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So the windows were masked, painted and the wipers were attached. (I hate masking and painting windows with a passion lol) Next all the photoetched grilles were cut out and sprayed with semi-gloss black. Some of the holes got clogged, but I cleaned them up with a pin after the picture. Rear view mirror was attached, the grilles put on all the openings and then the body was put over the chassis. This was a fight and almost gave me a heart attack. My wife was also not very excited with the language that accompanied the process. LOL Almost there... There are still some touch ups needed. Some polish, tail lights, headlight lenses, painting and mounting the wheels, rear window and grilles, some decals and wax….. Stay tuned and thanks for looking.

You have the rear lower A-arms on top in the front, which would make turning next to impossible. There is no visible clue to how are the wheels steering and the entire suspension is not connected anywhere to the shocks. The rear set up is just plain impossible in real life. You have the engine bolted to the frame and then a rear axle is solid but has half leaf springs attached to it and no shocks. It is also unrealistically thick. I am not an engineer either, but it is just common sense. I really don't get some builders on here too, who one day flame somebody for having "floating" alternator on their model and the next day comment how this chassis looks fine. Now, please don't take this the wrong way. I am not trying to put your work down. I enjoy it and love your idea. I am just trying to figure out what are you trying to do. Because if you were building a fenderless early '30s rod I would understand the challenge with the front suspension and even the rear suspension challenge. But you are building a full fendered rod with big fenders that have plenty of space to fit any suspension set up on earth. So adapting the Testarossa's suspension would have been easy, straight forward and very realistic as it would be 100% doable in real life. The rear would've been more complicated but still doable. I learned a lot on this site and on contest and shows exchanging info and tips with other collectors. I have made a million mistakes and I would have not known if somebody did not point them out to me. And that is all I am trying to do. This is what we are here for, right?

I don't mean to rain on anybody's parade, but looking at the suspension set up, I can make no sense of it what so ever. Other than that I love the idea and can't wait to see it finished. I am a big fan of Ferrari power in hot rods.

Today was dedicated to polishing the body Next all the deyail painting has to be added and then the only thing left would be all the photoetched grilles.

Оhhhh, I see now….So I was clueless about where the pictures came from. Then the tune changed to "pissing on someone's effort". Now I don't understand "the difference between looking at a photo on a computer screen and looking at that same photo in a printed magazine". You still remember the fact that the same pictures were published in your own previous issues and in other magazines, right? Yet they look far worse in the last issue. But I don't want to compare apples to oranges, because it would be unfair to compare a shoestring-budget-magazine to a publication with much greater budget. So lets leave the competition out of it. Let's assume I don't know jack about photography, printing or anything related. So just plain common sense. If a picture gets - let's say darker, when published, then bright orange, pink and red, would look darker orange, pink and red. Well, then how come Red, Bright orange and Pink (and most on here know very well, what unpainted pink plastic in the old japanese kits looks like) Look pretty much the same color in the last issue? And the pictures used are from the same person, with same equipment, at the same show, taken at the same time. MAybe there is some black magic that I am totally clueless about . This is going to be my last post in this thread. But let me leave you with this……Take these three issues and compare them. I am not even going to ask you to go any further back. Look at the pictures in them and tell yourselves in the mirror, that the quality is not on a decline. Don't tell me. Don't write it on here. Go ahead and convince yourselves that besides technology getting better faster than it takes you to release the next issue, besides growing your following (meaning growing your sales and profit) you have kept the quality of the rag and the pictures in it. P.S. My offer to help pro bono with what I can still stands by the way.

