BobM's 1:24 Tamiya Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI Martini - Build

[BobM]

For my entry I've chosen this kit:



I'm not sure how I settled on this one, other than it looks like a pretty cool machine. This will be my first "race car" and first Tamiya car kit (well, other than a couple of RC cars my son and I built about 10 years ago). It should be a fun build and will be completely OOB, unless I add a little scratch built engine detail; we'll see when we get there.

I'm not much of a "gearhead" nor a big fan of racing, I'm just into this for the fun of the build. But for those that are more into those things, here is what the instruction sheet has to say about this car.

The DTM or German Touring Car Championship continues to enjoy worldwide popularity among racing buffs. Its exciting races are played out of highly-tuned 2.5-liter machines, and often called the pinnacle of global touring events. in 1996, this popular series was re-established as the International Touring Car Championship (ITC), with races held not only in Europe, but also in Brazil and Japan. The famous Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo has been one of the principal figures in the series since its first entry back in 1993. For the 1996 season, their 155 V6 TI was further souped up and a total of eight cars were entered, from three different racing teams. Its high revving V6 cylinder engine was said to yield an awesome 450-plus horsepower output. This tremendous power was transmitted to all four wheels via a semi-automatic 6-speed transmission and electronically controlled front, rear and center differentials. The four wheel double wishbone suspension was equipped with horizontally mounted shock absorbers activated by push rods. The exterior, although retaining some of its original appearance, underwent numerous aerodynamic and weight saving refinements. The Martini sponsored 155 V6 TIs were piloted by the talented drivers N. Larini and A. Nannini. With its eye-catching color scheme and aggressive performance, the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI Martini delighted racing fans throughout the 1996 ITC season.

Yeah, "eye-catching color scheme", that must be what attracted me to this! I hope I do it justice.


Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI DTM 1996 in the National Automobile Museum of Turin
Alfa 155 DTM [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
by Tony Harrison from Farnborough, UK (IMG_7416), from Wikimedia Commons

And from Wikipedia:

Motorsport

The 155 was very successful in touring car racing, using the Supertouring-homologated GTA and the V6 TI for the DTM. Between 1992 and 1994, the 155 managed to take the Italian Superturismo Championship, the German DTM championship (both with Nicola Larini at the wheel), the Spanish Touring Car Championship (with Adrián Campos), and the British Touring Car Championship (with Gabriele Tarquini).

The 155 remained competitive until it was replaced with the 156, finishing third in the DTM (then known as the International Touring Car Championship, or ITC) in 1996 with Alessandro Nannini and winning the Spanish championship again in 1997 with Fabrizio Giovanardi. In 1993, Larini in an Alfa 155 placed second in the FIA Touring Car Challenge behind Paul Radisich in a Ford Mondeo. The 156 was to continue the high standard set by the 155, winning the European Touring Car Championship multiple times.

155 V6 TI

The Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI was a FIA Class 1 touring car that Alfa Corse raced from 1993 to 1996 in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft and the subsequent International Touring Car Championship. A high revving 2.5 L 60° V6 engine was coupled to a four wheel drive system, producing 426 PS (313 kW; 420 hp) at 11500 rpm.

Alfa Corse entered two 155 V6 TIs for works drivers Alessandro Nannini and Nicola Larini; the 1993 season was dominated by Larini winning 11 of 22 races,.[13]

In 1994, the rivals from Mercedes seemed to have the advantage, but Alfa did manage to win a further eleven races. A more consistent performance from the Germans gave them the title. Since the 1995 season, the team got new sponsorship livery from Martini Racing.

The 1996 version had a 2.5 L 90° V6 engine based loosely on the PRV engine[14] delivering 490 PS (360 kW; 480 hp) at 11,900 rpm, had a top speed of around 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph) and weighed 1,060 kilograms (2,340 lb).[15]

The Alfa 155 V6 TI did a record of 38 wins (plus 3 other non championship races). The victories were obtained by seven different drivers: 17 (+1) Nicola Larini, 13 (+1) Alessandro Nannini, 2 Stefano Modena, 2 (+1) Christian Danner, 2 Michael Bartels, 1 Kris Nissen and 1 Gabriele Tarquini.

