Enzoenvy1

Now that is a nice looking drag car. I am not a big fan of the new Camaro, but this looks really nice!

That looks so good. I love the bullet holes in the window (if they are bullet holes, lol). Did you texture the exhaust before painting it to get a grainy raised metal rust effect?

Was that guy at AF too? I remember a Zeb somehow. The reason I posted as I have to ask: If you get booted you can just make another account, right?

Now, from the top, the hood and fenders are flush. I designed enough room to get a grille in there flush with the hood and fenders. Here is where it is at: Wow, it looks like it should!!!!!: It is 2:30 AM here and I am about to pass out. But, before I do I wanted to try and make a simple grille and see how it fit. Good ol 40mm Tamiya tape did the job. i placed it on the front and then traced the outline: i then placed it on yet another piece of Styrene and then carefully cut it out. When all was said and done, I have a new grille sans headlights and slats: This thing is definitely coming along nicely. I hope to continue more in the next few days. Funny thing is I keep hearing a noise under my desk, kind of like a Ferrari F430 Challenge needing to be completed. I ignore it as this is more fun, lol. Hope you all like it!!!!

Now, I have been thinking about how to convert the grille for quite sometime. Should I remake the CJ one, or cut it out and start fresh? Well, after a longtime thinking, I cut it out: Then I marked the fenders to see where the hood ended like a real TJ. The points of the hood are where the bends in the fenders meet. So, I cut back about a 1/4 inch and removed the material: After about an hour of thinning the parts and straightening them, I added them back to the fenders in their new place. They are straight and look every bit like what the TJ has: I then noticed that my hood still had a curve to it and that cannot be. The TJ has no curve except on the sides. So I added more Styrene under the top of the hood and sanded away the excess (again): I then added a support member that would structurally help out and also provide a flush mounting place for the new grille:

Well, I have had some luck in the model world lately, and that is time to work on a model. Finals are upon me, and I should be studying, but ######, this thing is fun!!!! Gotta love some quiet time with Floyd playing in the background. So, tonight I made some more advances. When I left off I had acquired another kit as a donor kit. All I needed was the Dana axle, so I go that. Next, I removed all of the stock axle tube/###### on the axles. So, I had both housings, but the backs of them were not filled in. So, I made a template out of Styrene and filled them in: Now I was confused how to accurately add new axle tubes. I thought about a jig to make them perfectly symmetrical, but then I realized an easier way: I would drill out the housings and run a piece of Styrene through the housing. Then I could run the axle tubes over this and have a very secure axle when completed: And here is what I achieved. I have a secure mounting for both sides, and the inner axle tube will help make it stronger. Now that I think about it, it as is if there are real axle shafts in there now!!!!!: But, before I can seal them up, I needed to add some putty to the housings. I want this to look real, so I will sand these up after they dry:

WOW! Thank you all for your kind words an support! I will admit, this is going to be a handful, but what a handful it will turnout to be too (does that make sense?)! I am completely content with what I am going to do, just not with tire choice. I looked at aHilux the other day and the tires are great, just not big enough. I have asked on AF if any knows of scale tires out there and not much has come up. Any one here know of any aftermarket scale tires for wheeling? Thanks again all, update soon I hope.

Ah, the results are in. I know of Tamiya's YJ, and the Die Cast rubicon. This is more of a let me see if I can do it type build. I have never tried anything like this and I liked the idea. Since Jeep never changed their body tub (too much) over the years, the basic shape is there. I am challenging my own skills to see if I can do this. That is why I am using what I have. To use a Die Cast or YJ is about the same. I am just trying it with a 30 year old mold! Hope you all like it?!

