Tamiya 1/12 Ferrari 641/2

[Rich Chernosky]

Tghis will be my very first post in the WIP section.  This kit is special to me for a reason. A long time ago  (35+ years) a fellow modeler asked me  how many models I had completed.  I told him about 300 or so.  Since I had kept almost every one and they were all in display cases it would be easy to count.  I came up with 298. This won't do. That weekend I finished two, one of them was a Mercedes 300SL.  Since then I have kept all the box tops and numbered them. This particular build happens to be number 900. Not bad considering I have been building since 1963. Below are 3 pictures of what I will be up against and some more info.

Da kit. Purchased this one as soon as it came out. As a Ferrari fan it was a gotta have.  Started it right away and di a little pre4liminary construction with what I could at the time. then got discouraged. Next pic and you will see why.

This is the Perfect Parts pack I purchased form F-1 Specialties around the same time. Tons of photo etch and extras. some very tiny and at the time way beyond my skill level.

Here is all the rest of the parts all laid out. You can see some of the things I started. Wheels and tires, front nose and some of the metal suspension. Next up will be some serious parts sorting and notes.  Should be interesting. 

 

[Nacho Z]

I’m truly looking forward to following along with this one!  I know that you will do your normal excellent work on it.  I have the kit as well and it will be nice to see what you encounter and how you get on with it.  Best of luck on this build, Rich!

[Chris Smith]

Should be a great adventure, I’m in

[mrm]

I'm following this as well. I have a couple of those Ferraris in 1/20 still sealed in their boxes. 

[Rich Chernosky]

14 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

I’m truly looking forward to following along with this one!  I know that you will do your normal excellent work on it.  I have the kit as well and it will be nice to see what you encounter and how you get on with it.  Best of luck on this build, Rich!

John...thank you for the encouragement and advice. Looking forward to this. Lots of planning has already gone into it.

 

12 hours ago, Chris Smith said:

Should be a great adventure, I’m i

Welcome aboard Chris. Hopefully I can add to your already vast store of knowledge. Have followed a couple of your WIP's and they were awesome. 

 

11 hours ago, mrm said:

I'm following this as well. I have a couple of those Ferraris in 1/20 still sealed in their boxes. 

Michael....I have learned a lot on this forum. It seems everybody knows something that I don't. Hoping I can contribute to the vast source of information that is already this forum.  Which kits do you have ?.  I have just recently posted two Fujimi 1/20 builds here.  Those were tricky kits and the sequence in the instructions was not exactly the best course to follow. 

 

[1959scudetto]

Wow, Rich - I will certainly follow this one - I guess you will hit the 1000 in 5 years.

[Rich Chernosky]

1 hour ago, 1959scudetto said:

Wow, Rich - I will certainly follow this one - I guess you will hit the 1000 in 5 years.

Glad to have you along Helmut.  I have been modeling continously since 1963. So that's 61 yrs worth.   (its only 16-17 a year)  My son says he knows of no one who has ever had a hobby this long. Not trying to brag here.  I know of a few others who have finished more than I have. The point is...why is anybody going to aquire 100's of kits if they have no intention of building them. ( I know a  few actually)  But not me. The owner of Scale Motorsports (met him can't remember his name) told me to "live long...build em all"  I guess that has always been my goal.  Numbering them just keeps me focused. It is my hope that we are still here 5yr from now when I hit 1000. See ya then...!

[Rich Chernosky]

My first update.  This is the culmination of a couple days work. This will give everybody a little insight into the method of my madness. More explanation under the pictures. 

All of the parts sorted into painting bags and the trees removed. Not a lot of modelers I have talked to do this but there is a very good reason.  Number one I have to go all the way through the instructions and make notes along the way. This familarizes me intimately with the kit. Number two with all the trees gone the kit looks a lot less intimidating. Number three it really speeds up the painting process as all these parts will be sprayed with the airbrush and some rattle can. Anyway this works for me.  Note the red box. These are oddball parts that won't need painting.  The boxes and sealable bags are much better at keeping parts and keep the loss  down to a minimum. It still happens but if you are careful during this process its worth it. I don't lose very much. 

I aquired these samll parts boxes from a machine shop. I believe you can still  buy them.  They are handy dandy for keeping all those tiny screws and metal thingies organized.  And stuff doesn't fall out of them. 

I know some of you may have been horrified when I said I remove all the trees. Here is how I keep track of the numbers.  I leave the number section of the tree still attached. Most of the parts are either silver or black so I keep a silver and black marker handy to touch up when these are removed. They also provide something to hang onto when these parts hit the spray booth.  These are two of the six water pipes. Before painting all the seam lines will be scraped down and the molded in connectors ground off. They will be replaced with tubing and photo etch pieces from the Perfect Parts pack. Color on these will be Testors buffing Stainless Steel which comes close to the really thing.  ( I hoarded a bunch of the Testors metalizers when I heard they were being discontinued. I might have another five years worth of supply) 

[1959scudetto]

Interesting method, Rich - has its advantages.

