jaymcminn

I didn't really take a lot of WIP shots of this one- it's a simple buildup of a complicated kit. The color is Testors Emerald Green Metallic from the custom lacquer line- it's an excellent match for Ferrari Verde Pino Metalizzo (Pine Green Metallic) which was an available color on the Dino GTS. The only deviations from box stock were the Dino GT script from RMCM, the Dino badge up front from Model Factory Hiro, ignition wiring, and craft-ribbon seat belts for the kit hardware. The old Dino builds up extremely well- the only gripes are the extreme fragility of some of the incredibly thin kit parts and the large number of mold lines and sink marks that need to be cleaned up. Everything goes together with less drama than you'd expect once the prep and paint is done. The stance and ride height are excellent, but the camber at the rear seemed a little off to me- it took some minor adjustments to get the rear wheels to sit perpendicular to the ground. Overall I'm very happy with the kit- to be honest, I'm not 100% sure about the color, which looks better in pictures than it does on the shelf. I'll definitely go with a brighter color when I get around to building the coupe version. On to the pics!

In a word, no. In more words, the ESCI kit has poor body proportions but does feature partial engine detail and the Entex/MPC kit (I'm pretty sure they're the same thing) is a typical '70s motorized Japanese kit. The body shape is okay but the details are sorely lacking. The Hasegawa kit is much more recent and should be more readily available anyway.

I'll shoot some photos against a dark background once in a while. It can look pretty good if done right. The trick is in the lighting and exposure- if you just go outside and take some pictures using the flash on your digital camera at night you won't show off your work to its best advantage. The best part about digital photography is the ability to play with the settings on your camera and to instantly see what works and what doesn't.

Not 100% sure about the kit the OP got, but all the other builds here are of the Hasegawa kit. It's curbside, but really nice.

Haven't gotten around to building mine yet... the color has me somewhat stymied. I'm leaning toward a yellow-orange with silver rockers and wheels, kind of like this one. But navy blue with a white interior looks pretty good too...

Excellent work. I always loved that livery.

These are the Modelhaus wire wheels- they're excellent.

The best? Probably the MM blades, but I have good luck with the Excel blades too. The worst? Stay away from the Revell blades- they're incredibly flimsy. They actually flex under normal cutting pressure!

Nothing better than a great builder showing all of us who aspire to that level that even the best builders struggle sometimes. Great work on this model, and this thread!

This Fujimi Ferrari 512bb was molded in red. I primed it with Duplicolor white sandable primer, then gave it a light coat of the Duplicolor primer/sealer (which is NOT sandable, by the way). The Tamiya Chrome Yellow lacquer went over it beautifully, without a trace of bleed through!

That figures. Maybe Italeri can sit on those molds for another twenty years or so.

Great work so far- really liking that 328. I've got the Hasegawa version waiting in the wings.

I'm hoping it's just that they've pushed back the release date. The site doesn't show any of the other new auto releases for this year either (Ferrari 599GTO, SA Aperta, 512TR). I REALLY want one of those 250SWBs.

Pretty wild, Mark. Definitely NOT a "chick car"!

Awww, shucks, thanks guys! Jon, before settling on the Tamiya light green, I was actually thinking about the Testors Sublime Green for this build. The color is actually supposed to represent the "Bertone Green" that many Stratos were painted. Most of the green cars were repainted "re-sale red" years ago, so a car wearing its original green paint is pretty rare today. Pat, I'd love to even see one of these guys in person, let alone see them race. I live in a pretty good exotic/classic car town, but so few of these cars made it to the States that a Stratos is a really rare bird indeed! I might have to build a rally version to display with this one.

I've been building customs for years, and now I'm on a factory stock kick with exotic cars... when it comes to either subject, I like to do something I haven't seen before. It's easier with customs, of course, but when it comes to exotics I scour the internet looking for unusual paint/interior combinations and different ways of building my subject matter. It's just more interesting not to have a shelf full of red Ferraris!

Casey, the slots were molded open, but there was a fair amount of cleanup involved in getting them to look halfway decent. With all the photoetch on this model, it would have been cool if they had included a photoetched louver panel!

