Ferrari 330P4 (Fujimi/HRM/Renaissance)

[CrateCruncher]

I LOVE this car! It's one of my all-time favorites. Not only does it look like a Paris runway model but the colors: racer red, matte black, bronze, polished aluminum... I've been wanting to do this car for a long time and have been putting it off until my skills could do the car some justice.


I've spent a lot of time just trying to figure out the best approach given all the choices on the market. The project will be based on the common Fujimi kit with extra interior and photo-etch detail provided by Renaissance while the drivetrain details will be added using the Historic Racing Miniatures transkit. I'll also be scratch-building many odds and ends as the build develops. I plan to shoot the body color with basecoat Rosso Corsa (not pictured) from Scalefinishes.com followed by my DuPont 2k Chromaclear.

[CrateCruncher]

I've already started fitting the body together. The Fujimi tooling is really nice. Here is a shot of things taped together.


I'll be building this car the way I usually do. The first steps will be to cut up and modify everything. Then I'll fabricate the hinges, bulkheads, framing and other parts so it all fits together.



The rear engine cover and front clip were cut from the main body using the backward blade trick. I tried to replicate the engine cover hinge as closely as possible. It's comprised of two U-shaped sections of .005 shim brass held together with two tiny brass nails and solder. The nails were trimmed and filed down to little nubs after the assembly cooled.

Before I could remove the front clip I had to stabilize the body. I used more shim brass to form a reinforcement around the windshield opening that was attached with JBWeld. The center body panel is going to be handled a lot so it needs to be stong enough not to break in the middle of the build (lessons learned). The next step will be to reinforce this part further, then cut the doors from it. Until next time........

[jano11]

Great project! A dream project to follow for me.

[grasset2005]

with the Renaissance transkit and the HRM motor, your project will be beautiful!

[tuned.by.twenty]

Nice, it's coming along well so far, and it doesn't even have paint yet!

[Ferrari TR]

Yikes! Off to a great start. A beautiful car. I wish you the best.

[360spider]

One of my favorite Ferrari race cars ever. Can't wait to see what you will do with it!

[freakmech]

I built this a few years ago box stock. I was really pleased with the results. You should have a fantastic model at the end with all the added detail.

[alviga69]

my HDD is ready to save all your pics!
i have the same kit on stand by

Cheers

[tony126c2]

Hey Mike,

A real beauty and a good successor for the "Lucybelle" ...another piece of Ferrari history
Looking forward to see the result...have you got the cavellerria P3 book already ? There is so little info about the P4...I found "somewhere" a PDF about the restoration of Glickenhaus his P4 with a lot of pictures...the only remaining P4 they say.

Ton

[CrateCruncher]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys.

Great project! A dream project to follow for me.

Right Jano! This is my dream project too. I hope I don't screw it up.

with the Renaissance transkit and the HRM motor, your project will be beautiful!

The Fujimi P4 is great even without the transkits. I have an odd preoccupation with opening up body panels to show whats inside. It's a disease.

Nice, it's coming along well so far, and it doesn't even have paint yet!

Thanks! The real car hasn't got a bad angle so the model should turn out good right? I'm a long way from putting any paint on this beast. There will be a lot of filing and grinding before any color happens so bear with me Tune.

Yikes! Off to a great start. A beautiful car. I wish you the best.

Thanks TR!

One of my favorite Ferrari race cars ever. Can't wait to see what you will do with it!

Yeah well, first I have to figure out what to do with it! This is going to be a tough build for me Alex. Even trying to pre-assemble it the thing just wants to twist all over the place. I like the thin injected body but its a flimsy flyer.

I built this a few years ago box stock. I was really pleased with the results. You should have a fantastic model at the end with all the added detail.

Since you've built it, do let me know if there were any surprises during your build. Anything you'd do different with a second go?

my HDD is ready to save all your pics!
i have the same kit on stand by

Cheers

Copy away Alviga, thats why we do these things. If we can't share our knowledge with other builders whats the point?

Hey Mike,

A real beauty and a good successor for the "Lucybelle" ...another piece of Ferrari history
Looking forward to see the result...have you got the cavellerria P3 book already ? There is so little info about the P4...I found "somewhere" a PDF about the restoration of Glickenhaus his P4 with a lot of pictures...the only remaining P4 they say.

Ton

I don't have the Cavalleria P3 book but i did find some invaluable restoration shots of whats probably the Glickenhaus work. An old acquaintance did a restoration on a spyder a few years ago. I might email him for some door pics. I'm having a bear of a time figuring out the hinging mechanism. Do you have any good shots Ton?

[BVC500]

Subscribed! Cool project!

[Noddy]

Originally Posted by CrateCruncher

I don't have the Cavalleria P3 book but i did find some invaluable restoration shots of whats probably the Glickenhaus work. An old acquaintance did a restoration on a spyder a few years ago. I might email him for some door pics. I'm having a bear of a time figuring out the hinging mechanism. Do you have any good shots Ton?

The man himself participates on ferrarichat so you could always ask there for pictures. He's very approachable.

[tony126c2]

Hi Mike, Noddy

There is a bunch of pictures at Ferrarichat.com

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/sho...7&highlight=P4

Ton

[Macio4ever]

Great start on very interesting subject!