The kit comes with markings for the two main drivers of the Alfa 155 V6 TI for the Martini team, #5 Nicola Larini and #6 Alessandro Nannini. I'll most likely choose the #6 Nannini car for no other reason than Nannini placed 3rd in the 1996 ITC series compared to Larini's 11th place finish; gotta go with a winner right?

Next up, unboxing...

[BobM]

Unboxing...

The obligatory sprue shot:


Five sprues come packaged in 4 bags; 1 large white sprue, 1 white "body sprue", 1 clear sprue and 1 large and 1 small black sprue. There is also a small bag with the racing slicks, some mesh for the grill and 4 small "poly caps" for mounting the wheels.

This kit is based off a 1996 tooling with the decals updated in 2015. I've not looked at the sprues in detail, but a quick looks shows decent detail and no noticeable flash. And the clear sprue is, well, clear!

There is a 10 page instruction sheet with 20 easy steps, plus a double sided sheet with the painting and marking guides, one side for each version of the car. The decals are by Cartograf and look very crisp and clean with a minimum of carrier film where possible.



Looks like it will be a great build, can't wait to get started. Wish me luck!

[BobM]

OK, before starting I have a couple of questions for that that have built this or similar kits:

1 - The main body color is white; the body is molded in white; what color should I prime with? I have Stynylrez Black, Gloss Back (OK, I'm pretty sure not those ), Gray and White. I'm planning to paint with Tamiya Gloss White. White on white on white? White on grey on white?

2 - Step 19 shows part D6 and D3 painted Gloss Black; they (D6 really) seem to cover the entire undercarriage and they are from the clear sprue. Is this correct?



Thanks for any advice.

[DrSprue]

Very cool kit! Great history too

[Kevthemodeller]

I agree it's a cool looking car good luck with the build mate.

[BobM]

Thanks Tony and Kev!

Update 1:

Got a few hours to work on it today, pretty much all of it spent prepping for paint and some minor assembly. Oh, yeah, and about an hour successfully rescuing a part from the carpet monster.

As I mentioned in the "unboxing" the sprues are really clean. No flash to speak of and very minor parting lines that, for the most part, have cleaned right up. My big challenge here is going to be determining the right order to paint and assemble. There are many different colors called out in the instructions which ultimately should add to the model's detail; but this is causing me to paint many individual parts. So far I'm up to 30 parts to paint, not counting the chassis and body; there are still lots on the sprue. I've been using the instruction steps to determine which order to prep parts; I'm up to step 6 and I'm thinking I will paint what I have before moving on.

Well, here is the result of today's efforts:

[SkyPainter303]

OK, before starting I have a couple of questions for that that have built this or similar kits:

1 - The main body color is white; the body is molded in white; what color should I prime with? I have Stynylrez Black, Gloss Back (OK, I'm pretty sure not those ), Gray and White. I'm planning to paint with Tamiya Gloss White. White on white on white? White on grey on white?

2 - Step 19 shows part D6 and D3 painted Gloss Black; they (D6 really) seem to cover the entire undercarriage and they are from the clear sprue. Is this correct?



Thanks for any advice.

My favorite car builder on YouTube, The Scalemodeling Channel, primes in gray, sprays a base coat of silver, then he sprays the white.

[BobM]

My favorite car builder on YouTube, The Scalemodeling Channel, primes in gray, sprays a base coat of silver, then he sprays the white.

Thanks. Yup, I watch him too; that’s what I thought I had seen him do, but I guess I was looking for a “second opinion” and/or confirmation. I certainly like the idea of using different colors for each layer. I think I’ll give it a try...

