Octavian

Codger (or Mr. C if you prefer, as I've seen many members address you), Many thanks for sending this along; this thread was in fact the first one I found on Britmodeller (or one of the first) when I began researching MFH builds; excellent stuff. I had lost track of the thread, however, so this is a great reminder to go over it with closer scrutiny now that I'm down in the weeds of actually building one of these kits. In general build news, I followed Sabrejet's advice and picked up some Mr. Hobby Primer Surfacer 1000 at my local hobby shop today, and some of their self-leveling thinner. Looking forward to giving it a try. I will hopefully have an update and some meaningful progress within the next day or two. Thanks to all who have offered advice already; there is a wonderful sense of community and camaraderie on this site, which is making the building experience so much richer. All best, Andrew

This is very helpful; glad to hear that the Mr. Surfacer plays well with Zero paints. I will pick some up and give it a try. Many thanks.

Beautiful work. I have the "enthusiast" version of this kit sitting around partially begun. Your build is inspiring and gives me a great sense of how good this kit can look.

Very nice work! I love this era of vettes; the all black scheme looks slick.

Astonishing work. It almost seems a shame to cover up all that beautiful engine detail and metal work with the body of the car.

This looks great. To echo the sentiment already shared, and much deserved: the gearbox is a very neat bit of work. You've really given life to that whole engine.

Ron, Thank you for your post, and for the wise advice; it is much appreciated. I am relieved, in one sense, to hear that you had the same experience with etch primers: i.e., a rougher, more granular quality, inasmuch as that indicates that it is a feature of the type of paint it is, as opposed to my applying it incorrectly. I thinned it down as much as I dared, but it was still fairly rough. I think it will work well for the body of the car, as I will be following it up with Zero paint and clear coat, which I think is great stuff, but perhaps I'll try something else for the engine parts as I don't want to lose any detail. I am going to take a look at Mr. Surfacer as Sabrejet recommended. What is your preferred primer for white metal? Best, Andrew

Sabrejet, Many thanks for your post; I am stoked about the kit. I found that the brass wire brush did a great job of cleaning up the white metal pieces, then I gave them a quick wash and scrub with Scotchbrite and a drop of dish soap in warm water, though perhaps the wash is unnecessary. As far as priming goes, here are some pics of a few of the engine parts I have primed with the Zero Metal/Resin Etch Primer. I'm not quite sure how to feel about the results: Closer detail: It looks (and feels) fairly rough to me, certainly moreso than the Tamiya fine surface primer I usually use. Apparently it is supposed to be a bit rough, to help 'key' paint to it, but I don't know if that is specifically for painting with Zero paints afterwards. I have used the Zero paint system before, but only on a car body, which yielded superb results. With the engine parts, though, my plan was to paint with Vallejo acrylic air paints from their metal colors, and I wonder if the slight roughness of the primer will be less than optimal when following it with other paints. Obviously I can simply sand the primer down a bit, but there's no point in making extra work for myself if there's no benefit. If you, or anyone else, is familiar with Zero paints, I'd be interested for perspectives. For reference, I am using an Iwata Eclipse HP-CS with a .35 mm needle, spraying at between 15 and 25 psi. Thanks again for your post. Best, Andrew

Codger, Thank you for the warm welcome and for your kind words. I appreciate your thoughts on moveable parts; that makes sense, and, in any event, those pistons will be locked up and invisible very soon as the rest of the engine comes together around the block, so it is less a tragedy than if I had screwed up on the body of the car, say. I have definitely studied Ron's threads extensively over the past few months, as I mentioned in my reply to his comment. If my work ends up looking a quarter as good as his does, then I will account my efforts a great success. Regarding etch primers, I am using Zero etch primer for metal/resin, and my experience with it so far has been good. There's more to say there, but I'll leave it for my next update. Thanks again. All best, Andrew p.s. As a general question to anyone, I am uncertain if there is a way to post individual replies to posts on this thread directly beneath the post itself, without the rather cumbersome "quote" option; I couldn't see anything about that in the site's FAQ, so I thought it worth asking here. If there is a cleaner way of managing individual replies, I would be grateful to hear what it is.

