Ben Brown Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Here are a couple of crappy cell phone pics of my progress on the Fujimi 917K. I sprayed the final clear coat and I'll polish it after everything dries. Just as I sprayed the the final wet coat, my Yellow Lab walked in to see what I was doing, shook, and my paint booth fan sucked in some of the flying fur. So now, there is a dog hair just behind the left headlight. I'll try to polish it out when the clear coat dries. I think I might have outfoxed myself trying to hid the seam I'll have when I attach the body to the chassis. It's hard to see in the photo, but I left a little bit of orange decal hanging over the bottom edge of the body, thinking it would overlap and cover the seam. I probably should have just put the black pinstripe along the edge and let it camouflage the seam. I still have a ways to go on the interior, too. I have some old Model Technologies seat belt buckles, but I may keep the rest out of the box, since it won't be seen once the model is in the display case. I've spent too much time wiring multiple 1/48 F-4 cockpits, lately, to want to do it in this one. I used a Molotow Chrome pen to paint the strap on the fire extinguisher. Very cool product! I plan use it on airplane oleo struts in the future. Cheers! Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Off to a great start! Those Gulf colours are so beautiful. I would do one - from Kinnunen (Fin)/Rodriguez (Mex) pair who won the championship for Porsche and won races like Daytona 24. The problem is the lack of rattle can colours for this livery. Detailing wise this is what Fujimi offers as standard, even the pedals? Molotows are great! Used the chrome for the first time on the extinguisher of my Lancia and was really awed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks! I think the only Gulf Blue is the premixed for airbrush type available from Gravity Colors and Zero Paint. I used Gravity's. It's fairly idiot-proof, which I need. I'm inexperienced with rattle cans, which is why I got the clear coat a little too thick in some spots. I'll switch back to airbrushing the gloss coat on my next car. Yes, Fujimi provides some pretty good basic detail. It looks busy enough, but there's plenty of room to add lots of extra detail. The Heller kit provides a more detail out of the box, plus an engine. It also has a more accurately-shaped body, but is supposed to be pretty difficult to build, due to fit problems and warping. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Ben, Now that's impressive to say the least. The body looks fantastic. Did you paint the nose or use the kit decals? And if so how did you manage to get them into the radiator intakes? Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 12, 2018 Author Share Posted October 12, 2018 Thanks! I used the kit decals. They didn’t cover the lower part of the nose, so I painted that part. The decals looked like a perfect match for the paint when they were on the paper, but they were a tad lighter once they dried. I mixed some slightly lighter orange paint to match and blended everything together. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 16 hours ago, Ben Brown said: Thanks! I used the kit decals. They didn’t cover the lower part of the nose, so I painted that part. The decals looked like a perfect match for the paint when they were on the paper, but they were a tad lighter once they dried. I mixed some slightly lighter orange paint to match and blended everything together. Ben Ben, Those intakes scare me plenty as they always have the stripe going into it. No decal unless you cut it perfectly ever works out. So I end up not using any of the decal, and have to paint it for the very reason you had, the colors just don't match. One thing that Michael at IndyCals does is match his decals to a specific brand of paint, so it should come really close. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 It's pretty easy to see where the decal stops and the paint starts, although I was able to blur the line a little. I should have masked and painted the orange stripes, but after comparing the decals vs the color of the recommended Mr Color 59, I decided to take a chance. They were a spot-on match while they were still on the light blue backing paper. If I had built one of the other cars, that didn't have the orange covering the entire nose, like the #2 car, I definitely would have painted them. BTW, I think Michael mentioned on the open wheel modeling forum that he's working on some Wyler-Gulf 917 decals. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Ben, Heller makes a 917K? I've never seen it. Just might be something that I'd be interested in. