The "ANYONE-CAN-POLISH-A-DIECAST" story - part II

[mrm]

So, earlier this year I walk into a hobby shop and I see the GEARS TV / Testors internet contest. Long story short, it sparks the old plastic model kit flame in me and I end up driving almost 800 miles by myself to the Heartland Nationals. I read the classes, the rules and everything and decided to bring about a dozen models with me, the majority of them done some time quite ago. What I noticed different from the last time I have been to a model contest (almost 10 years ago), was a "modified diecast" class. Not only that, but more than one of them. I was in heaven. I have two passions in life when it comes to anything automotive - Ferraris and Street Rods. It is funny, as it is kind of die cast and plastic model kits - two totally different crowds. And now they were under one roof! Amazing!

Here I believe is the time to mention, that a little injustice was done by me toward all the great guys that organized the show. After I came back I made some comments that I was irked about some things. And this is what this story is about. I believe I was misunderstood and left some people with the impression that I was unhappy with the placing of my models. Actually I was very happy with my trophies and the main car that was build for that show placed better than I expected. The part that got me really hot under the skin was a comment made at the end of the show by a couple of people:

ANYONE CAN POLISH A DIECAST - it was addressed squarely at my model, because......well,I commented that I believe it deserved better. Either way, I was not mad at the placing of the model, but the comment.

So, here is the model and the work that went into it, I am not posting it to stir the pond, or just to bitch and moan. I am posting it, because I believe that a lot of modelers out there do not realize the potential there is in diecast models.

It is a Ferrari Mondial 3.2 that was converted from a coupe into a cabriolet.

A Mattel model in 1:18 scale was used as a donor and the first thing done to it was to cut the roof off

Since the model I was making was a car of someone I know the original rear of the car was different from what I needed, so it had to be "cleaned up"

Edited January 3, 2012 by mrm

[mrm]

Then I found out that the hoods on the cabriolets and coupes are very different. So I started cutting away what I did not need, until eventually all that was left from the rear hood was a little frame

[mrm]

Then, armed with few packs of half-round styrene stock, a bottle CA and patience I started rebuilding the hood blade by blade

And when that was done, I had to make the US spec third brake light

Now it was turn for the grille in the rear bumper to be made the same way

And now we had a perfect US Market rear end on the Mondial

[mrm]

At the front end, the only difference for the US bound Mondials were the two "horns/fangs" in the bumper.

they were made from styrene pieces too

But the bigger issue I had with it, was the grille itself. Mattel made a poor effort replicating it as a single photoetched piece, which looks very one dimensional and unrealistic. So I made a new "egg crate" grille from six pieces of aluminum sheet.

here they are next to the original grille

and this is what my new part looks like

[mrm]

Next wonderful surprise for me was that the interior were quite different between the coupes and convertibles too. This is ratter unusual car with four seats and mid engine. This means that in order to have room for the folded roof and its mechanism, the interior was narrowed in the rear and I had to do the same on the model.

Edited December 31, 2011 by mrm

[mrm]

Now I had to build the new interior walls that house the folded roof

[mrm]

Like all this was not enough, the center console on cabrios is different too. And while I was on it, why not spice it up.

After scratching my head for a while I figured a way to make a little box with a ball joint inside to make the shifter( a pin) move through the gate, just like the real thing. It even got packed with grease

[mrm]

Next the rear of the console was modified to look like the one in the rag top

Then everything was sanded, painted and detailed, to be ready for instalation

[CorvairJim]

Wow, that's some polish job, using a saw and all... I'm looking forward to further installments of this one. The clown that made the comment obviously didn't have a clue!