Just to make sure, I checked the angles with the 1:18th drawing, and it fit perfectly!: Here it is compared to the Die Cast, and you can tell that the angles worked great! But here lies a huge challenge, the CJ grill is a lot smaller width wise and you can tell after I made a TJ hood for it: Look again at the comparison though, here is the modded hood on the 1:18th: Now, side by side: Then I noticed that the cowl on the CJ is longer than it's distant brother's. So I removed about an 1/8th of an inch off: Now, since the Cj's hood has a different raised area, I would need to remove it to make the TJ's design. But before I did this, I needed to reinforce the underside: Now you can see the thickness is there, and I can remove the top portion of the hood to make it new: While I was at it, I removed the fender extensions so that I can move them outward for the TJ: After removing the strip off of the cowl, I then added it back to the hood with more Styrene: Then, I sanded down the CJ's hood bump and found that I was getting really close to what I want! Here is what the hood looks like with the surface sanded smooth, and the layout of the TJ's hood bump: For fun, I put the transfer case skid on the frame and the body, Guess what, it is the exact height of a real TJ with the RE skid added to it!: This is going great for me! I cannot believe how much I accomplished in one night?! But, it is fun as hell, and I hope to do more asap. This thing is going to look bad-@$$ when finished!!! What do you all think so far?

Ok, for the first time in a long time I have had 2 nights in a row to work on a model?! So, I really got into the modding of this kit. First off, here are te really crappy axles from the kit. The Dana 44 is on the right side, the Dana 20 is on the left. I think I am going to have to buy another so that I get two Dana 44's on my rig: Here is the old CJ gas tank removed. The TJ's have a better fitting one and the exhaust routes to the right of the frame rails: I noticed after last night that my skid plate was too week and was warping, so I added reinforcements: Here is how it looks on the frame: So, I have a real dilemma: Yes I own a TJ, but in a scaled down version I don't have anything for reference. Wait, I do, a Die Cast 1:18 Rubicon I got years ago. So, I was thinking, if I used it for reference I should be ok. So, I took it apart and laid the opened hood on a piece of paper to get a reference for the angles of the 1:24th hood on mine: So I traced the outline and sawed the 1:24th down the middle. All I had to do was align the curves for each piece and I was set: Here are the two halves: Then I measured the total width of the stock hood (before I cut it :wink: ) and sized up the fill strip with Styrene: I glued it up and got an idea of what was forming: Wow, that is a lot of overhang: Without trimming on the backside of the hood:

Last fall I got careless and decided to build my own lift, and it was a great idea at the time: So, I made some some makeshift arm attachments for the chassis to replace the leaf spring frame connections. I have a coiled suspension, so leafes weer out of the question. I marked the chassis: Here is what I was thinking: That sucked because it is in no way reasonable. The arms need to connect to the skid plate under the transfer case/transmission. So, I thought more clearly. This has to go by the way, completely inaccurate for my style Jeep: Here are the sides of the tub like I need, then I can add my own version of tube fenders for this beast: I want a RE lift, and it comes with a remade skid plate that comes in 5 pieces. So, I went to the source and found what I needed to create one of the most, if not the most important part on a Jeep's suspension - the transfer case skid. Rubicon Express makes one of the best lifts for Jeeps period. They are often copied and not easily duplicated. So, I looked at there 5.5 lift kit system: Their skid is a 5-piece part: I spent hours trying to figure out how to build this in scale and came up with these pieces. The Revell CJ skid plate is the reference: After 3 hours of playing with Tenax and styrene, I got this: This has all of the correct angles for the arms/heim joints. And, it looks like the original and is great! Now, all I need to do is scratch build a straight six, make these: I also have to convert the kits "d" window rims to Soft 8's like mine. The hardtop is far from modern, and the roll bar has to be scratch. There will be a custom exhaust as well. Wow, hope I covered it all. I probably didn't, but it all will come out sooner or later. That and about 1000 other things to correct to get a modern Jeep out of this 77. Probably will be slow as the Ferraris are always taking my time. That ###### F430 has drained me and this was a nice change. Progress should be slow as I have a lot coming up. Hope you all like it.

