1/12 MFH Ferrari GTO 250 - Finished

[MikeA]

On 11/4/2019 at 7:45 AM, The Madhatter said:

I'm looking at these photos and it's like looking at the real thing. I have to remind myself that it's a model

I've not had much luck soldering brass so I'm guessing white metal is easier?

At any rate, this is one amazing build and I shall be watching it come together.  

 

The only brass I have soldered has been fairly tiny pieces which went together fine, albeit quite fiddly work. I did file them clean and tinned the edges first, as typically brass has some type of coating on it to prevent tarnishing before you use it. With these much larger white metal parts, I use 115C degree (I think - definitely higher than the 70C variety) and a 45W variable temperature soldering iron with a 3mm spade tip on it. The temperature is set below the melt point of a piece of scrap white metal from the kit and I brush flux into the join, heat the join with the iron, and add slithers of solder which then run nicely along the join. For the work so far on this kit I have just used bulldog clips to hold the pieces together while soldering them. I did use glues on the engine block and to add the ancillaries, but if I could do it again I would use solder wherever possible as it is a much better joint.

 

Thank you for the comments guys! Much appreciated. Assuming this kit is indicative of the level of other full detail kits from MFH, they are absolutely stunning and extremely rewarding models to work on. Their website is highly hazardous for any credit card!

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[MikeA]

Well it's been a long time....... Essentially all of my modelling gear was in storage moving from Australia back to NZ in December 2019, then whilst we were in temporary accommodation looking for work and a place to live in NZ. Then of course Covid interfered, which dragged out the process of house hunting for another three months. And after finally getting settled in August 2020, I managed to fracture a heel bone. This meant unpacking stuff and organising the new digs became a tedious affair to say the least. Finally, around Christmas I was able to gingerly place the offended heel on the floor for more than a few seconds and managed to retrieve all of my modelling stuff. All first world problems really, but did cause a serious lapse in this project. So, a small update.

 

First up, I mounted the rear leaf springs onto the chassis. The front has to wait until I have a 0000 Phillips head screw driver arrive - I have down to 000 size but the tiny screws demand something even finer. 

 

 

Next up was a start on the Borrani wire wheels. The spare wheel is a relatively simple affair built from all white metal parts. The spokes are grouped in layers which are glued to the hub parts and sections of the rim. It took around 1 1/2 hours to build. It looks OK from a distance, but is rather coarse in its detail, although will eventually live in the car boot away from direct view most of the time.

 

 

Each of the other wheels is made from a beautifully turned and pre-drilled aluminium rim and a four piece hub. These are assembled after screwing the hub and rim into a supplied jig and then linking the rim and hub with 72 stainless steel spokes. Each spoke must be bent to fit into the holes in the hub and a separate ferrule is added to each spoke. The spokes are then trimmed to fit. The first wheel took around six hours to finish, and I won't be doing any of the others in one sitting. My eyes could barely focus on completion. I'm sure the holes started dancing around.......

 

I did discover that the key step is preparing the hub as the holes become increasingly difficult to determine as the build progresses, and they all need to be perfectly clean to accept the individual spokes. I did try soldering the parts together, but found gluing to provide an easier to deal with result. 

 

First the hub parts - 

 

 

I used a slab of aluminium to build the wheels on. I drilled appropriate holes in the slab to insert the spokes into and then bent the ends to the right angle, as determined on the supplied etched templates. Very easy in the end.

 

 

A wheel partly through being built, with the ends of the spokes for the layer being built yet to be trimmed. The spokes were fixed into place with gel superglue, although once they are all finished, I will use a layer of epoxy on the outside of the rims where the spokes protrude through to reduce the chance of any coming loose.

 

 

The complete wheel, although the valve and any balance weights have yet to be fitted. There really is no comparison with the spare, and certainly worth the effort.

 

 

 

The front wheels are done. Now onto the rear ones. They will test the eyes a bit more as the rims are about a third wider, which means the hub is buried deeper and just a little more difficult to see when inserting the spokes.

 

Hopefully progress will be a tad more timely from here on in.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by MikeA
Getting photo links sorted

[The Madhatter]

Great to see you back at this Mike! Those front wheels look way to complex for me, so I'll happily watch you do them

where abouts in NZ did you move to?

