jaymcminn

Beautiful. After my current build I'm planning on tackling the 1/12 Lotus 72. Your JPS car makes me want to get started on mine. The ductwork idea is pretty ingenious as well. Great work!

Slow progress so far, folks. Removing parts from sprues, cleaning up mold lines and ejector pin marks, getting some of the subassemblies together and mounting them on toothpicks and craft sticks for painting. You know, the fun stuff. Only about 3 times as much of it as there is on the average 1/24 scale kit. The large number of bare metal finishes on the GT40 is going to be challenging too... I'm going to try Alclad's airframe aluminum for a lot of the parts to vary things from the Testors metalizer finishes. Our recent run of excessively rainy/cruddy weather here has put a damper (so to speak) on painting the big body parts in the garage. Normally I'd use my spray booth indoors, but the Trumpeter kit is a little large for my dinky little Paasche booth. I have finished the seats (pics tomorrow) and I think my solution looks pretty good... I also got the Icon tires and they look amazing. Pics of those as well. I'm still not sure what to make of this kit... it's a bizarre combination of brilliant and amateurish that just leaves you completely befuddled at times. For instance, the beautiful turned-aluminum hood pins at the front of the car, but the crude plastic nub sticking up through the engine cover that's supposed to hold the rear end of the bodywork in place. Or the braided fuel and oil lines but the lack of an ignition system. The completely incorrect tires mounted on wheels with separate turned metal valve stems. The list goes on. On the plus side, the mockup with the doors in place and everything attached to the chassis reveals a model with excellent fit and tight (but not too tight) panel gaps and tolerances. Anyway, more pics tomorrow. Thanks for the support, everybody!

Eric, I saw your build on Automotive Forums and it is fantastic... I couldn't use the kit tires after seeing how good yours looked with the Icon pieces. I hope mine turns out half as good as yours!

Last year, I heard through the grapevine that Trumpeter was going to stop production of the controversial 1/12 GT40 kit. I had been on the fence for a few years over this one, and decided to pull the trigger. For about a year now, I've been gradually figuring out exactly how I wanted to proceed with this build, as so many of these kits get started only to never be finished. This has to do with many factors... the kit itself isn't easy at all to build, and has many inaccuracies that can cause a modeler dead-set on building a perfect replica of a specific car to throw up his hands and stick the box back in the closet. I've always loved the GT40, but have never been a "rivet counter"... I just want to turn this box of (mostly chrome-plated) parts into a beautiful model. The Trumpeter kit is actually pretty good for this purpose, The body shape is perfect and the overall level of detail is actually quite good if you're willing to bend a little. Is it toy-like? Probably no more so than most large-scale Tamiya kits from the '70s and '80s. Certainly less so than the Revell 1/12 scale Shelby GT500 or most of the big-scale domestic releases. I'd like to see more detail in some areas, and I'm determined to add it where I feel necessary. I've decided to replicate (within reason) chassis #1015, the Arcadian Blue car that finished second at LeMans in 1966. I ordered a set of decals from BBK for this car, and the Arcadian Blue paint from Scale Finishes. I've got some good online photo references for this car as well. I'm not using the KA Models detail set on this car, having spent my extra cash on a set of the awesome Icon tires (thanks, Derek!) and the aforementioned decals and paint, as well as some other miscellaneous goodies. I started off with stripping ALL THAT CHROME from most of the trees of this model. It's like the engineers decided to just chrome everything just in case... if it were built like that out of the box it would look like a Tom Daniels show rod. Most of the relatively shiny bits on the model will be replicated in Alclad chrome and airframe aluminum. Once I was able to start actual assembly, I got the engine block and transmission together and painted it black... then masked and textured the transmission, heads and intake manifold with make-it-suede. I painted the heads/manifold in Testors Metalizer Aluminum, and the transmission in Tamiya Metallic Grey. The exhaust system was cleaned up, weld beads added with Micro Krystal-Klear, and painted Alclad Chrome before being heat-stained with Tamiya clears. Here they are after the chrome... I used a parts box distributor with Scale Motorsports ignition wire and RB Motion resin boots for the ignition system, and scratchbuilt a coil and wire looms. You'll also see the first two header pipes as well as the collectors after being "heat-stained". ...and here we are as of now. Headers installed and everything buttoned up. The "turkey pan" and carburetor are just sitting on there- they need to be painted, and aren't actually due to be installed until much later in the build process.

I just can't jump on the urethane bandwagon. I love a good gloss finish (and I think my finishes using mostly the Testors Wet-Look Clear shine with the best of them), but you can often spot a urethane finish a mile away because the thickness of the clear coat just doesn't work in scale. It isn't just about the gloss, which urethanes absolutely provide, but scale fidelity should count for something too. Marcos, your work is delicate and very realistic, and that effect would be completely ruined by a thick, out-of-scale coat of syrupy clear.

I'm getting a headache just looking at the paintwork on this model. I can't even imagine attempting it. And once it's clear coated it'll look incredible. It's going to be as much of a work of art as the 1:1!

The walk-around video is almost hypnotic. Twelve hours with a heat gun and Goo Gone would double the value of this car, and it still wouldn't be worth half of what the seller wants for it. Corvettes and PTs seem to be particularly susceptible to this kind of "customization"... there were some really awful PT Cruisers around about a decade ago.

