Hi Folks,
I dragged my feet in getting the body of the Fujimi 917 I'm building ready for paint, now I've got everything else done but the weather's crappy, so I needed to get started on another project until I can paint.
I picked this MA Models Sonauto 914-6 GT, which finished 6th overall, and first in the 2 liter class at Le Mans in 1970:
I had read some bad reviews about MA Models' (mamodels.com) quality before ordering, but decided to try them anyway. Some of the cars I was looking for are just not available anywhere else... Anyway, I initially ordered two: this car and one of the 917L's from the 1971 Le Mans. I see now what people were talking about. The quality is really quite poor. The casting on the 914 is the worst of the two. The panel lines are crooked and the entire bodyshell is uneven and absolutely riddled with pinholes. I've been through about 6 putty\sand\prime iterations now and I think I'm about getting there. The rubber tires had massive seams to be sanded off and the white metal parts are covered with flash and lack any real detail. The windshield is uneven and lumpy. The kit is comprised of about 30 parts total, and there are no PE parts included. Following are some pics of the kit out of the box:
Here's a shot of the wheels and tires which actually came out rather nicely and will probably be the focal point of the car. I'm not even going to attempt the white Goodyear lettering on them...
The panel lines on this car are just a mess, although I have improved them somewhat from above. I really should just fill them in completely and rescribe, but not sure I have the patience for that, or if the final result would even be worth it...
Anyway, we'll see if I can turn this out looking just awful, instead of complete crap. Wish me luck...
ianc