Twin build: 1/12 Monogram Ferrari F40

Around 8 years ago, a friend of mine asks me to restore three car kits - a 1/24 Fujimi Toyota Cresta and Tamiya Mercedes Benz 500SL, and a 1/12 Monogram Ferrari F40. While I was able to finish the two 1/24 kits within a few months (had to wait for a new benz kit from ebay to copy some parts that my friend's kit lacked), it took me 8 years before I could start on the F40. The main reason was that it had a LOT of missing parts and some broken ones too. Fortunately, Derek (sorry, forgot your handle here in the forums) posted some kits for sale and I immediately jumped at the chance to finally buy a similar kit to copy parts from. Since this has been waiting for so long, I decided to pend the 1/24 Aoshima Mitsubishi Pajero conversion and a number of Gundams on hold. So without further ado, here is the progress thread for the twin build.

My kit on the left, my friend's kit on the right (I had started disassembling it already as soon as I got it but left it as it was, hence the dust)
http://i59.tinypic.com/v5aazc.jpg

Glass areas. The side windows actually cracked during removal and even tore off part of the roof.
http://i62.tinypic.com/33uy3oj.jpg

Parts that could be safely taken off. The kit was in the box for so long, the paint inside the box stuck to the tires and would reluctantly come off.
http://i59.tinypic.com/2hppym1.jpg

The rear cowl on my friend's kit had a broken tab, i'll copy the one from my kit later on
http://i57.tinypic.com/nct9u.jpg

Started sanding off the mold lines on my kit
http://i57.tinypic.com/k1yopd.jpg

Front suspension done...will just detail paint this later
http://i60.tinypic.com/2j5hzk.jpg

More mold line sanding
http://i58.tinypic.com/e5ps0h.jpg
http://i60.tinypic.com/dgji85.jpg
*if you noticed, my friend's kit had the wheels attached. i couldn't safely remove them without destroying the wheels themselves, and/or the suspension. oh well.

My friend's kit also had broken B-pillars (one would've been bearable, but both? lol). I tried using tamiya cement but it wouldn't set properly, so i had to use superglue and carbon fiber strips to reinforce it
http://i60.tinypic.com/2dluruv.jpg

the engine on my friend's kit on the left, mine on the right. notice anything? the exhaust side of the cylinder blocks on my friend's engine is on the inside of the V.
http://i57.tinypic.com/246jtxi.jpg

solution: pry off the cylinder blocks and reattach them in the right positions. there were parts that did not want to let go without taking off a chunk of the base plastic with them.
http://i57.tinypic.com/35hfdjo.jpg

finally, cylinder blocks in the right position.
http://i57.tinypic.com/640b3c.jpg

using oyumaru, i started to duplicate some parts such as the oil filter, intake manifold...
http://i57.tinypic.com/291jdw1.jpg

driveshafts attached on my kit's transmission (right). my friend's kit had one driveshaft not letting go. the recast intake manifold didn't actually come out perfect but the incomplete portions would be hidden anyway later.
http://i60.tinypic.com/eirvio.jpg

the rear wing and its mount to the rear cowl would never match up to each other (the former is narrower than the latter) so i had to file it flush as much as possible, then putty the wing area for sanding later.
http://i57.tinypic.com/2rfd8uo.jpg

Good luck on the restore. Looks to be a very ambitious project.

For the chassis and wheels. Try soaking them for a day or two in some Castrol Super Clean. It will remove any paint to bare plastic and, it has in the past for me, weakened or actually removed the glue. I've had success with this on CA glue but not sure if it will work with testors type.

David

Thanks David. I'll try that method next time - this build is actually close to done with the chassis and I just can't start priming the body as it has been raining everyday here.

Here's the duplicated intake manifold, oil filter and exhaust hanger (on the tail-end of the transmission). I used a 2-part epoxy called epoxyclay wood that is sold in log form. The filler (brown) is the outside of the log while the inside of the log is the hardener (white), and you knead them together until they are of a uniform color. It will dry to be as hard as wood and easily sandable.
http://i58.tinypic.com/zje2v9.jpg

The center nuts on the right side rims and front left rim (not shown) on my friend's kit did not sit flush, so I took them off using a large nipper and then removed some material until they sat flush during test-fits. Reaching the part where I finished the suspension and brakes later on, I discovered the problem - the nut had too small a hole for the male peg on the suspension's parts, and the hole on the brake hat portion was too small to let the nut in.
http://i61.tinypic.com/16a5ipx.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/2zizfqw.jpg

Attached the doorside intakes, filed them as flush as possible, then puttied up the gaps. Sanded them flush later.
http://i59.tinypic.com/29vxjtl.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/2n6gj9i.jpg

...and the photo backlog continues, courtesy of our ISP who took 21 days to fix the problem. ugh. anyway...

some of the other parts that i've been duplicating using epoxyclay wood:
http://i59.tinypic.com/xq9fo.jpg
rear suspension part
http://i61.tinypic.com/5nnk10.jpg

started spraying the chassis, cockpit and related parts in flat black:
http://i60.tinypic.com/x42ihd.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/1t1pnk.jpg

painted the cylinder covers in acrylic red from a revell audi R8 kit. the one with the darker shade of red is from my friend's kit:
http://i61.tinypic.com/vpwxp0.jpg

since my friend asked that this kit have a black cockpit with red belts, i decided to do the same for mine. started off with this, where i painted the belts in correction fluid (yes, hahaha) as its "primer base" so that the red pops out later on:
http://i60.tinypic.com/257hf6r.jpg

and ended up with this:
http://i62.tinypic.com/33y2l4n.jpg

the sabelt pads was done later, as i didn't have a fresh stock of printer toner so i could properly print decals during that time.

just sprayed a couple of coats of urethane silver on the engine, transmission and related parts:
http://i57.tinypic.com/152jaf6.jpg

and here they are, with the other parts and included wiring attached:
http://i59.tinypic.com/s33t3a.jpg

here's everything installed on my friend's kit:
http://i58.tinypic.com/qqdcg4.jpg

and on my kit:
http://i59.tinypic.com/sbqx60.jpg

Both kits are actually done, but I'm still continuing with the WIP thread.

Cockpits of the two F40s.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/538/YC6M2y.jpg

Started painting the brake discs on my F40. Also carved slots on them (which in retrospect, rotors on one side would have slots running in the wrong direction, LOL).
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/538/fyodoG.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/537/WRow4H.jpg

Rotors installed on my kit.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/540/xPi8HN.jpg

Started to carve the F40 logo on the wing. Started using my friend's kit for this purpose. I then used oyumaru to copy the F40 carving on the wing. Also carved a rectangular area on the other side of the wing as I'll be putting the duplicated logo later (mold used is the oyumaru).
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/910/GrXabi.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/fPaYRI.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/633/MtdKH0.jpg

I've also started to recast the rear cowl's attachment points to the chassis as the ones of my friend's kit broke.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/nY6sre.jpg

Recast the outer half of the rim using epoxyclay wood, then trimmed it with an xacto knife. Added putty then to fill in the spokes and installed it on a rotary tool so I could carve the inner face of the rim.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/540/qh0gPl.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/661/Z5MQ8s.jpg

The rim after some sanding.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/913/l2sKXa.jpg

Decals added to my friend's kit's dashboard.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/537/2pRWiE.jpg