mrm

After over six moths hiatus I'm back at this. I would like to have it finished by end of month, so it will have priority on "my bench" (read the dining table). I'm starting by finishing up the front bumper. The front splitter was glued on in all its blue carbon fiber glory. In person ou can't really see the disruption in the carbon pattern, but on the photo I see a line where the clear carbon does not quite overlap. I will have to address that. This front bumper and the splitter bellow it were covered by more than 30 separate pieces of decal to create the continuous criss cross pattern. Next came the fun of installing all the photoetched metal grilles. While I was at it, I decided that it would be cool to put a "Huayra" script, where the license plate would normally go under the nose. The image reminds me that I still have not installed the fog lights. I will take care of that tonight and probably install the bumpers on the chassis, which will basically make a complete car without the hoods. There is still a huge amount of work to be done on the two hoods and the doors. And lots more carbon to deal with. Thanks for looking. More to come...

Very nice. I remember following your WIP.

I will probably get a couple of those. Now, just a question or perhaps a suggestion, not sure which one is it... But can these be designed to be user friendly for street rod applications. What I mean is that there is no way that alternator will fit in a '29-'32 ford with side hoods and some of your engines' exhaust systems make the engine mounts in those kits useless. Me personally, I have no problem with it, but making the parts application easier to more people would ultimately result in more sales. And in my eyes more sales equals growth, which in turn equals more cool parts to come.

Just to add to the above comment about the side hoods; The louvered side hoods from the different issues and reissues of the Revell '32 kits are not all the same. The side hoods in the older Roadster kit have obviously different louvers than the latest 5 Window kit. Therefore I would second the opinion that it may be a good idea to mold those too, in order to guarantee a perfect match of the louvered on the top and side hoods. Now, on a separate note, in all the Revell '32 Ford kits, the upper half off the gas tank is a separate piece. That little piece would look great with some louvers. Also it would be really cool if just a generic flat panel of just louvers is available, where one can cut them and apply them to whatever - belly pans, side of the frame rails, fill in panels between the frame and bed on highboy PUs etc.. The other day I saw a '32 highboy chilling on my grocery store parking lot, that had louvered headlight buckets. I kid you not. Also I would gladly prepay for few louvered panels that could be grafted the full length of the Revell '32 Tudor Sedan. Also, where can we see the aforementioned piecrust whitewalls?

Superb!

That's a trick question. I would go for one set of hoods that fit the '29 roadster with its stock grille shell and one set oh hoods that fits the '30 coupe with the '32 grille shell. Side hoods should be somewhat easy, as they could be fashioned from the '32 side hoods. They will need to be lengthened. I huess you could go in a similar fashion creating the top hoods. I made a top hood for my Revell recent issue '29 Roadster from the hood in the old AMT '29. It worked perfect, just needed to be made slightly longer. If you can add louvers to it, would be great.

A decent high tech Kugel type IRS. Those can be used in anything from the '29 Roadster, through '61 Impala, all the way to any slammed truck. Also Kugel IFS for fenderless Street Rods. No such suspension has ever been made in 1/25 or 1/24 scale. EVER! The IFS in the AMT "Phantom Vicky" is definitely NOT it, as it is more of a full fendered design based on Corvette? The IFS in the John Buttera's T Touring is the closest, but it is very poorly engineered and long outdated. I understand the debate about investing the time in making such parts and then the people asking for them buying none. In this case I have no problem preordering these parts and paying for multiple sets upfront, while they are being developed.

I have ordered a variety of '32 hoods, the '30 roof insert and the '33/'34 (ZZ Top) set consisting of the side hoods, top hood and gas tank cover (or rear skirt as some call it). All of these parts were top notch quality and fit perfectly. Communication, shipping time and packaging left absolutely nothing to be desired. I would highly recommend both the product and the service. Now, if I may add, it would be great to see the "product line" grow with Louvered trunk for the ZZ Top kit to go with the rest of the parts. Also louvered side and top hoods for both the '29 roadster and the '30 coupe would be great. If those are in the works, sign me up for at least three of each. I so much wanted to go to GSL. But it is way too far for me. I used to live in Colorado and kept saying "I'll go next year" and I never did. Now I'm in TN and it is way too far. I am however going to the Heartland Nationals in Overland Park and if you decide to be there also, I'would love to get few more pieces and chat. Good luck at the show.