[dodgem37]

Bravo.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Scotsman]

What an astonishing build of what is obviously a work of art - and I'm so glad to have found this build - and as  some encouragement - how about this .. a $40 million car in central London 

 

 

[MikeA]

8 hours ago, The Madhatter said:

Great to see you back at this Mike! Those front wheels look way to complex for me, so I'll happily watch you do them

where abouts in NZ did you move to?

We moved to the Bay of Plenty - east coast of the North Island. Certainly enjoyed our years in South west Victoria, but the call of grandchildren was too strong.

 

Thank you all for the comments! Thats a very pristine looking example - must be amazing to see and hear that sort of car on the streets. 

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[MikeA]

I've moved onto the brakes and wheel set-ups. The front suspension is on hold at the moment. The fine screw driver arrived, but I have decided that the 1 x 3mm screws holding the front stub axle assemblies are just too fine for the job and I now have some 1.2 x 5mm ones winging their way from Germany. The brake assemblies are finished though, and ready to go on once the screws arrive. The discs are lightly scored by rotating in a drill against sandpaper and then oil washes and some Vallejo rust was used to finish them. There was an unwelcome trick with the threaded ends to the axles, which the spinners screw on to. Turns out these were sized for the originally supplied cast wheels, whereas later editions of this kit have the machined aluminium rims with individual spokes. The trick is that the later wheel hubs are slightly deeper and the threaded insert should not be placed all the way in as this leaves insufficient thread showing. Fortunately I discovered this before the superglue holding the first one I did in place had cured so was able to pull it out a millimetre or so. You can see the gap in the first photo.

 

 

 

Also completed are the two blue top bendix fuel pumps which I scratch built to mount on the rear subframe to replace the mechanical pump supplied with the kit. I have no idea what fuel filter was used so have just left the kit supplied one in place. There are two foil bands around the rear axle tube in preparation for the diff oil cooler which was slung below this (not supplied with the kit as this was a later modification).  I'm waiting on some suitably sized connectors for the hose that runs between the diff and cooler before I can finish this area off. 

 

 

 

Having gone as far as I can on the running gear in the meantime, I then turned my attention to the interior. The floor has received some scribed panels and a riveted panel covering a hole where the battery was originally mounted - although I doubt that will even be visible under the passenger seat. The interior is almost all black, but I have weathered it with oil washes and pastels. The aim is to have something that looks like it has had 40 years of continual use but has been kept relatively tidy, just never restored. Sorry about the photos - it is hard to get the black without washing it out as I don't have a permanent modelling set-up here. Photos of the real car show carpet fitted on the rear bench behind the seats for at least some of the time, so I included this from fine felt to add some further texture. There is still some leather work to go on the central transmission tunnel. 

 

 

 

 

Along the way on this one I got tired of breaking out the airbrush to spray matt or semi-gloss black, which are pretty much the only colours besides the red body colour on this beast. I picked up some Tamiya rattle cans and became an instant convert, at least for the base coats. It's only taken me several decades ......... It is my first large scale car, so I'll use that as an excuse.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

Edited February 16, 2021 by MikeA
Typo correction

[LSP_Ron]

Welcome to the  Tamiya rattle can black.  They work well.

[MikeA]

Just a couple of photos of the scratched items added to the transmission tunnel - a cupholder (I think), a knee pad and the saddle for holding a log book etc. The second photo shows the cockpit assembly loosely sitting on the frame.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to upholster the bucket seats. All of the builds I have found on line have opted for variations of the original blue canvas that was used. This particular car has had black leather, but the seats don't have nice easy flattish panels. All sharp curves. I do have some very fine "leatherette" but its not stretchy enough. The fine leather I have does stretch nicely around and over the curves, but it means cutting it when fixed on the seat, which I'm not brimming with confidence over. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[MikeA]

It's been a bit of a frustrating time still waiting for the delivery of minuscule items from the other side of the planet. Until I get the screws and hose connectors I need, I cannot progress the running gear and get the chassis finished. In the meantime I have worked on finishing the wheels and moving on with the cockpit.

 

First up are the outer and inner views of the wheels. I did sand the rubber tread slightly and sprayed a lacquer flat on the inner surfaces. I've left the outer rim surfaces and spokes as they come in the kit, but am tempted to flatten them off as well. My understanding is that these are almost always dull on the racing wheels, but I'm really not sure. They certainly do look very pretty, and the outer body shell will represent a well maintained finish. I definitely need to add some pastel and oils weathering on the inner surfaces.