Well, this has been on the back burner for a long time. I have waited and waited for a ###### model of a TJ (97-06) Jeep Wrangler, but no one has come through. All that seems to be out there is a lame @$$ Daisy Duke Jeep, and this: So, I thought, what if I could make this into a TJ?! Any Jeep fans know that the basic body has been the same for many years. So, here is what I am after, and it is my 1:1. But, I have many more ideas in mind. Here is mine currently: She wasn't even close to rolling!!! But still puckers you up! Now, my ideal Jeep will be mine with an Atlas transfer case, a Hemi, a Rubicon Express 5.5 lift with 4 inch springs, ARB's in both axles, Poison Spyder Rock flares, LoD bumpers, 37's and many more goodies. Since I can't afford that now (models sap all of my money) I will build mine. So, what to do? Well, as any Jeeper knows, the suspension is first and foremost, then comes the rest to make it work. First off, the CJ has flares and sideskirts that look nothing like a TJ, those were hacked off: Then the sides were filled with putty to fill in the saw cuts: Now, the frame has been the same for almost 35 years or so. I put the stock axles on it to see what I had: I laughed at the degree of detail as these axles suck bad! I have a Dana 44 up front, and an AMC 20 in the rear. LOL The 44 is great, and will go in the rear. The other one gets the trash pile like a real one:

Thanks, at least 2 people like it. :roll:

Ok, more progress, finally......... I have many finals, but this is what I want to do!! Here are all of the etch pieces that needed to be painted. I made sure that they were all separate, and each had its own attention. Next was the seat. I already made up for the padding. I made a template with tape and it covered the back of the seat. I was thinking that if I did this, then I could make my CF template. So, I made the tape template. Then I sprayed SMS Faux Fabriq on the seat. So, I sprayed that, then the interior was next. Crazy Modeler made a great set, and here is what it looks like installed: Then, I painted all of the etch for the F430. Then I went on with the etch/vents: Last night I spent about 2 hours on the catches. The pic for these is bad, sorry. Here is the cockpit with the Crazy modeler painted: After all of this, my etch pieces are growing: Now, the roll cage. It was primed, smoothed, and ready to go. After my references I wanted to add a cage padding. Tamiya tape and a bit of glue worked the best: After that, I painted the pads flat red and added the bolts.: The tub was painted flat black, and looks great! Here is the template from the drivers seat: Cut out: The seat, and the CF ready to go: Final results: Hope you all like the progress!! Comments are always welcome.

And,............................here are what the finished wheels/tires will look like. I can honestly say that after waiting for the result, I am completely happy! I love the look that I decided to go with. Not many Ferrari's will look like this. That is why I love the hobby; I am my own design shop: Since the body was drying from its first wet coat (actually 15th coat, read the whole thread and you will know, lol) I decided to work on the etch pieces for the rest of the body. I cut almost all of them from their trees and figured that the fuel fillers would be a great place to tinker around. Here are the seperate parte: This is what 5 pieces, some flat black paint, some sand paper, and a lot of patience with super glue provided: Here are the two together finished, I was very pleased: Don't know why, but I thought a pic of my "work box" was fitting: On for more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was brought to my attention earlier that the brakes were wrong according to what I have done. Well, again, the photos were searched and I cannot believe it, but what I found was weird. There is a photo where the front caliper is positioned to the front of the wheel, and another where the caliper is in the back?!?!?! So, I kept their positions the same. After further investigation, I noticed that the way that Crazy Modeler has you build the brakes is wrong (it seems). My rear rotor is larger than the front, but the caliper is only right for one rotor. So, as per instruction, I did what was right. It looks wrong in my mind, but I will not change it because the calipers will no fit to anything but the rotor they are designed for. Since I was playing with the brakes, I decided that they needed more "flare". Out came some Enzo Caliper decals for the F430. Don't worry, I have 6 other Enzo kits to take from, lol. I also looked over the photos again, and it appears that a "clean" F430 might have brakes like this: I am happy, and more than glad I decided to make them better looking. What do you all think? Now, again, after many,....................many months, I started the ###### body again. My temper is about out with this one. But, in the end it worked out better I think?! I was able to finish all of the body work that I did not know about. And, I can say that it looks better than before I f'd up. So, the body appears "new", at least to me, lol. And,................................... And here is what it will tentatively look like: So, for an update, I am pleased, but this is far from over. And, I am glad I never gave up. Maybe before the 60th Anniversary I will have this one finished. Then, the other CS begins!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you all like the progress!!! I would love to hear any criticism, good or bad.

