The most exotic of Italian Exotics

[mrm]

I am a little hotrodded out at the moment and my wife always laughs at me that I need to build something different. So I am going to build not just an Italian exotic, I've built my share of prancing horses and raging bulls, but THE Italian exotic and arguably THE most exotic of all exotics. The Pagani Huayra by Aoshima. From all the Pagani cars this is my least favorite. I find it way overdone in terms of design and the fact that it has become the middle east's measuring stick for kitschy show off compensation contests does not help it much in my book. But I have had this box collect dust for almost three years now and it is time to grab this bull by its horns. 

This is my model

I have not decided on color combos yet, but I am headed in the grey metallic/ pearl white direction with some wild interior. 

Something like this perhaps

 

Or something just a touch more toned down..

Either way, from all the videos I watched about this model and everything I have read, it is basically impossible to build it with functioning hoods. It was just never designed that way and it is meant to be built and displayed with either the hoods open or closed. It does offer some amazing detail, so I will be opting for the full display of inner detail. It looks tho, I firs must order like 300 sheets of carbon fiber decals for this thing. 

Either way, stay tuned....

[mrm]

At first, this kit seems rather intimidating. There is like a million pieces and not many are for the bodywork. lots and lots of really fine thin and fragile parts. It should be fun!

I decided to start by tackling the body first. It comes in a crisp white plastic and as I usually do, I'll be gluing some pieces in advance before any paint, even if the instructions call for a different sequence. 

The rear engine cover has vents for the air intake that are faithfully represented by moulding them in pieces. Gluing them is not an issue, but filling them and sanding in those crevices can be testing.

 

Underneath is only slightly better. Because of all the nightmarish fitment issues I've read about, I removed as much material as I could. If hoods are fixed open, all that inner surface will be covered in carbon fiber. 

 

The rear facia is comprised of five pieces. Depending on how you plan on building your model color wise, you may want to paint these pieces before assembly. In my case this entire piece will be covered in carbon fiber, so no reason not to glue everything together in advance. Also this way it's easier to foresee any fitment issues at earlier stage.

 

The side body work and side intakes are moulded in three separate pieces. In my case these pieces are also going to be completely covered in carbon fiber, as alf of them are the body work, which I am doing in exposed carbon weave and the upper half are part of the monocoque, which is notoriously exposed carbon on all Huayra cars. At least as far as I know. 

 

After considerable amount of sanding, pretty much all body panels are ready for primer, which seems to be the easiest part of this kit. 

 

Stay tuned and thanks for looking.....

[jaymcminn]

You're off to a good start. I have one of these I've been getting around to building for several years now. I even have the color scheme picked out... pearl white with navy blue interior and (maybe) blue-tinted carbon fiber. The carbon fiber can't be that much worse than the LaFerrari I did a few years back.

[mrm]

I started to cut random parts off the trees and to prep some of them with the intent of visualizing how things would look together and getting closer to choice of color combos.

The seats have their backs separate, which I glued and puttied the seams. It is nice to see that part of the seats that is in contrasting color on a lot of these cars is a separate piece. Saves on masking. I wish the seat backs had the same feature, but they would have to be masked if a two color combo is chosen. 

 

I am very pleasantly surprised at the variety of options the kit offers. For example the doors are mostly carbon fiber on the real car with a leather insert, housing the impressive speakers. not only these inserts are molded separate, which is a huge help in painting, but there are two different sets with different design speakers.

 

There are also two optional luggage pieces provided, which fit on the shelves behind the seats like on the real car. There are no attachment tabs or holes, so it is totally up to the builder whether to use them.

The only issue is that they are hollow with no backs. I fixed that with some sheet styrene and Tamiya grey putty.

 

If you noticed the two wholes in the middle of that shelf behind the seats, they are for another optional piece.

You can have a somewhat discreet storage compartment in the middle (which looks better without any bags on its side) for a cleaner look.

 

Or you can put a subwoofer enclosure in the middle, which in my opinion "needs" the luggage on each side to balance its protrusion. 

 

As it is often the case in situations like this, I put the decision to a vote with my kids. 

