Plastheniker

Thanks for the replies! Matt, I remember your own outstanding XK 220 very well. That peculiar green is really attractive. I mixed my paint following the pictures of an article in a German car magazine (no www in those days). The very bright lighting and my aged camera make it look a bit different on the pictures. I would describe the colour as a bluish medium grey metallic in reality. Dan, I used simple acrylic clear dyed with black writing ink. I had continous problems, however, achieving an even tint with my airbrush without trapping visible tiny air bubbles. Trying a full-size spray gun the result became perfect on the first attempt.

Both are equally beautiful!

Hi, Though I built this model more than 20 years ago I still remember that this was another kit that justified Tamiya's reputatation of supplying almost perfect kits. I found no issues, and the finished model looked convincing. Nevertheless despite all its perfection this kit would have been no project for the absolute novice. IMO such (almost) perfect kits are no longer a real challenge, and the individual work of the modeler (his thumbprint so to say) recedes more and more into the background, so I avoid them for 10 or 15 years unless I have a very special interest in the 1:1 car.

Excellent work on a less excellent kit! Great colour choice! IMO the pictures with the top raised look best.

Great kit, flawless execution!

Perfect, IMO no need to change anything!

Probably the best finished model of this kit I have seen so far. Fantastic! BTW the first pictures are perfect.

Your mirror-like paintwork is impressive!

Thanks for the response! After searching the web I am rather sure that the lateral displacement of the wheels is a shortcoming of the kit. Besides this I don't remember any issues, but as implied I built the model about 20 years ago. You can find a detailed tutorial here:

Perfect colour choice and flawless execution!

Hi, In the late eighties and nineties Italeri released a series of vintage 250/275/365 Ferraris. Most of them were also sold by ROG. At that time these kits were well-priced and offered excellent quality. However they showed the same conspicious and incomprehensible shortcoming: The wheels were much too wide. The least that the modeler had to do was reducing the width of the rims and the tyres. In those days the Italeri plastic spoke rims were not bad by comparison but the spoke thickness was still completely out of scale. Therefore I replaced them by home-made wires as usual. Apart from the wheels this kit is highly recommendable . If you can still get it you won't be disappointed.

Clean result and the right colour!

Clean execution and a beautiful colour combination!

Harry, from me, too, the rating "museum quality". If not yet said, this kit was orinally released by Bandai in the mid-seventies, as far as I remember still with plastic spokes. Anyway, in those days I saw it once finished, and I wasn't impressed. What a difference!

I spotted this thread yesterday. We all should remember that we spent many hours of fun here in the forum free of any charge. We owe that to Gregg and to Harry who sacrificed a lot of time doing an excellent job. It is time for us to give something back, life should not be a one-way street. Smaller or larger amounts, everything counts!

Thanks for the comments! To be honest I don't remember after such a long time what I did on these particular seats but usually I do this: When there is a sharp groove or a clearly raised line I spray the seats with the main colour (here black). Then I dilute the second paint (red) and let it flow into the groove or along the raised line. When the red is completely dry touching up can be done with a small brush or with a black permanent marker with a very small tip. If necessary I guide the latter with a piece of styrene edge as a ruler. When there is neither a groove nor a raised line I spray the seats with the main colour (black) and foil the borderline with BMF. After cutting with a #11 blade along this borderline I remove the foil from the areas intended to be painted red. Burnishing down the foil vigorously and sealing the edge with clear prevents paint from bleeding under the foil. I hope this is understandable.

Really perfect by the dividing white stripes. Beautiful!

Though I build my own models always factory-fresh and clean I love your work. Absolutely realistic!

Considering the age of the model this is a remarkable result!

Hi, my old instruction sheet says that Tamiya released this kit in 1995, so I suppose that I built it 15 or 20 years ago. I still remember that it was a typical Tamiya kit: Pricey, without major issues and giving a convincing final result without much effort, but on the other hand no real challenge for experienced modelers. IMO the same can be said about most of these modern, sophisticated Tamiya/Fujimi/Hasegawa/Aoshima kits. Recently a fellow modeler called them "poacher's kits" by analogy to the football ( aka soccer) term "poacher's goal" . Anyway this is the finished model:

IMO one of the best GM designs and a beautiful model, too!

So do I!

Very clean result! Isn't it possible to attach the emblems with a minimum of acrylic clear?

Nice details and attractive paint scheme!