Maserati 3500GT -- Monogram 1/25

[mattbacon]

... a "golden oldie", which I believe started life with Aurora, back in 1964.

Job #1 is to fix a significant shape issue with the kit, which changes the look significantly. The top line of the windscreen is too high. I think there's maybe one car where the roofline is like that on the kit, but most of the photos I've found show a much lower line, continuing the gutters above the doors horizontally, parallel to the ground. The kit has a "wide-eyed" look, because the windscreen top heads upward over the roof at 45 degrees to the level.

It's taken me a while to figure out how to do this!

What I decided to do is cut the top section off the windscreen and glue it to the body, and then make a new windscreen.



Here's the top part of the clear part stuck in place, and filled.



...and here it is sanded. You can see where the original roofline goes. The clear piece is backed up with Milliput just in case the sanding makes it a bit thin!




It also needs a "trim" to continue the chrome above the doors. This is just a thin strip of plastic card, applied slowly, a bit at a time, with liquid cement.



...and here it is with a bit of primer to see where the imperfections are...

Of course... this means we need a new windscreen. Apologies if this is familiar, but people often ask me what "plunge moulding is", so here we are.



The original windscreen is backed with Milliput (it cracked as I was cutting it ;-()




I cut a hole in a piece of hardboard from a chocolate box to make the outer "mould". The plastic is packaging from some Sennheiser headphones. Basically, any of those "clamshell" packs that you have to cut your way into, and avoid being cut by the packaging afterwards, make good material for this kind of thing...



... I made quite a few. This is to allow for my incompetence while I try to trim and fit them...

This one looks like it might be a long haul, but it'll be a rarity on the shelf!

bestest,
M

[andybmw7272]

Super subject Matt.
You are on a roll!!!!!!!!!!!
Not only do you keep hammering them out, but you're attacking them with quality work like Bob Downie or Dave Thibodeau. Top notch!!!!

Cant wait to see how you progress with this one.
Keep up the super work!!!!
Andy

[drunken monkey]

I used to eye up these kits as there aren't many Maserati ones about but then I got hold of their Aston Martin DB4 kit and well, decided against both of them after all.

I know I have a tendency to battle against old kits but something about these two put even me off.
In any case, it's good to see someone tackling them with some sort of determination.

One final thing, make sure that the putty and milliput you have around the clear plastic is properly fully cured before continuing. I have a few instances where I could've sworn the putty was cured but it still shrank and showed itself.

[mattbacon]

Thanks, guys. The last major cosmetic change is to reshape the grille.




The kit grille is pretty much oval, whereas you can see that the real thing is more like a round-cornered rectangle. The "snout" also sticks out further than the kit's effort. I started by filing out the corners and reshaping the hole in the kit, and then adding a band of plastic card around the inside of the reshaped hole.




I sanded the plastic strip to an even 1.5mm or so outside the hole in the body, and then I built up the surround with Milliput (two-part epoxy putty). When it's set good and hard, there'll be a fair bit of sanding and shaping to do... I'm aiming to sand it back until the plastic core is just showing through, and blend the snout smoothly in, in a slightly squarer shape than the original curve.

Of course, it means building a new grille, because the kit part no longer fits, but I'll take the emblem from the original and use mesh for the grille itself.

Wish me luck!

bestest,
M.

[gtziaf]

Happy to see this vintage kit, in a wip here.
Also, a very useful vac tutorial.
A question... You only press the miliput master to the clear plastic sheet or you heat the clear sheet first?
Thank you for sharing this!

[mattbacon]

Thanks, George... sorry, I should have said. I heated the plastic very carefully under the gas grille on my oven. Hold it a 10-15 cm below the grille, and you can see it warp slightly and then sag into the hole. Then it's ready. Push the master through firmly but not too quickly, and you'll feel it suddenly "give" and stretch. Practice and experiment with what works for your plastic -- too little heat and it won't stretch far enough to mould to the master; too much and it'll spoil the plastic and ultimately catch fire! I threw away three failed ones before I got on a roll with these...

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

Phew... I'm really glad to get THIS done:






Obviously, now I "just" need to sort out the badge, grille itself and the chrome effect. Easy! http://staticaf.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/screwy.gif

One thing I have noticed is that it looks from the instructions like it will be impossible to get the chassis in with the rear underbody in place. Can anyone who has built the kit confirm that is really so?

If it is the case, my inclination is to tack the part in position, prime, paint and clearcoat as normal, then remove it by cutting through the Clear with a VERY sharp knife. Hopefully, then I can put the chassis in and fit the part back in place, and once it's set just polish over the join if needed. It won't _quite_ disappear, but most of it's behind the rear bumper. I do NOT want to be filling sanding and repainting and revarnishing a seam right at the end of the build!

Anyone got any better suggestions?

