Italianhorses

Haha, that's what I get for forgetting to put gloves! My wife also gave me compliments on well-done manicure. Though, she said its rather radical color. I said it was all the rage back in the 70's Japan!

Decided to go with lime green metallic after all. No clear yet, just color coat.

Haha, no, box stock builds are for "box-stock" contest. CAn't buld them any other way. Plus, you can't be serious thinking I'll stick to kit assembling, rather than kit building, right?

Gary, terrific pictures - thank you so much for sharing these! definitely will come in handy!

I'm sure you know this, but spray a thin layer of metal (self-etching) primer on these to make paint stick better. Otherwise it will start coming off during assembly from the "mesh" parts.

I just bought this kit! Haha, yes sir!

Thanks guys, it will be a long project! I was looking at all the parts and pictures again last night, and I already have bunch of other changes I want to make...

Honestly, I just scraped then with the back of exacto knife.... Several times to give them depth, but nothing more.

Yup, I just watched DeMuro's video!

What happened to the steering wheel? Cool build!

Cool weathering!

Looks great. There is a certain charm in these old Japanese cars. Awesome job on this one.

Haha, cool little brute!

Turned out real nice, cool color scheme as well.

Yeah, lets be honest, its the face only mother could love.

Thanks. I really do hope to continue work on these, just need to re-think my approach a bit now that my skill set is somewhat changed

The mirrors are sexy. Good stuff.

That's awesome. I'd be definitely in for a couple.

Small update - really just cleaned up the body, cut the panel lines, and coated with primer. Chassis and suspension bits were painted flat black. Paint next! Decided on Lime Green metallic, much like on the box cover. I think its the best color for the little rocket.

Thanks guys. Yes, the fit is poor for the money, but you have to take into account that this is a limited edition, handmade kit that was produced over 10 years ago. And you can't really compare this with Tamiya who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to engineer and manufacture a mold for styrene kit vs resin kit which was released in very limited numbers. I don't think MFH ever made even 500 kits, most of their releases were close to 300. Plastic kit manufacturers easily make 10-15,000 or more, so there are obviously economies of scale. So in the end you pay for the exclusivity and the subject matter, something that mainstream manufacturers can't give you.

DISCLAIMER: These kits have been started in 2008 before my accident. Everything that you see in the first few posts will be the work I have completed before the project was shelved. I’m attempting to resurrect the build and hopefully complete these at some point soon, just don’t know if I’m still in shape to actually do it, but what the heck. =================================== The 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 47th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 9 and 10, 1979. Ferrari had no chance against mighty Porsches and new BMW M1s, but it did enter several cars in competition. It was Beurlys 512BB LM #61 "EMKA" with its screaming 4.9L Flat-12 driven by Nick Faure, Steve O'Rourke, Bernard de Dryver, and Jean Blaton that showed 12 overall result having completed 274 laps. Today I will build this car in 1:24th, using multimedia kit from Model Factory Hiro. I will be another double-build. The second car will be JMS Racing/Pozzi #63 3M "Cloud Car", which unfortunately DNF after completing 219 laps. Here are couple of pictures of the real cars: The kits are usual MFH detail tour de force, with lots of white metal, turned aluminum and steel, and photoetch. Body is half resin half metal, and lots of other materials used for various parts of the kit as well. I started with cleaning the bodies, but as with all MFH kits, the process will be slow (and painful) because of the amount of cleanup and test-fitting required. You get a lot for your 31500 yen - here is kit contents: As you can see on the following pix, the fit is horrible. I mean - nothing really fits! It looks like some parts came from a different kit! So...I decided to cut it all apart and see if I can put it back together so it fits right! Made templates for the doors Then started hacking into it. Look at the thickness of that thing! Good grief! You know why Hiro kits are so expensive? They use way too much resin :-) LOL! After I cleaned up door jambs a bit I found one positive though - I don't have to build door jambs now - they are thick enough as is, I actually had to thin them down a bit. Door pattern was transferred to sheet brass, then doors were cut out, shaped over the spare body and just by hand, and then meticulously fine-tuned, bent here and there, beaten to shape. Still need some work a bit, but the basic shape is there. Door jambs were cleaned for the doors, and then I started carving the cavity for the doors to go inside the body when they open. After few hours of work, cavities were made, door jambs finished, and part of the hinge made. Then I added hinge to the door skins. It is a very simple but very effective construction that perfectly replicates the way doors opened on the real car. Later on, the entire hinge assembly will be concealed by the inner door frame. This is how the doors fit on the outside: Front lid was sanded and re-shaped until my fingers started bleeding! Had to completely re-do the sides, then thin it down (a lot). That cover needed tons of work. Still need a bit more, but I was at least able to do proper test fitting. Now I need to do the same for the other! Door frames! Still a few tweaks needed here and there, and solder needs to be cleaned up, but basic shape is there. So, this is where it all stopped in 2008. I have not touched this kit since, everything that is to follow will be new stuff. I honestly don’t even know where to pick up the pieces on this, but will assess the situation over the weekend and proceed then. Just wanted to put this up here as a bookmark!

Made me chuckle.

Lots of tasty bits!

Its coming along!

I respectfully disagree. While building a road going car definitely can painted in any color, for a race car that represents a specific race/livery, it has to be correct to be considered an accurate replica/model. As much as you can't paint Me-109 in pink, you can't paint this Porsche green. And while I understand that darker shade of yellow is not that big of a deal in grand scheme of things, striving to be accurate is what distinguishes model builder from a somebody who casually assembles a kit following (often inaccurate) kit instructions. Plus, let's be honest, a pink F40 is a blasphemy, more so than a pink Me-109.