Zoom Zoom

I don't know if you have a source to buy the Maisto diecast F430 cheap, but I got one of the kits w/two sets of wheels (only one set of tires :roll: ) for about 6 or 7 bucks. Their F430 wheels are better (and bigger) than Revell's or Fujimi's. These are the split 5 spoke design. Great tread detail too. If you want the BBS style rims, only Fujimi makes them currently in a size that looks right; either on the Optional Parts version or the Challenge version. If you don't mind a slightly blingy appearance, there's a set of Pegasus BBS style wheels that look good inside a set of their 23" sleeves. I almost used this combo on my Z06, looked great up close but from across the room they looked just a bit too big so I stuck w/the Ferrari rims. The stock Revell rims are sufficient if you lower the car a bit. Dave Thibodeau built one that way and it looks pretty good.

Great color combo!

Sounds like a plan! Now I gotta figure what to build...has to be something unique :wink:

Very classy 8) Don't see them built very often. I have a couple of those models to build as well; one will be stock, the other an open-wheel vintage racer like one that's displayed at the Citizens Motor Car Company, a still functioning Packard dealer (for service and restoration) and museum in Dayton, Ohio.

The silver Ferrari that I saw from pics looked like it was a Revell F430. Revell does a stock F430 and F430 Spider, both have engine detail (but not to the level of a Tamiya 360 Modena). Fujimi does curbside stock, Optional Parts (Stradale-style wheels, sport seats) F430, and F430 Spider (coming) along w/versions of both w/some photoetch (though not for the Challenge, at least yet). For a stock F430 Revell's is pretty good for the price. I've seen excellent examples built, one in particular by Dave Thibodeau. There is a good amount of engine top-end detail on this curbside Fujimi kit, plenty of detail for all that you see through the clear rear window/engine cover. The car has aero skirts underneath that completely cover any engine/transaxle detail, so this kit should satisfy most people except the hardcore that just have to have an opening engine cover. If that were the case they should buy a Modena from Tamiya and use it as the transkit for an F430; and also buy some aftermarket photetch that should be soon available for the Challenge grille mesh. This is a great relatively simple kit to start with, and a great start for someone wanting to do a very detailed racer. I would imagine the aftermarket will be offering more. A lot of these parts could also do a roadgoing "Stradale" that should be announced by Ferrari soon; so Fujimi will probably have that as well.

I've started the new Fujimi F430 Challenge. I'll show some shots of the body itself, some shots of the Challenge-specific parts, and some comparos with the stock "Optional Parts Version" F430. Fujimi made a myriad of changes from stock, and for the most part have done a really admirable job of the conversion. The body is crisp but there's a ton of work to polish out the mold lines and rescribe some of the slightly-faint cut lines for the doors and bumpers; I spent the better part of Saturday getting this model into finished primer. I also spent time molding in the separate front air ducts ahead of the front wheels. This model will be built in basic Pure White w/red seats and no race markings; basically an "as-delivered" custom-ordered car that the owner can decorate (or not) for club racing. I will refinish the wheels in bright painted gloss silver. Recesses for hood pins, headlight washers deleted (by Fujimi) Comparo with stock: Stock fuel door deleted, replaced by quick-fill fuel inlets on both sides. Slight crease on body is a bit soft in comparision w/a Tamiya Modena. Sharpening the crease requires more work/putty than I feel will be worth it on a gloss white model, so I'll leave it be. Many changes from stock. No place for a license plate either. Challenge Stradale style rims from the optional parts F430 on left; Challenge wheels w/centerlocks on the right. Sizes are the same between the two wheels from the two kits. Tires are lame. The CS wheels and extra set of stock brakes from the Challenge kit are going on my Z06. Multipiece seats; the seatbacks/sides are separate which will aid in the application of C/F decals to them. Challenge-specific parts. Also included is a two-piece fire extinguisher, chrome exhaust ports, hood pins, tow hooks. Only disappointment is the Challenge grilles are engraved (nicely) vs. using mesh. I'll keep them as molded. Engraved side glass detail is a nice touch if not 100% prototypical. Lots of changes to the interior, from the tub to the door panels to dash and the rollcage.

