In Progress: Tamiya Ferrari F40

[klutz_100]

Bloody hell!!!
When I think about how small all this is actually is, I just start freaking out. Amazing!

[360spider]

Superb job, I need to get me a lathe!
Btw, I'm not sure you really need to polish out the paint on the body - look closely at the real F40 - you can see C/F through the paint, and if you touch it - you can feel the C/F! The paint is not smooth and shiny on F40! I think I'll actually will leave some texture on the paint when I will be building mine.

[klutz_100]

Just looked at this again and I feel the need to add another "bloody" to my original "bloody hell". Here goes:

Bloody, bloody hell!!!

[g00eY]

great work! can't wait to see more!

[MPWR]

Thanks, guys!

Veyron- Metalizers always look very clean to me, and they don't have nearly the color range to fully heat stain an exhaust system. I'm saving them for parts that I want to look more pristine, like the compresors and intercoolers. The contrast of the clean, cool looking compressors next to the hot, stained turbines should look really good.

360spider- I'd thought of trying to suggest CF in the paint, but I couldn't think of a good way. The orange peel I got didn't look the part, though.

Yeah, the lathe is great. I hardly use it for curbside, but for heavily detailed full engine builds, it's awesome! Wait till you see what I'm planning for the brakes....

[agamo]

Great job, it really inspires,

Have you tryied to add a couple of drops of flat base to your mixes? it gives a nice flat burnt finish to the stains.

Awesome job!, the way you share is a huge contribution to the modeling world, THANKS!!

[A_C]

Originally Posted by agamo

Great job, it really inspires,

Have you tryied to add a couple of drops of flat base to your mixes? it gives a nice flat burnt finish to the stains.

Awesome job!, the way you share is a huge contribution to the modeling world, THANKS!!

Totally agree! MPWR, thanks for sharing your tips!

PS, after changing the setting of my PC, it can load your pics again. Your pics are inspiring!

[SkylineFan]

Your attention to detail on this build is awesome.... keep it up!!!!!

[rx7king]

i havent been on af for a long time, because of no computer access, and this is the first thread ive looked at thus far, and man what a thread to look at, this is amazing work, i can see everyone is still producing the same top notch work

[mike united]

Astonishing !!!

[TireGaint]

any update?

[MPWR]

OK, so I have been a bit delinquent in updating. I've been hoping to make some significant progress, as to be able to show something more completed- instead, I just have more details (and details, and details). Hope you all enjoy anyway.

At one point during the F50 build, I think I commented that the intake manifold airbox was as much work as I'd put into a single kit part. Not anymore. I've been working on the F40 underside....




Of course, it gets painted body color (in places), and rubbed out and polished. Then, I painted the areas that will be CF in X-18 (it's as good under CF as anything else).



I am of course using the usual suspects- SMS CF decals. The F40 calls for both plain CF and kevlar. Yes, I also broke down and got S27's F40 set, and quickly realized most of it isn't worth the metal it's etched on. But more on that later.




The CF gets applied,



then trimmed down, and overcoated with Tamiya acrylic smoke. Like the karbon kevlar pattern on the F50, I find SMS's pattern to be too bright by itself. The smoke was then rubbed down and polished out (I'm sure I waited all of about 12 minutes for it to dry).


The triangular bays behind the CF panel are the undersides of the F40's welded aluminum fuel tanks. I tried applying BMF here, but it just wasn't going to work- the corners are a bit too deep, so it would tear before it could be pressed down.



So, after thinking about it a bit, I decided that the way to solve it was to cut inserts out of thin styrene to fit these bays, and to apply the BMF to them- then stick them in place. (See the nice subtle CF pattern? To my eyes, that's how it's supposed to look!)



Much better.


Now, the top side. I'm doing the heat shielding the same way as on the F50- household aluminum foil. The unshielded parts of the body work get kevlar decals.



Slow, tedious work.



I'm still working at it.


Meanwhile, when waiting for slivers of kevlar decal to dry, I've been having a bit more fun detailing the engine. I decided that a machined oil filter could look really good. Here's my attempt.





There are probably easier ways to get rid of the mold lines on the kit part....




So here's the kit part, with the oil filter replaced. The filter was painted a mix of Tamiya royal blue and gun metal. I then stuck on a small square of BMF on the side, for a label. I think it looks the part pretty well. I inserted some very short lenghts of brass rod into the oil line fittings below the filter, for the turbo oil lines. Here also is the cylinder head ventilation line- a length of aluminum rod bent to shape, with strips of paper wrapped around the ends and painted black for the hose connectors. The hose clamps are of course strips of BMF.


And here are the turbo oil lines.



Detail master braided line, with fittings made form hex styrene rod and brass rod. If you look in the How-to's, there's a deeper description of how to do this (not mine). The hex fittings were drilled out with a pin vise to the diameter of the brass rod, so they will simply slip over the rods protruding from the oil filter base.




And here are the oil filter, the ventilation line, and the turbo oil lines installed.




Here, I've added the turbo coolant lines as well. Same method as the oil lines, just done in a larger diameter. The other ends run up to the water pump, under the intake manifold. Yes, the underside of the turbos should technically have return lines for both the oil and coolant as well, but as they're rather hidden by the turbos and intercoolers, they're practically invisable on the real thing. At this point, I don't think they'd add much, and real estate is getting pretty tight back there. Maybe when I do the 1/16 F40....

Ready for the compressors and intercoolers now.

As always thanks for looking, and for comments!

[Samurai75007]

Wow, Looking sick man.

[sportracer02]

Wow,

great work, nice details, looks very very good !!!!!!!!!!!

[360spider]

Fantastic work, keep the updates coming!