 

 

I got quite fast with the wheels. The first one took 6 hours of effort. The last one took two Frank Zappa albums, although one is a double. 

 

I then moved onto the dashboard. The main piece is a white resin part on which all of the individual white metal detail parts are attached. The kit has the row of switches to the right of the instrument panel having nine switches, whereas the car I am doing only has five plus the ignition. The wiring arrangement to the right of the dashboard also differs, but I ended up compromising and using the kit parts, mainly for a bit of colour other than black. The wiring is painted solder as my stocks of fine wire seem to have gone astray in the house shifts. The upper parts of the dashboard and the instrument panel are finished in a textured finish. I achieved this by spraying Humbrol flat black thinned with turpentine, which slows it's drying time, and dappling it with some fine sponge.

 

 

The steering wheel parts include a spacer (2nd from the right) made from plastic rod covered with foil. Only the outer surface will show as it will be sandwiched between the parts to the left and right in the photo. Mason's car has the spacer on the steering column in front of the switch unit to position the steering wheel slightly forward towards the driver and, more significantly, just a bit higher above the driver's legs to allow for a more comfortable driving position and easier entry/exit. This is apparently the only adjustment available in the driving position of the car.

 

The steering wheel itself is a central etched piece onto which the two clear resin front and rear halves of the wheel attach. The etched piece provides a polished metal strip around the inner circumference between the two wood halves, just as on the prototype. It was a pain - the resin pieces were warped and only partly responded to hot water. The resin was given an enamel sand finish and then burnt umber oil paint was dragged thinly over it to provide a woodgrain effect. I'll take a better photo of it once the final clear coat is on. 

 

The instruments are supposed to have a piece of supplied clear acetate over each one. The problem is that the acetate discs are sized to sit over the outer rim of the instruments, which looked shocking. I fitted them and then took them off immediately before even taking a photo. On the actual car, the glass sits within the rim so that the rim edge sits proud above the glass. I may punch some better sized discs if I have the correct size punches, or use a liquid clear to simulate the glass - either would be an improvement. Leaving the rims proud clearly shows the fine rim of the central rev counter as compared with the smaller temperature and pressure instruments, just as on the full sized original.

 

 

Mason's car also has all of the switches labelled to guide the different drivers. Unfortunately the lettering would need to be only 0.6mm high which is too small for dry lettering and I am unable to print decals, so will do without.

 

All comments welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

 

[Astro32]

That's some beautiful work. Out of my budget though sadly. I have the old Revell 12th scale diecast but it's nothing like the MFH offering. 

[MikeA]

22 hours ago, Astro32 said:

That's some beautiful work. Out of my budget though sadly. I have the old Revell 12th scale diecast but it's nothing like the MFH offering. 

These kits are expensive, but in terms of hours of enjoyment getting them built they do offer value for money. Having said that, not sure that I'll ever afford another one!

 

I managed to punch out suitable discs from the supplied acetate disc for the smaller instruments. The larger one I ended up cutting from clear acetate sheet after a misadventure trying to modify the oversized kit piece.

 

 

The next photos are of the steering wheel, although it is only fitted rather than glued in place on the switch mount. Once the decal on the centre boss is completely dry, I shall use some Microscale Klear to build up a dome over it. The close ups certainly show some of the struggles I had getting all of the parts to fully align, but in typical viewing range these do not show.

 

 

 

 

I then turned my attention back to the seat. The fronts were bolstered with some Milliput on the sides of the bottom cushion. I'm still agonising over how to upholster them. I think I've settled on dividing the seats up into the centre panel, sides and seat back. I used masking tape to form a pattern for the centre panel and cut some leather which is just draped over the seat to check the fit. My nervousness is that this process is pretty much a one shot as the glued leather would be extremely difficult to remove from the seat. Might try double sided tape.....

 

 

 

Any upholstery suggestions especially welcome!

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dashotgun]

b

Edited March 14, 2021 by dashotgun

[dashotgun]

boy they are expensive!  here is a  cobra for 780 usd  https://www.modelfactoryhiro.com/SHOP/K501_K502_K503.html

[dashotgun]

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