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A pair of Italian beauties: Ferrari 250 California and Dino 246


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These have been progressing speedily, and I haven't got round to posting until now... An Academy "Classic European Sports Car", better known as the Italeri Ferrari 250 SWB California, and a Fujimi Dino 246, inspired by seeing Keith Richards' beauty driven on The Classic Car Show. It's the simplified curbside Dino, not the full-on "Enthusiast Model" kit with the engine, detailed suspension, underbonnet details etc...

250-engine-side-view.jpg
250-engine-wiring.jpg
Classic Ferrari 250ish engine -- I've built a fair number of these now. Distributors wired, and electrical "ferrules" to replace the hideous intake trumpets. NB: the kit has parts for several variants of this engine on the sprue, so make sure you've got the right ones!
250-body-2.jpg
SWB body in "Vinaccia" (aka Aubergine). This has been around for a while in the stash, so I'm glad to get it under way.
dino-body.jpg
dion-body-2.jpg
Beautiful curves! Dino body in Tamiya Gloss Aluminium. After seeking advice, and test fitting, it is possible to get the chassis inside the body with the lower front valance in place, which makes painting the body much easier.
dino-chassis-paint.jpg
No engine, just some painting. Homebrew "rust/burnt iron" accentuated with Citadel coloured washes.
dino-cockpit.jpg
Dino interior in multiple shades of black/grey. Keith's seats are very shiny leather!
dion-dash-2.jpg
Dino dashboard comes up nicely with a bit of paint. I'm not sure whether Keith's is "factory finished" but it's got plenty of suede-y Alcantara today...
bestest,
M.
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...continuing:

dino-interior-2.jpg
dino-interior-3.jpg
Not a lot of parts in this interior, but it looks neat, I reckon.
dino-interior-in-2.jpg
dino-together-from-underside.jpg
The front suspension has to be built before installing the chassis into the body, but the rear can be assembled afterwards (and probably needs to be, because it's the back end that needs to twist and flex most to get it inside).
250-swb-chassis-L.jpg
The familiar Ferrari 250 chassis coming together.
bench-22-Apr.jpg
And this is where I'm up to today. The eagle-eyed will spot that I've relocated the filler/breather caps on the 250 SWB engine back to around halfway along the block. That's where they are on the prototype, and if fitted further forward as instructed, they'll foul the wheel wells on the engine bay walls. The engine bay has been "jigged" on the chassis, and separated for painting and detailing.
bestest,
M.
Edited by cmatthewbacon
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Thanks, all! The Dino is on the home straight...

dino-on-bench-2.jpg
dino-on-bench-3.jpg
dino-on-bench-1.jpg
Not a whole lot to report other than the "chrome" parts have their raised rubber inserts painted with Tamiya "Rubber Black", and she needs a good dust!
The 250 Spider is making progress:
not-forgotten-250-SWB-25-Apr.jpg
door-linings-2.jpg
As it happens, I have an (dreadful) AMT 250 SWB as a "donor kit", so I'm carefully slicing off the door furniture and attaching it to the Academy kit cockpit sidewalls. The seats are currently WiP....
bestest,
M.
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The Dino is one of my all time favourites, might have to give the Enthusiasts Kit a look see!

Great work as always, Vinaccia sounds so much better than aubergine!

Cheers,

Warren

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Great to see another Ferrari double build from you, the Dino already looks great.

Interesting choice of colour for the California, one in that colour was at Villa d'Este a few years ago. IMHO it suits quite well the classic lines of the type

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Thanks, chaps!

On with the 250 Spider:
door-linings-before-paint.jpg
doors-again.jpg
The operation to transfer the door furniture was mostly successful, apart from one of the door closing handles which disappeared into oblivion, along with a small slice of skin from the end of my thumb. No blood on the paint, mind... that's what matters! A new one was fabricated after several tries, and now I think the door liners look the part.
exhausts-on-1.jpg
exhausts-on-2.jpg
underside.jpg
The exhausts (painted in Vallejo Model Air "Rust") are a bit of a pain to thread and get into position (and the instructions aren't so clear and well drawn...). To save anyone else the hassle, this is how they go. I used actual polystyrene cement for these, after cleaning up the mounting points. I wanted a REALLY strong bond when the time came to put the engine bay on (which is a very tight fit around the exhausts at the chassis level), but plenty of time to fettle the final positions of the pipes as I installed them.
interior-shaping-up.jpg
The interior is an "interesting" colour, but it's a very close match to the references I have -- I think it's called "Tobacco" by Ferrari. I think it will go well with the body colour, and it's much less boring than black (though that would have hidden the "cobbled together" door liners a bit better!)
trial-fit.jpg
Another test fit of the chassis -- the engine bay does fit around the exhausts, after all. The seats are much modified from the ones in the "donor" 250 SWB, because the "buckets" in the California kit are completely wrong...
The Dino will reappear shortly!
bestest,
M.
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inside.jpg

