jaymcminn

Here are a few more pics...

This is Trumpeter's controversial 1/12 Ford GT40. You can find the build thread (and a lot of general GT40 discussion) here. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=90053 A lot of things have been said about this kit- it's lousy, it's great, it's toylike, it's detailed, it's an amazing replica, it's wildly inaccurate... and they're ALL true! It's a 310 piece kit where about 200 of the parts are chrome-plated. And I mean some random stuff, like the sides of the engine block. Some more random parts are pre-painted. The kit tires are tire-shaped only in the sense that they are round, and a lot of the details are clunky or non-existent. But the proportions are correct, the "bones"are there, and it's possible to make a really nice model out of this weird kit. This is a true multi-media kit. In addition to the plastic, there's PE metal, turned aluminum, fabric, woven oil and fuel lines, tubing, screws, clips... lots and lots of parts that contribute to a truly impressive model. I built mine in the Arcadian Blue livery of chassis # 1015, which placed second in the 1966 LeMans 24 Hours. The car had day-glo red vinyl ID patches added to the front wings for LeMans... I wasn't crazy about them so I left them off. I have seen pics of the car racing without the patches. I tried not to drive myself too nuts getting every little detail perfect. The Trumpeter kit doesn't lend itself well to that kind of precision anyway. What it does do is capture the essence of the GT40, and that's what I hope I did here... A lot of extra work went into this kit, such as photoetched washers to represent the seat grommets, toggle switches scratchbuilt from plastic bolt heads and silver wire, and a kitbashed fire extinguisher and battery. The tires are beautiful resin items by Icon Automotive and the decals are by BBK. The Icon tire set also comes with a resin spare tire and wheel, as the kit doesn't provide one. It ain't pretty what you have to do to that spare to get it to fit, but it does look good in place. I scratchbuilt the hold-down from leftover seat belt material, wire, and aluminum.

So here are some shots of the finished model. I'm going to post more in "under glass" as well as a link to this thread. The only real hiccup in final assembly was that I lost one of the hood pin clips in the carpet... I bent one out of wire to match (actually, I bent about 8 before I got one just about right!). The steel cable on the hood pin clips and engine cover retainers is .017 from RB Motion. I loved every second of building this model... even when I hated it! I've never stretched my talents or patience so much when working on a build. It was really an experience, and I learned lessons and techniques that I'll take with me on all my future builds. Thanks, everybody (and especially Cato) for your interest and support!

Yes and yes.

I'm going to go with this one. Ol' Shel built some great cars, no doubt, but he was always very publicity-conscious. This would have been right at the time the Shelby Mustangs went from being rare race-bred machines to more of a top-of-the-line production model, and the Shelby name was closely associated with Ford performance. It definitely made more business sense to give the win to the Shelby cars... not that it was fair to Holman at all.

Just soooo nice... I really like this in the McLaren orange!

Just picked up mine at my LHS the other day. I'm very impressed by the thinness of the body, hood, and glass and how well it all seems to fit together. All the glass fits from the outside of the body perfectly and there's no warpage whatsoever. I'd have loved to have built one of these when the tool was new... I've been correcting some uneven molding around the front windows and the panel lines, especially on the passenger side, are all but gone. Not a big deal, and it's going to look great on my shelf!

Thanks, Eric. I wouldn't have known to do most of the stuff I did with mine if it wasn't for your masterful build!

Current photos of chassis #1015 in the Shelby American museum show the pumps mounted on the bulkhead, but only on the left side. I did the external pumps on both sides because I wanted the extra "eye candy" in the engine bay. I'm not super concerned when it comes to replicating an exact car as it competed in a particular race... I liked the livery of #1015 pre-Le Mans and decided to go with that look. I can see what would drive a GT40 purist to distraction with this kit. I think it's possible to build a replica that really captures the essence of the GT40 with this kit and some well-chosen upgrades. Mine has moved to its spot in my mirrored display case (waiting for some .020 braided cable for a couple of final details) and I still have to do a double-take every time I see it. But replicating a very specific car is much more difficult- I think that the more you know about these cars, the more you feel obligated to translate that knowledge into your model. I'm a bit of a punter when it comes to these cars, although I have learned a lot in preparation for (and during) this build. I always like to take on a project where I come away from it knowing a little more than when I went in! As I mentioned, this is pretty much finished. I'm waiting for some braided cable for the hood pins and engine cover retainers, and as soon as those are installed I'll take some final pictures.

