Le Mans Minatures 1/24th 69 GT40

[LeeABC]

This is Le Mans Miniatures effort at a GT40. I ordered this kit several months ago as an alternative to another MFH kit as this is half the cost. A Hiro kit will now cost around £300 in England due to the weak pound.
It seems this fully open kit is becoming increasingly rare but that doesn’t make it good:
The kit arrived badly packaged and with a painted body shell as that’s all they had apparently but it will need stripping as the finish is appalling; any advice on how to do this would be great. The casting is very nice although a lot of detail is cast in, including most of the wiring. This will need to be removed and new parts scratch built. I’ve sorted through the kit and shown pictures of some of the bits I will remake including carburettor intakes, fuel system, ignition system and luggage rack (an FIA regulation at the time) but there will be a lot more.
Apart from the paint stripping advice I have found that the resin doors will need adjusting and would also appreciate some advice on this. I.e. how hot the water should be and how long I will need to leave the part soaking before trying to adjust.
I think this kit is pretty poor overall it looks like LMM have thrown together whatever they have left in stock but with a lot of re-engineering it could be pretty nice. I’ll give it my best shot!
Cheers Guys.

[rollin80s]

i've been wondering about these kits. been thinking of buying one. i'll be waiting to see any progress on this project. seems like it needs a lot of cleaning. best of luck and have fun with it.

[jmesawitz]

I built this kit a couple years ago. It was a beast. I too had to reshape some resin parts with hot water. Boil some water and soak for a few seconds. I have been told that the parts memory should take over but I had to manually get the shape back. It is a pretty safe/simple task.

In the end mine turned out great, I have a really nice piece that even got some recognition at a local event. It was my first multi-media project at the time and did not feel the need to do anything more than work with the parts supplied. Good luck with yours. I'll be sure to check back on your progress.

[grundski]

One very successful way I've re-shaped it to put the body parts together, screw where screws would go, tape where it just needs to be held in place, then I stick it in my food dehydrator for an hour or so. When it comes out the parts fit together perfectly. I did this with a 1/12 MG Ferrari F399 body.

As for stripping this kit, I have had LMM painted kits and it is Urethane. You can't strip it. At least I never found a way. Laquer thinner will do nothing. I tried. Your stuck. I decaled it and clear coated with regular laquer. I asked my local auto paint supply store and was told you could put laquer over urethane but not vice versa. Worked for me.

[LeeABC]

I’ve spent most of the time since starting this thread working out how to overcome the many problems with this kit. Some of the castings are pretty good but LMM have removed them carelessly from the sprues and some detail has been lost, particularly on the rubber parts
LMM have not included a distributor, perhaps because it is difficult to see so I’ve made one from an impression made in plasticine and filled with resin to form the cap; the part was then drilled and glued to a base that I turned from aluminium. I also need to turn an oil filter.
The crude resin luggage rack has been replaced with a brass part that I wire eroded from sheet, folded and soldered at the corners. I’ve also cut the top off the carburettors and machined new air intakes and venturi, the pictures show this at various stages.
The misshapen body has been sorted with the boiling water method and the next update should show some more interesting progress.

Cheers, Lee

[Mr.Grumpy]

it might be worthwhile to pick up one of the fujimi plastic kits, i'm sure you could swap out some parts at a pretty reasonable price. some of those parts look awful - - especially the seat.

[Decs0105]

Nice work so far! What about the seats, they almost look like melted in the pic?!

[klutz_100]

Very nice work on the carbs and distributor.
This shoudl be very enjoyable to follow

[LeeABC]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. The seats are molded in rubber and have cleaned up ok but detailing is going to be difficult. I have done alot of work and have some real progress to show but as my wife has just given birth to our second child I won't be posting again for a week or so, but I think I've solved many of the kits problems.

Cheers guys, I need your support on this one.
Lee.

[denilsonvm]

Great work!

Waiting to see the progress.

[LeeABC]

Hi guys, well it’s been a while since my last update, I’ve been spending most of this time trying to rectify/remake parts for this kit to lift it to the level I want to achieve, including a new rear deck to replace the one I breathed on, (I think LMM cast most of this kit in a cheese derivative). I’ve also made and added around sixty new parts to the engine and rear end so far and modified the rear subframe to enable the engine cover to hinge open as per the real car.
The chassis and panels have been temporarily mounted on a base at the correct ride height and I will build the suspension around this; if the missing white metal parts ever arrive from France.
I hope this build and WIP will now be a little less tedious.

Cheers, Lee.

[jano11]

Impressive stuff! That engine is gorgeous!

You did a great job to transform those poor quality resin pieces in great looking parts.

[jmesawitz]

The carbs are amazing. I appreciate you sharing your build technique of securing the chassis and constructing / locating the suspension components around it. Rather brilliant!

[LeeABC]

Thanks for the comments, just finished the wheels and tyres. I’ve added wheel weights and valves and stencilled the tyre logo’s; I used matt metal foil to simulate the aluminium tape used to hold weights to racing rims and pieces of fine card to form the weight. Sorry the pictures aren’t great.
I hope I can now build the suspension around the wheels but I will finish fabricating the rear deck first and check it fits over the engine and will hinge open.

Cheers, Lee.

[LeeABC]

Just a small Update, the newly fabricated rear deck has been finished and fitted into th rear panel along with the wheel arch liners.
This all required alot of fittng.

Lee