Both my sons opted for the whole shebang - subwoofer, bags and all.....

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/800x600q90/923/XezHgw.jpg

 

We all agreed on the choice of door inserts. All this helped me get a lot closer to final colors for this exotic machine. The interior is going to have quite few blue pieces in it for sure.

 

That's it for today.

Stay tuned and thanks for looking...

[mrm]

6 minutes ago, jaymcminn said:

You're off to a good start. I have one of these I've been getting around to building for several years now. I even have the color scheme picked out... pearl white with navy blue interior and (maybe) blue-tinted carbon fiber. The carbon fiber can't be that much worse than the LaFerrari I did a few years back.

Your comment was made while I was typing my last post. Great minds think alike, because that is exactly the color combo we are pretty much set on with my kids. Well, with a little twist on the interior. Actually we are set on the blue interior, but were not 100% on the type of white or bright silver for the exterior. Also I am going for gold wheels to match the engine and suspension bits, while my older son is campaigning very strongly against it, saying that it needs black wheels. His brother is with him, but thinks that the black wheels would need a thin blue stripe. 

I have quite a bit of carbon fiber decals it seems, but I still ordered some more today. I may start on some pieces tomorrow. 

Perhaps we can have a build off! LOL

Edited July 19, 2022 by mrm

[jaymcminn]

I was actually thinking of going with clear blue over the satin chrome on the wheels for an anodised effect. The nice thing about the Huayra is that "tasteful" doesn't really enter into the discussion so I'm going for broke. I like the gold myself, but only if you go with the white. If you go silver, then definitely the black wheels.

[Mopar - D]

Very interesting build Michael with lots of good information on how to go about building it. I’ve never built a Exotic car before but I might some day so I’m going to be following along here to see how you build yours. I like your colors and I’m with you on the gold wheels. 

[mrm]

15 minutes ago, jaymcminn said:

I was actually thinking of going with clear blue over the satin chrome on the wheels for an anodised effect. The nice thing about the Huayra is that "tasteful" doesn't really enter into the discussion so I'm going for broke. I like the gold myself, but only if you go with the white. If you go silver, then definitely the black wheels.

My thoughts precisely. Most of these cars have interiors worthy of an Albanian brothel. Which is exactly why I like Pagani's earlier cars way better. I am keeping my Ace in the sleeve with the interior until I make it. I do have some Bianco Fuji paint left from some previous projects, which is a Ferrari tri-coat, which as beautiful as it is, I hate working with. I also have have some original Ferrari Argento Nurburgring, which is about the brightest silver there is. I am leaning towards the Bianco Fuji, as it will go bad if I don't use it. I've had it for almost ten years and almost finished it on my mailbox, when I got bored a couple of years ago. 

[mrm]

19 minutes ago, Mopar - D said:

Very interesting build Michael with lots of good information on how to go about building it. I’ve never built a Exotic car before but I might some day so I’m going to be following along here to see how you build yours. I like your colors and I’m with you on the gold wheels. 

Thank you. 

I am winging this one as I go. Like Jason above said, you can go for broke on this particular car, as literally anything goes. 

Here's a prime example

[Andrew McD]

The interior of these machines is positively frightening but I have no doubt you will do something fascinating with it.😎. I will enjoy following your progress!

[mrm]

14 hours ago, Andrew McD said:

The interior of these machines is positively frightening but I have no doubt you will do something fascinating with it.😎. I will enjoy following your progress!

Thank you Andrew. I have some cool ideas about the interior. 

[mrm]

The more I study the instructions on this kit, trust me, it's a good idea to study THESE instructions, The more confident I am that starting with the cockpit/interior is the right way to go.

So, today I first sprayed my SEM color on and let the sun speed up the drying process, which with SEM paints is super fast anyway.But considering the amount of masking, some extra UV assisted cure time could be of help. 

 

Then all the blue areas I was going to need to stay blue were masked off. A rather tedious job. 

 

Tamiya is my go-to masking tape of choice, but for really finicky jobs where I need sharpest line possible, I use bare metal foil. 

