kensar

Thanks for posting, Pierre and Mark. The weld bead was an experiment to see if it would work. This was the only place I tried it with glue. I also simulated weld beads on the aluminum coolant tank edges using a coarse file. A little more refinement of the technique may give even better results. There is no air filter on this engine. The clear stack above the carb intake is to straighten out the air flow downward into the carb barrels. This creates a smoother, less turbulent flow. I don't know why they made them from a clear material - it doesn't have to be. They can be made of aluminum as seen on some hot rod engines.

This past week I focused on the engine bay and have it mostly completed. I re-made the reservoir for the cooling system from aluminum. Now on to the front and rear body clips.

Looks great from all angles - even the bottom! The Graham Hill figure really adds to the character of the display.

I finished painting the side pod and moved on to the front end detailing. I fabricated the side panels out of aluminum sheet since I rebuilt the front brake cooling ductwork to delete the holes for the hoses. Here, I tried to simulate weld lines by using an excess of styrene glue and then making weld bead impressions with the end of a rod. This was done when assembling this piece to the mid-section some time ago. I moved the Optima battery to this location from the passenger footwell. I decided to use this battery as this is a 'modernized' GT40 and not an 'as-built' one. So the front end is pretty much done, except for the wiring to the headlights. There is an open area just in front of the doors on each side that should be covered over. When the front clip is raised, it is visible, showing a large empty space that shouldn't be there (just below the fuel fillers as seen in the lower right in the picture above). Thanks for looking and following along.

Super work, Charlie!

It's great to see the final product. All of the builders should be justifiably proud of the result. The black paint looks superb. The details give a complete appearance to the model. I, too have ordered Indycals tire markings for my model as the kit tire decals just didn't release from the clear film on the top of the decals. Again, great looking results!

Very nice detail work on the fuel filler. Doesn't look out of scale at all.

Thanks for the comments Mark and Pierre, I appreciate them. I generally airbrush all the paint to keep things sharp. My brush painting can't come close to matching the results. I decant the spray paints and shoot it through the airbrush as well - much more control over the paint that way. The details do get noticed when everything is together. I now have one side pod painted and have addressed the open screw holes on them. A look at what's coming.

This build has reached a significant milestone today. I got the doors painted. I'll put number roundels on with no number. Now I was ready to join the center section of the body with the chassis. Everything went together without issues. The doors don't fit perfectly with even gaps all the way around, but it's close. I was concerned that they would fit worse when the center section was joined to the chassis, but it appears the fit of the doors didn't change after joining. Now I need to paint the bottom side panels and deal with the open screw holes.

That 50 cal needs ivory handgrips.

Always lots to do, isn't there? An IPMS judge may be the only one who looks at the headers once it's completed. ?

It does look like a great color combination.

Latest progress... Finished off the steering rack. Test fitting the radiator and shroud. They will be installed after this assembly is joined to the chassis. I am working through a number of assembly sequences - deciding when they need to be done to avoid any problems. Instrument panel and steering wheel installed. As can be seen, the color scheme will be silver with a dark blue stripe. I'm currently working on the body latches that will hold the front and rear clips. This needed to be worked out before joining the two major parts. Working latches are needed to ensure the body panels fit well.

Nice progress. The seats look well done. Better than I could have done with a sharpie. The black paint is quite shiny - nicely done. Will the kit decal stripes be used?

Perfect pose and appearance!

Looking promising. This car seems to appear quite different from different angles.

That's a great tip, Big John. I did a test and it works perfectly. Fortunately, I had the right size tubing already.

The fun is not over yet. I spent most of the day scratchbuilding a new steering rack. The kit one has huge gear teeth on it to connect the steering wheel to the front wheels, but I will be making it more scale like. First make the rubber boots by winding some 0.022" beading wire around a screw to get a coil shape. Then I cut some small sections of tube that fits over the 0.125" steering rack body. This will be part of the boot. Then made the steering column connection housing. There is also a diamond shaped access port at the steering column connection. I found a PE exhaust header that was the right size. CA'ed it to a square piece of styrene and shaped it. Then drilled a 1/8" hole just below the end and separated it. This will let it sit on the steering rack body correctly. Test fit Next, needed the rack mounting bolts. I will use straight pins to attach the rack to the chassis. 1mm brass tubing will come in handy. I milled some indentations into the rack body tube and CA'ed them on. The rack is mostly done except for painting and coating the coils with Micro Crystal Clear, or canopy glue (white glue) to form the rubber boot. (Also made styrene pieces to form the other end of the boots). This may need to wait until I am closer to mounting the parts on the chassis to get the right length and angles of the connecting rods to the wheel hubs.

Very nice work. Scratchbuilding an engine is something I have yet to do. The acorns look good.

Super work! That engine looks great. The spark plug boots really set it off.

A little sanding and those exhausts will look like they were molded.

Thanks everyone for the comments. It really is motivating when your work is complemented. Tarheel - the fourth pedal is a foot rest, as Mark IV posted. 4knflyin - I did grind out what I could on the back window panel, but it wasn't enough for clearance. Pierre - thanks for the complements. I really have no secrets and I'm glad to share how I do things. I hate buying aftermarket parts as it just adds to the cost of a model, so I use some imagination and tips picked up over the years to detail stuff. Thanks again, everyone for following along and commenting. One day I'm going to finish this thing!

I wasn't quite satisfied with the instruments so I made some Stewart Warner-like bezels on the lathe and added a few screw heads, so now I'm considering it done. Then finished detailing the doors. I found some thin leather to make the pull handles. Also added some styrene on some door edges to correct wide gaps with the body. Now taking a look at fitting the body panels. Getting them all to fit with reasonable panel gaps is no small task. After I complete this, I will take the main panel off the chassis and start painting and detailing it. I had to flatten one of the exhaust pipes to make the back panel fit - I wasn't surprised I needed to do this. Thanks for following along.

Those headers are looking great! I have never tried this method of making headers. Thanks for showing us. What brand of styrene are you using? Evergreen, Plastruct, or something else?

Marcus - Thanks for commenting. The hinged box does fold in on itself. I made it that way to be able to move all the stuff easily. Mark - You accomplish a lot for what you have to work with. In this update I am focusing on the dashboard, but I did work on the inner door panels, which are painted gloss black with the door panel painted flat black. First I painted the outer panels blue, then masked them. Then painted the fuse panel gray and masked that. Next painted the whole dash gloss black. The dash on the GT40 I was using for reference has a textured black finish. I masked the instrument locations and then painted a textured black (a Rustoleum spray paint). Then started detailing. Fuses are made from stretched clear sprue and the ends painted with a silver paint marker. Dash switches are made from beading wire that was flattened at the end to make the toggle switch. A PE hex bolt was used as a base for the toggles. Short pieces of stretched clear sprue were used for the indicator lights on the panel. The main on/off switch was scratchbuilt from styrene. The kit instrument face decals were used and then coated with clear 5 min epoxy for the lenses. A few small decal pieces are used for the labels. I think a couple of PE screw heads are still needed for detail. I'm still working on the doors to get the best fit I can.