Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale

[robrex]

Here is a quick (hopefully) build of a Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale.
I had the pleasure of looking over one of these at a local Ferrari dealer and I must say they are a gorgeous car! Hopefully my kit can do the car Justice?

the base kit is the Tamiya 1/24 360 Modena and added to that is the MSN Creations Challenge Stradale trans-kit (more on that later )
The body is painted with ZERO Rosso Scuderia paint which is a great product! It's pre-thinned and the coverage is great. The other benefit is that these are the exact colours not just close matches! Here's the link to Hiroboy's store where you can purchase this colour and any other Ferrari colour you need.
http://www.hiroboy.com/catalog/

I live in Australia and the service was quicker than any other aftermarket supplier I have used. I thoroughly recommend adding Steve's shop to your favourites list!



I added the resin pieces for the front spoiler, side skirts and drilled the standard fuel cap out. MSN replicate the proper Stradale cap which will be painted and replaced. The molds for the kit must be getting old because it is very rough and needed heaps of putty to get the body looking half decent. I decided to forget about the headlight sprays because the putty covered them and to re-scribe them would have been a nightmare. The panel lines that needed re-scribing were difficult enough and needed about 5 or more attempts due to the plastic / resin differences ! that said the result looks excellent!

Next I moved to the interior. I wanted to replicate the suede red/black interior of these cars. All paint was mixed with micro balloons and sprayed at a low pressure and the result looks much better in person.



I also cut the steering wheel up to enable a better finish and drilled out all the knobs and buttons from the MSN centre console and added machined pieces.



here's the dash almost done except for the aircon vents.


Next...the wheels. This is where the MSN kit really shows it's age. Here's a picture of what I got in the kit



And after hours of work


while still not perfect, they look quite OK on the car.

More updates soon!

[Jamme]

Hello,
Nice work on the rims....!
Nice paint also.
Waiting for the next Update!
Cheers,

Jamme

[quadzero]

Your threads never fail to amaze me. As if that finish on the body isn't dazzelling enough, you go ahead and produce a fantastic interior too. I like how you did the steering wheel, you sure are a perfectionist. Fixing up the rim like that sure seems like a daunting task but it sure looks good now. Looking forward to more of this.

[gionc]

Rob: that's music for my hear.

[Scuderia.]

I was just thinking yesterday that it had been a while since you posted a thread, I was starting to get withdrawal symptons. I knew you would have been working on something. The car is going to be stunning I have no doubt.
Great work so far. Especially on those wheels, I'm glad it was you and not me. When I saw the first pics of the wheel, I was half expecting to see a machined aluminium one below it.
Keep the progress coming.

Ps - still waiting for the completed thread on your fw24. While you have your camera out, feel free to take a couple of pics of your whole collection (How many by the way?) and how you display them. I have always wanted to know this.

[auw12]

Everytime when Rob starts a new thread all I can do is sit here, hold my jaw and keep my eyes on this show.

[klutz_100]

Love it! - but where's the 250 California you keep promising

Ouch on those wheels! They look terrible. Was there no alternative source of wheels?

[godfather23]

nice project you chose. This is still one of my all time favourite cars. And I´m certain you´re giving the kit the treatment it deserves to become a super cool replica of the original!

[slk320]

Gorgeous. The interior is a masterpiece and the separate vents, floor matts, and other tidbits are amazing.

Can't wait to see what you have planned for the engine.

[auw12]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Love it! - but where's the 250 California you keep promising

Ouch on those wheels! They look terrible. Was there no alternative source of wheels?

OH yes I forgot the california spider!!!! Show us please!!!!!!

[OrangeR]

...Hopefully my kit can do the car Justice?...

Come on! Just your skills will make this car justice It's great to see a Robrex thread again!
Keep amazing us.

[mikemechanic]

Looks great Rob. I have considered this transkit a few times. I remember Alex was building one and showed how wrong the transkit was so I opted out (for now) but it looks like yours is coming together nicely.
I won't be clicking the Hiroboy link because everytime I do my Visa balance increases.
Also WTF are "micro balloons" this is something I havent heard of? Where do you get them and what do they do??

Mike.

[GTi_guy]

Let me start by saying you are doing some fine work-real silk purse out of a sow’s ear here. This was absolutely the worst trans-kit I have ever had the displeasure of subjecting myself to.

The kit itself took a month to arrive and when it finally came I was overcome with buyer’s remorse. The drivers side mirror was missing (!), the fuel doors unusable, and the seats required about a gallon of filler, and the rear diffuser’s fins were broken (1 per side). The bumper, although it looked OK, by time it was ready to be mounted was so misshapen and horrible that it took three hours to mount to the front of the car. The wheels, also looked good, but when I got into the process of preparing them, they were full of microscopic air bubbles that made them very fragile. I actually broke two when (very carefully of course) removing them from a test fit.

The side skirts were good, and the engine cover was decent, just had some tiny air bubbles that needed to be filled. The decals were also pretty decent, but for $60, you expect a lot more. I sent an email to the manufacturer, and never heard back. That said, will I ever recommend this kit to anyone? NOPE Will I ever patronize them again (see above)

I will leave you with a copy of the email, and a few pictures of the finished project.

Hello;

I just received your transkit for the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale from Ron Kertesz at http://www.racingminiatures.com/, and am most unimpressed. The front bumper was cast very poorly, requiring over an hour's worth of sanding to get the mold lines and excess resin removed. The seats are horrible, and the fuel filler cap is unusable. There was only one mirror that came in the kit, including a lack of exhaust tips, that were apparently included in prior releases, according to Alex Kustov at http://www.italianhorses.net/ and more specifically ,http://www.italianhorses.net/Reviews/MSM%20CS/msm%20cs.htm so for now, I can't even start to assemble my model.

The only redeeming qualities are the wheels, which look nice, but certainly not spectacular, and the hatch cover. While I appreciate the improvements that you have made over past releases (wheels and seat shape). I feel that other parts definitely suffered as a result. While I understand the limitations of very limited run resin kits, this kind of quality for such an expensive kit is absolutely unacceptable.

I also work at a hobby store part time, and will certainly not rave about the quality of parts when this model is completed and on display, I will also not recommend this kit to ANY of my customers. Please contact me with a solution so that you can rectify this situation. As it stands I would like the exhaust tips, a new set of mirrors, and a fuel hatch that is accurate and well cast. As it stands, I think I may order some parts from Acu-Stion to help improve the quality of this piece, and will not be terribly eager to do business with you in the future, unless this is solved to our mutual satisfaction.

I appreciate your help in this matter and anticipate a speedy solution.

Thank you,


Sean Firth

[DerXL]

Hi Rob

Your build is looking awesome !
I like the way you're interior looks. You must tell me more about those micro balloons.
I did do a google search -> they're tiny glass balls ? They must be really tiny to spray through an airbrush.
I'm curious because I need some kind of texture for the roof of my Jaguar Mk II.
The texture looks a bit coarse in the pictures. Is it finer in real life or are the pictures accurate ?

Looking forward to the next update !

[Decs0105]

This is one of my favourite cars, did you hear that thing Rob? I couldn't get the smile out of my face when I saw couple of them at the Ferrari Racing Days Nürburgring...

About the MSM transkit, I have the same kit (with the Tamiya model) in my to do pile but I don't think my parts look that bad, actually they were fine as far as I remember. I will check that tomorrow...

How did you do the prancing horses on the floor of the interior?


can't wait for the next update opcorn: