Tamiya 1/24 Ferrari F40 Competizione

[MrBowcat]

Good morning all.

I bought this kit 2nd hand in January, and on opening the box realised that the roof was squashed and the A pillars bent.





I tried to fix it with heat but it wasn't happening, so I had to order a spare from HobbyCo and was advised a 6 month wait. Luckily it wasn't quite that long and the new shell arrived this week.

I started with prepping the shell and got the primer down, this is an older kit (2005) which is evident compared to more modern Tamiya kits. There are some quite pronounced seams on all the parts I have looked at so far, as well as some mold mismatching. Also the engine cover doesn't fit perfectly which is apparently a known issue with this kit.



With that done I moved on to the engine. I've not gone too mad with this, normally I would fill the seam on the top of the gearbox but it's going to be covered by the exhaust so I've not bothered.



And with that all together I started cleaning up the rest of the parts for the back end ready for primer and paint.



That's all for now.

B

[barryf1fan]

Cool kit, I've never seen that F40 before. Sucks about the body shell but the new one looks right and off to a killer start!

Will be watching this one!

[MrBowcat]

Cheers Barry. Yep, was guttted when I opened the box, just glad I managed to get a replacement despite the time and additional cost.

[barryf1fan]

How old is that kit?? I notice it says it comes with PE parts... I wouldn't mind trying to find one of these bad boys!

[MrBowcat]

2005 according to Scalemates. The PE parts are the brake disks, the mesh grills and a couple of other parts.

[MrBowcat]

Morning all.

This weekend I have mostly been painting. Got the white and yellow down on the body and the rear part of the chassis.



With that done I started on the decals. I need to get these down and glossed before further painting of the shell and chassis. I'd decided to use Tamiyas Racing White which has a slight cream tone to it, but realised in retrospect it wasn't going to match the white parts of the decals. As it turns out it's not too bad.

The decals were typical older Tamiya, so quite thick, but went down OK with liberal use of softener and some heat.




Other than that I've painted the rest of the drivetrain parts. Some of these needed 4 seperate colours, I'll post pics once the parts are together.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Love it
Awesome how much the decals bring it out and to life

[MrBowcat]

Cheers Scott.

That's only about half of them.

[WordenB]

Cracking work as usual Mr B.

[MrBowcat]

Cheers Worden.

Finished off the decals last night, all went pretty smoothly. I managed to get a small crack in one of the door placards where it goes into a larger panel line, but the panel line wash should hide it. The 2nd pic shows the misalignment of the engine cover, so I will either have to display the model with the engine showing, or glue it shut.





I also finished painting the engine, drive train & running gear and got everything glued together. No major problems, a bit of misalignment on the exhaust headers. The PE disks are nice.





Hoping to get the panel line wash done tonight and the gloss tomorrow.

[KBF]

That is one nice F40!

Wonderful work on the engine and brakes. Did you use PE parts on the brakediscs?

[MrBowcat]

Cheers.

Yep, the PE discs came with the kit.

[MrBowcat]

Morning all

Got a little bit done this weekend, panel line wash in and gloss coat down. I've got a little bit of a rough finish on the bonnet, but should be able to sand back and polish out.

[digger303]

[Mpfiend]

Nice job so far on the paint and decals.

[MrBowcat]

Cheers guys.

[MrBowcat]

Morning all.

Finished off the last of the body painting over the weekend, it was just the front splitter, headlight internals and windscreen rubber, and I also flatted and polished the paintwork.



Also painted the rest of the chassis and installed the engine and running gear.



Onto the interior next, it's fairly sparse being a race car, but I think I'm going to try and pimp it out with a little carbon fibre.

[digger303]

Very neat and that windscreen rubber must be a tricky process to pull off.

[Tomcat64]

That's lovely work on the body shell and the engine looks great as well

[MrBowcat]

Cheers gents.

[BigWall]

Very nice Mrbowcat!

[DRUMS01]

The F40 had to be in my top 5 Ferrari's of all time. The production car was not far from the track variant either.

It's funny you remarked about the engine cover not fitting completely correct. I had the same kind of issue on a 1/16 Revell F40, and in the same spot too.

I was looking into using pins or even mini magnets to force it into position, but I had more space to work with being 1/16; I eventually glued the rear hatch to the body. I also converted mine from a regular F40 to a F40 LM. Some of the differences include the larger headlights, an exit vent through the front bonnet, another NACA duct in the front, and an adjustible bi-plane rear wing. Not wanting to hack your build thread, you can see mine in my portfolio if interested.

Your Tamiya build looks very clean and convincing, great modeling skills there mate. I really like the sponsorship on the car too. Oh!, I should also give you kudo's for saving the window pillar, good job with that!

I'm looking forward to seeing this buttoned up with wheels....

Ben / DRUMS01

[barryf1fan]

Dang!! Been awhile since I jumped in to look... but...



Seriously though, love it! Looking forward to the reveal.

[MrBowcat]

Thanks guys.

Been working on the interior for the last few days. I bought a sheet of carbon fibre decal (Studio 27 I think) I while back, but so far have only used it on flat surfaces. I decided it was time to try it on some more complex shapes and this interior was the perfect candidate.







It's 1/12 pattern so over scale, but a least it should show up through the windows. I'm fairly happy with how it came out, it's far from perfect but for a first attempt I'm pleased.

With those parts done I got the tub installed in the chassis and added all the other bits, along with some more engine components.

[digger303]

For a first effort with the carbon fibre I think it's damn good and it's a nice over all build. The tyres look suitably street worn and was the first thing to grab my attention....well done.

[MrBowcat]

Cheers Digger.

Yep, I wanted to give the tyres a scrubbed look.

[LWWales]

Lovely work! I’ve wanted to do an F40 for a while, this kit looks excellent!

[WordenB]

Lovely work Mr B, nearly there.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Fantastic CF work..that ain't easy

[MrBowcat]

Cheers guys.

I had to walk away from this build for a couple of weeks, the fitment (or lack thereof) of the glass was driving me around the bend. The windscreen in particular just would not fit so I ended up having to cut off the locating tabs, re-profile it somewhat then hold it in place while I glued it.

Fitting the engine cover to the rest of the body was similarly frustrating, requiring a small piece of clear plastic which forms the window between cabin and engine bay to be glued to the ceiling inside over the "hinges". Again it didn't fit right and required it to be be held while spot glued.

Finally, the body doesn't fit right either.

I've done the best with it that I can, pics here if interested. viewtopic.php?f=46&t=30343[url]https:// ... 46&t=30343[/url]