Jump to content

Fujimi 1/24 scale Ferrari 330 P4


Recommended Posts

 Well, finally I have enough done for a 1sty update.  Rather then starting with the bodywork & prep for painting, I decided to follow the instructions and start at the beginning  @:), and so the cockpit was where I started the 330 build.

 

  Fujimi's did an excellent job designing the cockpit, so it looks complete, is fairly easy to construct, and doesn't have any build issues. 

 

  With that being said, the chassis pan was primed with Tamiya Gloss Black, then followed with Alcad Flat Aluminum. The dash was just painted Tamiya Flat Black. The two seats which are molded as a bench needed some research to decide on the actual colors as they varied all over the place. I went with red leather seats with the side panels and center consul in black. I sealed the seats with Glosscoat, then a wash with Tamiya Black panel wash, as the Red usually gets quite dirty and grimy. Once dry, I sealed all the leather in a 50/50 mix of Gloss & Dullcoat, since the leather would still have a sheen to it.

 

  Next up was the instruments on the dash. I carefully trimmed the bezels with Chrome Silver, then punched out each instrument separately with my UMM-USA punch set as I didn't want all that excess flash to deal with. When dry, I gave each a heavy coating of Micro Krystal Kleer. The Speedometer received it's gloss coat via Tamiya X-22 as I felt it was easier to work with in that oblong space.  Then when everything dried, I glued up that sub assembly and installed it. 

 

  the rear cockpit bulkhead was painted with Tamiya gloss Red and when dry glued in place.

 

  Finally, I used Fujimi's 4 point seatbelt and Harness assembly with PE latches. A little research as to the proper color was once again proving nearly impossible to pin point as most of the pictures I have are restorations. Belt colors vary from Black to Red to Blue. So I went with the default Fujimi Black.  

 

 The side panels to the pit where primed Tamiya gloss Black, the finished with Alcad Flat aluminum. 

ID8lyA.jpg

 

4bmIAG.jpg

 

 Next up I painted the pan Tamiya  Nato Black as it has a much nicer scale effect to it. Then the lower suspension arms were painted polished steel. The bottom of engine pan was also painted Alcad flat Aluminum, while the bottom of the gearbox was painted with a 50/50 mixture of Testors Gold & Silver enamels. 
 

fFH5VR.jpg

 

 Up next is to seal it, then a slight bit of weathering and dry brushing. 

 I test fitted the cockpit to the chassis, and the fit was dead on perfect.
MYt6Cd.jpg

 

Lz6MPp.jpg

 

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites

Haha! Great minds think alike! I was thinking of building the 330 after the 917, unless the Platz BMW M6 GT3 I recently ordered gets here first.

 

You’re off to a great start! Taking notes on this build, too. Are you going to use the kit decals? I’m planning on using Indycals’ decals for the NART Daytona car.

 

Also, I was looking through a gentleman’s build over at the Britmodeller forum, and he had to go back and paint the outsides of the side panels, because the white plastic was visible through the side vents. He used red, but I would think those areas would have been bare aluminum. See Post #14, pic with green circle

 

Ben

Edited by Ben Brown
Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

Haha! Great minds think alike! I was thinking of building the 330 after the 917, unless the Platz BMW M6 GT3 I recently ordered gets here first.

 

You’re off to a great start! Taking notes on this build, too. Are you going to use the kit decals? I’m planning on using Indycals’ decals for the NART Daytona car.

 

Also, I was looking through a gentleman’s build over at the Britmodeller forum, and he had to go back and paint the outsides of the side panels, because the white plastic was visible through the side vents. He used red, but I would think those areas would have been bare aluminum. See Post #14, pic with green circle

 

Ben

Ben,

   At my age, I'm not so sure that you can call  my mental facilities a "Great Mind". 

 

  The Fujimi kit according to Michael at IndyCals is a 330 P415, which is a customer car. The issue for me is that in this case the customer is NART, and I've always considered them to be the Unofficial North American Racing Div of Ferrari. 

 

  All my race car models have Indycal decals which are Laser printed, no longer Alps printed. For what Michael doesn't have, I use a few small silk screen decal companies in Hong Kong. I do the same for the correct color of paint, which I buy from Gravity of Spain, not Gravity out of Florida owned by Matte. Dealing with him was a nightmare for me. Dealing with Spain is like they're right down the block from me. Orders shipped DHL take 3 days to my door. From order to house has never been more then 7 days including weekends. They have a staff, real time chat, and the service is fantastic. 

 

  I've seen that issue with the see through the vents in several builds. My 1st thought was to go Red, but that makes no sense as someone would have to waste time painting parts that no one would see. Looking at a good dozen pictures of the sides of the 330, every single vent picture  is dead black through the vent. I can't find a single one that shows Aluminum. I'm sure that up close in real life you can see details through the vents, but there's nothing there in the Fujimi kit you would want anyone to see. So I'm going to hand paint enough of the panels flat black. The contrast should work for the effect I'm looking for. Red just seems to be a killer of the depth we're trying to recreate.