 

After everything was masked, parts were divided into two groups. One received a coat of white primer and then a coat of Tamiya TS-7 Racing white, which to me is the most beige color without calling it beige. The other group received a coat of Tamiya TS-40 Metallic Black without any primer, as the SEM already took that role. 

 

And that's when I realized that I just had my second senior moment in just four days. I dug out all the SEM color cans I had and put aside the two blues I liked. And then sprayed all the parts with the wrong one, called Shadow Blue. I did not catch it during masking and during spraying the following colors. But I knew it was wrong teh minute I mocked up my parts, as it was way too dark. I love the color, but it's just not.....well....Just not Pagani enough for this build. 

So, the entire masking process was repeated, followed by the correct blue color and then everything was unmasked again. Much better combo!

 

Now I'm starting to have a true Pagani interior with all its excess. Except it's just getting started, because everything that is not blue or white is going to be covered in three different sizes of carbon fiber. There is still one more color element to be added, but I have to wait for my Scalemotorsport order to come in with all the carbon sheets I ordered. 

 

And while I was playing with white primer, I decided to shoot the brake calipers. And after cleaning my airbrush like a million times, I thought "what's one more time" and sprayed some Tamiya Mica Blue on them. Me likes...

 

Stay tuned and thanks for looking....

 

[beeRS]

This looks like a complex build. You’re making fine progress though. I’ll be watching with interest. 

[Oldmopars]

On 7/18/2022 at 7:07 PM, mrm said:

Thank you. 

I am winging this one as I go. Like Jason above said, you can go for broke on this particular car, as literally anything goes. 

Here's a prime example

WOW, and thanks for posting that. I think I got some vomit on my computer screen. 

What were they thinking?

[mrm]

10 hours ago, Oldmopars said:

WOW, and thanks for posting that. I think I got some vomit on my computer screen. 

What were they thinking?

This on the picture is the interior of the Huayra Lapo. It is even more hideous on the outside. It was made for Lapo Elkan - the heir to the Fiat empire and CEO of Ferrari. A controversial persona with middle-eastern blood and questionable taste. Back in the day he was driving a matt baby blue Ferrari 599 GTB with interior stitched from jeans. One of the seats had a back pocket randomly placed on it. His Huayra was for sale almost ten years after it was made with only 6 miles on the odometer. A lot of these cars were purchased and owned as automotive sculptures trailered to shows and events and never driven. 

[mrm]

10 hours ago, beeRS said:

This looks like a complex build. You’re making fine progress though. I’ll be watching with interest. 

Thank you Scott. 

It is a complex build. And to do it justice, there is a lot of carbon work involved. Chassis and engine are no joke either. 

 

Its gonna be fun with different sizes and types of carbon fiber weave, all strategically placed in particular directions. My back and eyes are already hurting just thinking about it. LOL

[Oldmopars]

From the pictures of all the carbon fiber you are going to need to do, you may want to look and see if there is any Hydro-Dip carbon fiber print that would be the right scale look. Hydro-dipping would be a lot easier than attempting to form flat decal sheet over complex curves. 

2 things:

1. I will watch with interest, I think this will be fun to watch and cool build. 

2. Better you than me. A build like this would require me to seek mental professional help. 

A bunch of Carbon Fiber Hydro-dip options here:

https://watertransferprinting.com/product-cat/hydrographic-film/carbon-fiber/page/2/

Edited July 20, 2022 by Oldmopars

[mrm]

5 hours ago, Oldmopars said:

From the pictures of all the carbon fiber you are going to need to do, you may want to look and see if there is any Hydro-Dip carbon fiber print that would be the right scale look. Hydro-dipping would be a lot easier than attempting to form flat decal sheet over complex curves. 

2 things:

1. I will watch with interest, I think this will be fun to watch and cool build. 

2. Better you than me. A build like this would require me to seek mental professional help. 

A bunch of Carbon Fiber Hydro-dip options here:

https://watertransferprinting.com/product-cat/hydrographic-film/carbon-fiber/page/2/

Lol. Yeah, I may need mental help after that too.

