Pierre Rivard

Must have been a sight coming down Mulsanne. The weathering you added adds so much realism to this replica. Thank you for sharing your build of this historic car.

This build is positively awesome. Top notch fabrication and paint finishes. Going for restored look or race weathered?

Downsized to what... 1/22... or better yet 1/24?

It's a V shape radiator with the cooling cells flush to the front, perhaps what we see is a decorative grille but regardless the kit part did not reproduce that pattern and it is too fine to reproduce at 1/24 scale. Going with a stone guard as was commonly used for racing makes sense and is easy to reproduce. The 80 mesh screen it is!

Here are period pictures of the car, preferable IMO to what we may see on big bucks restored cars. Top left corner is the actual grille without the stone guard and the other 3 have rather simple stone protection screens. I think the finer screen is a better fit.

I need a solution for the radiator grille which is so prominent on this car. The kit rad grille does not have the right mesh pattern plus an extra part for a stone guard with a pattern that appears a bit heavy to my eye. I'll definitely dump that part and and would prefer to apply steel meshing right over the radiator/grille unit. I have 40 mesh and 80 mesh in my tool box so I will test with both before making a more precise unit after choosing which of the two is the better candidate. Again here I aim more for realism than accuracy. Don't hesitate to offer ideas or opinions. This is work in progress.

Nice build Bruce. Tamiya always comes to the rescue when we need to refresh after a complicated build. I love the finish you applied (nice gloss but not show car glossy) and the way you scuffed the tires.

Wow, your builds are always perfect and this one is as flawless as I have ever seen. Incredible!

First go designing and 3D printing? Ok Mr Mouton, you have my full attention!

I'm actually using the kit pieces. I spent a lot of time cleaning tooling flash from the grooves and they look pretty good now. next step is working on the shape of the exhaust collector Thank you Ken, I like the way things are shaping up. Thank you so much friend. The finned drum brakes do look quite good, Peter than I expected. A good thing because they are so visible. I love the painting part of a build, working variation of tones for metal looking parts and adding various weathering materials. I believe paint effects can contribute a lot to the final look of a build Thanks Bruce for taking time to review this WIP. I'm enjoying this one quite a lot. I'm the odd man out in this world of mask and air brush spraying. I like my brushes and doing a bit of weathering along the way. Happy you like the color neighbor! Thanks Daniel. Cool that we can see the copper drums through the wire wheels right?

My simple solution for adding fins to the brake drums has worked out nicely once paint has been added. Vallejo copper and Vallejo oiled earth wash give them a nice look. Front and rear axles have been bonded to the chassis. Then friction shocks added, then front headlamp wiring. I could then bond the engine to the chassis and then bond the mechanical pull rods I had previously fabricated. Currently I am working on the exhaust system, a little project by itself. I'm starting with the kit parts but might add some details along the way. For now I have the exhaust line in place (but not glued) and have set the joints to the 3 headers. I will let that cure overnight in final position before pulling off the header/exhaust assembly off for painting.

Love the story as it puts the build in perspective. Transforming the body must have been a very difficult journey and the result is fantastic. Buckle up tight, seatbelt is the only lateral support you'll get in this car.

Welcome back little Alfa! This time don't show this and then in two weeks BOOM, it's done! We want to see regular progress. This is non negotiable...😉

Ben Hobby re-pop of the Tamiya Porsche Moby Dick + resin bits and decals all arrived this week to build the Momo IMSA variant of this famous & outrageous racer.

Welcome aboard Brian, I really look forward to seeing your work. I used to post on Randy's but slowly migrated here as there is more variety of topics, no hosting site needed to post pictures and a wonderful group of peers.

If a part ever falls off one of my models 5 or 20 years from now, I'll glue it back on... and keep it quiet. Less stress that way... 🤫

Thanks Atin, not really a confidence issue but more about taking it easy for one build. This one was as easy and straightforward as it gets. Good little kit. Thanks Thank you Carl Perhaps the one part of the build I did not appreciate. Open louvers are great... until you have to decal over them. Indeed Bill. When lists of beautiful cars are made the Stratos is always left out, but it is an all time favorite of mine.

The body and chassis have been painted. I dare to say this was a most successful brush painting operation. Only a light 3000 and 4000 sanding of the primer, nothing after color and only a very light sanding of the black fenders and yellow body after clear. Then 2 light layers of satin clear. If you wanted very conservative colors this one will not be to your liking.... but it is a race car after all!

Great color combo, should have thought about it but by the time you suggested it color was already being applied... Thanks Noel, it is shaping up in a pretty good way.

Very nice refresh Helmut. I love the paint on this, just the right sheen for a period race car. Cherish this one, replacements are almost impossible to find.

Yup, this will work!

I use 5 minute epoxy.... don't shoot me!

Super interesting and informative story about a car I did not know about. Notice the black one has the spaghetti exhaust flowing above the rear deck. Looks cool like that.

Paint looks really good. From this picture the color appears a mid point between bright red and blood red. It has a pretty nice Alfa vive to it.

9 hours? Took me about 4 weeks to build mine with just a few upgrades... Super nice quick build sir!