Ok, I finally got two nights in a row that I could work on this ###### thing! No homework, no wife (fiance lol), no dog, no nothing. I made time for this Ferrari that has become the bane of my existence!! So, I started back at square one with the whole body and wheels. Even after I stripped the wheels I felt that I did indeed need to go black with them: Here is a bad pic of the rear vent/mesh from Crazy Modeler: After many hours of studying the real F430 Challenge I have noticed some things from Fujimi that are inaccurate. Here is what the stock intake looks like: This is too square and needed to be rounded at the rear to be more like the real thing: Next was the engine bay cowling. I noticed (again) after observing the real car that this piece is made of CF. So I started that with templates and the execuion of them: Next were the seats. Fujimi included a backing piece for the seats that made them entirely way too bulky. After referring to my photos I noticed that the real seats had a good amount of padding that simply rapped around the seat. Since I wasn't going to use the "extra part", I figured that I could replicate the look with filling the back. So, I added putty to the back: After sanding it smooth, and getting a great contour, I was very happy with this decision: While I was at it, I cut the holes for the seat belt restraint system. Not a great pic, but I fit it in the chassis: Now, more to the wheels. I was really sad when things went wrong last month and this whole project has to be started over, basically from scratch. So, when I re-did the wheels, I was determined to get it right. This is not an ordinary F430-it is a track/street incarnation. therefore, there needed to be the usual Ferrari logos in the center caps: EJan provided these wonderful emblems, and I am glad I bought 4 sets as I will definitely use them in the future:

Well, I am about to quit this ###### hobby! I can't seem to win with this Ferrari. :banghead: I only get to work on it about 3 hours every two weeks. Basically, I have no time and when I do, I make no progress because small things happen. Since I am so anal about these small things, I have to correct them. Now I am even more pissed then before when I had to start another F430 body. I have spent about 20 hours on this body. 4 mists coats with two kinds of primer, 2 heavy coats of primer, 3 mist coats of Racing White, and 2 wet coats after that. Then for the first time, I sanded the body with 6,000, 8,000, and even 12,000 grit paper. Before I even polished it the shine was incredible: So, it was time for something to go wrong. Then my mirror snapped off. I guess I wasn't too mad, just concerned as how to fix it. Because I knew the other would break, I just took it off. Next I polished the body for about 2 hours, I really made sure I got a hell of a shine before wax. And I did! But after wax, this thing was like a mirror. I just didn't have anyway to really show it at night. So, my bathroom lights helped: This was also my first time panel washing a white car. Normally I wouldn't, but I tried and it looked phenomenal. So, I was chugging along, and the body was finished. I have never been happier. I even stripped the wheels in 99% alcohol and had them ready to work on: My idea was to strip them, add a strip of .05" to widen the lip, and paint them gloss black. So my first step was widening them: They were really easy to widen. I did each one in about 3 minutes. They just seemed to work with me. :screwy: Here is the difference in the stock rim, and the modified one. It looks really got IMO: Ready to prime: And primed for the gloss black: So, I actually painted them, and put them on the chassis and added the body. With the red calipers, this F430 looks awesome. So,........something had to happen. Well, remember those mirrors. :banghead: I had to re-attach them. As I tried to remove the stems from the mirrors that were left on the car, my good ol exacto knife slipped and dove right into the left fender.:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: I just about threw the model against the wall. Most people would have added a drop of white paint or tried to touch it up, but I just couldn't try that. I would always know it was there. So, body number 2 is....Off to the Alcohol bath!!! Now, I am back to the beginning of starting all over. So for the hell of it, I stripped the wheels too. I noticed one of them had too much paint in the spoke joints. So why the hell not, right?!?!?:evillol: So, maybe in three more months I will have the body redone and ready to go. This wasn't really an update, but hey, it was progress Thanks for looking (laughing) at me, lol.

