1/24 Ferrari 250GT Interim LWB...just a basic mock-up

Hi all!

whilst still figuring out how to get $ to buy a compressor replacement, my hands got itchy again & this time...i used a started AMT kit of the 250GT swb.

it seems like i'm stuck in doing whatever 250s i can imagine nowadays, this time it's the very rare 250GT interim, a 2600mm wheelbase ferrari which has been called the forefather of the successful 250GT swb.

work has been started & here's the lastest progress...
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int1.jpg
this AMT kit represents a very crude version of the 250GT swb, not accurate at all so to speak. but it would be nice to provide parts for the interim though...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int2.jpg
here's what's done... body added 8.33mm extension, boot remove to facilitate the re-shaping of the rear arches unique to the interim, front bonnet line lowered & front arches re-shape to give a longer & bending effect.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int3.jpg
because the AMT plastic is fragile, i have to add a number of reinforcements here & there. doors & boot sanded & filled according to the interim specs...

more to come so stay tune!:p

Ah, he's teasing us again!

Looking great, excellent I might say!
What chassis number is this car?

Have bought the same SWB kit, also started by someone, and was thinking to transforming it into something better. Now that you started the LWB I might do a Zagato version, as soon as I get enough courage for it!

PS: Buy a Tamiya primer rattle can and show us the previous two 250's with some primer on them, don't keep us waiting like this! :(

hehe...hehe...
jano, jano! always unable to withstand teasing ah!? hehe...
i only like to chop, cut, saw, fill, putty, sand etc...but i don't like to build!

i guess that's how they had the term 'coach builders' for the older ferraris...
they only like to meddle with the bodywork, but not the whole car.

oh the zagatos eh!?
i love to lay my hands on modding them but the wave roof will be the biggest headache i reckon.
good thing to use this cheap, with engine but inaccurate kit to start with. i don't bear to use my gunze for this, or bid like mad to get the italeri kit. i'm still under training bro, as seen with my 2 ferrari failures so far.


teasing resumes...

Whew, you started with a horrible kit but maybe it will serve your purpose well in this project.

Good luck!

Nice car you have chosen, again.

Couple of things that i'd like to check though. It seems that you have added the whole 8,3 mm to the length of the bonnet, am i right? If i'm right please check these two pics:

http://www.barchetta.cc/Common/Images/Scans.Eventi/Ta.98/XLarge/250.GT.SWB.2563GT.TA98.005.jpg

http://www.barchetta.cc/Common/Images/Scans.Eventi/Ta.98/XLarge/250.GT.Interim.1509GT.TA98.005.jpg

A little measuring should reveal that not all of the length cut from in front of the cabin area when Ferrari made the SWB. The engine was moved a bit to the front and the cabin a bit to the back. I hope you understand what i mean.

If you did already note this, pardon me :smile:

Also, when doing such a huge modifications, you really should consider first making the body shape right and then cutting the doors etc. open. This way the whole thing would be a lot more rigid during the construction.

Keep up the good work, and please buy a rattle can primer for those other Ferraris you've been working on.

-Niko

Hi niko...

yes, i've added the whole 8.33mm to the front.

yes i get what you mean about the little front & little at the back...that's why i take out the doors now. in fact the doors from the interim look smaller than the SWB, i intend to add some styrene to the aft door area, right after i flatten / thinned the rear arches which looked a little less 'swat' stance & longer from the interim to me.

because this was a AMT kit, the overall shape really way out of the basic SWB specs...i have no choice but to cut the roof area too, in order to re-shape the rear as close to the interim's as i can.

i'll be fully commited to this mod as of now, it's really challenging (headache) to do niko! do check on me 10 hours from now...

thankx for the advises, do help me spot any mistakes along the way too! very much appreciated!

(oh priming sprays? humm...another teaser teased!!! hehe...)

If you cast a few duplicates of your moded 250s, you'll make enough money to buy a new compressor! :naughty:
But first buy a rattle can to finish them properly!:grinyes:

If you cast a few duplicates of your moded 250s, you'll make enough money to buy a new compressor! :naughty:
But first buy a rattle can to finish them properly!:grinyes:

Ah, the teaser teased...part 2!

hehe...

Progress updates!

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/in1.jpg
please take a closer look at the interim's roofline & the wheel arches. the following mods are based on this pic.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/in2.jpg
the roof removal allows me to easily reshape the rear wheel arches so that it looked to be slightly lower than the front ones.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/in3.jpg
here's another angle to show the front is a little higher than the rear wheel arches. infact, i putty up the front arches to make the differences more distinctive.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/in4.jpg
now comes the most headache part of the whole build mod, the roofline. it seems the AMT kit has a 100% wrong roofline for the swb. it's too much hunch at the rear glass screen & also a little low. now i'm scratching my head deep to figure out out how to mod the roof, if not make a new one instead...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/in5.jpg
i've filled up the front section of the nose too after the additional wheelbase added, before i can make a bonnet for it. i estimated the bonnet length with the help of the radiator cap beneath it. in the real car, the radiator cap must be accessible for topping up at all times, right? so the bonnet must address this point.

good thinking eh!? hehe...
til the next update...cheers!:iceslolan

Good to see you working hard on this one. :wink:
Keep it up!

