Ford F3L/P68 at Brands Hatch 1968, Alan Mann Racing (old kit reworked)

[1959scudetto]

A little bit of self-motivation in-between...

[Pierre Rivard]

Looking good Helmut. Doing a mock up, making sure all sits well and where it should is important but mostly shows a path and a nice little energy boost. This looks promising. What a beautiful car.

[1959scudetto]

On to the cockpit: As the P68 had the seats covered with rivets (like the GT40), I had the idea of using the rivet decals from Revell AG's Gulf GT40 release:

unfortunately I cut the decals much too close, and the first one crumpled and cringed - a total mess!

Though I had covered the seats with black electrical tape before decaling to achieve a smooth surface, I only could use the second one for the driver's seat.

For seatbelts, I used belt material and 3D printed buckles from Jack modeling (for the shoulder parts; yellow Britax decals are from Revell's 1980 Fiat 131 Monte Carlo rally) and lap belts with photo-etched hardware were taken from the co-driver's seat in Jouef's Ferrari 330 P4 spyder:

I will add a fire extinguisher (made from scrap parts) and call it a day.

Meanwhile, body preparation for paint is going on....

Edited August 24, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[Gramps46]

Looking good Helmut.

[Dave B]

Helmut, this is looking really really good!!

I wish I had thought of using that decal as I have the kit, didn't even realise it was in it.

Dave B

[Gramps46]

Has anyone tried scanning the seat grommet decal and printing it onto decal paper?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Love this kind of build, missed it before, very unusual and not well-known car.

Keep on keepin' on.  

[1959scudetto]

Body almost ready for paint -  almost!

[1959scudetto]

Finally – ready for painting. After endless seemingly days of sanding and correcting small issues – again applying putty and sanding and priming over and over I finally give up and let it be.

Several mishaps occurred when trying to make things better, so sometimes they came out worse.

The hardest part was the concave deepening in front of the rear spoiler: it was uneven and had to be redone 3 or 4 times till I found it acceptable. The NACA ducts also have been reworked several times and crumbled out when reshaping them. A cut in the nose had to be filled and a small piece of the rear spoiler’s left corner broke off which was replaced and blended in again - replacing the whole rear spoiler would have destroyed almost everything).

I certainly cannot see any putty for a long time !

 

It may not be perfect, but I cannot do better, so I called it a day...

 

Edited September 14, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[Pierre Rivard]

Looking good Helmut. These types of build test our patience but can be so rewarding when we conquer the obstacles. Sort of like a styrene/putty Everest! 

[Dave B]

That's a huge improvement Helmut, can't wait to see it painted and decaled.

Dave B

[1959scudetto]

Thank you, my friends - I will try my best with this one but it won't come any close to the great models you are creating.

[MarkJ]

Such fabulous wheel work. They came out so perfect you would never know you actually scratch built them. Very impressive. Now I know the finished build will be out of this world impressive too.

[1959scudetto]

6 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Such fabulous wheel work. They came out so perfect you would never know you actually scratch built them. Very impressive. Now I know the finished build will be out of this world impressive too.

Thanks, Mark - we will see what the final result will look like - now I'm working on some clear parts and collecting the required decals .

[1959scudetto]

After having to re-do partially applying primer, again I have to wait some days to let it cure enough. 

In the meantime, I have been looking for parts to be used:

The red and amber parts are leftovers from amt truck kits, the clear parts have been in my parts box, and Czech Truck models (CTM) have produced these fine photo-etched lights with clear lamps - will be used for the headlights.

Decals are from Patto's place and some additional ones from the Studio 27 Alan Mann Escort will be used.

The "Burmah" decal has to be replaced/reworked: it says "Surmah" and has the wrong color.

Have a look at the original car: This is what it really should look like:

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

Prepared a few small parts (2 versions of the headlight covers: the originals sit IN the opening, my replacements are larger than the headlight openings, which is correct, but should sit flush with the body - see pic above... hmmm):

the black panel is meant to be the inside engine cover.

first shots of paint (Tamiya TS 21 gold and TS 49 bright red) and a quick mock-up:

Edited October 1, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

Apart from a few issues in painting which need some touching up, you can see the main problem here:

the car sits much too high at the front (the rear is jacked up just for placing it horizontally - rear axle is not fixed in the chassis yet). Moreover, the front track width is about 4 mm too wide with those aluminium slotcar rims.

Solution: Rework/revise or reconstruct the front suspension for narrowing the track and bringing the nose down at least 3 mm. Oh boy, lots of unexpected work again!

Edited October 1, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[MarkJ]

Looking great, Helmut. I'm sure you can get the stance right and figure out how to get the headlight covers flush to the fenders. This is going to be awesome.

[1959scudetto]

Thanks, Mark - I will try my best to find a solution for these obstacles.

[1959scudetto]

First trial was turning the spindles upside down for ground clearance and grind away as much material outside as possible to narrow the track width. I jacked up the car here to show the stance I'm trying to achieve.

(Laid the original headlight covers in its place):

and with the flashlight on (car had inboard discs at the rear):

[MarkJ]

There you go, Helmut. Looks like you've got it figured out. Looks just like the ref photo to me. That sure was a beautiful race car. I had never seen one before you got this build going.

[Pierre Rivard]

Love it Helmut. Stance is spot on. Such a beautiful race car.

[Gramps46]

Oh yes, you captured the look!

[absmiami]

Yup

[Rich Chernosky]

Looks good to me. You are doing a great job.  Been following this.