underneath-2.jpg
With the chassis basically assembled, time to move on with some engine bay detailing.
engine-bay-bits.jpg
Plundering a few unused detail bits from the Dino, and some more of the 250SWB, I've at least got a radiator fan, battery, coils and a screen wash reservoir. (No idea what that was on the Dino, but it'll do the job here with a cap added and a repaint...
hose.jpg
There's a big air duct hose running from the right hand side of the bay into the back. After wracking my brains trying to figure out where to find one, I thought I'd just have a try at making one, and I'm pretty happy with the result. 1) Wind garden wire around a suitable diameter bit of sprue, 2) cover with porous-ish paper-ish medical tape, 3) Spray with Tamiya "Rubber Black". It's still very flexible, and works just like the real thing. A couple of short stubs of the sprue mandrel stuck to the bay walls in the right places will make mounting points.
On with the tubes, pipes and cables!
bestest,
M.
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Excellent work, as always Mr Bacon. ;) That Cali body looks gorgeous.

I believe the AMT SWB is the Esci kit reboxed. If so, then yes it is a bit of a rough kit. I have a couple myself and am planning a bit of a mod/ cross kit job with a Cali. Will take some work though.

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Thanks, chaps!

radiator-hose.jpg

I KNEW that would come in handy one day... My abortive _first_ return to modelling in 1990 or thereabouts was to attempt a wooden model boat kit. It didn't work out -- tool far too long to achieve anything. But at the time, I bought some self-adhesive copper strip for the anti-fouling covering of the bottom. 25 years later, it's come out of the bottom of the toolkit, and made that little bit of copper pipe in the middle of the radiator hose that much easier! The rest is some electric flex insulation over a solid wire core, and BMF for the jubilee clips...
brake-master.jpg
The brake master cylinder is pretty visible in the engine bay, and, unusually for a 60s Ferrari kit, in my experience, is not included. A stack of tubing fills the gap.
radiator-in.jpg
radiator-in-2.jpg
The radiator hose doesn't connect to anything, of course -- not the first time I'll be grateful for that "roasting dish" on the top of the engine! I think the ducting looks the part. The wiring diagram I found online stopped me connecting the battery to anything stupid -- ground at one end, the fuse-box at the other, apparently!
coils-in.jpg
The twin coils brighten things up a bit. I'm glad I didn't have to fabricate those, mind you...
cylinder-in.jpg
Master cylinder cluttering things up nicely.
bay-nearly-done-1.jpg
bay-nearly-done-2.jpg
bay-nearly-done-3.jpg
No idea what most of these bits and tubes do, but they busy it up nicely. One of the sage green caps is sitting on top of the steering box, the other is angled off the top of a additional square section "lump" at the front left corner of the bay, which will also anchor the fuel lines. It's completely "gizmology", but there's _something_ over there...
top-down.jpg
sidelong-glance.jpg
So that's more or less done now. The fuel line to the carbs will be added once that gizmo in the corner is thoroughly set and anchored. Guitar string is a bit unforgiving...
On the next episode... the inside goes inside the outside.
bestest,
M.
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Thanks! As promised... the inside is inside the outside. No great drama, thank goodness!

chassis-in-1.jpg
chassis-in-2.jpg
chassis-in-3.jpg
The body's covered in greasy fingerprints, but there's no point in getting too antsy about cleaning it at this stage! I'm leaving the bonnet hinge to set thoroughly before I even think about opening it!
bestest,
M.
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  • 2 years later...

Once again Britmodeller comes to my rescue.

I am just starting the 250 California (now a Revell Germany kit) and your pix and build notes are exactly what I needed!

 

Thank you sir and by the way, a very nice job on the kit!

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