Ron, Thank you for your reply. I rarely maintain any sort of online presence, but I knew immediately that a WIP would be a smart move here, as I am in brand new territory and there is so much to learn. I have read through many of your threads and tried to absorb your techniques, especially when it comes to painting, which I have been hugely impressed by. I am certain that I will have many occasions to call on your advice. All my best, Andrew

Malc, Many thanks; I hope that I do the kit justice. All best, Andrew

Hello, I am a new member here at Britmodeller, having joined up after several months of benefiting from the wealth of knowledge and expertise on this site. I have been getting back into scale modelling over the past year or so; I loved the hobby as a boy, and have found myself longing for a return. I have been working on a few Fujimi Enthusiast kits over the past year, and then I happened to discover Model Factory Hiro online. The detail and beauty of the kits astonished me, so I made the plunge and purchased the 1/12 scale 1964 250 GTO, which I have begun working on this past week, with no small amount of fear and trembling. I am creating this WIP in the hopes that the more seasoned modellers here will be willing to give any and all advice; this kit represents a big upward shift in sophistication and difficulty over anything I have previously done, and I want to try and realize the kit as it deserves. I have little doubt that I will make many mistakes. To jump in, here are a few preliminary pics of the kit: Lovely box. Initial page of the instructions manual. Superb resin body. After staring wonderingly at the contents of the kit for several days, I worked up the nerve to begin. Per my usual habit, and the instructions, I am starting with the engine. The camshaft and pistons were the first things to come together. A good bit of drilling and very careful application of CA later, and I had these six completed elements. Below are the two halves of the engine block. I opted not to paint the pistons or block, as I thought this would likely impede the movement of the pistons (which is such a cool feature of this kit). I washed the parts with mild dish detergent, cleaned up the molding lines, and scrubbed them with a brass wire brush. Here is the assembled block, which I soldered together with low-melt solder and a phosphoric acid-based flux: (It still needs a bit of clean-up) At this point I made a mistake for which I am still cursing the day I was born. I carefully glued together the pieces of the camshaft, following the visual details of the instructions with (as I thought) extreme care and caution. However, I very stupidly glued the assembled piston units to the guide pieces meant to align the camshaft into the block (pictured below). The shaft cannot turn at all in the block if these are not left free to spin around the shaft, an obvious fact that I realized too late. Exceedingly vexed with myself, I took the assembled bits apart with the help of some acetone, but even still, many of the small pieces were bent or warped slightly in the process of taking them apart. A day or so, and much self-castigation later, I had the pieces apart, and set about trying to straighten any warping to the small pieces of the camshaft, in which I was partially successful. The whole thing came back together, but imperfectly, fitting into the engine block with some difficulty: As you can see, the pieces designed to hold the shaft to the block, over the small flanges in the block, do not line up after the third from the right. As a result, the pistons turned, but only a bit, and the block is a bit off on the left side, which may cause some difficulties down the line, but I don't think they will be severe. In any event, I am hard pressed to explain how I could have made so simple and ridiculous a mistake, but I did. I was hesitant to include this part of the tale, but I want to improve, so I decided to leave nothing out. I will stop here for now; I have begun airbrushing other components with primer, but I will save those pictures and details for the next post. I would be grateful for any and all feedback. Respectfully, Andrew

Codger, Hello; I am new to the forum, though I have been reading over various WIPs (both ongoing and past) for the past several months as I have been getting back into scale modelling; your unbelievable work, and that of so many of the other skilled artists on this site, was a large part of the impetus for me to create a profile and officially join up. I realize I'm coming in to a very specific point in an ongoing conversation about your Rolls here, but I just wanted to express my admiration for your work and insight (both in this WIP and elsewhere on the forum), and my thanks for many valuable lessons learned. The work you are doing is simply exceptional. Respectfully, Andrew

Steve, Thanks; can't go wrong with Emperor Augustus.

Noelh, In Utah at the moment, but I have lived all over the place: Missouri, California, Oregon, Texas, and Indiana. Spring is here, and it is lovely right now. Many thanks for the welcoming words. Thanks to Jon (Faraway) above as well.

Well met!

Dennis, Thanks for the welcome; I used to live in Indiana, and spent a lot of time up in Chicago visiting friends; a great city.

Howdy Michael, thanks for the welcome.

Chris and Thorfinn, Many thanks for the warm welcome; much appreciated.

Hello, I have recently gotten back into modelling (cars, both road and race), something I loved as a kid, but hadn't returned to in a few decades. As I've been getting back into the hobby, I have been reaping the benefits of this wonderful site and decided to join up. I have been putting together a few Fujimi Enthusiast kits over the past year and decided to try my hand at a Model Factory Hiro multimedia kit, which I will be starting soon. Since these kits are such a monetary investment, I have been doing a great deal of research over the past couple of months before starting the build, and this site has been one of the very best sources of expert advice. I look forward to (hopefully) contributing a bit, and to continuing to learn from the experts here.