Magnifer 1/12 GT40 MKII 1966 Lemans kit group build

[vamach1]

I am one of many that has been following Ken Morton’s build of the Trumpeter/Magnifer kit build which has exposed many known or perhaps newly discovered inaccuracies with the kit.  As I coincidently started the kit at about the same time as Ken the information provided by others has been extremely helpful for this group build.  The original Trumpeter kit came out in 2008 and under the Magnifer brand in 2020.  Given the access to information at the time and the comparatively low price for a kit of this size, it's not too surprising there are some egregious errors and omissions in the engine compartment.  I will not repeat the discussion of those inaccuracies on this post.  This post will show pictures of the work in process of a group build that will display the talents of several members of the Model Car creations club that is based  in Broward county Florida.

Now on to this build.  A distributor was added to the engine as were plug wires.  I forgot to take a picture after I had installed several of the oil lines so those will show up in an updated post.  The engine has been set aside and the body was given to another club member for painting.  The next steps will be assembling the chassis and interior by another club member.  I will post updates every 2-3 weeks due to the kit being passed from builder to builder as more is completed.  I had hoped this kit would be more accurate and will leave it up to the builder(s) to modify or add parts on their own as we realize there is no such thing as a perfect kit and completing the kit with a lot of modifications could add even more hours to a build that may exceed a few hundred hours.  Before the final assembly there may be a chance to make some changes if new information or tips are provided that are compelling enough to go ahead with them.  Thanks for following along and any comments or suggestions are welcome.

 

 

 

 

[kensar]

Great to see this build here.  Do post any issues your guys come across as it will be helpful.  I see the build will be of the 1046 chassis.

BTW is the tan underside just a primer?

It will be interesting to see how this group project turns out.

[vamach1]

56 minutes ago, kensar said:

Great to see this build here.  Do post any issues your guys come across as it will be helpful.  I see the build will be of the 1046 chassis.

BTW is the tan underside just a primer?

It will be interesting to see how this group project turns out.

I’ll post any issues that have not already been covered by other step by step builds.  Yes the underside is primer and will be painted the dark blue as seen in the restoration of P/1046.

[vamach1]

The group is moving along and here are some parts one of the club members is working on.  Our next meeting is Tuesday so I hope to have some more photos of the progress on the interior.

[vamach1]

Our third group member Danny is making great progress. Ed did the excellent gloss black paint as seen in the 2nd update above.  Danny scratch built the oil lines from the oil filter to the engine block.  I should be posting more updates in 2 weeks after our next Model Creations meeting.

[vamach1]

Our forth group member Robert has made great progress with the chassis with painting, assembly and drilling 300 holes in the seats and using a silver fine tip sharpie for the metal rings in the seats.  I purchased a set of tire decals from Indycals so when we get to that step we will use them instead of the kit one.  The next update will be in two weeks.  Robert mentioned the distributor that was added may cause some clearance issues which I guess is to be expected as it was not included in the kit.

[vamach1]

We have doors.

[kensar]

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?

[vamach1]

29 minutes ago, kensar said:

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?

Thanks.  That is the plan (decals) but as the build has progressed if we find a better solution we will change gears ?and be open to anything that is better.  I ordered the Indycals tire decals which we will use instead of the kit dry transfer ones.

[vamach1]

More great progress by Robert on the group build GT40.

[vamach1]

Robert got the MKII over the finish line for last nights meeting.  He mentioned issues with the kit provided were for the hood pins were too stiff as well as many other issues he and Danny encountered with fitment of some parts which should be no surprise.  The final result is stunning thanks to the paint by Ed.  The build was started only four months ago and was passed on to four builders (Ed, Brad, Danny and Robert) and everyone did a fantastic job.  As for the decals, I will add them at some point but the paint is so gorgeous I think I will leave it for a while.  Thanks for looking and I hope to add more of the build comments as I review the instruction sheet where we all made notes.

[Gramps46]

That is a beautiful build guys. 

[kensar]

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!

[vamach1]

On 7/10/2024 at 3:42 PM, kensar said:

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!

Thanks.  It was a great project to be a port of and we all learned a lot.