Rich Chernosky

This is a great little kit. You are off to a great start. I did one of these back on July 23 of last year. Will be interested to see your take on this cool looking car.

Dann...soooo nice to see this project back on the bench. And nice to see you back as well. A year and a half since you stopped....its more like 2yrs on this one. But don't fret....I haven't touched mine either. Good things take awhile. Can't tell you how many projects I have that are in paint just waiting to be finished. Got one on the bench right now that was painted in 03. Paint might be cured by now...ya think.

Built 21 this year and bought maybe 5. Still trying to make a dent in the 250+ kits in the stash. 21 is a good year for me considering I lost 4 months early in the year due to a move and setting up my new work area. Did 2 WIP's here on the forum and one of them took over a month and a half. Overall I am pleased with my rate of completion. Will finish one more on New Years Day. Always do.

Got this one in the stash (actually have both the hi and low exhaust versions) and recently had it out. Just finished an Autokit so I will be very keen on how you do yours. Thanks for putting this up Matt. You are off to a great start by the way...luv those springs and shocks.

We need more F1 fans so you are most welcome to this forum.

A recent completion as featured in the WIP started by my friend Andrew Sapiro. Link to the WIP here: white metal Ferrari Sharknose and white metal Lotus 25 - Spy vs Spy ... - WIP: Other Racing: Road Racing, Land Speed Racers - Model Cars Magazine Forum. This is my first Autokit completion. It is an all metal kit and had its challenges. Most of the pieces like suspension, interior, and bracing fit very well. the body however required quite a bit of work to get it to look right. Luckily the metal (which is pewter I think) was very soft and could be carved with a knife. This made some of the alterations I made a lot easier. thgose included, new coil/shock units, working steering, aftermarket wire wheels and the engine cover screens. Color on this is Tamiya TS-49 over their pink primer. More details in the picture captions. Finished model on its wheels. Had to cut the windscreen from a piece of acetate and pattern supplied in the kit. Had my doubts but it fit easily and looked good. rear veiw of the exhaust and suspension. Made new springs and shocks but retained the kit ends. Much better. The exhaust on each side was one piece and looked like it would be a problem but careful fitting and it went on easily. I drilled out the ends too. Side by side comparison of this kit and a 1/24 more current Fevell F-1. My how things have changed. The 156 Sharknose is tiny by comparison. Veiw of the interior. Pretty stark but correct. I added gauge decals form spares. Those and none of the logos were included in the kit. Note the handmade screens over the carb inlets. I made a press mold out of epoxy from the kit screens which were cut away from the body. Also note the chrome tape for the mirrors. These details make a real difference in my opinion. All three of my Ferrari 156 Sharknoses. The 1/20 is a Revival (also metal) and the 1/64 is a Hot Wheels. The Revival has full chassis and engine detail and was featured in the WIP.. Check it out.

Noel...I have had a similar experience with the Watkins Glen Motoracing Research center. It is basically a museum located in the village of Watkins Glen. I have exibited my work there on several occassions and even helped them when they took over my own exibit at the Watkins Glen Historics events. They are very nice people and generous with their space and time. They also have a permanent display of a few models. I know of a few modelers who have donated their collections of built and unbuilt kits to them. They sold most of that on Ebay and I know because I bought some of them. When you donate something to an organization such as this its "theirs" to do with as they please. In this case they sold it to generate income to run the library. Nothing illegal about it but tacky just the same. When asked if I would ever donate my collection to them the answer is a polite no. In the case of Gerald Wingroves stuff its a real shame. He created some truly museum masterpieces. The only way anyone will ever see them is if they know who bought the pieces and get a special invite which is rather unlikely for most of us. Its sad.

Last update. Out of the paint booth after much sanding, three coats of primer and 4 coats of TS49 Red. All the masking removed. Ready for final assembly and decals. Still have a little paint touch-up to do as well. Next post will be in Under Glass.

Phil...I think you had a great year. Some really outstanding models. But why stop there. Go for 15 for 2025.

Update on the Ferrari. Body halve are glued together. JB Weld Quik is great and can be handled and worked right away. I will trim some of the excess but will wait til tomorrow to do and serious sanding and filling. JB Weld achieves maximun strength in 24hrs. Some of the masking techniques are in the picture captions. Here it is all glued and masked. The white tape (front and rear) is bottle sealing tape. The forst layer is put on like regular tape but the next layers are stretched (almost double) I usually do 3 layers. As the stretched tape shrinks it clamps the two halves together. Kinda like electrical tape but much stronger. Great fro clamping irregular surfaces. The suspension is coated with Parafilm then covered in masking tape. Parafilm can get gooey if too much paint (solvent type) is applied. I will be decanting and airbrushing the primers to also help avoid this. Poster tack is used in the other openings. The interior has masking tape reversed to stick to the interior then more stuck on top of that. The dash had to be masked with craft glue. Hopefully tomorrow primer will hit metal.