I made some minor progress this weekend on the Z06. On Friday evening I polished the body with 3600/4000 and Tamiya fine and finishing compounds. It's amazingly glossy; my pic doesn't show that off too well. I feel like I cheated; this was an easy finish to achieve with a minimum of effort. The Mica Silver is a cooler shade of silver than gloss aluminum. I also painted the window trim and aero spats in Acryl flat black. On Saturday a few ACME and CARS members met at Brian Venable's house for a modelpalooza where I cleaned/fitted some resin racing seats I bought at the NNL East from Arrowhead Aluminum (they're supposed to be vending at our show :cool: ) and will use some Museum Collection harnesses/belts on them. I also glued the engine/torque tube/transaxle together, did some minor work on the seam line, attached the other parts to the engine/transaxle that were to be painted in aluminum and shot them w/Krylon Dull Aluminum (which works well and didn't seem to affect the plastic). I also removed the battery and will fit an oil sump tank in it's place under the hood.

Yeah. What he said. 8)

Looks great; my camera has a very difficult time w/dark blues. They never look right, and the model always looks 10X better in person.

Not sure how long you waited before commenting on the smaller parts being softer; but larger parts heat up more and kick a bit faster just because of the volume of resin. Smaller/thinner parts cure a bit slower, so they might seem a bit more flexible. Mixture is very important though; I cast some parts in simple open molds and my results varied greatly but I got enough good parts to make it worthwhile.

How did I miss this one?? Really cool! Can't wait to see the entire rig w/trailer. I painted my H1 snapper in camo colors.

Len, great to see you here and posting!

Thanks! Enjoyed meeting you at the NNL East. I used Tamiya white primer; it barely crazed the leading edge of the hood where I had block sanded it flush w/the bumper, but a couple scuffs w/micromesh and further coats of primer kept the color from causing any damage. I did the final clearcoat this evening, everything looks A-OK to polish out after overnight in the dehydrator.

The wheels are from a Fujimi Ferrari F430 "Optional Parts Version" which has these 19" BBS wheels and sport seats. The ones you show I think are 17's or 18's and might look small on a modern Ferrari, but I don't have that set in my stash. My F430 Challenge just arrived; it has correct looking 19" BBS-style racing wheels w/centerlock hubs, a modified body w/the correct Challenge trim, modified glass, completely new interior tub w/full rollcage...this one's getting built ASAP (as in hopefully by the end of the long weekend)! I've been dying to build a 360 Modena Challenge in white w/red seats to match an unmarked one I saw at a car show; this one will get built like that 360 since nobody kitted a 360 Challenge car properly. I knew painting the Z06 would get the Ferrari here faster :wink:

Well, at least the Z06 is worth the extra effort. I don't know if it's the soft plastic, but honestly I think it's just sloppy finishing of the molds. My Z06 just got pushed aside as my Hobbylink order just arrived and I have a new Fujimi Ferrari F430 Challenge car that's going to get fast-tracked over the weekend The body mold is much crisper than the Z06, it's also quite a lot different from the standard F430 kit. Fujimi's really gotten their act together in the past couple years.

This one already looks a lot different than Ismael's screaming yellow monster Started this new Z06 earlier this week. Spent the better part of Tuesday evening sanding away mold lines, but when I painted the body silver I noticed a good amount of waviness to the body, primarily the hood and front fenders. I already did a bit of rescribing; Revell's body molds just aren't up to snuff w/the Japanese. So there was an extra step of block sanding/repriming/reshooting the silver before applying the clear. However what you see paint-wise all was accomplished over a 4 hour period w/help of a hair dryer and dehydrator...prime (Tamiya white), color (Tamiya TS 75 Mica Silver), dry, micromesh 2400/3200, spot prime (airbrush), spot color (airbrush), dry, micromesh 2400/3200, apply panel lines, respray silver (airbrush), airbrush a few light coats of TS 13 clear, then a couple mist and wet coats of TS 13 directly from the can. I'll micromesh one more time and recoat the clear. I don't do the "wait X number of days/weeks/months 'til dry" deal w/my paint :wink: Before painting I also removed the molded grille mesh and opened up the side vents to a better scale thickness. Here she is; looks decent so far, and I like the Ferrari F430 "optional parts" wheels-considering how similar C6's and 360 Modenas and 550 Maranellos look. Got the wheel idea from the BBS rims on the LeMans C6R's. This will have a black/red interior. I may use some Ferrari seats as well. The factory Z06 rims from this kit will grace either a C5 or C6 convertible.