I am going to address this straight to Tom Geiger, as apparently he decided to write a post based purely on presumption. I do attend some of these shows and I see exactly what happens there. But let me backtrack a little. What am I saying and why is it bothering me? Well, I have been following this magazine (can't say the same about the site unfortunately) almost since its beginning. What I loved the most about it was exactly that it was a shoestring operation sticking it out to the big guy (SAE). No need to give me any benefit of the doubt. Some of you must be really clueless. So going back to this magazine been the underdog and coming up from the ground as everyone's favorite is a thing I have always admired. I am still a big fan of the magazine and far from clueless who's operation it is. I am also very well aware of how the pictures are being taken and by whom. After all, anybody who attended any contest has seen who takes the photographs and how it is done. Separate area, little light booth and a nice camera with nice lens mounted on a tripod. Then any model that after the judging had a little card {photo invitation) next to it gets taken to that photo area for the photos. Then the model club supporting the venue decides which pictures get sent to the mag for publishing. Then the mag decides which ones to publish from the ones they received. Pretty plain and simple. And here is where I get completely lost. The same photographer who takes the pictures for certain event then posts them in a "fotki" (or such) album for public viewing, where you can order them even printed on a t-shirt. And these pictures for whatever reason look lively, sharp and authentic. With nice vibrant colors and plenty of detail to give you an idea if the model you are looking at has return throttle springs on its carbs. Yet the same pictures of the exact same photographer taken at the same time with the same equipment published in the last issue look completely different. Also on this very forum plenty of modelers post their work and their own pictures from contests. Somehow it baffles me that these pictures taken most of the time with pocket size cameras and sometimes even phones, turn so great. And I am talking about pictures taken right on the contest table, with no special lighting, in the crowd and pretty much on the go. So what gives? Third and last, as you said it yourself, these are pictures taken by different people, at different locations with different equipment. Well, I don't know how did it happen, but in the magazine they look like they were taken by the same person in the same conditions with the same equipment. And we all know that is not the case. So this is just one more thing that shows that the problem is not in the pictures taken. It is how they were edited, compressed, adjusted or whatever was done to them. And no, this is not "some reason I see the need to pee all over it". Don't even try to pin this on me, like I am disrespecting all the hard work and effort put in by the clubs and their volunteers at the shows. What I am saying has nothing to do with them. It is called constructive criticism. And the "need" for it comes exactly from that I care for this magazine and I like to see it do well. Not lower its standard every year, which unfortunately has been happening ever since the man in Hawaii's health problems started. I understand that this is run on a shoe-string budget. And because of that, I will offer for the next contest issue to do all the picture editing work or help with whatever I can. And I don't want anything in return, except to see good quality pictures. I don't even want any credit given or my name mentioned. I will just do it. One thing I will agree with you, Tom. It is SAD. Very SAD that people are so blinded by "the kings new clothes" that they stop noticing when the Average Joes' amateur home pictures are better than the ones in a rag you paid money for. Its even sadder when on the very same magazine's site where there is plenty of material to be compared, people like you and the magazine's staff actually are trying to shift all the blame to "the volunteer that has done his very best to represent his club and their show". It's not only sad; Its a shame.

So, this goes into a nice discussion until someone criticizes the issue and then all of a sudden - whooop, let's burry the thread. This goes to all the builders who got their models published; Do you really feel the photography represents faithfully the countless hours you guys spent rubbing and buffing that paint out? Or all the research, time and money you invested in detailing your model? Is everyone just going to turn a blind eye to fact that on one same page four different models are described as pink, red and orange of different variations, but they look the same grainy color on the pictures? As model builders that create some stunning pieces, I would have thought that most people on here are very detail oriented and that includes the way their work is (mis)represented. Or are we willing to sacrifice our integrity (that we get so mad over, when someone builds a model for their kid) just for the great honor and privilege to have a picture of our model published? Because, I don't know, maybe I am the only one feeling this way, but going home with a trophy in the junior class, where you whooped some 7 year olds buts with your photoetched sprinkled, urethane clear coated model would bring me just as much satisfaction as having a picture of my model printed on which it kind of resembles the color, finish and detail of the actual model.

Nice! Except it should be white.

Looks fantastic. More and more Vettes like this are starting to turn out at the autocross events on the Good Guys shows and at events around the country. I personally love the look of it. Can't wait to see it finished. What color is it going to be?

That's definitely wild. I would love to see how it turns out.

