1/24 Tamiya Ferrari Testarossa

[Pete75]

The Porsche build is on the back burner while I wait for the bodyshell to be stripped, so I’m getting started on project #4:



Yep, the soundtrack is limited to a choice of Jan Hammer or the Outrun music on this one; however, neither reference will be influencing the colour scheme:







I just read that there are some people don’t like the Testarossa They’ll be saying next that designer stubble and linen suits aren’t cool!



The first thing I noticed when unboxing is how light & fragile the body feels with all the cut away sections - in fact, the “strakes” are scarily flimsy. Closer inspection reveals that there is a lot of cleaning up to be done with regard to mould lines and ragged/sharp edges:



I thought I’d eliminated the prominent raised diagonal lines on the rear wings, but they re-emerged when the primer went on More sanding & primer required...

I love how Tamiya kits each seem to have their own little features. This kit has movable pop up headlights and an opening engine cover, which sounds good, but we'll see how they work in reality. However, despite all their neat touches, Tamiya does throw in the odd strange surprise, like the raised name badge on the engine cover which they suggest painting silver (Perhaps metallic transfers were rarer/more expensive in 1986?) Anyhow, it's nothing that eBay and sandpaper can't fix.



Chemistry not being my thing, I soon discovered that the stripping power of the brake fluid bath - currently employed elsewhere - doesn't extend to de-chroming wheels. So I whipped up a quick 50:50 bleach/water brew & the silver was gone in no time, ready for some primer, before TS-17 Gloss Aluminium & some satin clear (I think).



Some of the body parts that will be gloss black eventually are going to require special attention, so I decided to just concentrate on getting the main shell painted up with Tamiya grey primer then 3 coats of TS-14. (1 mist coat, then 2 wet coats.)



Looking a bit like it belongs on Knight Rider, but I'm pleased with the colour choice & how it went on. There is a dust fleck or two in it & the advice I recieved elsewhere is that it is ok/desirable to sand it out before the clear coat - something I've not tried before. I have 1200/2000/2500 grit wet/dry at my disposal, along with the Tamiya polishing compounds, but I'm wondering whether I just treat it like the clear coat flatting process? Also not sure how long I should leave it to dry/cure before starting? Advice welcome!

Thanks for looking

[Pete75]

Moving on. All the body parts are now colour coated: these include panels that fit inside the wing strakes; the engine cover (plus a separate panel within) and the pop-up headlights, which I’ve decided won’t be popping up after all. Although the paint went on the main body well, I ended up stripping a couple of the extra parts after attempting to paint when it was too cold!



The vented section in the engine cover is a pretty fine lattice & I only just noticed the clogging before the colour went on! It needs to be satin black, so I sprayed the whole cover section in TS-29, then masked it off and finished the rest in TS-14. I’ll leave the masking in place for the clear coat, then touch up the grille later.



Wheels sprayed TS-17. After much deliberation about the chrome centre caps (masking/no masking, paint or marker) I loosely fitted the tyres & wedged them into the hub of the Tamiya paint wheel to rotate whilst drawing on the chrome with 1mm & 2mm Molotow markers. I’m pleased with the result and have decided not to risk putting any clear coat on them.



Engine is painted, assembled & panel washed. It’s good enough for me on this build, but in future I’d like to learn how to do recessed sections properly (like the red bits on the air intakes) and leave the silver ridges sharp.





Dropped the engine into the sub-frame & fitted the exhaust system - I deviated from the sheet and mixed in some clear orange here to give a bit more interest. Lots of spare time ahead to make some progress! Thanks for looking

[barryf1fan]

Man, I missed this one... looking good so far!! Really liking the black color choice!

:ninja edit:

Engine looks great!!

[bigdave146]

Love it ! I have this one in the stash aswell.

[Pete75]

Love it ! I have this one in the stash aswell.

Man, I missed this one... looking good so far!! Really liking the black color choice!

:ninja edit:

Engine looks great!!