Glad to see you're doing research on the car. Few things to keep in mind, which makes such research and building the model kinda PITA. These cars evolved during their production and some examples greatly differ when looking at pictures. On top of that you have Euro spec cars and US spec cars, which are significantly different. Then you have few cars in Japan which are in my opinion being ruined. That Tamiya kit represents the very first production sample of a Euro spec car. This is a Euro sample with first gen Tubi exhaust. This is what the Tamiya kit represents, more or less. This is an early LM car, without the really big coolers. The car I have access to is a late US spec car and as far as the Tamiya kit goes, it would be absolutely useless as reference. However, here are some diagrams you may find useful for your build. These are the non cat euro parts (very different on US cars), which should be perfect for the Tamiya kit. Most of the hoses you see are braided lines on the 1:1 car. This is the transmission oil cooler on the driver side of the car. The lines coming out of it are about half the size those of the oil cooler on the other side. This is your engine oil cooler lines. The "15" line would be not visible once the model is together, plus Tamiya does not include the dry sump tank anyway. Everything else however is very much visible on the model even when assembled. These braided hoses on the real car are quite thick. I would use something close to radiator hose size in scale. These are the lubrication and oil cooling lines for the turbos themselves. All these lines are braided hoses and they are almost half the size of the transmission oil lines. If I remember correctly the piece with the oil filter in the Tamiya kit has markings on it, which would actually indicate where some of those lines go. (at least 3 of them go there) Wastegate plumbing And Euro spec fuel plumbing. I can give you a lot more, but it would be pointless, since you can't fit it all in there and if you could, you wouldn't be able to see it anyway, once everything is assembled. Now, about the Sultan of Brunei's cars, they all came out of the factory red and LHD. They were converted for him after production by a third party under Pininfarina's commission. No F40 were made for the Japanese market. All cars there were either Euro or US spec cars. And all F40s came out of the factory with 325 rear tires, which at the time was the widest tire made. I ran 345 tires on my Vette and my wheels were 12.5 wide. The tires in the Tamiya kit perfectly represent the P-Zero Pirellis, which were at the time made specifically for the F40. If you make the same width wheels that are just one size larger, the kits tires would easily stretch over them and will not only save you the headache of sourcing tires, but would look really good, while maintaining originality to the F40. Good luck with the project and if I can be of any help, let me know. I will check if I still have some original Giallo Modena Ferrari paint and if I do I'll be happy to send you some.

Top notch work. Looking really great. The color actually turned out better than what I expected from your initial spoon test. This is one crazy model and I love every bit of it.

Very cool!

Looking good. It doesn't get more "classic hot rod" than this. Slightly off topic, I really wished Revell kept these tires with some more wheel options in the other '32 kits.

