absmiami

The NNL south in Atlanta in early Nov is a must do - check the ACME model club site - im scheming a weekend drive thru Florida - i haven’t been to the show in bout six years - the travel committee will have a fit - but you never know … there’s also an IPMS Regional contest in Orlando in mid Oct - but the NNL south event is THE event for cars …

Pierre - if you’ve caught the pre-war resin kit bug - i’ve got some more bad news for you …. My FPP ‘32 Alfa just arrived and you’ll notice that Pinto has upped his game - your Lemans kit is an earlier design - the GP kit has a better one peice engine casting and a hinged bonnett set up the looks like it should work well …. And the wheel assembly is just a little better …

As you can see - the level of detail was as great as in the later 20th sc kits - i wasn’t crazy about the cockpit parts but it was the best 24th sc open wheel kit then produced …

Some of the old sub-assemblies that have been patiently waiting their turn …

this is such a great looking F1 that I barely paid any attention to the GTO neighbor ...

and

and ...

probably should have just mailed it to Pierre for the re-paint ... anyway ... my trips years ago to the Cavallino events in Palm Beach Gardens [at the now closed Moroso Raceway] also yielded a couple of chance encounters with a '68 312 F1 ... don't think it was the French race winner - but it was restored to that spec ... these are large files - so I'll post them one at a time ...

New markings from the remains of the MFH decal sheet - and i got another set of markings from Lemans Decals - just in case …

And some old stock Model Master Italian red enamel …. Nice and smooth - but a shade darker than the original red - maybe i used MCW Way back then - dunno - anyway the transition to the adjoining painted surface is decent - think I’ll go with it … don’t tell the judges ….

New coat of Tamiya primer …

Well i have … the project took a rather long snooze - the kids grew up - went to college - graduated - got engaged - got married (number two is getting married in a week) - whilst working on the Barquetta, i noticed the 312 box begin to twitch, and then tremble - i think it was jealous - so i grabbed the forlorn 312 tub and got back to work …. I couldnt remove the engine compartment - but i managed to mask everything with some 3M parafilm - and i sanded off the numbers, stripe, and paint, down to the primer …

great stuff

So what’s a poor boy to do …. ?? didn’t know so I stuck it back in the box and it took a nap - a long nap …

This is where the markings should have been - and the decals were dry and snugglled in place ….

Which is where disaster struck - i placed the numbers - got some dinner - came back two hours later to admire my work - and realized that the two and the six were 8 to 10 scale inches too far down the tub - so far out of line that the 6 would lay under the trailing arm mounts - oops

So i worked for months on the sub- assemblies - pix to follow - painted everything - and began to apply the decals - right side tub markings on without drama - and then on the left side …

Number placard’s ready for some primer and trunk brace is done …

Gracias … how many beers ? nobody’s listening …

About the kit - Model Factory Hiro kits focused on 24th sc way back when - their sports car kits are still 24th scale (along w 12th) - but they quickly abandoned 24th scale open wheelers in favor of 20th scale - but not before making 3 Ferrari 312 kits - i bought the French Grand Prix winner and set about making my first MFH model …

Long Story short - bringing this project back from the crypt - this is a rare color photo of the French Grand Prix winning Ferrari 312 in 1968 - Jacky Ickx [spell that 3 times fast] at the wheel ... the kit's kind of rare, too ...

really cool wonder if its a runner ??

Zero paints textured beige …. It appeared to be too dark in the bottle - but it turned out to be the correct finish once airbrushed - it was a little difficult to clean the airbrush cup - the pigments in this paint tend to break down in the airbrush cup after a very short period of time - didn’t have this problem with Zero’s aluminum …

The kit seats are very accurate - but required some scribing and sanding …

Always thought it was great that MPC included a detailed push tractor …