Thanks Barry & Dave. She's 99% done now, so one final update is imminent

[Pete75]

I missed an update or two, but I got a fair bit done over the Christmas period and am now all but done. First up were the mechanical bits:







Next the interior. I declined the option of doing the popular four tone interior (three shades of brown plus black) in favour of two colours, purely because I think it looks better on a black car:





I thought I’d have a stab at doing the luggage straps that aren’t a part of the kit. I’ve recently acquired my first styrene sheets which will take care of the buckle ends, and for the main part I came across a little tape measure that came out of a Christmas cracker:





Primered then sprayed TS-46 ("Light Sand"), I was quite pleased with the result. The carpet was brush painted with a 50:50 mix of matt anthracite/matt black. The black leather trim on the centre console, door cards and dash were brushed with satin black, and some parts were detailed with gloss black. Black wash was invaluable in getting the slots in the open gear shift gate looking sharp.





The seats were last. I tried two different shades of brown Vallejo wash to try and accent the lines in them, but they just looked muddy and, well... bad! I re-sprayed them with TS-46 and left it at that, but I'm keeping an eye out for methods to make them look less modelish (Maybe grey wash?)



The final interior element was the headliner upholstery. For me, this is the first time it’s been required and I debated whether to mask/spray or brush it. I decided the latter was the most efficient way, particularly as it’s unlikely that slightly uneven finish on the ceiling is going to be much of an issue! And that just left the exterior:



The camera flash makes the effect of 1200 grit paper on the clear coat look horrific It also shows how the big particles of rattle can paint don’t quite get into some of the fine recesses, and where I must’ve worn a couple of edges away whilst polishing the colour coat. From here I went with 2000 grit, then polishing compounds before touching up and doing the satin detailing. The window rubber and vents/grilles were masked and sprayed TS-29; the panel lines were masked and brushed satin black; and for the worn edges I masked tightly to the affected area and brushed on Tamiya X1.



I’m not great with window glass, I’ve discovered. I had trouble securing the single unit with super glue and tainted it in a couple of places. I used Tamiya compound to polish it back the best I could, but I think I need to review my installation technique! No such problems fitting the pop-up lights, though, as I just didn't bother! (Too much work & I’m not a fan of fan of the way they look on this particular car.)



With the glass fitted, plus the interior panels glued behind the side strakes, the body shell is a tight fit. I tried filing down some protruding edges but, ultimately, I had to use magnets to hold the front end down flush to the chassis.



The tail pipes were lost during the build, so I fashioned replacements using some sprue and twist drills. The prancing horse was sprayed silver, then glued on and coated with chrome marker.



I spent far too long searching for AM solutions for the Pininfarina badges on the flanks. I couldn’t find any, so I just masked and sprayed them TS-17 - why didn’t I think of this earlier!

I’m just waiting now for a script badge for the engine cover and she’ll be ready for her close up. Thanks for looking

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looking very sharp

[Cali]

Wow. What are the odds? I too have just picked the hobby back up and have completed both the F1 89 and the Tamiya GT3 and I have that Tessta lined up.

[Cali]

Will be following this build closely

[Cali]

Great details in your WIP description too!

[Pete75]

Wow. What are the odds? I too have just picked the hobby back up and have completed both the F1 89 and the Tamiya GT3 and I have that Tessta lined up.

Thanks for your comments Cali. They say great minds think alike! Cool stash - sensing a Ferrari thing going on!

Looking very sharp

Cheers Scott, appreciate it

[sam84TR]

Hello! Can anyone advise me on the lower driving lamps? I'm wondering how these are properly painted. Pete yours look so realistic. Are the backside of the clear plastic lights painted, or is the paint applied directly to the model?

[Pete75]

Thanks Sam The lights were brush painted on the back of the clear plastic with Tamiya clear orange & clear red. Remember to colour the light recesses silver too. I think I documented the process in my Porsche project (link below). Hope this helps

[paulowen7575]

Lovely work, what a great result!

[jmurphy18]

looking really good here! Nice attention to detail. Love how we become mad chemist to get the color we are after LOL

[Hawkmoon]

Very nice work and looks good to me