 

Getting back to the decals, I haven't given it any real thought as to which car/drivers I'll be doing as yet. I tend to leave these decisions till it's too late, or I painted myself into a corner.

 

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Aigore said:

So this is where you're hiding 😛

 

now that is looking good , real nice cockpit!

Janne,

 You finally found me. 

Yep, I'm finally building what I've loved since I was 16 years old. My plan once I get my past the basics, is two cars then one special aircraft build.  

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites

I love Indycals and their new printing process. Michael has far too many great subjects for the amount of modeling time and money I have. His Lowenbrau Porsche 962 sheet has really been calling to me for a while. My decision to do the NART car was driven by my screwing up the tire decals on the 917. I can use the spare Goodyear decals on the Ferrari and the 330's Firestone decals for the 917. Of course, I could just take the easy way out and use Indycals' tire decals and not have to hassle with the "will they come off of the paper and stick to the tires?" Fujimi decals.

 

You're right that black is probably the best answer for the see-through areas. I was originally thinking aluminum, since most of the interior parts appear to have been unpainted. From what I'm reading, for modeling purposes, the main difference between the 330 P4 and the P412 was the engine (Webers on the P412 vs fuel injection on the 330s).  

 

Ben 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ben,

  I've tried those tire decals and they're horrific. they never would stick for me. I used IndyCal decals and they came out perfect. I do lay down a very heavy coat of clear gloss lacquer, then rub it out prior to decaling.  I've bought two sets of the Goodyears, two sheets of the Firestones,  a sheet of the Blue stripe Goodyears, and one sheet of the yellow Firestone stripes. There's enough decals on each sheet to do 8 tires on one side, or 4 tires on both sides.  I've also already used Michael's goof replacement decal on my Porsche 917. Works great, and was a life saver for sure.

 

Joel

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Ben,

  I'm going to bite the bullet and try to get one of the Heller kits. As long as Michael at IndyCals decals work for them as well, I'm set. Of course I've heard that the Heller kits are rather hard to build

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, CaptainObvious said:

Gosh, you're a one man car factory these days Joel.
The interior looks great. I love how the seats turned out.

-co

Capt. Obvious,

  Sure seems that way for now. I'm sure that once I settle in I'll be back to building aircraft as well. Right now all these race cars I actually have some connection to.  I'm sure that Henry Ford II is turning over in his grave watching me build the Ferrari 330 P415 before I build the GT40 MkII 1966 LeMans winner, or the GT40 which won LeMans in 1968. I do have both Fujimi cars in my small but growing stash. 

 

Glad that you like how the interior is coming out. The seats do have that worn look to them, which is what I was going for. 

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 10/15/2018 at 11:32 AM, Joel_W said:

Ben,

  I'm going to bite the bullet and try to get one of the Heller kits. As long as Michael at IndyCals decals work for them as well, I'm set. Of course I've heard that the Heller kits are rather hard to build

Joel

 

Good luck with the Heller kit!

 

Ben

Link to post
Share on other sites

 Well, another week of work on the 330 P4, and I've got just enough done for an update. 

 

   I decided that a little break was needed, so getting the 5 tires and wheels ready for installation would be a productive break from the Chassis/pit/suspension. 

 

  The tires are solid rubber with no side wall detail lettering, but the tread pattern looks pretty good. Since I'm modeling a pre-race version, the tires should be new, hence the molding seam down the middle. Fujimi gives you 4 Gold plated, & 1 non-plated 5 spoke Ferrari type wheels, with knock offs for 4 of them, but the wheel for the spare tire isn't plated, nor does it have a knock off.  I air brushed it Testors enamel Gold which nicely matches the plated wheels.  Some how I lost my picture of the 5 wheels, so I kind of borrowed one off the 'net.

 

mSr7sX.jpg

 

then I hand glossed the sidewalls with Tamiya X-22 as I wanted a thick coat to decal on.

 

KGY3P7.jpg

 

24 hrs later I decaled them with IndyCal decals.

 

CdOT4i.jpg

 

then after another 24 hrs I air brushed on a leveling coat of Testors Glosscoat to start blend the decals in.

 

B9V63o.jpg

 

 Once the gloss has cured for 24 hrs, I give each sidewall a easy rub with 3,000 grit so that the decals blend in, and then a coat of Dullcoat. Then they'll be ready for installation, which will let me complete the front suspension.

 

  I finished up the rear suspension/transmission, which is kind of weird without an engine as it's just a big empty hole. 

 

QdN4e6.jpg

 

kdd4jT.jpg

 

 I test fit the spare tire into its holder over the transmission.

