Fiat Abarth 500

[bhop73]

My GF has become interested in the Abarth 500, so I thought i'd secretly build her a model of one. She goes to bed earlier than me, so i've been sneakily working on it after she's asleep.

It'll be mostly stock, I just plan to add some seatbelts and some small PE bits from a hobby design set, plus some aftermarket wheels, also from hobby design. You can see why it needs new wheels in the pics below.

Here's the kit i'm using.


Overall shot of my progress so far. I have some other parts that have been primered, but not worth showing really.


The wheels in the kit are supposed to be the optional 17" wheels, but they're horribly tiny and narrow. They make the car look like a sissy car.. so I got the proper wheels from ebay. They are slightly too wide to fit into the chassis without some modification though. The tires are from an old wheel set from another kit that I didn't use.

[RonCla]

Fujimi dropped the ball on the wheels and tyres but otherwise this is a nice kit which goes together well.

[bhop73]

Originally Posted by RonCla

Fujimi dropped the ball on the wheels and tyres but otherwise this is a nice kit which goes together well.

Yeah, it's pretty simple, but seems pretty nice so far.

So, with the addition of the bigger wheels, the stock brakes look comically tiny. So, I whipped out this old photoetch brake set that was in one of my drawers. Gonna have some stopping power on this little rocket.

stock


aftermarket

[bhop73]

More progress





It took me around an hour to mask these stupid stripes and gloss part on the dash.




Still have to fill in the black on the side vents, and clean up a little of the red that bled out of the tape.

[ChristopheB]

Good progress.

[bhop73]

I painted the body..



but when I was buffing out some dust spots, I went through the paint on the hood. Masking the body to repaint the hood.

[kashato]

Shit happens… But your paintjob is excellent, great job

[bhop73]

I'm still having troubles with the body paint, but the interior is done.

[bhop73]

Not a huge update, but it's something..

[brysonwong]

Keep them coming! Really interested in this build you have.
Cheers!

[bhop73]

Originally Posted by brysonwong

Keep them coming! Really interested in this build you have.
Cheers!

Thanks for the encouragement.

This is really turning into a nightmare project for me. After the decals everything was looking good, then I thought.. "I should clear coat it so I can polish/wax over the decals" I should've just polished around them because when I sprayed the clear, i got bits of dust in it everywhere. Then I tried polishing out some of the dust and ended up with micro scratches as well as one spot where I went all the way through. AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!

I'm really not having fun anymore.. but i'm not the type to give up, so it'll get finished.. somehow.

Honestly, of it weren't for the decals, I'd strip the body and start over.. Ugh

[bhop73]

Hey, an update. Finally got the body looking ok. It's not perfect, but with a coat of wax it should be all good. Back on schedule. Mirrors to do, then the stuff that attaches to the body. Should be smooth sailing from here (fingers crossed)

[afxracing]

I like it.

[da_ashman]

Cant wait to see it sitting on those beautiful Red wheels!! Very Very Nice!!!

[gtziaf]

Beautiful!!!