Ferrari 599 Hamann

[agamo]

Ok, after a long absence, I’m back with what I hope be an interesting WIP for you, the subject is the Ferrari 599 on one of its most beautiful tuning versions, the Hamann, the car I want to replicate is this:



As a purist and big fan of exotic European cars, particularly Ferrari and Porsche, the idea of a customized Ferrari was something that didn’t match my basic ideas; I've always thought that any attempt to customize a Ferrari would result in an alteration of a perfect design that couldn’t result any better or it would compromise the balance between beauty and functionality that characterize a Ferrari, but…
Then I saw a Hamann Ferrari, and everything changed…
The way Hamann delicately incorporates their stylish aerodynamic packages into the natural design of the 599 is simply astonishing, and this changed my mind, and now I want to replicate one of this machines…

The modifications made by the specialists from Laupheim, Germany to the 599 are minimal but with great results; the power is enhanced by fitting a high performance sports header for an extra 53 BHP and this setup is complemented with a sports rear muffler with 90mm tailpipes to generate an even more awe-inspiring sound.

To the body, Hamann adds a few touches of its own whether made of fiberglass or Carbon-Kevlar, a stylish front spoiler generates greater downforce at the front while a pair of rear wings does the work at the rear, to the sides, Hamann adds door sills blending harmoniously into the vehicle styling and increasing significantly the muscular appearance of the car and since the 599 GTB is conceptually a race car for the road, the rear end is equipped with a three-piece diffuser matching the rest of the technology to finally become an spectacular view from every angle.

The wheels are replaced with Hamann own creation “Edition Race” a three-piece ultra-light, forged rim in a nine cross-spoke design framed with a mirror finished rim flange and featuring titanium wheel bolts which in conjunction with the tires, 245/30 ZR21 at the front and 345/25 ZR21 at the rear result in the most aggressive look the Maranello creation could get.

The interiors are left to the customer’s own individual needs, adding only Hamann black mats.

Beginning the model…
For this project I’ll combine the best of the two kits available Fujimi’s (kit 12277) and Revell’s (kit 4204)


The Fujimi kit will be used as a base since it has the best body engraving, assembly and detail from my point of view.
The Revell kit will provide the engine and rear suspension detail, which are not included in the Fujimi version and will provide also the exhaust system which the Fujimi kit has molded in the chassis, while the Revell version consists of two separate and well detailed parts.

Additionally I will use the detail set from “Crazy Modelers” (CM-EP0047) which includes every mesh/grill in the car, AC air vents for the dashboard, speaker grills, badges, instrument cluster, shift pads, foot-rests, center console details, radio, wipers, seat belt hardware, luggage belts, etc, plus this set includes detailed three piece brake discs that invite to make them workable…


And the work starts…
The first step is to look for the appropriate wheels, when I started this project there weren’t in the market the nice resin “Hobby Design” wheel we have now, so the closest approach were the Fujimi BBS for the Challenge version, these wheels are 19” but with some work they can be converted to 21”s.


The wheel size definitely contributes to the aggressive look of the car, so, to convert the 19” BBS to 21” I will add an aluminum machined rim.
The plastic wheel needs some work to fit in a new wheel ring so the plastic flange is eliminated…



And a new aluminum rim is machined with a diameter of 23.66 mm, the rear wheels will be wider than the front ones to accommodate the 335 and 225 tires…


The assembled wheels, the chrome finish of the Fujimi wheels was eliminated with “Easy Off”, later the center will be painted flat black…


The new wheels have to be adapted to the Fujimi suspension considering:
- The fixation system.
- Adaptation of the photoetched brake discs.
- Modifications required to the suspension parts to ensure correct height and position of wheels against the body.

Starting the building process:
Fixation system of the new wheels:
In this case, since the new wheels are also Fujimi, they require only a minimal reduction to the diameter of the polycap housing, allowing this part to fit inside the brake discs and to freely rotate inside the wheel bearing housings of the front suspension, for the rear, the suspension parts of the Revell kit will be used together with the Fujimi metal axle…

Adaptation of the photoetched brake discs
The “Crazy Modeler” detail set includes very nice multipart brake discs, thus inviting to do the required modifications to allow them to rotate inside the brake calipers and fixed to the wheel as in the real cars, so, the first step is to assemble them…


Bending the flaps of the central section is a long task, you need to ensure that these flaps be perpendicular to the center once bent, what I did is bending the flaps alternatively so it is possible to center every flap against the adjacent ones…


Finished brake discs …


The next step is to separate the brake calipers and wheel hubs from the plastic discs, I started separating the whole caliper and latter perforating a grove for the metal brake disc, but this resulted to be a little complicated…


So for the other three I separated them from the discs and cut the faces, latter a small plastic strip was added to the assembly, this was easy and improved the function of the discs inside the calipers…



Then the calipers are assembled to the wheel bearing housing, the yellow papers in the picture were used as spacers to ensure the discs will rotate freely latter…