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 The kit was also released by Testors and Union. It looks like they go for ~30 to 50 bucks on eBay. Here are a couple of forum posts that show the kit parts and compare the Heller and Fujimi forward halves of the bodies: LINK LINK Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CaptainObvious Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Beautiful job on that body Ben! -co Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 Thanks, Captain! More progress, today. I've been putting off doing the seatbelts with photo etched buckles, because I hate doing them. Of course, 1/24 should be much easier than the 1/48 ones I'm used to doing! Here's the body resting on the chassis. Fit to the chassis will be a little challenging. I couldn't get a good fit on the side windows, so I may go back and cut away the mounting tab on the bottom edge to see if that will help. I still have to put a wash in the door and front hatch panel lines and add a lot of little odds & ends, like fuel filler caps, headlights, etc. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Ben, The 917K looks great!!. I also had issues with those side windows fitting. I sanded and filed little by little till the fit. How's the fit of the body to the chassis especially in the back end? I also had some issues back there. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Such a graceful racer. Well done, Ben! I'm there with you with the seatbelts. One of the things in car modeling I really despise. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Ben, I used the Tamiya 1970s belts. You have to be somewhat creative as they're generic, but the PE fits correctly, and glues with CCA just fine. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 Thanks for the kind words! The fit of the body to the chassis will be interesting to deal with. All of that framework around the engine seems to be about a half mm too far aft, but I think the structure is flexible enough that I can gently force it in place. I wish I had just placed the black pinstripe a tiny bit lower, along the edge of the body, instead of depending on the orange part of the decal to hang down to hide the seam. I'll wait to see how bad the seam is before I decide how to deal with it. I've got an ancient set of buckles from Model Technologies that I've had in my stash probably since the '80s. Indycals' seat belt decals came with extra belt manufacturer markings, so I'll steal a couple from that set. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 Ben, Looking forward to seeing how you progress through the build. As for the seatbelt name labels, I still have to add them to the Type 72E and the cowling Dzus which are self stick colored PE. Now talk about lazy. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 No pics, but as I was adding the last few bits to the body before I joined it to the chassis, I realized I had forgotten to drill the hole in the right side of the body for the fuel filler. I’ve parked it for the day so I can get up the nerve to drill the hole in the painted body. Just to make things more interesting, the hole crosses type joint between the front and rear parts of the body. Wish me luck! Joel, who make the self-stick Dzus fasteners? Eduard? Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 23 minutes ago, Ben Brown said: No pics, but as I was adding the last few bits to the body before I joined it to the chassis, I realized I had forgotten to drill the hole in the right side of the body for the fuel filler. I’ve parked it for the day so I can get up the nerve to drill the hole in the painted body. Just to make things more interesting, the hole crosses type joint between the front and rear parts of the body. Wish me luck! Joel, who make the self-stick Dzus fasteners? Eduard? Ben Ben, Don't feel bad I did the same exact thing with all the mods to make the body correct for the Martini entry. All I can say is measure twice and drill once, and go real slow. Let the bit do all the work otherwise you'll chip the paint at the lip. The Dzus fasteners came with the Ebbro kit in a little tiny package. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 19, 2018 Author Share Posted October 19, 2018 Crisis averted. I drilled a small pilot hole and then used a couple of cone-shaped Drexel bits to open up the hole by hand. Now, on to the seat belts! Good luck with the Dzus fasteners! Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 35 minutes ago, Ben Brown said: Crisis averted. I drilled a small pilot hole and then used a couple of cone-shaped Drexel bits to open up the hole by hand. Now, on to the seat belts! Good luck with the Dzus fasteners! Ben Ben, WTG!! I keep on never seeming to get to them, but I will sooner or later. The ChopperMan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 Ordered tire decals from Indycals. The letters wouldn’t even come off of the paper on the ones I stole from the 330 P4 kit. One of these days I’ll learn that sometimes easy is better than cheaper! 😂 Pics coming soon. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Ben Brown said: Ordered tire decals from Indycals. The letters wouldn’t even come off of the paper on the ones I stole from the 330 P4 kit. One of these days I’ll learn that sometimes easy is better than cheaper! 😂 Pics coming soon. Ben Ben, I've tried those weird letter sets from Fujimi, and while I can get them onto the tires, they usually come right off, and look like crap. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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