Zoom Zoom Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 This was my annual LeMans palooza build this past weekend with a crew of other ACME friends in north Georgia. The model is the Hasegawa '57 Testa Rossa with their optional photoetch wire wheels, and an aftermarket set of Renaissance decals for the 1958 NART #22 Testa Rossa chassis #0732. Rather than stick to rules that only allow primer and parts cleanup, I "cheated" by painting the white body and prepainting most of the parts before race day, since I wanted this model to come out a bit nicer than I'd likely get doing a true 24 hour build. If you are counting, I already built two other white Ferraris in the past month and I did my prep work for this one while working on the others. There's something to be said about "economy building" when you spend a lot of time at the bench building similar subjects. I masked/sprayed the stripes on race day with Tamiya TS 15 blue; I didn't have confidence that I could get the decals to conform over the hood bulge and I couldn't match their color either. This was a truly enjoyable build, it is a fantastic kit to work with (if you remember my ranting about the other Ferraris I built this month, this was the polar opposite of those in this respect), just enough detail to make it interesting, and takes aftermarket parts well, and engineered to fit like the best in the business. I learned from my previous TR build and from other builders that the rear bulkhead is a tricky fit as the instructions have you glue it in before final assembly. This is not necessary and places extreme stress on the body stretching over the interior where the side pieces are glued. It's easy to avoid; place the bulkhead inside the body and then snap the chassis into place, the only glue needed at the crossmember under the radiator in front. The bulkhead will then snap into place on the floorpan between the tube frame pieces, and the seats will drop into place without problem from above. Our club prez Henry did my seatbelts for me; I forgot my own aftermarket seatbelt kit and didn't want to use the kit-based decals for them. I shot a nice shiny coat of white on his M1. All of us LeMans-palooza builders were helping each other out with tools, supplies, and encouragement. My seats were pretty easy to get the white piping; I primed them in Tamiya white primer over the black plastic, shot them Italian red, shot dull clear, then carefully sanded/scraped the red off the piping areas...it worked really well. Can't wait for next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Cullinan Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Very nice looking old racer,the lines on her are incredible.And of course your build looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pro 48 Fleetline Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 wow just wow amazing stuff right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonoPed Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Beautiful build, Bob! One day I'll build mine, but I gotta find decals for this car: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Gibbons Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Absolutely a beautiful build of a stunning car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Beautiful job. Spectacular, even. But of course, I've come to expect that from you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 Very nice build. However, those wheels don't match up to photos of the real thing...wonder if some of the other aftermarket PE rims are more accurate? Can't say, I don't have any others. I would expect the MFH wheels to be nearly perfect, as they should for more than double the price. They're also OOP. I didn't get mine right; too late in the build sequence I realized that no matter how hard I was trying to get them lined up correctly, I had gotten some of the steps wrong. You have to follow the instruction sequence to a "T", that would also mean looking at the parts carefully to make sure they are oriented correctly to each other, and to the alignment pin on the wheel rim. That said, hardly any photoetch wheel looks just like a real miniature wire wheel. The only way to get that is to hand lace them. These look a lot better than the plastic ones, and look better in person than in photos, I'm pretty picky and they look fine to me. Just like some modern Revell bodies, you have to "be there" to get it. Judging purely by photos isn't necessarily a ticket to happiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Keck Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 GREAT JOB! 24 hours? I couldn't do it in 24 DAYS! wow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigmaman Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Dang thats nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnar Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 VERY NICE FERRARI 250 TR! CHEERS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc @ MPC Motorsports Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 GREAT JOB! 24 hours? I couldn't do it in 24 DAYS! wow Same here...Bellissimo!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 Thanks for the comments! As for 24 hours; well...I worked on this one before the race, over the period of a couple months actually. One weekend during the early spring I got the body smoothed and ready for primer, another about a month ago got the body painted and polished, and while building a couple other kits recently I was able to do the painting on all the sub-assembly parts, so that come race day my only painting was to mask/spray the stripes (the masking took some time), and a few brush-painted details on parts that had been previously sprayed w/the airbrush. I essentially spent the day in "final assembly" mode. Total time on this kit was probably close to 24 hours, but my cheating was doing all the prep/painting beforehand. Hey..the racers spend months preparing, so I figured I could as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehansen Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 Excellent job on a challenging kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Hamilton Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 Beautiful work, Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kombi Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 This turned out fantastic! I also appreciate reading the tips on fitting the body as I'm working on the "Chassis.0714" version of this and I'm absolutely in fear of this step. I'll probably ask you some very specific questions once I get to final assembly time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted June 17, 2010 Author Share Posted June 17, 2010 This turned out fantastic! I also appreciate reading the tips on fitting the body as I'm working on the "Chassis.0714" version of this and I'm absolutely in fear of this step. I'll probably ask you some very specific questions once I get to final assembly time. Thanks! Nothing at all to fear if you keep the bulkhead part separate from the chassis. In fact once everything is done on the chassis, before the bulkhead is installed, go ahead and do a test fit of the chassis. Place the bulkhead on the chassis/interior where it belongs to see how it fits. Then turn the body over and lay the bulkhead inside the body, a bit forward of where it will seat. Then install the chassis, rear wheelwells first, and rotate it so the chassis snaps into the locators at the back of the body. The front of the chassis should slide upwards into the body, you might have slight contact of the headers on the very edges but it shouldn't be an issue. Turn the model over so it's sitting normally, and you should be able to simply snap that bulkhead in place; the pieces of tubular chassis on either side of where the seats go will hold it securely. After making sure it fits (I had no problems at all), you can disassemble and do the assembly permanently. The seats simply drop in place once the body/chassis have been mated. Test fit, then glue. Bottom cushions first, then seat backs. It's really easy. And don't worry that you didn't glue the bulkhead; it's in there pretty tight and the seats once glued in place will keep it from moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elan Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 You never cease to amaze me Bob. Another incredible build!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Absolutely gorgeous Bob! My favorite '50's Ferrari racer! Those wheels look fine to me--------some restored ones I see the rims are a bit too shiny. I have this kit along with the upgrade parts.........who knows when I'll get around to building it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janne Herajärvi Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Gorgeous work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Barrow Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Looks great! Did you just cut out the "scoop" at the front of the hood bulge? I can't tell if there's mesh or PE in there. I've been holding out hope for a non-pontoon TR58 (or 59/60) from Hasegawa, but I might just have to crack down and get this one now that I've heard there's a way around the bulkhead-cracking-the-fender-seam issue. I think the wheels look as good as PE wheels can, especially once they're painted silver (which is 100% correct for this era) My seats were pretty easy to get the white piping; I primed them in Tamiya white primer over the black plastic, shot them Italian red, shot dull clear, then carefully sanded/scraped the red off the piping areas...it worked really well. Why can't they just mold everything in white!?!?!? Wouldn't have to be so careful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted June 18, 2010 Author Share Posted June 18, 2010 (edited) Looks great! Did you just cut out the "scoop" at the front of the hood bulge? I can't tell if there's mesh or PE in there. Thanks! You found the one area I haven't finished; I need to get some "blacken it" for the mesh that will fit in the opening. Paint doesn't work as well on brass, though I think for 100% authenticity it should be painted dark blue and white to match the paint on the body. Edited June 18, 2010 by Zoom Zoom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemoose Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 Yes, spectacular. Superb paint job, that model is a jewel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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