Here's mine in all its Korean knock-off glory. Exactly the same as the Italeri kit for better and for worse- it took a lot of kitbashing and scratchbuilding as well as some aftermarket bits to make it look like this.

Looks amazing so far. Those wheels will be fantastic.

Skip, Academy is definitely walking on thin ice with this one. They did remove any Ferrari scripts and badging from the kit except for the prancing horse in the grille. I had no problem paying 1/3 the price for a kit I would have replaced these items on anyway. If Academy can keep getting away with it, maybe we can get some of those other Italeri Ferraris back as well!

So here are some gratuitous half-naked pics before the front and rear ends go on... the hinged bonnet was attached to the front clip, and lights and covers installed. The BBK decals laid down perfectly. I decided to skip the LeMans recognition markings after all, and really like the clean, conservative look of the car without them. Trumpeter's decision to mold the turn signal lights in clear RED was annoying, and I tried to orange them up with clear yellow. They're not that visible anyway if you don't back them with silver. And a few shots with the front end in place... I'm waiting for some .020 braided cable to replace the kit wire for the hood pins and engine cover cables. I'm also working on a couple other details before the rear cover's installed. Should be finishing this up really soon!

Good idea... I'll start winding wire!

So, time for another update. It's just about finished now... I think this might be the last update before going to "Under Glass". I got the fuel lines finished, but they're not perfect... there's a kink here and there and they had to be shortened after assembly started due to my mountng the fuel pumps on the bulkhead to make everything easier. (Do we have a smiley face for irony?) It looks pretty good, though, and this model is the first time I've used braided line, so I'll give myself a pass on this one. Here are the fuel lines after (the first) assembly ready to go... and here we are after installation. Wow, I thought I got those mold lines off better than that... but overall the fuel lines add a lot to the look of the engine bay. I realized that I needed to scratchbuild a hold down strap for the spare tire up front, which I did using an old photoetched ring, some scrap aluminum, and jeweler's wire with the straps made from leftover material from the kit seatbelts. Installed with the tire. I really like this.

I'll often pick out bolts on a dull or dark aluminum part in lighter or brighter silver paint. I'll also drybrush/wash interiors when I'm going for a weathered or natural leather finish. Sometimes that requires lightening the base color a little to get the desired effect.

On my Trumpeter GT 40... first 1/12 scale model. First time polishing out a single-stage enamel finish... and hopefully the last. Give me clearcoat any day.

2015 Mustang GT convertible on manufacturer plates. This is not unusual in Naples- Chrysler and Ford both do vehicle testing here. I wish I'd gotten a picture- the color looked to be an updated version of the old Calypso Coral red/orange and was HOT!

So, I've got the fuel lines installed... what a nightmare! they turned out okay, but really tested my patience. Especially given that I forgot to account for the closer proximity of the relocated pumps to the chassis plate when assembling the lines, which resulted in the lines being waaay too long in areas. I had to disassemble my superglued fuel line/AN fitting connections, trim the lines, and reassemble them. I'll post up some pics tomorrow. The next quandary is whether or not to add the red/orange Le Mans markings to the front of the car. #1015 raced at Le Mans with these markings, and has them now, but was not born with them and was raced before they were stuck on. I rather like the clean lines with just the stripes and numbers and am leaning strongly toward omitting the Le Mans slashes- it's not like I'm slavishly following the car as it raced at Le Mans, or as it is now for that matter. Anyway, more pics (hopefully) tomorrow!

Pretty simple, Skip. I drilled out the holes for the instruments, backed the holes with clear styrene, then cut the gauge decals from the sheet and glued them to the back of the styrene, after blacking out the silver trim around the edges of the instruments.

Jay Ohrberg? I thought George Barris built every TV and movie car ever!

Love this. Wish the manufacturer would bring it over here.

Beautiful color, Matt. I've been getting the itch to build one of these myself- I never much cared for them when they came out, but the shape has aged really well. I'm anxious to see how this turns out!

I'm blown away by the weathering on the block and head, especially with that cork gasket. Just amazing...

And thanks for noticing the holed panels- I made them from aluminum printer's plate and used my new hole punches on them. I'd be mildly upset if I couldn't show them off!