Day and a half dealing with decals and still not even half way there. There are quite obviously some things that need to be addressed and touched up, that can be seen on the pictures. There is also a lot more to be done and a lot more carbon to be added. Hope you like the pictures.

And let the "carbonization" begin.

The black parts were covered in carbon fiber, some other decals were added and then everything was sprayed with clear.

Nice progress. I love the F1 cars from that era

This is 100% my kind of build. I wish the manufacturers were offering more kits like the Aluma Coupe and there were more kits with parts like modern IFS an IRS.

Simply AMAZING work so far

Wow, that dash looks really good.

This is not a diecast. It is actually resin.

Thanks guys. The two tone paint job has a hidden agenda. LOL. Basically the car will be NART blue with the roof in matt blue carbon fiber. This is the reason for the two colors. LaFerrari was offered to customers in three general options. All in one color In two tone as the car was introduced to the press Some had body matching mirrors and some had roof matching mirrors As an option you could have all the black parts on a two tone car in carbon fiber And then came the super special cars requested by the super special customers, like this Swiss collector. This is what my model was inspired by. with a flat blue carbon fiber. So my model will be unique and definitely different, but totally within what is possible to order from the factory with all original colors and options.

The colors I am using for this build are based on a real car made for a customer in Switzerland. Except I twisted them a little. The original car is Tour De France Blue. I decided to make mine in NART (North American Racing Team) Blue. Both colors are original Ferrari shades. The NART Blue is very difficult to photograph with a flash, as it has bigger flakes than other metallics in the Ferrari range. My model has a different blue for the roof and center portion of the front. It is unfortunately very hard to capture on the pictures. Here the upper/roof portion of the doors is Blue Herra (a Lamborghini color) and the lower door is NART Blue. This picture makes the NART Blue grainier looking than it actually is, but it shows the difference with the Herra Blue in the middle section The insides of the doors were masked, painted blue, unmasked and then clear coated. This will give a good foundation for all the carbon fiber decals to be added. These parts are going to be mostly covered in different carbon fiber finishes, so they were sprayed with Tamiya gloss black. Stay tuned and thanks for looking.

I would also like to chirp in and congratulate everyone whose models got featured. I would also like to express the great disappointment in the issue, which I just picked up today. I am not going to comment the choice of models featured or the captions or anything like that. These are topics that will always have people having different opinions and something to cheer or complaint about. I just can't believe that the one issue of the year which is comprised almost exclusively of pictures has some of the worst model photography I have seen. Really? The one issue that everyone buys to drool over fellow builders color choices, paintjobs……The ,I am pretty sure, best selling issue of the whole year that people use for inspiration and as an idea book came out at least a month late and then it is filled with pictures that look almost as good the pictures my 5 year old takes of his Lego toys with my wife's phone. Basically according to the pictures, Ferrari red, Hemi orange, some pinks and everything else in between are pretty much the same color. I have seen many of the models featured elsewhere. Some I had the pleasure to have seen in person, some in other publications and others on this very forum. And I have to say that the pictures in this issue not only don't compliment all the hard work it took to create the models, but down right insults them. Grainy, badly lit, out of focus, lacking color and badly positioned pictures have no place in a magazine that has the pretensions of being THE model cars mag. Let alone in the issue that is basically a picture collection. I am not bitching and moaning, for lack of better things to do. But you guys have really dropped the ball with this issue. I am not mad or agitated. Just plain disappointed for my favorite magazine not leaving up to some pretty basic standard.

Thanks for the wishes guys. On a much brighter note, I just sprayed some clear coat on the blue parts. Now they will be wetsanded, decaled and cleared again.

The body was sprayed Tamiya Pearl Whilte Then the fenders and the spoilers and diffuser were sprayed gloss black in preparation for the carbon fiber that will go on top of it.

Thanks guys. AFX, the seatbelt material is a precut with adhesive backing from the parts box. I believe it came from a Fujimi Ferrari 330, but not 100% sure.

The engine compartment was also painted and put together The dash was also first painted and then detailed with some carbon fiber and photoetch. And everything together….