Schummie

Stunning details you add to this model. Very nice.

Very nice result. Worthy to this iconic, record breaking, car.

Thank you Ant and Neddy for your kind and encouraging words. Amongst the cars I build, there were some in wich their drivers died when doing what they liked most. Piers Courage, Roger Williamson, Jim Clark and Jochen Rindt to name some. Von Trips died in this car in the Monza race. In those cases I feel I maybe do the extra mile to honour these heroes who drove in times when you knever knew I you would make it to the end of the seison. Maybe a bit morbide, but when things get a bit tough, I think like “would Pierce, Roger, Jim or Jochen have given up?” Have a nice and save weekend. Let’s see what the present generation F1 drivers achieve on the Japan GP.

It's done!!! The washes on the closing clamps, and also the air intake covers are in the right colour. That these MFH kits are a bit of a challenge is sort of an understatement. But I'm pleased with the end result. My best build until now I feel myself. I added a lot of mods, but almost no extra investments were needed. Some wires from my parts box and a lot of Tameo 1/43 rivets. The rest is simply patience and time. Opening the air intakes on the tank sides. Opening small air intakes on top of the body. Opening the radiator. Opening different cross members. Upholstering the seat in stead of painting. Rivets in the tanks in the position of the little holes. Rivets oposed to the FE parts supplied with the kit on the air intakes and the cockpit window. Break lines on the calipers and to the break pedal. Fuel lines on the carburators. Wiring all the instuments to the (more or less) right places. Temperature sensor on the radiator. Pressure release hoses on the cooling system and gear box. Replacing casted hose clamps with shrinking tube and FE or aluminium strip clamps. Adding throttle gear on engine. Wiring the starter engine. Adding lap top fuel tank with metal strip. Adding and wiring battery. Gear linkage replaced with metal wire, and connected to the gear box. Steering rod replaced with metal wire. The air intake covers I got on colour with the ZP paint extra thinned and spray woth relative high pressure in 8 very thin layers. The clearcoat I had to skip in the end. It stays too thick. And when thinned too much I get sort of spiders rag. So this is the best result I could achieve. I is according to the real car. The rest of the pictures speak for themselves. Thanks for watching, wrestling through all the pictures and all the tips which I all worked in this build. The real car was relative simple which makes it possible to get almost complete for detailing. With my present skills I doubt that I could have done much better on the 1/12 version. This one costs much less, at least when you can get hold on one. Now I return to a Tameo 1975 TWC Ferrari 312T from Lauda. Over 300 parts in a small car. 9 FE sprues, and a lot of casted and turned parts. It would be perfect when the casting skills and perfect fit of Tameo would be used in a 1/20 kit of them. Fot this car still looking for the Ferrari transporter to display this car on.

Thank you for your kind words. As for my talent. I feel that is down to just one virtue, patience. Developped over the years with age. All the rest is a result from looking at other builders on forums like this one. Looking at posted pictures and getting inspiration from that. So I feel the posting of all my pictures is sort of payback. Kind regards, Eric

We're nearly there. The last details and installing the last bits. The grill for the radiator protection. Put far enough in the front, not to interfere with the radiator Masking to paint a part of the inner cockpit in semi gloss black. FE parts for the mirror polished to 1:12000. Cockpitwindow fixated with masking tape. Ended up not using cockpit glue for the window at all. Put a hot needle through the pre drilled holes in de body through the plastic window. Then drilled the hole out to the diameter of the rivets. Filed the rivets to the right length. Dip it in CA and push it with a magnetised needle through both holes. Presses from the inside with a toothpick. Times 13!! I must admit I had a bit regret after the first one. Took a lot of time. But a rewarding end result I think. The window sits tight in the frame. The rivets have to go to the first edge, en then on, but not through, the second. Installed the steering wheel. Before installing the tanks. Otherwise you can not get the steering rod in the steering house, And some dry fitting once again to make sure to install the tanks in the right position. Because the breaks partly disappear in the wheels, a last shot of the details on the callipers and break lines. So at least we have the foto's!! Tanks installed permanently. The last line to the gas meter installed. On reference pictures it is a brass line with some windings in it. That was done to absorb vibrations and prevent the lines from breaking. Some last details. FE fixings. Also on the back body panel. There you have to put some long rivets through to keep that body part in place. Installing the exhausts. Installing the wheels. A little outward for the front wheels, and a little inward on the back. And a compliment to the kit. Al four wheels toutched the tarmac perefctly. The wheel bolts have a left and right version. I discovered that just in time!! A detail picture of the front wheel. Luckily part of the breaking systems still visible through the spoked wheels. And then we near the end. Some last details like blackening the exhaust clamps. The covers of the air intakes stay unpainted for now. I tried to paint it with thinned paint, but the tiny holes keep clothing up. This resultae in the air intakes being invissible. So I removed the paint. Doing that again will damage the model. So I keep looking for a solution on a separate piece of the material. I'm afraid the holes on the material I used are simply too small. Nex time the end result pictures and the closing of this demanding project. Thanks for watching!!

