Alpha Model Ferrari SF90 Stradale

[harti20]

Hi all  

After having finished the Skyline and because I lack motivation to continue on the McLaren Senna, I took the Ferrari SF90 from the stash  

A few parts for the interior are painted already, they will still get some decals and PE parts, then they are ready for assembly. First the middle console, which isn't really available in this color scheme from Ferrari. In fact everything would be one color, but I decided to add some color to it. On the original part the main color would be black, but here I opted to use Zero Paints' Dark Interior Grey to see something from the interior once the kit is finished.

 

Dashborad is finished too in regard of the painting. Here I mostly stuck to pictures of the original  

 

Now let's move on the the body. For this I used Zero Paints' 2K Etch-Primer, as I already had some good experiences with it with resin kits. Also this time I got a very smooth surface. But as the primer has a quite dark shade of grey, I decided to first paint everything in black, as the roof and some other parts will be black anyway in the end. As I wasn't sure whether it would be possible to use Zero Paints over Tamiya Acrylics, I used the black from Tamiya's laquer line (LP-5).

After that, the parts that needed to remain black have been masked off. These parts where I thought it would be easier to do it the other way round (first paint red, then mask and eventually paint black) I did without masking and will do it later

Subsequently everything was painted with Tamiya LP-11 Silver to have a light base for the following layers

Once the silver has dried, I used Zero Paint's pink primer which was quite a PITA this time. I spent a whole afternoon only painting the body in pink. Again and again the airbrush spit large blobs of paint on the body, which had to be sanded smooth afterwards. By sanding I also removed the paint around the blobs, in one case down to the bare resin. So I always had to repaint the spots around these blobs in silver to have an even base for the pink. Applying the primer was easier when I thinned it down with some Mr. Color Levelling Thinner, but then the coverage was almost zero, so I used undiluted primer in the end, controlling the needle tip of my airbrush every few seconds to see if there was some paint buildup already. Here you can see, how the body looked most of the time

But at the end of the afternoon I finally had an even, smooth pink surface and let the body dry over night

Today I painted everything in red. This time I didn't use the traditional Ferrari Rosso Corsa, but Ferrari's Rosso Fiorano, which was applied in about 8 to 9 very thin layers. After the second to last layer I sanded everything smooth again with some 4000 sanding sponge. That's how it looks right now. The A pillar and the window seal will have to be repainted, but as there are other parts which will need some black paint, I can fix that in one go.  

So much for the start to this W.I.P. I hope to have piqued your interest and am looking forward to your comments, critiques and plaudits ?
Urs

[mrm]

I am not a fan of the real car, altho I am a huge Ferrari fan. About the interior colors, I like what you are doing and I think it’s perfectly fine. The notion that certain parts on the real car are always only in black is wrong. Not only Ferrari offers different options, but they also have the so called one on one program where a customer can customize pretty much any finish on any part of the car. Infamously Lapo Elkhan (one of the Agnelli family heirs) had his Ferrari upholstered in denim, one of the seats even having a back jeans pocket on it. Our days pretty much anything is possible, as companies fight for exclusivity. 
   About your paint, I really don’t understand all the frivolous work you are doing, as it is basically waste of your time and material. The whole idea of using 2k primer is that it seals everything with a coat that does not get dissolved by whatever you put on top of it. You can buy a pint of light grey 2k primer and your choice of hardener from any reputable auto paint store, which when properly store will last you for years and will be enough to cover dozens of models. And if you use automotive paint, which is basically what all the aftermarket model suppliers are selling in smaller bottles, you don’t need all these coats of paint. A good coat of 2k primer, good paint and 2k clear is all you need. You can literally go through the entire process in a day and buff out the next with results matching the factory finish. Spraying 2k primer, then silver, then oink primer then red paint makes no sense and is just asking for trouble and throwing money and effort away. 
   Here is a yellow car painted with PPG factory code paint sprayed over grey 2k primer followed by 2k clear, next to the real car it represents. Keep in mind that this is a diecast model with bumpers molded in red abs plastic and some parts molded in black rubbery material. The 2k primer sealed everything and made them equal and because it is not solvent based it did not affect the yellow tone over it. In its turn the 2k clear did not dissolve the yellow, so it did not affect its coverage at all. You can use the same hardener for both the primer and the clear. 
 