That's mighty ambitious Andy. That reference picture is outstanding and I can see why you would want to do this. We differ on this project as i have had this so long I just want to see it finished and in its place in my 1/24 Ferrari F-1 case. I applaud your efforts however and I am sure this will be a great model for you. I am glad to be part of it. I remember being at the Glen for the first race on the new track. That was 1962 and I was 14 at the time. There was almost no security and we were allowed to go everywhere. We were in the pits about 45 min before the start of the race. I got up close and personal with all the Lotus, BRM and Ferrari's. I was a little disappointed. I thought these would be made like airplanes. Instead they had tube frames, beat up bodywork, tool marks everywhere and interiors that wouldn't get the good housekeeping seal of approval. What a piece of junk I thought to myself. You would have to be crazy to drive one of these things at speed. I got to talk to some of the mechanics and a couple of the drivers....and yah...they were crazy. Afterwards we walked right across the track into the concrete grandstands. The cars started and did a few laps then stopped right in front of us. Some guy in a white suit and cowboy hat came out , jumped up in the air waving a green flag and the race started. The noise, the smell, and the tires screaming was something I will never forget. I was hooked. The next year all the cars had changed and I got a look at the new Lotus. Now...that was a work of art and definetly worthy of your attention.

Some major progress on this project. Front and rear suspension all installed, interiort panels fitted, body halves fitted, wheels ready to go. Now i just have to do saome more sanfding to getrid of some file marks, give the body a good brass wire brushing, then prime it with some Plasti-cote white sandable primer. More sanding and if that's OK I plan on using Tamiya Pink fine finish primer. After that a couple good coats of Tamiya TS49. Can see the light at the end of the tunnel here. More comments below. Front suspension all installed. The spindels already turned in the a-arms so why not add a tie rod. Some .032 brass rod, some tubing and wire insulation and it worked quite nicely. I always enjoy doing this . Most of the suspension fit easily including my re-worked coil over shocks. Rear suspension was a little more problematic. Re-worked shocks were just a tad bit bigger and did fit in exactly. Upper body had to be carved a little bit to clear them. Other that it was a good solid assembly. There are 4 interior panels, two sices, the dash and the rear bulkhead. They fit together to form a square and as expected did not allow the upper body to mate up with the bottom,. Some bending, cutting, curse words and filing eventually solved the problem. The metal on this kit works easily so I did not need as many curse words as usual. The seat and dash detailing will be added later. Also note the top of the engine and six holes for some aluminium intake trumpets I found in the stash. Wire mesh over these has been fabricated and fit. I wanted to see what this would look like on its wheels. Was not disappointed. They sit nice and flat. Note how the body halves fit together. This was no easy trick but I am quite pleased with myself for pulling this off. I am now all ready to glue this assembly together. Everything that will finish this kit has either been fabricated or painted and fitted. The front and rear seams will be filled in and sanded smooth. JB Weld will be my weapon of choice. It trims and sands smooth. The side seam (between the wheels) will stay as this is on the real car. Some interesting masking is ahead.

Nice clean work Bruce. Two tone paint and decals are real sharp. Good job.

Pierre...excellent models all of them. I have also enjoyed the exchanges and feel I have benefited greatly. Heres hoping you have some great holidays and i think next year you should shoot for 8....<G>

Thanls Pierre. They were not as hard to do as I thought they would be. Yes, they are exposed which is why I went the extra yard to make them look good. There are a few other details that will get this kind of attention.

Helmut...some people really go nuts over famous peoples signatures. I guess its proof that they met them or maybe they think its valuable. I owned a collectibles store for almost 30yrs and most of my customers were under the impression that a signed collectible was worth more. Fact was, they were not. As a matter of fact, signed collectibles were difficult to sell. Most people did not want to pay extra for the autograph because it was more than likely done for free or it was possibly a forgery. I actually met Clay Reggazoni at a Watkins Glen gran prix. His English was about as good as my Italian but it was nice that he took the time to try and talk to a fan. That alone is a treasured memory. I realize that those books are treasures to you and\ you probably have no intention of ever getting rid of them. The signatures just add to the memory for you so this is no criticism on my part. I feel the same way about this model. Thanks for sharing.