 

AeDZiv.jpg

 

And it fit just fine, but now that huge empty engine space would be completely visible through the top rear window. So Fujimi came up with a 100%, totally factious cover plate that will be painted Gloss red.
 

7qZ0Ue.jpg

 

xBExLw.jpg

 

 That will have to do for this build. I did find out that Historic Racing Miniatures makes a Resin/white metal engine but it was sold out, and I was really passed the point of installation. I'll keep that in mind for my Fujimi Ford Gt40s that also suffer from the missing engine syndrome. 

 

   From the bottom I will have to admit that it looks ok, not great, but the engine pan does block out a lot of the view.

 

KXp2pt.jpg

 

 I thought I'd test fit the shell that I've been working on, and see how my 330 P4 is starting to come together.

 

Lj6x5V.jpg

 

a2OjKh.jpg

 

Thanks for stopping by, and checking out my progress, it's always much appreciated.

Joel
 

Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

Look forward to seeing the completed wheels/tires.  I notice the rear corners have the same strakes as on the 512 BB street car.

Slartibartfast,

  Ferrari was really big on those slates for all their street and road racing cars back in the 60s-70s as a efficient means to move both rear brake hot air and trapped air piling up in the rear of the car. The side skirts which aren't installed to the end of the build also as them as you can see in my signature picture. 

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites
On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 10:50 AM, CaptainObvious said:

Really nice work on those tires Joel. The decals look painted on.
-co

Capt.

let it be known that decaling tires is exactly the same as any model. done right, it's a no brainer. Done wrong, and who knows what they'll look like

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites
On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 10:58 AM, janman said:

Arguably one of my favourite racing Ferraris. The pit looks great and I especially like how the seats turned out. 

Janman,

  Thanks for the thumbs up on the pit and seats. Nothing like some Tamiya Black panel wash brushed over the whole seat, then rubbed off.

Joel

Link to post
Share on other sites

 Being retired does have its pluses, and I've been able to consistently get more time at the bench, and still get my Honey to List chores done on a daily & timely basis. 

 

    Work concentrated solely on the shell as there was a still plenty to do before priming could take place. There is an abundance of mold seams over the entire shell that had to be removed, as well as finishing up the blending in of the fender mirrors. The final body work was adding the PE front clip winglets that help to provide additional downforce at high speeds.  They're actually well thought out as I'm not the greatest with PE bending especially when a curved surface needs to be created. But that surface adds quite a lot of gluing area which is a very good thing.

  Here's one of the winglets pre-bend:

tO6HfF.jpg

 

 and here's one after I carefully worked the bend with a hand drill handle, followed by a the grip of a modeling hand file.

 

kzSNmZ.jpg

 

 They're both glued up with Gorilla CCA glue, and once dry are there to stay. 

 

70Pqzk.jpg

 

 After washing down the shell with ISO Alcohol, followed by a quick wipe with a tack cloth, It's primer time. The paint of choice for the 330 is Gravity's Ferrari Rosso Corsa GC-107, which really needs a white primer, but the shell is molded in White. Having poor eyesight that's just not going to work for me, so I decided to do a little custom blending of Tamiya's Gray and White Lacquer primers. I just wanted it to be more like Off White then Gray. Took a while but I got there. Of course I totally forgot to write down the mixture, so I better not have to mix more or reply it later.  Here's the shell after priming:

 

pyeXkD.jpg

 

KWy2oD.jpg

 

CYdvrb.jpg

 

  I gave the primer coat several hours to dry, then a lite sanding with Tamiya 3,000 grit sponge and warm water. Now the primer is really nice and smooth to the touch. 

 Next work session was applying the color coats. Nothing fancy here, as I just followed the procedures that seem to work well for me: Tack coat #1, 2-3 min tack coat #2, 2-3 min color coat #1, 5 min Color coat #2, 10 min final color coat as well as looking for drier spots. Now into the drying bin.

 

 6 hrs later it's back to the rub with a wet piece of Tamiya 3,000 sponge. 

 

nK2jYl.jpg

 

wkdVTC.jpg

 

 Next work session I applied the IndyCal decals, which preformed perfectly using Micro Set, Sol, and finally Solvaset. The only issue I have with them is that they're printed on a single sheet and you have to cut out each decal. Takes time and a steady hand, but certainly worth the effort. 

 

 I gave the decals two days to dry, then following the same exact air brush procedure as I used for the primer, & color coats, I applied Mr. Hobby/Mr.Color lacquer clear gloss. The results came out perfect. Here's the shell after the clearcoat with no polishing as yet. 

 

htgMMa.jpg

 

7YV0kX.jpg

 

 

Ewk27d.jpg

 

 Thanks for stopping by and checking out my build to date, as it's always much appreciated.

Joel

 

 

 

 

Edited by Joel_W
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...