First off, congrats on the acquiring the kit. It is a great tooling even by today's standards, let alone for the time when it came out. I have built probably half a dozen of them, starting in '91 and this kit brought me my very first "big win" at a model car show, somewhere in the mid to late nineties in Chicago. Some miserable soul eventually stole my trophy while displayed with the model at some later show, but anywho.... As an avid Ferrari fan and a definite F40 worshipper, I can't help but say few things about your plans. Realistically, you can not fit a 13 inch wheel in a real F40. At least not without messing up it's looks and /or it's handling. It came with 325 tires on the rear from the factory and going larger is pointless. I love the rendering of the wheels and I believe they will look great on it. If you are attempting carbon fiber barrels and you are designing and printing them yourself, it will save you a lot of time and effort if you design the barrels as a separate part from the centers. Your choice of color is your choice and carbon on yellow always looks great. I should know, because my 1:1 Vette was half carbon over yellow. However yellow is one of those colors I could never feel attracted to on certain cars. Namely the F40 and the Testarossa. But it can work, considering the changes you have planned. Now , about the right hand conversion... well... no F40 ever left the factory with RHD and such a conversion on a model is absolutely pointless IMHO, considering that it is not even challenging, because all that it is needed for it is to move the gauge pod, which would take less time by hand than setting up your 3D printer. The bigger turbos is a great idea. It has been done in real life more than once and the kit can definitely use some help, because what Tamiya has made for turbos is just pathetic. The F40LMs that were built by Michelotto did exactly that-bigger turbos, but bigger turbos require more cooling and the LM cars had considerably bigger coolers. The issue with that in 1:24 scale is that if you put LM size coolers you are not going to see anything bellow them. As far as detail sets go, Studio 27 makes a wonderful F40 photoetched set and in my experience it will give you everything you need and nothing you don't. If you have already glued everything on the engine on the picture, then I would hate to inform you that you are missing half the vital parts of that power plant, simply because Tamiya never included them. Namely cooling, oiling and fuel supply. I am mentioning it, because you said you got braided hoses and what is mostly missing from the engine in the kit is exactly where the braided hoses go. It sounds like you have some great ideas and I would love to see where you take this project. I will definitely be following. The F40 is an amazing car and one of my all time favorites. P.S. The car I have access to is one of the best examples in US and it has custom exhaust. Basically it has three straight pipes, eliminating the big muffler in the middle. Tubi used to make a custom exhaust for the F40, which basically looked like three stainless motorcycle mufflers next to each other. Here is what this one runs, which is also made by Tubi. It sounds amazing.

What I have found to work best for mw with body issues like these is a two part polyurethane automotive primer. One heavy coat would fill all these pinholes and rough spots. If you spray it at night, the very next morning you can sand it without issues and all the pinholes will be gone. As a bonus, it will seal any of the plastic parts you may be using and they will be able to take the hottest of paints without issue, while the primer itself would be safe on any plastic. And one last thing... Please don't paint this amazing model pink. There is a million gorgeous colors that would suit a Ferrari, whether retro or not, but pink is not one of them. ?

Nice to see this one return to active status. Always a pleasure watching your work.

I don't know how have I missed this thread. Simply mind-blowing work!

I am pretty sure that Montana Chromegold is an acrylic, so the only thing that would protect it from HOK would be a polyurethane clear. I would most definitely test any clear on a spare part or spoon or something.

Cool project. That gold paint looks amazing and definitely not brushed. What paint did you use to achieve it?

I know how you feel. I have quit a few times myself. After my last move from Colorado, I even gave away most of my tools, including my lathe. I was just DONE. And then one day something as trivial as a spray can in Walmart reignites that spark with the simple thought of "this color would look cool on a hot rod". Either way... this model would be a proper "farewell" to the hobby, altho I have a feeling it will not be for long. On a side note, where did you you purchase it as a whole complete kit?

Beautiful model of a beautiful car.

Some great builds. Keep them coming!

I hear you and understand very well what you are saying. However, a well done Kugel type IRS with a generic top crossmember mount can be used on anything from a Model T to a ‘59 Caddy. And an IFS, like the one in the Buttera T if designed properly - in other words like the 1:1 with just sections of the frame, can go on any fenderless rod. Perhaps we can maybe talk about privately and come up with something.

I just received my order. I can not express enough how blown away I am from the quality of these parts. I have ordered numerous 3d printed parts from pretty much all the usual suspects on both fleabay and shapeways. Nothing compares to the fit and finish of this stuff. Pictures coming up. P.S. Now if we can just get some proper '32 Ford IFS and quickchange IRS suspensions (a la Kugel, Boyd, Foose etc..) I would be in seventh heaven.

This is getting better and better. I like wild creations like this.

These are some of the bodies I have on hand to chose from for the second chassis. for the first one I'm sticking to the '29 Roadster.