I see Andy will probably go full detail on the chassis of his Lotus. That is his style. Andy takes some of the best detail shots of racecars I have seen anywhere. With that kind of reference, I say why not go full kamakazi. I choose not to because I already have a full detail Ferrari 156 in my collection. This is a 1/20 Revival that I did some time ago. It already had a full chassis and interior. i still added some extra details but was very satisfied with the result. An interesting story behind the aquisition of this kit. About the only place i could find it was Ebay. Going rate at the time was around $120-130. Had it in my email search and whenever one came up I was notified. No matter what I did, I always seemed to get out bid. This happened over 25 times. One Christmas I decided I was going to get one these no matter what. I put in a bid of $225, almost twice the going rate. That oughta fix em. I got out bid by over $20. A few months after the Christmas debacle, another one came up and the bidding started out at $49.95. At this point I didn't really care so I only went as high as $90. I wound up getting it for $82. Go figure !!! When the kit arrived I discovered it one of the ones Phil Hill signed. Either the seller didn't know or didn't care. It was a bonus and I'll take after all the suffering I did. It is the only signed piece in my collection. Pays to wait sometimes.

Coil over shock units all assembled and painted. Special care had to be take to ensure these were the same size as the originals. I traced an outline of both units front and rear, on a piece of paper when they were uncut. Then lined them up when glued. Hopefully this will work. I canstill bend tyhem a little if they are off slightly.

Aaaahh much better. Wound some springs from craft wire around a 3mm rod. Cur apart the kit unit with a razor blade. Cut some brass tubing and piano rod for the shock. More explanation below. Parts still need to be assembled. This is just a test for the correct size. Once sprayed with semi-gloss clear the upper and lower shock parts will be painted Mr color #3 red. But I'm on my way now/.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Pierre. But its not really a race to see who gets it done first. Its to show everybody two different takes on modeling and hopefully they gain something from both builds. While Andy and I are interested in basically the same cars our approach to building them will more than likely be a little different.

A long time ago (maybe 20yrs) , on another forum I met Andy Sapiro. One day the discussion was about these kits. I mentioned that I had several including the Lotus 25. Andy, a bit time Lotus fan, just had to have it. In the ensuing dialog he offered to trade his Ferrari 156 for it, even up. As a big time Ferrari fan, I just had to have it. It was a done deal. In a few short days the Ferrari arrived and Andy got his Lotus. Over the years and lately on this forum mention of the two kits came up. Andy suggested we do a WIP at the same time and as I was just finishing up my Ferrari 333SP I agreed. Thanks Andy for starting this post . Now here is my contribution. Whenever we modellers get a new kit the first thing we do is give it a good grok. Look over the parts and plans, maybe even make notes. We have every intention of making this our greatest project, but then we aquire other kits or life just happens and it gets put on the back burner. Although it is never forgotten. As a result,over the years this kit has made it to the bench and little bits and pieces of work are done. I even ordered new wheels from a company called Machined Aluminium Specialtys. Now gone I think. This week it has made it to the bench for good and with the incentive ( or was that nagging) from Andy it will be completed. Below the pictures are some of the work that has been done and plans for more. As an aside note: This forum has been great. The other forums I have been on were also helpful. I have made some great friends (Andy among them) and those people have enhanced my enjoyment of this hobby. We share a deep passion for modeling and things automotive. And that makes us brothers in arms. The friends I have made here and other places, are life long. I urge others to comment and leave other bits of information. This is how friendships start. And good friends that last a lifetime are priceless. Here is the kit with its long yellowed instructions. Not that many pieces but pretty straightforward. Very similar to Andy's. Mine even has the original price of $36.95 which is what i think I paid for the Lotus. Fair trade, I'd say. Here are all the pieces laid out and you can see some of the work done here. Parts all cleaned up and some areas shined up with a brass brush. Those areas will be clear coated with semi gloss clear. The steel brush left marks. The metyal is very soft. Coil over units wiill be replaced with real springs and shocks but the end fittings will be retained. Most of the interior will be light gloss grey. Note the windscreen has been cut out and fitted. Easier than I thought. I made this press mold from JB Weld (my go to epoxy) I used the cast in screen, which I cut out some years back, as the master. The srcreens covering the engine intakes will be made from brass screen using these two pieces. Later cars used a clear cover over the intakes but this will be an early version. The machined and photo etch wheels. Kit tires were resonably accurate. The difference between thes and the stock wheel on the right should be obvious. Thanks for looking. More updates to come.

On my way.....

I wish some of my 40yr old builds looked as good as these two. Nice pair Helmut.