[harti20]

Hi all

On 8/6/2024 at 5:51 PM, mrm said:

I am not a fan of the real car, altho I am a huge Ferrari fan. About the interior colors, I like what you are doing and I think it’s perfectly fine. The notion that certain parts on the real car are always only in black is wrong. Not only Ferrari offers different options, but they also have the so called one on one program where a customer can customize pretty much any finish on any part of the car. 

I think, I might have expressed myself somehow unclear. I meant that the 1:1 car I took as reference was in black. I knew that you could choose from a broad range of interior colors when ordering your car. Never heard of the one on one program though. That makes it much easier for future builds, so I won't have to worry, whether a color scheme would really be available ?

Regarding the primer, I only have one 2K primer which is a quite dark grey and I didn't want to buy another one. Usually I would always go from light to dark, but doing it this way was much easier to mask off in this case.

Unfortunately I didn't have that much time on the work bench as I wanted, also due to my son's school holidays where we preferred to day-trip when the weather was fine. But a few progress can be shown anyway

First of all the door panels have been finished

After that I tried to apply the carbon decals contained in the alpha model kit on one of the seats. I don't know if I just had a bad decal day or if the decals really are this bad, but right after applying them, I stripped the seat and started over, priming and painting it. While the paint was drying, I made my own template with the help of the second seat and cut them out. I used alpha model's decals as an inspiration regarding the shape and layout and ended up with quite similar, but way smaller decals. Last saturday I started with one of the self-made decals and it turned out much better. Now I'll have to apply the decal on the front and the one going from one side to the other and look how these turn out.

Then the break discs have been painted and assembled

And finally the rims have been painted using Tamiya's LP-63 Titanium Silver. As you can see alpha model provided two different sets of rims which all have been painted, as I couldn't decide yet which one to use. Right now I'm leaning towards the ones on the left side of the picture.

That's it for this week's update
Urs

[mrm]

Beautiful build so far. 

I personally like the wheels on the right, as the ones on the left are rather generic, used on more than one model. 

About the Ferrari customer program it is technically called Ferrari Atelier. They offer their regular list of options, color combos and specs, but then you can go outside of that and have truly one off spec made to your taste. People call it one on one because you go in and sit down with a design rep and go over all the details one on one. This way you can get stuff not normally available. Through that program there is a Ferrari LaFerrari painted in Honda Orange for example. And what is apparently the craze in the Middle East now - two tone fades front to back. They can even create custom colors and name them after you. 

[harti20]

Hi all

On 8/19/2024 at 11:41 PM, mrm said:

Beautiful build so far. 

I personally like the wheels on the right, as the ones on the left are rather generic, used on more than one model. 

Thank you very much ?And I leaned more towards the wheels on the left, as I thought the ones on the right were rather generic and old-school ?

This week I finished the first of the two seats. I started decal work on the second one, but after the first carbon decal applied I had to do something else ?

Main work this week was on the engine / engine compartment

Here I'll have to apply another decal with the Ferrari logo and attach a cap from PE parts on the round thing in the center

Regarding the firewall I'll check if it can be seen once the model is finished. If yes, I'll apply some carbon as well, otherwise I'll leave it the way it is ? 

That's it for today's update
Urs

[beeRS]

This is coming along nicely Urs. Fantastic work as always from you. I really like the carbon work and colours. I agree, the wheels on the left seem better suited for this. 

[harti20]

Hi all

On 8/29/2024 at 9:01 AM, beeRS said:

This is coming along nicely Urs. Fantastic work as always from you. I really like the carbon work and colours. I agree, the wheels on the left seem better suited for this. 

Thank you very much for your kind comment

Once again I haven't had that much build time as I hoped for, but there is some progress anyway I can share with you.

First of all, the first two carbon fibre decals have been applied on the body (right underneath the doors on each side)

Decaling work on the engine covers started as well. Here I'll only have to cover the areas which aren't visible in the picture

Assembly of the engine has been continued

and the engine part from my last post was clear coated and the PE parts have been applied (the cap consists of a total of 4 parts)

That's it for today
Urs

[harti20]

Hi all

Initially my goal was to have this Ferrari finished for the upcoming exhibition at Basel, taking place on the weekend of 12./13. October. In order to get everything done by then, I had to concentrate on the exterior parts which will have to be clear coated. As I am using 2K clear, I can only use it on a friday when my son is at school, so I have the possibility to thoroughly vent the apartment before he comes home. And as the clear also needs some time to cure before I can start sanding and polishing I'll have to do it this friday (when possible).