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

A fair bit of work here to open the bonnet vent, without a very "in your face" result, but I think it'll make a subtle difference:



I scribed a line along the front face of the "scoop" with a P-Cutter, used flat -- ie parallel with the bonnet. Once that was reasonably deep, I scraped away under the bonnet, and alternated both until I had a narrow slot cut through. Then I used a "Flexi-File" - thin strips of abrasive on a plastic backing held in a U-shaped handle. I threaded the strip through the slot before attaching it to the handle, and then used it to widen the slot at both sides. I also used a fresh #11 blade to carve away a bit on the inside of the scoop as well, to get the sort of "W" cross section. Finally I sanded the upper corners of the scoop a bit, which are too square on the kit...

...best part of an hour to make a small hole. Who'd'a thunk it? ;-P

bestest,
M.

[eugene78]

Excellent work on the body!

[Karl GBG]

Excellent craftsmanship going on here!

[mattbacon]

Thanks, chaps! I decided to take a bit of a break from the bodywork, and progress elsewhere for a bit.



Here are lots of parts that used to be chromed. Five minutes in some carefully handled caustic soda solution, and they're clean. You can see the varnish is still there, but glue does work... There are some sink marks in the bumpers which prompted stripping them, and obviously the chromed engine parts are just daft.




I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the level of detail supplied for the engine -- separate alternator, starter motor and distributor, belts etc. As you can see from the engine pic at the bottom left, this is clearly a car with the fuel injection engine rather than carbs.

The decals are in a parlous state. I can see that several cracks across the number plates. I've painted the logos and instruments with liquid decal film to try and save them, but I've also made a scan just in case I need to make my own. Anyone know of an aftermarket silver-ink decal sheet of Maserati logos...? ;-P

bestest,
M.

[Tompidom]

Man o man wat an amazing WIP. Really enjoy seeing your work man!

[mattbacon]

Thanks, Tom!

It's been a while since the last update -- travelling away from the bench...

Anyway... I finished s few details, and have got to the stage when I can try a first coat of primer to see how it looks (and what needs fixing...)





There's obviously some filling, sanding and repriming to do here and there, but overall, I'm pretty happy. As you can see, I've fitted the rear valance. I figured out that you can get the interior in and then fit the chassis in at the front and finally join the two, which means that you don't need to put the whole thing in as a unit and fit the valance last. I think I can get a much better finish on the back end by doing it this way, with the valance seamlessly blended before painting. Not quite seamless yet, obviously, but getting there.

The other main details are proper "scoops" over the engine bay vents, the windscreen trim, and fixing some odd damage at the rear lights.



Not the best picture, but you get the idea. I added a thin strip of plastic card to the moulded ridge, and then built up and blended it using superglue + micro balloons, because I thought it would be structurally tougher than plastic putty, but still easy to sand and shape. It'll need a smear of regular putty to deal with a few imperfections, but you can see that there's now a decent, and thin, lip for the grille to hide behind.



Skip Jordan pointed out to me that there's actually a gap between the windscreen and door chrome trim on the A-pillar, so I scribed and sanded one to give me something to work on with the BMF. I think that minimising the "weight" of the chrome on the kit will be key to achieving the elegant look of the real thing, especially on the door windows.



And finally, an odd one. On my kit, the outside lower edge of the rear light "oval" was misshaped on both sides -- almost as though it was "torn" outward. It's near the worst mould seam on the kit, between the light clusters and the boot opening, so I suspect it's something to do with the way the mould opens to eject the body... Anyway, once again out with the microballoons and superglue. Still not perfect, but much improved.

Next task is to hit those areas that these photos have highlighted as needing some more attention with the plastic putty, as well as a few more I haven't shown you (mostly front end seams...).

I'm hopeful that she'll be shiny and red by the end of the weekend...

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

OK... not shiny and red.



I decided it was definitely better to get everything fitting properly BEFORE I painted it! The bonnet and boot have some issues -- the boot at the sides, and the bonnet at the windscreen end. And there's some serious gappage around the doors at the "shoulder".

I also decided that the rear lights as provided in the kit are pretty irredeemable. There's an entirely different style with a one-piece coloured plastic light unit which has a chrome "hood". It seems quite common, so I'll go for that instead -- I made a similar set-up for the DB4GT, so I know that it can be done, and how...

Time to break out the plastic card.




I think for problems like this, plastic card and liquid cement is the best answer -- any kind of filler will just fall off, and the styrene is exactly as hard as the plastic of the kit part for easier sanding.

Some time later...



I fixed the hinge parts to be a little more realistic (not perfect scale, but not a toy, either).

In case you were wondering about the colour, here it is in sunlight:



There 's a fine, light, metal flake in there, which isn't so obvious behind the dust and reflections in this pic, mind...

And finally, here's where I am this evening:



I have test fitted the doors, boot etc before committing to primer. There are a couple of bit son the boot and one door that will need cleaning up, filling, and re-priming, but I think that'll be about it.

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

Rosso Brunello Micalizzato going on. Nice colour, eh?




You can just about see the "mica" in it... definitely slightly pearlescent in the flesh. Time for the 2K clear now...

bestest,
M.