[mrm]

The car that the model was made after has some custom carpets, so after the interior was painted new mats were cut from thin sheet styrene

After the new mats were painted and flocked they received red wire for piping and some 1:8 scale photoetched emblems painted red to imitate the embroidery on the originals

The front seats received backs and we slightly rescraped and their hardware was detailed with bare metal foil

a new "armrest" was also made from styrene to go in between the rear seats

and the door panels were also painted and detailed

[mrm]

Meanwhile the "folded roof" and its frame were made from styrene skeleton and miliput

and the dash was also repainted and detailed. It also received a steering wheel from a Ferrari 308GTS

after that all the body panels were sanded down and primed for paint.

[mrm]

The rear seats, or what was left from the original part, were massaged to look like the real convertible ones

They were also painted and test fit

Next everything received three coats of rosso corsa and three coats of clear, after which all the black parts were done

At this point the bumpers were reassembled too

and the front grille received a nice little cavallino

[mrm]

The engine bay may have been enough for some people, but I hated it, so I decided to redo it

Some more accurate material in some more accurate locations were placed

The main eyesore for me was the injection distributor, which on the original mode was represented by bunch of black wires coming out of a hole. So I rebuilt it and used brass for all the tubes that go to the plenum and used some braided wire for the fuel lines and some photoetched boltheads painted brass to detail it

Then the lines were run through 1:24 scale ignition wire looms, to keep things organized.

and this is what I ended up with, which is definitely a big improvement over the original model

[mrm]

Next I had to reproduce the cover/boot that dresses the folded roof. I have found out that the vinyl self adhesive patches that are sold in any Walmart for repairing umbrellas and backpacks, are perfect for replicating the texture of convertible tops. So templates were made from paper and then transferred on black vinyl pieces, which then had wire glued to their edges. This provided me with the perfect preliminary boot, with wire outline to keep it staying in any position I liked. later it was dressed in second layer of self adhesive vinyl, which was painted same color as the interior.

[mrm]

All the newly tailored pieces were then stretched over the "folded roof" and little pins were used to hold down the corners. When their heads are painted black, they look just like the buttons that hold the boot on the real car

[mrm]

Since the convertible Mondials don't have full door window frames and the little windows are different shape than the coupes, they had to be scratch built too

and so were sun visors

[mrm]

And here is the never before made in 1:18 scale by any manufacturer, Ferrari Mondial 3.2 Cabriolet, with Ferrari 308GTS wheels, which is a not so popular choice amongst 1:1 owners.

[mrm]

[mrm]

Wow, that's some polish job, using a saw and all... I'm looking forward to further installments of this one. The clown that made the comment obviously didn't have a clue!

Well, see, the model does have one hell of a polish job, but the real slap in the face was, that the comment was made by someone who participated in the judging and the model had very nicely printed description of everything done to it. The very first line on that description was "made famous by Al Pacino in the movie scent of a woman" and it wasn't even included in the models qualifying for the theme of the show, which was cars from movies. Honestly, I could not care less what place this model came in, but this makes me think, that no one even cared to take a look at it, as it is a die cast. And anyone can polish one.

There is going to be part two and three to this story, which will include two more models, that were not there at all.

Edited December 31, 2011 by mrm

[jeff ewaskey]

Well for what it's worth my opinion is that you have one impressive creation there!!!!!!! Excellent work.

[oldnslow]

Your work is too good! They thought they were looking at a model produced by an assembly line and obviously they didn't read the description. Great job on the car. I always wanted to drive one, so we rented one of these while on vacation in Hawaii. What year is this one?

Robert

[Foxer]

I like your styrene and miliput polishing kit.

[Greg Pugh]

There's no way they took into consideration all the work you put into that. That's a beautifully done model and working with (modifying) die cast is no easy task. Without seeing what else was on the table, I would have to agree that you got the shaft there. That car is amazing!!

[jeffs396]

Great conversion Mike! You put ALOT of passion into that build!

Please don't let one person or groups comments discourage you. They were either misinformed or jealous

I too enjoy modifying and rebuilding diecasts, and YES, they are models too!

[peekay]

This seems to be an "ANYONE-CAN-JUDGE-A-MODEL-CAR-CONTEST" story as well.

Great model !