Another great project! I agree with Brian, you picked one terrible kit for the project, but then again, its not like you're going to build it stock :-) Good luck, I'm following this one.

thankx to all for your attention!

ok, some updates here...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int100.jpg
i've carefully glued back the roof piece to the body, making sure it's straight & level again. i've also cut out the small little window the interim is famous for, as it will be difficult to do it once the roof is reattached again.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int101.jpg
here's a glimpse of the rear section. because the AMT kit has such a "high roofline", i reckon there will be much work on this area to flatten the rear & the extended interim butt.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int102.jpg
to further rein-enforced the rooftop, i putty up the whole inner roof for strength & later to act as the roof cushion base. take note of the various rein-enforcements added to the inside of the body. the AMT kit seem to have a very thin & brittle plastic polymer, nearly all the areas that went under the knife cracked (or is it my skills?)!

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int103.jpg
here you'll find the basic styrene glued to create the rear screen lining & the boot area. i used the cut out boot & the windscreen to measure the estimate dimension needed. i've also 'thicken' the roof section in appearance as the interim seems to have a roof similar to those on the TDF rather than the SWB. (or is it the AMT kit sucks!?)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int105.jpg
this is the basic styrene mock up needed for the rear section. i'll run strips of styrene along all the new styrene sections to round off the corners & then putty up before shape sanding...


thankx for viewing!
more to come...

ok, while taking a rest now & wait for the first local night GP to start (here in SGP), i thought why not make a comparison with the SWB physically!?

here it comes...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int110.jpg
the reference used is the gunze SWB kit, touted as the most accurate PLASTIC kit. here i placed the 2 body flat on the background to see just how much is 2600mm vs 2400mm in 1/24 scale.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int111.jpg
at first besides the lengthen body, i really can't find much of a differences between the two. one point to note is the nose section on both the bodies looked different. look closely how the front fenders sloping towards the headlights on both cars. (or again, it's the AMT kit!?)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int112.jpg
the butt section now, seems lookalike to me again...to my understanding, there're 2 styles of interim spotted in the internet so far. the main differences are the windows; one resembles the SWB & the other opens like a subaru car...frameless. another item is the refueling cap; one resembles the SWB left aft area & the other a GTO style...top-left corner of the boot.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int113.jpg
i'm still trying to determine if the interim's nose curve is dipping lower than the SWB or not. (or again, because of the AMT kit!?). i managed to attain a slightly taller roof than the SWB according to the specs i'm having. i still have to fatten the interim roof though...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int115.jpg
a comparison of the butt section signals i'll have a hell of a shaping to be done later. just look at the SWB butt...so sexy! now look at my (interim) butt, lifeless!

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int116.jpg
ok, as what nniemi has mentioned, that the whole 200mm extension may not be all added to the front of the doors...i agreed to it. here's the rear section of the doors which is slightly longer than the SWB.(thankx niko!)

at this stage, please voice out any comments as this is the time to do any ammendments easily. if you know this car & spot any indifferences please tell me. to those who might wanna try this mod, i suggest using the gunze kit to start with will save you 50% of the time. honestly, i have spent much of the time correcting the AMT kit to look roughly like a SWB first, than into doing the interim mod...no joke!

ok, time for the F1 GP!
cheers!

Looks a bit tall IMO. Length of the roof looks to be ok, but the slope of the trunk&rear window area is a bit off. Also if you visualize the windshield in its place it is almost straight up.

-Niko

Looks a bit tall IMO. Length of the roof looks to be ok, but the slope of the trunk&rear window area is a bit off. Also if you visualize the windshield in its place it is almost straight up.

-Niko

+1. Agree with all that Niko said. But great progress otherwise!

+1. Agree with all that Niko said. But great progress otherwise!

+2 The roof looks to high and the slope of the windscreen is off too. Still I'm sure you'll get it right! :)

ok, ok...ok.(x3)
i'll take note of that when i proceed, proceed...proceed.(x3)

i've yet to flatten the roof but it does look like a TDF roof type to me. take a look at these pics shown on why i said that...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int23.jpg
250GT SWB roofline...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int20.jpg
250GT interim roofline...

now think of the 250GT TDF's roof shape when you view these 2 pics...and tell me what you think.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int22.jpg
side profile of the 250GT SWB...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int21.jpg
side profile of the 250GT interim...

i see a much taller & straighter roofline on the interim when you compared the 2 pics (use the window as reference). take notice the angle in which the chrome windscreen is angled on the 2 cars. also, you notice the rear wheelarch is much fuller on the SWB? how about the rear slope where the boot glass recedes towards the boot area, does it look much sharper & receding at a much more acute angle?

