Making Rockefeller's Ferrari Superamerica

[mrm]

This is kinda retro thread. All the pictures are from some time ago, but I just recently recovered them, after I thought they were forever lost. 

So, I bought a diecast model of a car I wanted for my 1/18 collection. Besides wanting this particular Ferrari, I also wanted to try out this new to me manufacturer, which bridges the gap between diecast metal cars and the sealed resin manufacturers. It is a company that makes sealed models with no active elements, just like the resin models from BBR and MR, but from diecast metal and offers them at a very very reasonable price. The company is KK Scale. 

 

The model is decent, especially considering its price.

 

But I was not happy with it, mainly because of the so-so paint quality, basic plasticky interior, lackluster details and the atrocious wheels. I just could not display it next to my other Ferraris from the era looking like that. 

 

So it got completely disassembled, which proved to be easier than expected in some areas and pretty much impossible in others.

 

Seats were poorly put together, with not so great paint, mold lines galore and lacking detail.

 

The door cards are pure genius, in a way. They are actually one part with the windows. The entire part is molded clear and then paint is added to the door panels. Barely I may add. And they are painted from the "out side". which makes all the interior detail transparent with some tan visible behind it. 

 

The dash has some generic decals for detail, which don't make much sense. 

 

At this point I started researching the real cars. The Superamericas were no ordinary cars even by Ferraris standards. They were very exclusive, very limited and basically build to the spec of their owners, which were Kings, Shahs, biggest industrialist and overall jet-setters. Therefore a lot of the body features of these cars greatly differ. There were only 25 Ferrari 400 Superamericas made, which were divided into two series, of which only 14 were Series II cars, like the one this model represents. Out of them some had different headlights, noses and hoods. So I had to find one of those examples that matched the characteristics of this model to copy, since I wanted a rather simple project. And then I ran across serial number 5115SA, which grabbed me not only with it's unusual color combo, but also it's owner. One Nelson Rockefeller of NYC. I thought it would be cool to have a Rockefeller Ferrari in my collection, to keep company to my other celebrity prancing horses. 

[mrm]

The dash got its knobs drilled and then it was cleaned up from mold lines and sanded smooth.

 

Then the gauge faces, which I had no way removing without destroying were masked off with liquid mask. 

 

Next I needed knobs and the three instrument faces on the center console. 

For the instrument faces I used some from the Revell '30 Coupe. I had some photo etched bezels that would fit them just fine. 

 

For the knobs, simple pins would work perfect, once having their heads painted black.

 

The steering column and steering wheel were appropriately paint detailed.

 

And after the dash was painted in rosso leather, I have everything I need to assemble it. 

 

The glove box button and pull were made from piece of photoetch sprue and a lock cylinder and the radio piece I have no idea where it came from. But either way, now I have a very convincing all red dash for my interior. 

 

Thanks for looking and comments and critique are always welcome. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by mrm

[Ace-Garageguy]

Beautiful car, nice work so far.

[bisc63]

I like seeing these diecasts brought up to a higher standard. It's looking sharp!

[mrm]

3 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Beautiful car, nice work so far.

Thank you Bill

2 hours ago, bisc63 said:

I like seeing these diecasts brought up to a higher standard. It's looking sharp!

Thanks Rusty

 

[Bainford]

Cool project. Beautiful car.

[mrm]

5 hours ago, Bainford said:

Cool project. Beautiful car.

Thank you Trevor.

[mrm]

The interior was all cleaned up, received few minor plastic strip additions, the seats were sanded down and properly assembled and everything was primed.

 

And then everything was painted red.

 

[beeRS]

Your work on the dash is very impressive. Interior looks so much better. 
I think a ‘sealed’ diecast is much nice than one with any opening panels. The manufacturer’s often make such unrealistic and oversized hinges.

[mrm]

16 hours ago, beeRS said:

Your work on the dash is very impressive. Interior looks so much better. 
I think a ‘sealed’ diecast is much nice than one with any opening panels. The manufacturer’s often make such unrealistic and oversized hinges.

Thank you.

I don’t necessarily agree about the sealed diecast metal being better. Most quality diecast models have proper hinges. 

[mrm]

The new wheels, which I ordered from BBR For those of you that don't know, BBR are an Italian high end resin company, which makes ready models in 1:43 and 1:18 scales. They don't sell kits and they don't sell parts. With the exception of these wheels/tires, which are just fantastic. Polished aluminum with photoetched spokes and perfectly plated knockoffs with finely printed Borani logos on them. 

 

Polished aluminum with photoetched spokes and perfectly plated knockoffs with finely printed Borani logos on them. The billet aluminum air valves are a nice touch.

 

Compared to the old plastic wheels on the right. 

 

The stock suspension and hubs did not fit the new wheels.

 

So I cut the stub off.

 

Made attachment pins from aluminum tubing.

 

And paint detailed the brakes with Mollotow marker and some Tamiya paint. 

 

Now it looks waaaayyyyyy better.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by mrm

[mrm]

It is amazing how little is needed to make a part look special in a car. No matter in real life or in scale. A simple piece of trim can make all the difference. 

For that purpose, I took some pieces of solder and slightly flattened them by rolling the handle of my Exacto knife over them.

 

Then the flattened pieces were curved by the seats and glued with 5 min epoxy. 

 

Tiny little detail with a big impact...

 

The luggage shelf received some Mollotow treatment together with the window cranks. and the handbrake. The floors were painted and the ashtray received some BMF. The shifter is a cloths pin, not even painted. 

 

Now we have a complete interior, which with little extra detail is miles ahead of what the model came with. 