Looks great in yellow 8) I should have shot mine in a solid color. Did you do a lot of prep work to the body to get it smoothed out? I've shot some coats of silver on mine; wrong color if one doesn't want to see how sketchy Revell's tooling/engraving/polishing is in certain places :roll: Stuff that didn't show up in the primer. Lots of extra time getting this body smooth...lots of block sanding (before primer and after color coats) and rescribing, and it's still a bit sketchy but that's as good as mine is going to get. I guess I shouldn't expect an $11 Revell kit body to be as well molded as a $25 Japanese kit body. Because it isn't :wink:

Mmmmm. Maserati Birdcage. I'd love to see Tamiya (or anyone) tackle that one prototypically...though the engineers would go nuts before the first tooling was cut Here's a bit more translated data (see how they translate "Mille Miglia" and other names...very amusing :shock: :wink: ) on the SLR. It's coming in late August. http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...Flanguage_tools

Thanks Bill! It certainly was an "oddball" in terms of design, but it's a blast to drive. I got a chance to put a few miles on one for a charity event. The M Roadster is even more fun if you like the wind in your hair They always have been a relatively rare sight; especially the Z3 coupes (the lower HP/non "M" versions). The new M Coupe is drop-dead gorgeous IMHO. Finally a new BMW that looks "right" with none of the electronic gizmos like the SMG transmission or I-Drive that are ruining other BMW's even if you can stomach the odd styling details.

Way cool 8) Can't wait to see more of this.

Thanks! I'd love to tell you what secret I had making them look so good, but I hang my head in shame... They were prepainted and looked too good to bother to refinish. The centercaps are the stickers from the kit (no decals, just stickers... :roll: ) carefully trimmed out so they look like decals. The entire kit was prefinished like an AMT Pro Finish kit, I stripped the factory paint from the body w/91% rubbing alcohol and painted over the interior two-tone blue/black to this car's black and white theme using Tamiya flat black and white primer. The instrument sticker is quite accurate, and the center stack sticker is also very accurate, I had to carefully remove it before repainting the stack itself. With the thick glass in place you really miss a lot of the interior detail. The blue plastic did bleed through the white primer a bit, so I applied a mid-coat of Zinsser B-I-N primer/sealer under the next primer and finish coats. When it's dry it sands as nicely as any primer.

Thanks! The trademark flag-style decals used by BMW on some of their race cars were "borrowed" by the tuner crowd long after BMW had been using them :roll:

This model depicts the last of the first-generation M Coupes made at BMW USA’s Spartanburg, SC plant. BMW has started production of a sexy new M Coupe based on the Z4. The final three cars off the Z3 production line prior to changeover to the Z4 were a red M Roadster, white M Coupe, and blue Z3. When I saw this M Coupe at the factory museum called “The Zentrum†I realized this was how I wanted to build my 2002 M Coupe kit. The kit was made by Dragon (an update of their M Roadster) and was sold by Revell in Europe; it's always been scarce/hard to find in the US-I got this from a friend in Europe, though they do show up occasionally on Ebay. It’s not a particularly good kit as it’s got a number of sketchy details and engineered glitches but it’s sufficient for a basic curbside. I disassembled the prepainted body and painted it Tamiya Pure White, and designed and laser printed the trademark BMW flag decals for the car. I also lowered the ride height a bit and made a sunroof by simply painting that area of the roof with Tamiya gloss black. I scratchbuilt the rear license plate holder, the plate reads “Proud To Call South Carolina Homeâ€. The basic body and printed decals: The 1:1 on display at the BMW Zentrum:

I think AM is planning to do the roadster.

It would be great; but if Tamiya did it in 1/12 it would end up being diecast. Actually I'm surprised that someone doesn't offer the SLR in 1/12 diecast (maybe they do?) since the Enzo and McLaren F1 were done in that scale for collectors. Though personally my dream is to see the Cobra Daytona coupe and McLaren F1 made into 1/24 scale kits.