The caliper is assembled to a bracket by 2 plastic bolts; these brackets are assembled to the wheel bearing housing…



To make the disc rotate with the wheel a small dowel is added to the discs, this dowel will fit into a groove perforated in the polycap housing of every wheel…


The whole assembly, you can see the slot for the disc dowel…


Modifications required to the suspension parts to ensure correct height and position of wheels against the body
Once the wheels are ready, modifications to the suspension are made to set the ride height and position of the wheels against the body…
To make assembly tests easier, some preparations to the body are required, since the car will have an engine, the hood is removed from the body using the back of an X-acto blade, the masking tape is used to protect the body surrounding areas…


The Fujimi chassis requires minor modifications to accept the Revell Engine, these modifications affect the front suspension parts since the upper wishbones are molded in one part, along with the front wheel wells (parts B5 and B1 respectively)…


Since the upper wishbones will be separated, their fixation points to the chassis will be lost and the position of the front suspension would be compromised, so, before separation, the whole suspension parts are glued to the chassis and then the central section is removed to make room for the engine…



The whole front suspension is assembled and found that the front wheels are not parallel, presenting some degrees of divergence; I observed this on a friend’s assembled model, so I think is a defect of the kit, because I didn’t modified the position of the suspension arms at all…


To correct this divergence problem, the steering bar is shortened…


In the rear axle, the Fujimi chassis is way too simplified, so the original fixations for the metal axle are eliminated and the Revell rear suspension parts will be adapted…


From the Fujimi kit will be used the wheel wells and the lower wishbones and from the Revell kit, will be used the wheel bearing housings, the upper wishbones, the adjusting rods and the shock absorber…


The rear wheel bearing housing is perforated to admit the drive shaft (metal axle) and an extension is added to assemble the brake caliper, a small piece of plastic rod is added as a receptacle for the handbrake cable.


The complete assembly of the rear wheel, (The rear brake discs also have a small wedge to fixate them to the wheels)…


Then, front and rear suspensions are assembled to the chassis for test fitting and to verify ride height and wheel positions, at the front the ride height was a little bit higher than rear wheels, so, spacers were added to the lower wishbones and also, the front wheels resulted a little too deep into the body, so spacers were added between the front brake discs and the wheels.
And now everything is ok…



Checking for the same ride height in both sides and ensuring the 4 wheels touch the floor at the same time…


The shock absorbers are machined from 4.8mm diam. aluminum rod, the piston rod is made with chromed steel rod of 0.8mm diam. The dimensions are taken from a picture of a 599 shock absorber…


The spring is made rolling 0.5 mm diam. wire around a machined tube to obtain the required diameter of 3.5 mm…


With this, the wheel adaptation and suspension modifications are finished, in the next update, I’ll start with one of my personal favorite parts of every model, the engine.

Well, Thanks for looking, I hope you all like it and any comments, suggestions or advices, are always welcome.

[ddtham]

I will definitely follow this one!

[ravan17]

amazing work man, i wish i had a lathe at the house to custom fab some metal parts... this one is going to look great when finished, i cannot wait.

[tuned.by.twenty]

Wow, this is REALLY in-depth. I had a good read through all of it, thanks for sharing your thoughts and processes.

[CifeNet]

Hell yeah! This is going to be great! I know it and I can smell it too.

[COZMO6476]

I'll be keeping a close eye on this build. Amazed by what you've done so far. Great work!

[ilferraristarosso]

Great job, mate. Bravo.

Max

[Veyron]

Hobby Design has 20" Hamann rims available now and they are very nice.

The rears have a bit wider lip too.

[jano11]

Excellent choice of subject with great modifications. I will certainly follow it!

Originally Posted by agamo

The first step is to look for the appropriate wheels, when I started this project there weren’t in the market the nice resin “Hobby Design” wheel we have now...

I posted my 1/24th scale 21" Hamann wheels in here already last year in July. Now it's too late as you did already go through all the work to make your own 21" wheels.

Keep it up.

[MidMazar]

I like how you machined new sleeves from metal and used the fujimi spokes for the inside. Keep us posted, as we don't normally see great progress threads like this one.

BTW I think the shocks look sweet.

[kans0002]

oh yeah...subscribed!

[godfather23]

Great modelling effort. It´s definately nice to follow your WIP and your abilities to make a fantastic model as well a your attention to detail.

Keep it up and show us your steps to competlion in this well known manner.


Robert

[jano11]

Originally Posted by MidMazar

... as we don't normally see great progress threads like this one.

I wouldn't say that.

[rsxse240]

Simply inspiring. I REALLY need to get a lathe/mill.

I think the front end is still a bit to high in comparison to the 1:1, but that may just be my perception. also I think the tires have to much sidewall which may be making me think the suspension is off.

[rollin80s]

looks really great, i really want a lathe. soo many things i would make haha.
keep up the great work.