There have been a few CF decals which had to be applied to the body. Some spots I'll have to cover up with some black paint after clear coating to make it less obvious that the decals didn't cover everything. Fortunately (as usual) it is not as obvious to the naked eye as it is on the pictures.

In addition to the body, the diffusor had to be covered entierly with CF decals

I am quite disappointed by the building instructions for this kit, regarding the placement of the CF decals. There are quite a few occasions where the callouts are just wrong with interchanged decals for the left and right side. Especially on the diffusor I tried to apply a decal for the longest time until I realized that it belongs to the other side...

Whenever I needed something else to do, I continued work on the dashboard. Mostly I had to apply decals as well, but at least they've been a little more colorful  

And to prevent me from getting too rollicking, I also applied the CF decal on the rocker switch

With all the carbon applied to the body and diffusor the kit is now ready for clear coat on friday. The only parts still missing are the rear view mirrors, which have to be partially covered in CF decals. Unfortunately there haven't been any predefined decals in the kit, so I had to make templates myself. Yesterday I started with the first mirror, but gave up completely bugged out as I managed to cut it wrong three times in a row (first it was too small, on the second attempt the pattern was the wrong direction and the third attempt I seem to have successfully forgotten)... But as they are small and I've made the experience that i's quite easy to achieve a bright shine on a small part, they won't become a blocker for clear coating. There are several parts for the interior / engine compartment which I'll have to clear coat as well, where I'll be using Mr. Color Super Clear, so I can use this for the mirrors as well if needed.

That's it for today's update
Urs

[SpikeSchumacher]

Looking really good, Urs!

[harti20]

Hi all

Long time no progress on this one. That was caused by a complete lack of motivation in the first place. Then, when motivation started to come back, I decided to clear coat the body parts. Right after applying the clear I had the impression that I had quite a few spots where the airbrush had sprinkled some heavy drops on. But after closer inspection I noticed that they haven't been bent outwards, but looked more like small dents. I guess there must have been some oily residue from the compressor coming through the airbrush, contaminating the clear  So I decided to vent the air tank of my compressor once again, something I haven't done for a few years now. While venting it, there suddenly was a loud bang and some parts of the compressor flying through the room. So I first had to get that fixed to be able to continue...

 

[harti20]

Unfortunately the forum software won't accept the rest of the text I tried to enter to my previous post. Let's put it short then: everything's fixed now, motivation is slowly coming back, interior and engine compartment are mostly finished and body has been clear coated for a second time. Now i'll let it dry and try sanding and polishing it to an even, glossy surface

Urs

[harti20]

Hi all

New week, new luck (hopefully) with showing my progress on the Ferrari  Lots of sanding has taken place during the last few days / weeks. After several hours of sanding with 2000 grit the body looked like this (still with some sanding residue in some spots, although this time I washed the body before taking the pics... 

I wasn't able to sand out all dents (or maybe I just wasn't brave enough as I had the impression that in some spots I sanded for days). After more sanding with 4000, 6000, 8000 and 10.000 grit and some polishing using the Tamiya Polishing Compounds it now looks like this

As you can see, there are still some dents visible, but I'll just declare these as damage by hail. It really is the owner's fault when he leaves his precious Ferrari outside during a hailstorm...  

That's it for today. As a huge step could be made with clearcoating and polishing the body, I think I'll soon come to an end with this build
Urs

[Funkychiken]

Beautiful  build so far

The das looks excellent with the 2 tone finish

The body looks deep and glossy, well worth the effort of polishing!

And i like all the wheels but would prefer the ones on the left too!

[beeRS]

All that polishing was certainly worth while. It looks fantastic and I can’t see any hailstorm damage from the photos!  
I guess the paint finish on the 1:1 car is not perfect anyway. The composite panels on some Ferraris show ‘movement’ when baked in the sun. 

[harti20]

Hi all

On 2/24/2025 at 11:28 PM, Funkychiken said:

Beautiful  build so far

The das looks excellent with the 2 tone finish

The body looks deep and glossy, well worth the effort of polishing!

And i like all the wheels but would prefer the ones on the left too!

Thank you very much for your kind comment

On 3/1/2025 at 10:06 AM, beeRS said:

All that polishing was certainly worth while. It looks fantastic and I can’t see any hailstorm damage from the photos!  
I guess the paint finish on the 1:1 car is not perfect anyway. The composite panels on some Ferraris show ‘movement’ when baked in the sun. 