[pourquoi61]

I would just spray white straight on to the plastic. It's a bit out there as far as car builders go.
Buy a can of Halfords polar white and spray it in the shed.
Just have fun.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Cool looking car kit for sure and you will definitely do it justice
I sprayed White over Ultimate black primer and it was a great.....you can get that black so smooth and it does some shadows for you. It was my Air Canada 747 show in my portfolio thingy.
Have a good build

[BobM]

Back on track?

Wow, it’s been nearly a month since the last post and no progress... Well, my side project is hopefully slowing down for a while. So today I made time to sit down and spray some paint!

The first challenge was to get the airbrush working... Apparently I didn’t clean up very well after spraying AquaGloss when finishing my Space build. When I picked it up the needle didn’t budge. I stripped it down and soaked it in hardware store lacquer thinner for a while. All better! (Note to self: don’t do that again.)

With that straightened out it was on to priming with Stynylrez Gray. I fought tip dry a bit, especially when doing the light first coat. But a cotton bud dipped in the lacquer thinner kept things flowing.



Let’s hope my pace starts to pick up!

[BobM]

Progress!

Got some detail painting of the engine a little assembly this evening. Paints are mostly Vallejo Metal Color; I’m really liking these.



More to come!!

[DrSprue]

Really nice looking engine so far!

[BobM]

Really nice looking engine so far!

Thanks Doc! Here it is completed along with the front suspension.



And a test fit with the chassis; I’m waiting for more sub-assemblies to come together before committing to this:



This has been a challenging build for me. Lots of parts, lots of paint colors... I haven’t been very organized, so it’s been lots for “trips” back and forth to the paint booth and lots of color changes. Many pieces need multple colors and figuring the “best” way to accomplish has been difficult at times. And in the end, I wonder how much will end up hidden! Oh well, it’s coming together (touch wood) and I’m learning...

[BobM]

Progress has been real slow. Just lots of detail painting that I’m not used to. And as I said before, I haven’t been organized enough to be efficient.

But, there is progress. The front and rear suspensions and “cockpit” are painted. There are just a few decals needed. I haven’t decided if I’ll just do the decal seat harness or find some after market. Suggestions?

[Scargsy]

OK, before starting I have a couple of questions for that that have built this or similar kits:

2 - Step 19 shows part D6 and D3 painted Gloss Black; they (D6 really) seem to cover the entire undercarriage and they are from the clear sprue. Is this correct?



Thanks for any advice.

D6 looks like an aerodynamic undertray which I imagine on a race car would be made of aluminium, black ABS plastic, carbon-fibre or something similar (depending on the era of the car) I guess they might have modelled it in clear so you could fit it clear and view the detail underneath which is a nice feature on a kit - undertrays are rather dull and uninspiring to look at, especially if you've spent ages detailing the exhausts, etc. underneath them.

Good looking build so far.

[BobM]

D6 looks like an aerodynamic undertray which I imagine on a race car would be made of aluminium, black ABS plastic, carbon-fibre or something similar (depending on the era of the car) I guess they might have modelled it in clear so you could fit it clear and view the detail underneath which is a nice feature on a kit - undertrays are rather dull and uninspiring to look at, especially if you've spent ages detailing the exhausts, etc. underneath them.

Good looking build so far.

Thanks! That's about what I figured. I'm not sure I like the idea of it being clear. At this point I've painted it; I'll decide later if I'll just leave it off or not...

[Twokidsnosleep]

I hear ya about all the paint call outdoing a Tamiya F1 Lotus.... lots of fiddly bits, multiple colours and then add PE on top
Yours is looking great Clear base is an interesting idea indeed

[BobM]

A bit more progress today. I applied decals for the disc calipers and seat, though I’m still deciding what to do for the harness. I’m experimenting with applying the decals on foil and then cutting them out. Limited success thus far, I’m mostly concerned about getting the decals to adhere to the foil. Stay tuned to see what happens.

