WIP Fujimi Ferrari 550 Maranello + Revell Superamerica

[drunken monkey]

ok, as well know, the interior of the Fujimi 550 kits aren't 100% accurate and the biggest cause of offence in there is without doubt, the seats.

For reference, this is what they're supposed to look like.


And this is the various options open to me from my little box of spares.


From left to right:
Big black blob = Fujimi 550, Revell Superamerica, Italeri 365 GTB, Italeri 288 GTO
and in the front, KA Models Daytona seat for the 599GTB.

As you can see, none exactly match the 550 Maranello seat but what they offer, is a "quick" option for surgery for the lovely padded sections. Except that none of them match that well either apart from the KA models' option that has a very useable lower section. That would mean that I'd need to scratch a back-rest section. However, I doubt that I could scratch a back-rest section that would match the finish of the KA seat so......


Let's make my own.

Step 1: Frame.





The difficulty in making a seat is how to make the sheet styrene conform to the various curves and how to make two near enough identical copies.
It is always possible to just make one then to cast that master to make multiple copies as neccessary but I'm too lazy for that right now....

In the photos above you can see that I cut bits of box section tubes to act as reinforcement for the base "plate" and more importantly, act as a guide for the change in height of the seat and for the angle of the cushioning at the front of the seat.
The circular tube on top of the frame is the guide for part of the curve of the seat.

The seat is then made by simple cementing in place a thin sheet of styrene following the angle at the front, rolling over the tube and meeting with the corner of the cut, then cementing down at the centre of the cut-out, and finally end is cemented to the vertical box section at the rear.


Strips of styrene were then cut and cemented into place to replicate the padded sections.


By having this framework, I can replicate the pattern very easily.


With that done, nect comes the padded section of the back-rest.
Again, a "measured" pattern was formed out of sheet styrene and box sections and tubes.
The angle of the back rest was made by cementing a 1mm strip of styrene to the top edge of the box section. The rear sheet was then simply cemented to the bottom edge and followed the angle created by the extended lip.



After more sanding and cemeting of strips, you end up with this


And when tacked together for checking


Still got lots of sanding to do before the holes are filled.
THe back needs to be sanded into the correct (curved top) shape before the next step of fabricating the side bolsters. Haven't quite figured out how to do that yet and I'm off to Hong Kong for the New Year on the 23rd so may not have time to work on this tomorrow.

[TRBJ]

wow~ love the seats!!
im sorry to say it still looks like shit for now, but i admire your effort and all thaat... and im really lookin forward to your progress!! haha

[janositamas]

Those seats are insane!

[gionc]

DM you aren't 100% sane to me
I wait for more, great stuff!

[jano11]

Originally Posted by gionc

DM you aren't 100% sane to me

Must be because of that open glue bottle!

Originally Posted by gionc

I wait for more, great stuff!

Agree, excellent job on those seats.

[kans0002]

I will be following this one closely. I can’t wait to see how you replicate the yello piping.opcorn:

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Great thread-nice work so far; I plan to do a similar upgrade to the Fujimi 575 Maranello from the Superamerica.

As for the 550 interior, I had a Burago Maranello kit and it's seats/door panels were adapted pretty easy and looked far better than the Fujimi parts. Glad I had that parts kit when I did I wasn't going for super-detail, but a good upgrade from the kit parts.

[BVC500]

Hirofkd created his own seats and door panels too, and created a copy for me. A lot of work, but worth the accuracy!