Edited September 16, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[Rich Chernosky]

45 minutes ago, 1959scudetto said:

Interesting method, Rich - has its advantages.

Thanks Helmut. It takes some time initially, but in the long run it speeds up the building process and makes it more accurate. 

[kensar]

I saw one of these kits in a hobby store in 1994 or thereabouts for $100, and I thought " nobody in their right mind would pay that much for a model".  Little did I know ...

[Rich Chernosky]

18 minutes ago, kensar said:

I saw one of these kits in a hobby store in 1994 or thereabouts for $100, and I thought " nobody in their right mind would pay that much for a model".  Little did I know ...

Ken....that's about what I paid for  mine when it came out. Price hasn't gone up all that much since. I see them for around $170-$200.  Like you, I thought at the time that $100 for a kit was something I was never going to do. But as a 1/12 and Ferrari fan....it was a gotta have. 

[absmiami]

Hi rich- do you have an I phone ??  Posting would be way simpler w an I phone - and you could take super closeups …

[Dave B]

Good luck Rich, I know you'll do it justice.

As aside I've been modelling from around the same time, first kit was the Merit Lancia Ferrari.

Dave B

[Rich Chernosky]

19 hours ago, absmiami said:

Hi rich- do you have an I phone ??  Posting would be way simpler w an I phone - and you could take super closeups …

Andy.....don't have an I-phone. I have a Sony DSCH7 camera with a 15X optical zoom. Bought it about  18yrs ago. The optical zoom is better than a digital zoom because it is mechanical and doesn't reduce the amount of pixels. I bought it specifically for taking close-ups and when I work it right it can take a picture of your fingerprint. The trick is in the lighting and settings. Been having trouble lately with pictures. Might be time for an up grade. Also lost my picture package when I had to re-set my computer. So I don't have the best editing program now. Thanks for the input...will keep you posted. 

 

18 hours ago, Dave B said:

Good luck Rich, I know you'll do it justice.

As aside I've been modelling from around the same time, first kit was the Merit Lancia Ferrari.

Dave B

Funny you should mention that Dave. I have that same kit in the works. Looking for some good wire wheels for it.  Nice to know we have a similar background and interests. This is my first WIP so feel free to comment. Would appreciate it.  And thanks for the encouragement. 

 

[1959scudetto]

47 minutes ago, Rich Chernosky said:

 

 

Do you mean this one ? Got it from ebay some years ago very cheap - it is missing the windshield and one wheel. Jack modeling has awesome spoke wheels (and period Dunlop racing tires) - I know, in 1956 Ferrari used Englebert tires but these would certainly pimp the model up .

 

Edited September 17, 2024 by 1959scudetto

[Rich Chernosky]

Progress report. Paint has hit plastic.  That means this project is really under way. Some other preliminary construction has also been done. More info in the picture captions. 

Fiurst thing I always do are the body pieces.  Upper cowl has been fitted with tabs to seccure it tightly to the side body panels. Panels were given a good scrub down with a soft toothbrush and scouring powder. This removes all the oils and dulls the finish slightly.  Put a new liner in the paint booth and gave it a good cleaning.  Then some masking tape to the panels to remove allthe dust and fine particles. Four light coats of Tamiya LP21 Italian Red with each coat getting heavier and thinned out until the final wet coat. I was a little surprised at how much I had to thin  ( MR Color leveling thinner)  the LP21. Mine must have thickened up in the bottle. I have sprayed the LP line straight from the bottle with little or no thinning. I will let this cure for about 10 days and then polish. Paint came out nice and smooth. 

Scraped the seams and assembled the exhaust.  There were 16 seperate pieces. Tamiya was thoughtful to include the yellow piece which is a jig to locate this assembly to the pan. It is not used in the kit.  This has to sit overnight for the glue to get nice and tight. The engineering on this was fantastic. This will later be sprayed Alclad polished aluminum  and then heat stained.

[Gramps46]

Thank you Rich for sharing your processes and techniques.  I have been building models since 1958 but have really slowed down.

[Rich Chernosky]

15 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Thank you Rich for sharing your processes and techniques.  I have been building models since 1958 but have really slowed down.

Sharing is what this forum is all about. I have been on here since 2018 and figured it was about time to do a WIP. Your help,friendship,  and encouragement when I first started here were invaluable.  I understand slowing down (I'm  76)  just never quit. 