In the meantime I worked on prepping more parts for paint and assembling the roll cage. Here it is test fit to the chassis; paint to come. Most of this is just test fit, I need to do some clear coats before final assembly. But it’s starting to look like a car!

[BobM]

Well, my experiments with the harness decals weren’t work as I had hoped, so Plan B. I ordered these and they came in today.



So with great excitement, I dove in. What the ***explitive deleted***?? How the heck do you keep the paint from peeling, especially when you need to make these tight bends?? Just when I would think I had things looking good, I’d touch something and see a big chunk of paint dangling!!!! Fortunately it comes with two sets, so there is some back up, but I’ve already blown though most of that!! I have the lap belt portions in place and looking OK; but I’m nervous about the shoulder straps.

Suggestions?

[gaz45]

Looks great so far mate

[NorthernModeller]

Looking smashing so far mate keep it up

[BobM]

Thanks to those that have taken time to have a look, and especially to those that have left comment.

Progress has been slow, I don’t think I’ve lost my mojo. I want to sit down and get to work, but weekends have been full and in the evenings I don’t have energy after a long day of work.

But today, I “forced” myself to get to work! In my last update, I showed the Eduard PE harness that had arrived and mentioned all the difficulty I had with it. Well, I stuck with it and finally got something I’m OK with, at least for a first attempt. Some modifications to the seat were needed to get the straps to pass through; just a little drilling and filing...



I then turned my attention to completing the interior. This included painting (and sometimes repainting) the roll cage, dashboard, console, and electronics deck. The dash and electronics deck are Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black. The console, after several repaint due to slips while detailing, ended up Stynylrez Black, detailed with Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver, X-7 Red, X-1 Black, X-25 Clear Green and XF-3 Flat Yellow. Decals were also applied to the dash and electronics.



The roll cage gave me a bit of grief; after priming and painting with Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum I discovered a few issues. First, I needed to mask most of the bars so I could paint the pads that cover some of the bars; well, this was just about impossible. I should have painted and masked the pads first and then painted the Aluminum. Also, before that realization and while masking, I saw all the parting lines and ejector pin marks I had missed; so more sanding was needed. Finally, I also discovered that I had prematurely assembled the roll cage and wasn’t going to get the dashboard installed! So I had to strategically cut the roll cage so I could spread it enough to fit the dash. With the sanding and cutting complete, I reprimed with Stynylrez Gray; for the final primer coat I mixed in some Black to get a darker gray that I left for the color of the pads. Then the pads were masked and the Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum was sprayed.







I think the next step is the body. Hmmm, white.... wish me luck!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Well, I really like...well everything!!!
The belts came out fantastic, I cannot see any chipping of the red and they look really natural
Great interior bucket for sure

[BobM]

Well, I really like...well everything!!!
The belts came out fantastic, I cannot see any chipping of the red and they look really natural
Great interior bucket for sure

Thanks Scott. Got lucky with the belts, most of the crimes are hidden. I did burn through most of the two sets that come in the package..

[Tay99]

Great job on the belts, one area I need to improve, they look natural they way they hang .
Overall a nice clean build keep up the great work.

[BobM]

Great job on the belts, one area I need to improve, they look natural they way they hang .
Overall a nice clean build keep up the great work.

Thanks Tay, but...

UNCLE...

yup, sorry all. I’m throwing in the towel on this one. I was happy with progress up to the point of my last post, but then things went south and this turned into a real mojo killer. The gloss white body paint caused nothing but trouble, dust, hairs, drips, splatter... I sanded back a bit and repainted... but grabbed the wrong bottle, flat white... sanded and repainted... more splatter... sand, paint... ugh... oops... left off a few pieces ... arg... UNCLE...

I’ve not been back to the bench for a couple of weeks. So today, with the deadline looming, I packed it in...



Then I turned to cleaning up the bench.

It’s now sitting waiting for May 1st.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hey, we are OLFA rotary cutting mat buddies
My Lotus is in the same boat, err box
On to the Bombers