Tamiya Ferrari FXX

[harti20]

Hi all

I'm back after a  long break which was primarily due to a rather pronounced lack of motivation, which has been with me for quite some time now, even during the last few projects. In the meantime, I had even considered giving up the hobby and devoting myself entirely to photography again. However, after participating as an exhibitor at a model exhibition held in Switzerland a few weeks ago, I got hooked again.

I was able to purchase the kit presented here a few years ago at a bargain price in a model shop that was about to close down. The photo-etched parts included by Tamiya are rather rudimentary, so I wanted the HobbyDesign PE set from the very beginning. Unfortunately, this is no longer even available from the manufacturer itself, so I was afraid that I would never be able to call it my own. Shortly before the model exhibition, I received a notification on Scalemates that someone was offering something on my wish list for sale. Usually I don't pay much attention to these notifications, but this time I was curious and saw that someone in Germany was offering exactly the set I was looking for for the FXX at a very reasonable price. A few PMs and days later, the set was actually in my mailbox 👍 Actually, my goal would have been to build a motorcycle again. But after finally holding the PE parts in my hands after years of waiting, it was clear that this would be the kit I would start next.

First, all the body parts were deburred, checked for accuracy of fit (yes, I know, with Tamiya it's actually a waste of time), assembled as far as possible and reasonable, and sanded with 400 grit sponge to achieve an evenly flat surface everywhere. Now I will sand all the parts againwith 800 grit and then with 2000- or 3000-grit sanding sponge, and then prime and paint everything. I haven't taken any pictures of these steps yet. I don't think a pile of body parts with sanding dust marks is particularly exciting  

Then, as specified in the assembly instructions, I started with the engine. Somehow, I seem to have had this kit in my hands before, because the engine block itself was already assembled. In original pictures, I saw that the cylinder head cover had a heat protection shield on the area specified in the instructions as XF-16 aluminum matt, so I tried to reproduce this in the model. To do this, I sanded down the molded rivet heads, drilled holes for etched rivets, covered the part with heat protection foil from MFH, and then inserted the rivets. I am quite satisfied with the result, even though the rivet heads are now quite a bit larger than the molded ones.

Once this was done, I was soon able to finish the engine, as far as this is currently possible. I tried my hand at adding heat stains and almost despaired because the transparent Alclad paints (red, blue, and sepia) hardly wanted to go through the nozzle of my Evolution. Or rather, when paint did come out, it was always much more than I actually intended. Does anyone have any experience with whether and how these paints can be thinned?

In order for the engine to be installed afterwards, the mount had to be painted. These two parts are now just waiting to be assembled.

Then I jumped ahead in the construction plan again and started on the seats. I had to drill holes in the sides so that I could then thread the 5- or 6-point seat belts through. Once this was done, I applied a coat of primer and satin black. I have also already started covering the backrest of one seat with carbon decals. I'll have to touch up the upper area a little and cut the arch more generously from the start on the next seat. Otherwise, I'm quite happy with it Once the carbon work on the seats is complete, they will be coated with gloss clear, the carbon surfaces will be masked, and the rest of the seat will be painted over with Charcoal Textured Paint from Zero Paints. 

 

That's it for today. As usual I hope to have piqued your interest and am looking forward to your comments, critiques and plaudits
Urs

Edited November 3 by harti20

[Rich Chernosky]

A good start Urs.  Glad to see that you have not lost the creative urge although I don't feel any of us really do.  Really like what you have done with the engine and seats. I have this kit (started of course) so I will be following closely. Keep up the work, its good.  The Alclad can be thinned with hi grade laquer thinner by the way.  Tamiya or Mr Color will do. 

[Kanada Kustoms]

Great work so far!

[harti20]

Hi all

On 11/5/2025 at 3:53 PM, Rich Chernosky said:

A good start Urs.  Glad to see that you have not lost the creative urge although I don't feel any of us really do.  Really like what you have done with the engine and seats. I have this kit (started of course) so I will be following closely. Keep up the work, its good.  The Alclad can be thinned with hi grade laquer thinner by the way.  Tamiya or Mr Color will do. 

Thank you very much  Are you talking about the Mr. Color Levelling Thinner for the Alclads? That would be great, as this is my usual go-to thinner

On 11/5/2025 at 4:15 PM, Kanada Kustoms said:

Great work so far!

Thank you very much

 

This week, I made some more progress on the FXX. The body parts have now been primed and painted black, at least on the inside. The finished model should be red, as befits a Ferrari 😉 . However, since some areas that are to be painted with body colour were moded with black plastic, I decided to first prime everything in black, then paint a coat of silver over it and work my way up to the final colour with pink and red. This week, you'll have to imagine the body parts again (only this time in black instead of red 😉 ), as they still don't look much more exciting than last week.

But now to the things I can show you First, the fan unit was finished and painted. To make the grille stand out a little more, I simply rubbed over it with the tip of a soft pencil after painting it in semi gloss black.

Then the splitter was carbonised...

...and the brake discs were finished and attached to the rear axle. The brake discs for the front axle are also finished, but I'll have to wait a bit before installing them until the monocoque is ready.

I also worked a bit more on the aforementioned monocoque. To do this, I covered a corner on the left and right under and in front of the engine compartment (i.e. in a place that will probably never be seen later) with aluminium foil. The assembly instructions specified X-11 Chrome Silver for this area. However, as I didn't feel like laboriously masking the monocoque, I tried the aluminium foil technique again. To do this, I created a template with masking tape, then stuck the tape onto a piece of paper and cut it out to fit perfectly. After checking the fit, I placed the paper upside down on the back of the aluminium foil and traced the contours with a thick marker pen. Then I cut out the foil along the contours with a sharp knife, coated the monocoque thinly with adhesive milk in the desired areas, applied the foil and smoothed it out. Considering that I haven't tried this for a long time, I am absolutely satisfied with the result (What looks like an air bubble is not one, by the way, but an unevenness in the plastic underneath).

And here, for a better understanding of where this corner is located:

The eagle-eyed will probably have already spotted something else in the last picture: the small shiny silver corner next to where the firewall will be later. This brings us straight to the next and last point for this week. The fire wall was first painted with (take a deep breath...) ‘Mr. Colour Super Metallic 2 Super Fine Silver 2’ to better conceal any gaps in the final step. I then painted over the blue section with transparent blue from Mr. Colour and the black section with semi gloss black from Tamiya. After everything had had enough time to cure, I made another template with masking tape, which I then transferred onto a piece of MFH heat shield foil. Apart from the slight damage to the foil, I am more than happy with the result 😄 It's just a shame that in the end, you won't be able to see any of it...

That's it for this week Next week, provided I can successfully fend off the flu that's creeping up on me, I'll continue working on the bodywork. After priming, I noticed two areas at the rear that could use a little putty. However, they are in a rather awkward place, where there is a risk that it will end up looking even worse... 🤔 At the same time, I will probably be busy with carbon work on the seats and the interior in general.
Urs

[Rich Chernosky]

 Urs...I have used both Tamiya and Mr Color laquer thinner on Alclad.  Works fine, No reason Leveling thinner shouldn't work also.  Mr Color Leveling thinner is my "go to" for spraying, especially Tamiya's LP line and the Mr Color.  Lately it has been in very short supply here in the US and that is worrisome. 

Edited Tuesday at 03:07 PM by Rich Chernosky
incorrect information.