About the hydro dip, it’s not an option. Even if they made scale options for about the four kinds of carbon I need, there is no way to control its direction with precision. So I’ll stick to decals and try to keep my sanity. It’s not impossible. It will just take a little longer than usual. 

[mrm]

Yesterday  I did not get much bench time, but enough to mess with the brakes and to try to play with some older carbon decals I have left. 

One of my favotire tools/materials I like to use is Liquid Mask. It is basically pure Latex. You brush it on. The thicker you apply it, the easier it is to remove later on. 

 

Once dry it shrinks around your part and becomes clear or purple or pink, depending on the brand you use. but it creates perfect seal, that nothing will bleed under.

I sprayed the rotors with few alternating coats of black and gunmetal, straight out of the spray cans at a considerable distance. The idea was for the cans to kinda "spit" and make the finish dotted with both colors, to replicate the carbon discs the Huayra is using. 

I did not remember it, but apparently back when I ordered this kit, I did get the photo etch set that Aoshima makes for it too.

 

It does have in it rotor surfaces, but I did not use them as they have to be painted anyway. Instead  chose to use just the rotors "hats" in the centers, which I painted black and then picked the detail out.

 

The rotors were sprayed once more with clear flat, the center details were added and then covered with clear gloss and the calipers were unmasked and received the Pagani decals and were then also covered with a thin coat of clear. I am happy with them now. 

 

Next I turned my attention to some interior pieces. The door inserts received the polished aluminum speaker surrounds, courtesy of some bare metal foil.

 

Then the speakers themselves received some 1/24 twill weave carbon cones. I have not done carbon in ages and it definitely will take some time to get back to my previous capabilities with it.

The edges of the cones are not perfect, which is not an issue as they need their borders painted with a thin line of flat black and their centers are going to be silver/chrome.

 

So, at the end of day yesterday, I had my brakes done, together with the speaker inserts on my door panels and subwoofer. And this is what I am starting with today. 

 

 

[mrm]

Look what the FEDEX man just dropped off...

 

Now we're in business and I am excited!!!

[mrm]

Time to play with some metalizers......

The wheels and parts of the engine were first sprayed Alclad's Pale gold.

 

It is really cool color and very realistic looking, but I was more after the gold anodized all out look. So the gold was followed by Alclad crear yellow. 

 

Now we have a true million dollar finish on that engine. just needs all the carbon fiber added.

 

The pulleys were done with a Mollotow marker and the belts received flat black. All this will be completely buried and never seen once the model is complete, but why not.....?

 

Valve covers received semi-gloss black, while the shields bellow them were done in flat black, together with some of the caps. 

 

Then I had real fun with the exhaust system and turbos. I think I spent more time cleaning my airbrush than actually using it. 

 

The intercoolers piping received some dark aluminum.

 

And the transmission received some magnesium.

 

 

[mrm]

next thing, way earlier than expected, DHL rang the door bell with a package from Japan, which completely destroyed my concentration for some time. 

I mustered all the self control I had in me and after brief inspection of the contents, I closed the box and put it away. 

Quick lunch with the kiddo, an old episode of Sheff Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and I was back on the workbench. 

I don't know why exactly, but I decided to glue together most of the frame before painting. I can still slide the engine in, but the exhaust is going to be a hard one. 

Anyway..... Polished aluminum, plus same treatment as the wheels and engine parts on the suspension components, makes for quite the site.

 

Some quick mock ups...

 

Now back to carbon fiber, to get this engine closer to done. Besides the carbon there are quite few decals that go on these components.

Stay tuned and thanks for looking...

Edited July 21, 2022 by mrm

[Mopar - D]

Michael thanks for sharing your step by step on your building. Looks awesome!

[Timonator]

Following,  this is looking really cool !

[TarheelRick]

Just watching your detail work so far and realizing what must be left with the c/f decals, I have already made an appointment with my mental health professional. I grew up too used to AMT simplicity and liked it.  Now I have done a couple of intricate builds and a few scratchbuild projects, but nothing as intricate as this one.  Keep me entertained with your abilities and I will continue to drool in my Sippy cup while watching.