Tony Curtis' Dino Ferrari 246GT from "The Persuaders"

[Kallisti]

So I'm back building stuff again after a hiatus due to illness, job loss and whatnot, but I start a new and better job tomorrow and the illness (nothing more than a "cold" but it laid me out for almost a month, plus I managed to give myself food poisoning... not a fun February ) has almost completely cleared up.

 

Anyway, while channel surfing one evening I ended up on the "True Entertainment" channel and lo and behold they were showing the Persuaders! For those of you too young to remember, this was a 1 season series that Roger Moore made between ending The Saint and starting to be James Bond. It also starred Tony Curtis, a couple of very lovely cars and a superb theme tune by John Barry

 

Now who doesn't love a bright red Dino Ferarri?

 

 

 

So I fancied building one! A quick search found that Fujimi makes a kit

 

 

The Persuaders car is an "early" type as typified by the wipers and front chrome bumper shape

 

 

This is a screencap from an episode and the colour has been corrupted to orange, but it really is Ferari red. Note the wipers are the alternating type and the front chrome bumper curves around into the grille. Not also the number plate is an Italian registration from Modena... hmm I wonder what factory is located in Modena....

 

So here goes - I'm not usually an automotive modeller so this will be a nice change for me, something uncomplicated and straightforward (I hope!) Here is the obligatory sprue shot

 

 

The wheels come pre-painted and its just a matter of pushing the rubber tyres over the hubs. Then painting the underside of the chassis

 

 

I've used Tamiya NATO Black for the main colour with Metallic Grey, silver highlights and Dark Iron for the exhaust pipes. Next came the inside - this is sadly mostly back so I tried to vary it a bit with using different black to break it up. The seats are Semi-gloss black as they were leather...

 

 

The dials all come as seperate decals applied over a silver backing.

 

 

This is the body shell with the bonnet added and about to get the rear panels added

 

 

The number plates were recreated in Photoshop and printed out, ready to be added to the number plate supports

 

 

Finally for now, my second attempt to fix the lower front body in place after the body shell has been attached to the chassis. It curves under the chassis at the front so has to be added after the main join. My first attempt was perfect but then I realised I'd forgotten to put the side lights in at the front and they were essentially inaccessible once all assembled. So the lovely invisible join had to be split open again  I also too the opportunity to remove the front wheels for ease of access and painting the red again.

 

 

The windows have been added at this point as well but they are covered for the spraying. I've masked the bonnet so as to cover the vents which have a black panted backing plate that I don't want to get red paint on. I cut the masking around the bonnet join so that if there is any "lip" left by the paint spraying, it will look like part of the bonnet joint. Currently waiting for the filler to dry and then it will be a matter of sanding and polishing to get the joint as I wish then it'll be adding the chrome trim... I'm going to see if I can get away with not repainting with Alclad, but its all a matter of where there are any mould lines or sprue gates that might need sanding.

 

Its been a fun build so far...

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Ah, the Dino. If only.

The Mondeo will have to do, however.

I'm glad you got better.

Good luck with the new job.

[Kallisti]

Just realised I never posted the completed photos of this build from last month: