[mattbacon]

And what did I learn from this one?

The Italeri kit is really nicely moulded, being accurate, precise and delicate, and a great compromise between scale accuracy and engineering. You should work on the assumption that any primer and paint will stop it fitting together properly, so scrape off and clean any bonding surfaces.

The interior is simple, with few parts, but if you have the right references, detail painting will result in a great impression, because the parts you get are crisp and finely rendered.

There are only a couple of real gotchas in assembly. The lovely chassis will not fit under the lovely body unless:

1) You make sure that the engine is sitting properly and as low as possible in the chassis frame. This will mean cleaning out the channel that the rear thin support cross member is supposed to fit into, and making sure that the two small diagonal brackets that fit onto the engine sides are firmly fitted into their sockets on the chassis.
2) Open out and sand the U-channel in the hinge for the bonnet and fix the thing finally into position with the bonnet taped down into place.
3) Even the above is not enough. You'll need to thin down the pivot/axle end of the windscreen wipers DRAMATICALLY if the bonnet is to close over them properly.
4) The reservoir on the brake master cylinder will get struck between the upper (bodywork) and lower (chassis) part of the left wheel well. On reflection, I'd either fit the whole assembly at the end, or cut off the master cylinder from the bulkhead and superglue a wire mount point at the bracket centreline, drilling out the master cylinder to receive it. Then, glue the bulkhead to the cockpit tub, and AFTER the whole thing is assembled into the bodyshell, socket the brake cylinder into place on the wire stub.

Once you've done the above, the vertical fit of the body should be good. The fore-and-aft fit is still a bit dubious, so trial fit and make sure you get the front chassis rails under the forward body lip, which may mean shimming out the back edge of the chassis to get a good bond.

This may sound like a lot of fiddling, but overall I think this is a really nice kit, especially for its age!. And there are few Ferraris as dyed-in-the-wool COOOLLL as the Daytona. I'm sure the Fujimi is a lovely kit, but this one cost me less than a tenner, so I'm well-disposed to like it!

bestest,
M.