[mrm]

Next the headliner had to be addressed . The holes where the roof's tabs were protruding were filled in.

 

Puttied.

 

And sanded

[mrm]

I like to be efficient. And what I really don't understand is when I see people take all these extra steps that make their project considerably more complex and unnecessarily more complicated. Like the whole ritual going through 15 different grades of sand paper when polishing paint. Or the number of coats and sanding in-between them, whith different primers and unicorn dust, blue moon spells and specialty paints from Dalai Lama's birthplace thinned with holly water....

I follow three golden rules:

1. Anything can be sprayed through an airbrush. ANYTHING!

2. 2K Primer can be sprayed over anything and anything can be sprayed over it.

3. 2K clear can be sprayed over ANYTHING with better results than anything and will dry and polish faster and better than anything. And on the long run cheaper than pretty much any clear coat. 

A big no-no for me is to have to do something twice when unnecessary. That goes for anything, not just models. In this particular case, the perfect example is the foundation for the paint job on this model. It's diecast, which is notoriously problematic hen it comes to paint sticking to the Zinc-rich alloy. Well, the manufacturer went through quite a budget trying to figure out what works best I'm sure. So why remove it, when it can simply be sanded smooth, orange peel and imperfections corrected and then resprayed? It basically comes already primered with the best primer for the job. 

 

Some parts, like the front markers, are impossible to be removed without destroying them. And others, like the side markers are just molded into the fenders. So, what needs to be saved from overspray is masked off. In this case with liquid mask. 

 

And then everything is sprayed with Rosso Barchetta. To be honest, I don't know if that is the exact color of Rockefeller's Ferrari, but it looks close enough from all the pictures I have seen. 

 

Here is another myth that I don't really understand. Spraying "base colors" under a base color. That one always makes me chuckle. Base colors are not transparent. Quality paint will have enough pigmentation, that after proper application not only will not make any difference what is sprayed over, but would pretty much maintain its color no matter how many coats you apply. Of course Candies and some semi-transparent metallics are a different story. But Whether I spray solid white over black , solid red over grey or solid black over white primers should make absolutely no difference whatsoever. 

Maroons for me are like Kryptonite, together with white. I hate working with them and usually they fight me back. This particular color is a PPG product, mixed for me by an auto paint store ready to spray. However, some paints apparently have different "grain" pigments in them and are just not working very well through an airbrush. They still do, just no as well as others. This Rosso Barchetta is one of those paints. It sprays always grainy and it sand off really easy. Rosso Corsa (aka Ferrari Red) on the other hand, mixed by the same shop, the same way, using the same product line has no such issues whatsoever. 

 

Regular 3M sand paper (automotive) available from pretty much anywhere for cheap does the trick. There is absolutely no reason to sand base coats with anything higher than 2000 if you are going to spray another coat of anything over it. Simply because any paint will fill these size scratches. Probably even 1500 would be safe.

 

And also when not careful rubs right trough when wet sanding. 

 

While I was wetsanding the sides and naturally the side trim was the first thing to shine through, I had an idea. 

 

So, after another coat to cover up the spots I sanded through, I covered the side markers with BMF.

 

And then painted them with Tamiya clear orange.

 

Then I sanded through the side trim on purpose, giving me an easy perfectly straight, very shiny and very naturally metal looking "chrome side trim". Once clear coated it is forever sealed. Just like the side markers, which also got more depth this way. 

 

Thanks for looking and stay tuned...

P.S. Any repetitious overuse of "any" or "anything" is anything but coincidental. ?

Edited August 15, 2022 by mrm

[mrm]

To each their own with choices of methods to achieve a better finish. Different strokes for different folks, in the words of one Rocky Balboa. I personally can't make any sense of taking 15 steps to achieve the same result I can get from 3 steps. So I simply wetsand my clear with 2500 grid sandpaper. It is coarse enough to even out any orange peel I may have and to take out any dust particles or slight pooling around body panels, but does not leave marks that a good compound can't take out. I don't need to start with 1500 and then follow with 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000.....That's insane in my mind. For many different reasons.  First of all, it's a lot of unnecessary work. Then comes the cost of those kits. Followed by the problem with availability. And then probably the bigger issue - the stress that with every following grade of sandpaper you are praying not to rub through the clear. 

    On the last picture in my previous post the body has a really nice finish, which would be satisfactory to most and looks really smooth just as sprayed. A quick wet sanding however, reveals there actually IS some orangepeel and there are high spots around body panel edges. 

 

A simple 2500 sheet of sandpaper from Walmart with a little water and a good dose of patience takes care of these issues and leaves a nice smooth surface. 

 

After a very good wash with dish soap to remove any residue, everything is dried and black paint is flown in necessary recess panels. The clear coat protects the color from the flat black and I don't have to be carefull, because after the black dries, I'll buff out the access.

 

At this point the inside of the body and the headliner were sprayed with light grey.

 

Next I buff my paintjobs with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. By hand with a terry cloth. Under ten dollars will buy you a few years supply. A good alternative is Scratch-X, which I believe is by the same company. 

 

Give this stuff enough time and you pretty much don't even need anything else to follow up with. 

 

 

[jaymcminn]

Looking good. And Ultimate Compound is indeed magical stuff!

[mrm]

2 hours ago, jaymcminn said:

Looking good. And Ultimate Compound is indeed magical stuff!

Thank you Jason. 

I used to use Scratch-X . Until I discovered "Ultimate Compound". I still follow it by "Ultimate Polish", which really brings out the shine. Very rarely I'll go all the way to Wax. But if I do, I try to keep everything the same brand.