passing over the seat as the real car...but in this way it's impossible the right fitting of the body (as you can see in the followng pictures)