Thank you too, but to be honest I must have been lucky with the angle of view when I took the picture, as the damage is still quite noticebale to the bare eye (even for someone like me who doesn't even think about getting to the bench without his magnifying glasses).

Meanwhile the interior has been completed

including the dashboard

and the engine compartment has been completed as well

The diffusor has been completed too and is now awaiting final assembly

The body has been waxed with Tamiya Modelling Wax and the first PE parts have been added

while installing the PE parts, I noticed that I had forgotten to paint the areas underneath the two large grilles on the back black. As there will be grilles on top of this area, so it won't be visible that much anyway, I decided to freehand brush-paint them using some Vallejo Model Color Black (the same paint that I used on the wheel guards

That's it for today. I think that by the end of next week I should be able to have this kit finished. Maybe without the wipers as I really have to be in the right mood to assemble those HobbyDesign / alpha model wipers.
Urs

[Greasefinger]

This looks excellent inside and out!

May I ask what paint you used for interior colour (the brown shade)? 
 

[harti20]

Hi all

On 3/6/2025 at 10:02 AM, Greasefinger said:

This looks excellent inside and out!

May I ask what paint you used for interior colour (the brown shade)? 
 

Thank you very much  The paint used was Zero Paints' Ferrari Leather Color Cuoio.

Unfortunately it took a little longer to continue on this build because a few things came up that had to be fixed first. But now the Ferrari is (almost) done. The only things missing are the wiipers for which I haven't been in the right mood to assemble them so far.

But let's start at the beginning  In the building instructions for the interior there was some weird thing I could never figure out what it was supposed to be. According to the instructions you should glue two PE parts on top of each other, apply a decal with a Ferrari logo and apply that on top of the middle console. But as I never found a picture of an original having a Ferrari logo pleced on the top of the middle console I decided to ignore this part and go on without it. Shortly before finishing the bulid I looked at the according PE fret and noticed that there have been three parts with the same part number, so that would make four layers of PE to be glued on top of each other. Almost at the same time I discovered a picture of an original middle console, taken from the back seat (if the Ferrari would have one) between the seats looking forward. And there I could finally see it. So it was absolutely clear this had to be assembled. I'm sure you will all find out what it was without any problem when you see it

And no, of course I'm not talking about the ruler I put for size comparison reasons

The windshield was then installed. As this always gives rise to criticism with the alpha model models, here is my method of installing the windshield, which has proved absolutely successful so far (I copied it some time ago from rusomodel on his youtube channel, which unfortunately has since been shut down by him). First, the windshield is attached on one side, not quite to the middle, with superglue. Then let the joint dry really well and harden. To be on the safe side, I always wait a few hours or even until the next day. The second half can then be fixed again with superglue without any major problems. The only problem areas are actually the outermost lower corners, because the radius of curvature is usually quite tight there and therefore there is always a lot of tension. But with a little patience during the drying phase of the superglue, this can usually be managed too.

After fixing the second side as well, and work on the body was mostly completed, it was time for an overview of all the parts before they'll be more or less hidden inside / underneath / on the body shell. Here you can see once again the small part from the beginning, although not yet in its final place

With assembly completed it was then time to attach the side windows. I intentionally didn't attach them before, so I would have been able to fix minor issues from the outside without having to unscrew everything again. Speaking of screwing, I checked the position of the predrilled holes before priming and widened the holes accordingly to prevent stress cracks during final assembly. When putting everything together I noticed that the holes had to be widened even more. And the two frontmost holes in the body part have been covered completely by the undercarriage,so I had to drill completely new ones. That's something I always hate: drilling on a finished body... But luckily everything went well and the Ferrari could be assembled. The only downside was the resin dust from drilling the holes that I haven't removed completely before taking the next pics. But before shooting the final gallery pics I'll give the whole model a thorough cleaning, I promise  

On the last pic I also noticed that the grill at the passenger side got loose again. I'll fix that when I assemble and mount the wipers. And right now I also noticed that the licence plate is missing as well at the back. This will be fixed too before shooting the gallery pics

That's it for this build. As next step I plan to concentrate on my McLaren Senna to finish this model after almost three years. Parallel to the McLaren I'll start a legendary racing car from my home country. But I won't reveal yet which one it will be

About revealing: I'm sure you already figured it out, but just in case you didn't: the small part from the beginning of course is the car's key which belongs into the recess on top of the middle console

Urs

[Codi]

She presents very well Urs.  Cheers to you for a great looking car.  tim