[Rich Chernosky]

More progress.  Paint has now really hit plastic. Spent most of the day with the airbrush and paint booth. Got the majority of spray work done. All the parts have been cleaned and over 16 colors sprayed. Details and more info in the picture captions. 

Everything is dry and back in the bags. Usually at this stage is when detail brush painting and final assembly starts. But this will be delayed as the myriad of photo etch parts will be installed and from the looks of it,   it will be slow going. Still this is a major step.  Of note are the wings and chassis panels. These were sprayed a mixture of  LP-1 gloss black (50%) LP-5 Semi Black (50%) and about 10 drops of LP62 Titanium gold. I call this color hi-shine semi black  and it matches most of the photos I have seen. The added gold, although very subtle , makes it just a little different from all the other blacks. The fropnt wing was assembled a long time ago with no thought given for this step. It had to be carefully masked.

An example of one of the bags. The SM line of AK paints sprays very nice and has a nice sheen that is different from other metallics. 

A good shot of the compled exhaust all sprayed with Alclad.  Can't wait to do the heat stain. 

[SpikeSchumacher]

This is going to be an epic build, Rich! ??

[Rich Chernosky]

2 hours ago, SpikeSchumacher said:

This is going to be an epic build, Rich! ??

Thank you Mathias.  I am well  into now.  Enthusiasm is high.

[Rich Chernosky]

Update. Started to replace a lot of the nuts bolts and washers. This is mostly photo etch work and very time consuming. Details on how some of this is accomplished are in the picture captions.  

Heres what I am up against. All of the nuts, bolts, washers are 3 piece assemblies. The bolt is .020 piano wire. This does the best job simulating the bolt but it cannot be cut with iwre cutters and leave a sharp edge. This has to be done with a moto-tool cut-off wheel . Wait til you see how many have to be made. Note how small the  nut and washer are...that's .50mm.  Very tiney. 

The work area for doing phot etch.  Note the total absence of clutter.  This is absolutely necessary for me. Once a tiny piece of PE slips out of the tweezers amid clutter it is gone forever. At least with this much space I   "have" a chance of finding it.  I have to remind myself  to do thgis because there are times I have forgotten to clear the work area and paid the price.

Da tools.  Left to right.  Plastic tweezers...not a lot of grip but necessary for moving tiny pieces of PE. They are definetly non-magnetic.  Hand made super glue applicator. This is a small piece of copper wire bent over and squashed flat. The hole in the end hold the tiniest amount of super glue. Its mounted in a bamboo skewer.  A pair of Boley style tweezers from Micro Mart. Stainless steel with a lot of grip right down to the tip. The only thing that will get the tiny washers and nuts off the sprue. Stainless steel is supposed to be non-magnetic but don't believe it...the PE still sticks to it and you need the plastic tweezers to get them onot the black poster board.  Some poster tack wrapped on a bambooskewer. This is how you really pick up the tiny pieces of PE and get them to the model without losing them. Lastly the  magnet.  Wave this over your work area to find those tiny pieces. They escape and go way farther than you would imagine.

The micro drill with a #76   (.020)  tungsten carbide bit  installed.  This is the best $30 I have ever spent on a tool.  It holds the drill bit arrow straight with no wobble. Hold it like a pencil and you can drill the smallest of holes with incredible precision.  Its lowest speed is perfect for plastic  and will stall and turn off if the drill bit catches in soft material.  This is important for tungsten carbide bits because the slightest wobble or catch can snap them in a heartbeat.  But those bits are wickedly sharp. The #76 bit drills the perfect fit for the .020 rod.  They are also $5 apiece so I don't like to break them. 

The seeing eye devices.  At 76yrs old they are a fact of life.  I remember a day when I could do all this without them.  If I had anything back from my youth it would be my eyesight.  There are a couple of other things I would like but can't really mention them here. 

Some of the work completed so far.  PE exhaust clamps  installed with .020 brass rod and some of the nuts and washers attached. I initially thought I would use brass rod because you can snip it with a pair of nail clippers. It gave a fairly clean cut but still left the tiniest of burrs and the nut and washers wouldn't fit over them easily. I had to take a diamond grinder in a low speed moto- tool to remove this burr.  There are 7 pieces to each exhaust port and 12 exhaust ports.  That is 84 pieces total...whew!

 

[IanH]

Hey Rich, 

Looking good, I feel your pain about all the PE (and other things lacking from our youth, like our eyesight of course) ?. 

Keep up the good work, it's gonna be an impressive build. 

[Rich Chernosky]

6 hours ago, IanH said:

Hey Rich, 

Looking good, I feel your pain about all the PE (and other things lacking from our youth, like our eyesight of course) ?. 

Keep up the good work, it's gonna be an impressive build. 

Aaahh!... a fellow sufferer.  Good to know I am not alone.  Thanks for the encouragement.