The seat belt hardware is from a Detail Master set. Pretty basic compared to some of the PE stuff from the Japanese manufacturers, but it does look good when completed. The Hobby Design decals are fantastic too.

Hmmm, I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while. Your build really shows what can be done with this kit. Nice job!

Enjoy that kit. I recently built one of these as a Magnus Walker-esque canyon carver (it's my avatar pic, BTW) and it took a fair amount of surgery to get it to sit low enough for my taste. I really like those wide Fuchs wheels you're planning to use!

I like it. Is that Chris Evans' car? He does have a thing for white Ferraris...

Tough call. Testors Wet Look Clear is a good choice for a rattle can lacquer that lays down nicely, stands up to polishing and handling, and plays nice with acrylics and lacquer (never used it over enamel, however). Future works well but should be airbrushed for best results. I also find it to be a bit fragile. Tamiya TS 13 used to be the best, but is now apparently unobtanium.

Yow. It's not for me, but I appreciate the work that went into it. It looks like one of those Jada diecasts with those awful wheels. I wouldn't call it a "sports car", however. It probably weighs a LOT more than stock and handles like a pig.

So many variables here... what color plastic are you starting with? Often bright colors like red or orange will bleed through primer and paint and show up in your final product. I use Duplicolor primer/sealer to prevent this. The Duplicolor is light grey, so a coat of white primer should be laid down over it so the yellow will pop. I prefer Tamiya fine white. If you aren't priming you really need to. It's an extra step, but it's really necessary to get the best finish. Are you using enamel or lacquer? Lacquer is more opaque, so multiple coats usually cover better. With enamels the coats can often blend into each other, causing the base color to show through. Tamiya or Model Master lacquers, applied in thin coats, give better coverage than Testors enamel.

I have a workbench area built into a large closet in my den. When that inevitably gets too cluttered, I wind up on a tray table in front of the living room TV.

I generally have a pretty clear idea as to what I want to acquire before I go out and buy or order it. This doesn't stop me from the occasional impulse buy, however... some of those even wind up being my favorite builds!

That's what I figured. I want to have a little left over for the inevitable touchups, etc. By 1/12 standards the GT40 is not a big car, but I don't want to be keeping my fingers crossed when I'm getting near the end of a big painting project.

I'm getting ready to order some Scale Finishes Arcadian Blue paint for my 1/12 Trumpeter GT40 project. I'm assuming that one 2oz. bottle will probably not be enough... Should two bottles do it? I'm going over Tamiya Fine White primer and clear coating with Testors Wet-Look Clear if necessary.

The Bugatti Atlantic was the #1 pick for passenger cars. I've wanted one of those forever. The fact that "Serenity" from Firefly is the #1 overall pick has me psyched as well. I'll take a full detail version of that with figures and detachable shuttles, please...

I might still have mine... I recently built this one. I'll check. Great score!

Thanks, Cato. I'm not going to get too bogged down in replicating this chassis as it ran on such-and-such date. I just like the livery and want it on my shelf. I might even do a 1/24 Ford GT (modern) to match it. That having been said, I definitely want to try to remove some of the clunkiness of this kit. Your suggestions about the out-of-scale sheet aluminum pieces and suspension pieces would go a long way toward helping that. I'm relieved that the kit braided line can be salvaged as well, and I appreciate the heads-up about the ride height... that's kind of my pet peeve! I'm planning on using RB Motion .044" photoetched washers for the seat eyelets over slightly modified kit seats (the KA seats look like the mold melted or something and those eyelets... yeesh!) which would help the interior a lot. I'm going to be getting inspiration soon when I go to the Revs Institute automotive museum here in Naples soon, which is an amazing collection just opening up to the public again after 20 years. They have not one, but two GT40s, as well as Corvette Grand Sport #004... another build I want to tackle soon. I'll post up pics as soon as I go and definitely will take advantage of your offer of help. Thanks!

My next project is probably going to be the Trumpeter GT40. This kit is controversial, to say the least, but I'm pretty confident I can make something out of it. One thing I've noticed is that the kit seems to be based off of a restored or replica car... details such as the Optima battery are definitely incorrect and will need sorting. Another thing I'm wondering about is the braided lines everywhere... Would these be correct for a GT40 in 1966 or would it have used rubber lines? I'm building this as the Arcadian Blue Miles/Hulme #1 car with an aftermarket decal set.

This. I'm definitely planning on going, but I'd like to know what to bring!

I use two brushes, both gravity-feed dual action. My Iwata Revolution is great for detail and fine work. My "blunt instrument" is a pistol-grip Master airbrush I got from TCP Global for $55. It moves a lot of paint in a wide spray pattern and feels more like a spray gun... great for single color paint jobs and clear coats. I used siphon-feed brushes for years and can't get over how much nicer the gravity-feed brushes are. They're easier to clean, operate at lower PSI, and color changes are much quicker too. You also waste/use less paint... if you only need to do a quick job or touch up, a few drops in the color cup is sufficient.

I'm not going to post a link to it, but "Grace Cathedral Hill" from their first album is one of the prettiest songs ever written. You'll have it stuck in your head for days after listening to it.