Ok guys and gals, I finally had a chance here lately to actually work on a dang model!!! School is out for the break, and I am trying to stay home more, so for that I can do some work here and there. First of all, I finally realized that I do indeed need a new camera. After all of this time spent doing very accurate detailing, my camera will not show it! I am sorry, and please be patient until I get a new camera. But, here are the updates after starting this over two months ago. So far, I am ecstatic that I started another body, and am very glad I had another kit to use parts from. So.......... I saw that the mirror problem for this kit was obvious; the support arms were way too big. So, I sanded them down, but did not try the drilling method like Robi J. I instead filled the areas on the pillars of the body and then drilled new holes for the arms. Here is what I got from this idea: It looks great, and is very secure. I am happier with this method then trying to drill out the arms, that would have been very hard! Now, the brakes like I mentioned before came with two options. One set allowed for the traditional wheels with the stems on them. This kit however has a different approach with wheel stems that are about 1/4", so they are different. I obviously didn't pay attention, but it was easily fixed by making the other rotors. Also got the rear end ready for the etched pieces. The cage is also ready to go. Chassis so far. Etchings for the front air dam, they fit beautifully. I wanted to also put a Tamiya 360 engine in this F430. But, I tested fitted a lot and knew that it would be way to much work for this display. So, I scratched that idea. Thankfully I had that other kit, so I could reverse almost everything that I had done to the engine bay. Waste of time, but valuable experience. Last, but not least, the new body is finally ready for primer. Grey primer first. Then white. And finally, Tamiya Pure White - 3 mist coats. Tonight I am going to wetsand the body with 8,000-12,000 and the first wet coat begins. I am moving this Saturday, so I have to get the body finished by then. I hope you all enjoy what I have done. I will hopefully have a new camera soon. Jon

Ok, here are some small updates to you all, but a lot of time to me, lol. Finally got the cage built and it was a bit tricky, but eventually went together well: Since I over primed my other F430, I started the other one, here are the front vents filled and edges worn sharp: New body: Next to an old friend: Since I had to re-remove the vented areas on the rear, I gave myself a chance to mess one up. So, I removed it fully to the edge of the panel line and installed a thin styrene strip to fill the missing edge: Needless to say, it worked really well and I am more pleased then just leaving it. I am sure no-one would notice, but I do. :screwy: Now, brakes need some attention. Since Robi J. has enlightened me to the world of Photoetch saws, my world is much easier. I removed the hubs from the back of each rotor: Then I removed the caliper from the rotor: My only issue with doing this is coming up in the next few pics. In the past, I have used etched parts for rotors with no problems at all. This is my first attempt at using part etched rotors and plastic calipers together. I am very pleased with the way that the rotors assembled. It was nice to see that they offered two version for the front rotors. Here are the parts: Here are all of the pieces for each rotor: These Etch cutters are the best tool I have found for etching! I love them, and they cut through thick etching very easily: Here is a completed rotor:

I fugure that since I am new here I should show you all more of my current Ferrari F430 Challenge. This kit is the competition version, but I wanted to make it more streetable, kind of like the Stradale that is coming out soon. If anyone else from AF sees this then they are probably aware of my turmoils with this one. But, most of you have not known about my fun with this model. This is kind of a copy and paste post since I started this last November. Sorry to do this way, but recreating this whole build would take a while to duplicate. So, Fujimi F430/Crazy Modeller PE: Heavily modded engine bay thanks to Robi J: So far, so good, body is ready for paint: :banghead: As I made it this far, I found one error in the body work, and since I primed the whole body I couldn't really fix it. So, I scratched it and started another body that will not have the flaw. Oh well, I will strip the other one someday. ######. :banghead: So, hopefully there is a lot to come, I am thinking white for sure. Thanks guys Jon

I'll admit, for about a millisecond I was like, "Wow, that is a great idea". Then I remembered it was an April issue. :wink: Maybe I'll design a gas airbrush, hmmm........

Um,.............no, lol. Gotta love what we love!!! :twisted:

Thank you for the support. I have this problem of buying anything associated with a kit and just going to town. I could have built this OOB in a week, but it has taken me over 6 months.

I have seen this before and wanted to make one, but this guys is crazy! To think that he made all of those calculations and figures is nuts. But then again, to be effective maybe it should be that way?!

I did something similar when I was 13. I was riding a very old Yamaha 250 and crashed really hard. I went home and for the next three days was pretty much out of it. I dislocated my shoulder and had a third degree concussion. My parents were pissed!!!! lol Glad you were cleared.