Another one done- here's the thread in "Under Glass". http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56918 And here's a little preview...

Detail is somewhat simplified for an Enthusiast model, but the engine bay looks really good when finished. I did scratchbuild the battery box from styrene sheet. You can clearly see the modified kit shocks in this picture- the scratchbuilt springs really make a difference! As always, any questions or comments are welcome!

For those not familiar with the car, the Lancia Stratos was a purpose-built rally car that Lancia produced between 1973 and 1975. The design came from the pen of Marcello Gandini, the designer behind such cars as the Lamborghini Countach and Miura. Some 496 "Stradale" (street) versions were built over 1974 and 1975 to homologate the car for WRC racing. Powered by a Ferrari Dino 2.4 liter V6, the 190 hp Stradale was capable of sub 5-second 0-60 times and a 144mph top speed. The futuristic looks and blistering performance of the Stratos weren't enough to overcome the car's high price (nearly twice the price of the 246 Dino that shared its engine), lack of creature comforts, or atrocious build quality, however- examples sat on dealer lots for years in some cases before being sold. Now the Stratos is considered a modern classic, with prices for good examples in the $250-300k range. This kit is the Fujimi Enthusiast kit- the only way to get a full-detail Stradale in 1:24. This is the build thread here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56329 Overall, this was a fantastic kit to build. The model includes the photoetched parts and screen in the pics- the only aftermarket stuff on the car is the ignition wiring and the replacement springs made from wrapped beading wire. As with any Fujimi Enthusiast kit, there's a lot of prep work involved- probably 80% of the work on this build took place before a drop of paint was applied. As a result, the model pretty much fell together at the end!

Finished for the day- the body will join the frame tomorrow. Here's the engine mounted in the frame. The carpet is brown craft-store flocking, and the seats were painted in suede-textured spray paint overcoated with a mix of Testors acrylic flat yellow and tan.

After airbrushing all the kit parts yesterday, I can get some real progress done now. The engine is complete and ready to drop in. For purposes of this photo, I've temporarily installed the driveshafts, which I separated from the kit part and made removable with brass pins, the rear exhaust manifold (the one that arcs out over the transaxle) and the air cleaner. All of these parts will be permanently installed after the engine is mounted in the frame. The loose ignition lead will go to the coil, which is mounted on the engine frame.

That is VERY cool. I've never seen that Glitter Blast paint before- it's perfect for this build!

After getting the body painted, it's time to move on to the more tedious assembly tasks. The engine has been assembled, including those four-piece headers. In order to get the headers lined up right, I applied a drop of Micro Kristal Klear into the mounting holes for the tubes on the block. After the glue had mostly set up, I pushed the tubes into place, lining them up correctly before cementing the collector into place using Bondene. After everything was dry, I removed the assembled headers from the block and peeled off the Kristal Klear. Since these pics were taken, I've cleaned up the headers and mounted them for painting. The engine will be painted metalizer aluminum and I'll airbrush some heat discolorization on the headers. The kit's rear struts and front shocks were truly atrocious. The "springs" didn't actually spiral down, and looked completely unrealistic. This won't do, especially as the rear springs are VERY visible on the car with the engine cover off. I sliced the springs off the rear struts (removing a neat chunk of my fingertip in the process- I don't think I've ever completed a build that I haven't shed some blood over!) and fabricated new springs with a stiff wrapped beading wire. The front shocks were completely scratchbuilt from wire and aluminum tubing. I think it's a bit of an improvement... Of course, there's a top plate that will be glued in place when everything's done. The rear struts will be painted metalizer aluminum, too. Next, the exhaust system was molded with the top of the muffler open. Not a problem on most models, but the top of the muffler is very visible in the engine bay of the Stratos. I filled the gap with thin sheet styrene and sanded it smooth. The slot I left open is where the muffler joins to an exhaust shield and will be invisible. I've also been cleaning up the various parts, removing them from the sprues and mounting them on toothpicks prior to painting. Over this weekend, I should get everything primed and painted... more updates soon!

White primer only- I used Duplicolor white and it turned out great!