Thank you for all the kind comments. Started with priming, spraying decalling and mods with tiny Tameo rivets replacing the FE ones provided with the kit. In the metal etch primer. Sprayed with ZP 60's Ferrari red. A bit of dry fitting to get the side numbers right. The "4" are two seperate parts. The upper body slides a bit over the tanks. So it is difficult to get all this aligned. With the "4" decal on the front I had lots of problems. Extremely thin and breaks when you even look at it. I had to restore it a bit with a part of another decal. It shows on this picture. I hope it will be less visible when the 2K clearcoat is added. For the rest of the decals I used microscale decal coating. This made the decals more solid. Here the result, before using the micro set and sol. After the 2K clearcoat. And the removal of the many hours of masking Turned out pretty good I think. The grill glued in place. Airbrushed first, and then installed. This way I could paint the inside also. Then disaster struck. After spraying the air intake covers one was gone. Looked for 2 hours. Then drank some coffee with the misses to cool down a bit. Then se spotted the crushed part under my left feet. On the picture you see that the clearcoat filled up the small holes. The original one also was rather thick and therefore little flexible. Almost impossible to place snug in the frames. I made new ones with much thinner Tameo parts. These could be installed nice. I rather like the unpainted version. Both installed. I still thinking about granting me some artistic freedom, and leave this unpainted. Or stay with my rather purist efforts to keep as close as possible to the original car, were these parts were painted red. The first rivets in place. Picked up with a magnetised needle. Dipped in CA an then placed in the drilled holes. And this times 40!! I think the result was worth the effort, compared to the supplied FE flat round parts. And the rear with the still unpainted covers. The air intakes still have to be coverd with perspex caps. We're nearly there. Next update installing the last details, wheeld and steering wheel. And then the last one with the end pictures of the completed car. Thats the plan anyway!!

Time for an update. Some small setbacks took some time. I made 7 holes for the air intakes, were it should be 5. Finally I chose to correct this. Used lead wire to close the holes, and drilled new ones. Back to 5 holes per intake. Exhausts manouvered in place. The kit doesn't provide brackets for the exhausts. Used my aluminium tape for a solution. Need to make it a bit darker. Filing, sanding and polishing white netal tank caps. Mounted the mirror housing before airbrushing to get a smooth finish. I think better than spraying apart and then glue in place. Started with slow and precise masking. I want the non coloured body parts in the natural metal colour as much as posible. Cutting the cockpit window. You get just one try. Secured the window with tape to cut it with a scalpel without moving or sliding. Also need to cut some small perpex covers for the aft air intakes. Trimmed and sanded the edges of the cockpit window. Dry fitted it. Looks like a snug fit. For the carburator covers a mould is provided to press it in the right form. A lot of force is needed. I used a bearing press I have. The result. I still have to trim the edges. These also must be sprayed in red. Next time there will be painted and decalled body parts. The completion of the model is withinn grasp.

Well, this is for me the holy grail of modelling. Shows wat can be achieved with these MFH kits, when expertly build with adding a lot of extra detail. Shows there is a lot of improvement possible for my own building skills.

Very, very nice car. Expert paintwork in a beautiful colour.