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z217/sbc3133r/int25.jpg
side profile of the 250GT TDF...

no, not the shape but the 'thickness' of the roof...you see any similarities to the interim?

yes i maybe wrong...again, but unless someone can make a superimposed plan views on the 2 cars...it seems every pic we look gives a different scenerio. sigh...

humm...i guess i just have name of these kinda builds in future as 'generic' from now onwards, i can't determine if it's according to the real cars specs.

but thankx for all the comments & more please...i've learnt something new & useful today!

cheers!

First i want to say that how i did it is most definitely not the only way to go. And next, how i did it.

At first i gathered a huge pile of reference photos from any angle imaginable. But in the end the most useful ones were the ones that were straight from the side, front and rear of the car. I (almost) would have given an arm and a leg for a top view picture. What i'm trying to say is that you should (for now) forget those pictures that have been taken in an angle and concentrate on side view of the car. In your first message in this thread you had a straight from the side pic, that clearly shows the dimensions of the roof. Make your roofline to match that one. Try to find pictures that are straight from front and straight from rear of the car, and make your mods according to those. Concentrate on the basic shape, not the shape of the openings. Only when you have the basic shape done, you'll need those pics taken in angle. And when you have the basic shape done, you can correct the openings etc.

And remember, you are comparing apples and oranges when you are comparing SWB and interim, they are two different cars. For example the top line of the side window on those cars is totally different, and that might affect on the way you see the roof. So basicly you should not compare differences on those two cars, but differences between your model and pictures of Interim Berlinetta. Your chosen method of building, ie. opening everything before you have the body done, makes it also very hard to judge how those body lines are.

No you shouldn't make these builds generic, you should just keep up the good work and have patience. I did my Pf coupe for two years, and over a year before i started a wip thread here.

-Niko

First i want to say that how i did it is most definitely not the only way to go. And next, how i did it.

At first i gathered a huge pile of reference photos from any angle imaginable. But in the end the most useful ones were the ones that were straight from the side, front and rear of the car. I (almost) would have given an arm and a leg for a top view picture. What i'm trying to say is that you should (for now) forget those pictures that have been taken in an angle and concentrate on side view of the car. In your first message in this thread you had a straight from the side pic, that clearly shows the dimensions of the roof. Make your roofline to match that one. Try to find pictures that are straight from front and straight from rear of the car, and make your mods according to those. Concentrate on the basic shape, not the shape of the openings. Only when you have the basic shape done, you'll need those pics taken in angle. And when you have the basic shape done, you can correct the openings etc.

Excellent advice! :thumbsup:

First i want to say that how i did it is most definitely not the only way to go. And next, how i did it.

At first i gathered a huge pile of reference photos from any angle imaginable. But in the end the most useful ones were the ones that were straight from the side, front and rear of the car. I (almost) would have given an arm and a leg for a top view picture. What i'm trying to say is that you should (for now) forget those pictures that have been taken in an angle and concentrate on side view of the car. In your first message in this thread you had a straight from the side pic, that clearly shows the dimensions of the roof. Make your roofline to match that one. Try to find pictures that are straight from front and straight from rear of the car, and make your mods according to those. Concentrate on the basic shape, not the shape of the openings. Only when you have the basic shape done, you'll need those pics taken in angle. And when you have the basic shape done, you can correct the openings etc.

And remember, you are comparing apples and oranges when you are comparing SWB and interim, they are two different cars. For example the top line of the side window on those cars is totally different, and that might affect on the way you see the roof. So basicly you should not compare differences on those two cars, but differences between your model and pictures of Interim Berlinetta. Your chosen method of building, ie. opening everything before you have the body done, makes it also very hard to judge how those body lines are.

No you shouldn't make these builds generic, you should just keep up the good work and have patience. I did my Pf coupe for two years, and over a year before i started a wip thread here.

-Niko

Could not have said it better myself!

the best photos for this sort of thing are always going to be pure elevations; have a look at 3D (graphic) modellers use them to make their models.

There was a guy who (famously) made a physical Lamborghini Gallardo model before the fujimi kit existed using the same elevation/reference method and carving it out of putty.

The problem is, in reality, you never get true elevations (i.e zero perspective) and so in each photo, there will always be a little distortion that is never going to be the same even if it's the same guy with the same camera taking a photo of the same car. This sort of thing makes trying to figure out a curve from an angled shot difficult.

In short, as said before, use the as best as possible front/side photos to model and the angled shots afterwards as secondary reference.