And on we go. Completing all the wiring. Has to be done before installing the tanks and the body panels because you can't reach the wires anymore afterwards. First the dash. Added brackets for the instruments. Made from self adhesive aluminium tape cut to the desired strips. Dials decals installed and sealed with gloss clearcoat. Tried to add a gas cable assembly to the model. This is how it was on the original. Nickel Siver wire bend in the right form. For the cable atachment I had to improvise a little. However, better than a race car with all cables attached but the gas cable I feel. With the rev counter wire and the oil temp wire, the model is now comletely wired, exept the fuel wire which will be added when the tanks are in place. The seat fitted in, Snug without CA. It became a bit larger through the upholstery. Clutch, brake and gas wired connected with the right pedals and covered with a strip of aluminium tape. Will be invissible after the bottom FE part is installed. Now the dashboard can be installed and connected. Luckily the extra tank still fitted between al the wiring. Also snug without glue. So it is possible to remove it, should one want to take a look at the pedals. De FE borrom slightly bend and installed. Another dry fit to see if the body panels still fit. In the real car the upper body panel was not snug on the top of the tanks, but were a bit over them. Because these Zamac body parts, you can bend them slightly and they stay in that position. With resin parts this is much more difficult. I decided not to use the extra detailing FE parts for the rivets of the various parts on the top body panel. They are so small that is is difficult to glue them in the right positions or to send them nice smooth. So I will drill 54 0.4 mm holes in wich I place Tameo rivets. For the air intakes fron and after and the cockpit window. The wheel nuts are also casted nicely, but take some work to cut them from the sprue without damage, sanding and polishing. That's it for this week. Now the steering wheel, exhausts and roll bar can be installed, and after that I can begin with the body panels.

Very impressive result. Thanks for all the pictures on the twisty road to this glorious finish line. I think of the old series, “the six million dollar man”. We will rebuild, but make it better, stonger and faster than before!! You would make late mister Hiro himself proud I think.

Very nice. Still hope that this kit wil become available in the Netherlands.

Another little step. I did some demanding wiring jobs, which have to be done now because when the tanks are in place I can't reach much of the tube frame anymore. I first put the instruments scratch free in the dash. Now awaiting after market instrument decals. The ones MFH provided break on tough. Hope the bigger decals will do better. Polished the extra tank cap and installed it. Von Tripp had this tank which was held in place with a metal strap. So another mod, made from some left over FE sprue. Breaklines added with connector made from copper tape. I will take these lines to the break pedal. Then on with the wiring and plumbing mods. Brass break line from the rear brakes to the front and the break pedal. Clutch cable. Wiring to the starter motor, through the contact to the batery. Overflow hoses for the cooling system and over pressure in the gearbox. In those days dropped on the tarmac!! Sensor in the radiator, wire to the temp gauge. Later I will add wires from the dash on the rev counter, oil pressure and oil temp. After some experimenting i cut small 0,5 mm strips from isolating tape to connect the wires and lines to the tube frame. The hoses from the cooling system and the gear box. Wiring the battery to the dash and to the rear. Now the FE panel in the back of the driver can be placed. Connected to the starter motor after installing the clutch. And the clutch line or cable attached wich will go to the clutch pedal. And the wire from the sensor in the radiator to de dash. Decided not to paint the chair but use self adhesive cloth. After some attempts, I had to cut seperate panels to get it right. The first of the 4 spoked wheels. Lots of parts to be assembled under pressure. Next day. After cleaning and with the tire on. One down, three to go. It takes more than an hour to do this right. So one a day to stay focussed. See you next week.

The weekly update. Watertank installed. Part of the cooling tubes. Patience required. Another tubes with lot of bends. Some FE parts to bend for the pedals. And the last tube from the rear to the radiator, with a splitter to the radiator. Started with the dash. Instruments have to be black on the backside. So again some delicate masking. Testfitting the dash subframe. The rods to the cross beam are too short. When installed this way in the holes, the dash will sit way too flat. Took the right angle from my Sharknose bible. Looked if a steering rod would fit. This should bring the solution. Cut the rods. Put brass rods on the left small part of the rods. To install small rods which I can cut to the right length. Also perfect round and shiny. The brass rods will be painted in the right colour. Airbrushed the back of the instruments. Came out nicely. Ready to receive the decals. However they are far below par. The tear at the slightest movement. Not the quality you expect from MFH. So I have to look for after market ones from a manufacturer like autograph used by Tameo or something. To the tanks. Drilled holes for the rivet mod. I had some MFH white metal ones. I didn't like this at first. But the soft metal makes it possible to sand the rivets a bit to flatten them or make slightly smaller. Cut the rivet pins at an angle. This way you end up with a sort of pointy end. That way the can be pushed in the holes much more easy. Then four FE strips round each tank. Most builders stick to the outside, but on the real car they went all around. The stips in the kit have the right length for that, so I tried to fit them all around. To do that you have to install the FE panels first. That also means another masking job later, as the real tanks were only painted on the outside. Untill next week guys. And girls?