Revell 1/24 Ferrari 599GTB - Completed

[johnlambert]

It looks great so far, I love the finish you've got on the upholstery and the colour you've chosen.  I fancy doing something with a leather interior that colour, so I hope I can get equally good results.

[HoolioPaulio]

Thanks for the kind comments @johnlambert.  Seeing your previous work I'm sure yours will be as good, if not a better job than me.  I'm still working on patience and finesse when it comes to the finishing details.  On a side note, remembering your Prelude build from the end of last year you had some number plate decals and letters to make up your own plates.  Can you remember where you got them from?  I tried to look for some last year with no success.

 

And a question for @galaxyg, did you have any issues mating the body shell to the chassis during completion?  I just realised from the instructions (didn't twig at first) that the dash is fixed to the shell, and when connected together a tab on the bottom of the centre console should go snugly into a hole on the gearbox tunnel.  Considering how difficult it was getting the shell over the wheel arches for a test fit early on, and now the seat tub adds an extra obstacle, I'm concerned how it will go without damage.

 

Also the instructions say to fit the windows before mating the body with the chassis, but considering how much body flex was required to get it over the wheel liners the first time, I assume they will most likely pop out, or worse crack in the unlikely event they are glued very well...

 

Did either of those two things cause you any issue?

 

Paul

[galaxyg]

8 minutes ago, HoolioPaulio said:

And a question for @galaxyg, did you have any issues mating the body shell to the chassis during completion?  

 

Also the instructions say to fit the windows before mating the body with the chassis, but considering how much body flex was required to get it over the wheel liners the first time, I assume they will most likely pop out, or worse crack in the unlikely event they are glued very well...

 

This kit is engineered a lot like the Mercedes AMG and the 612 Scaglietti in this respect. It's been quite sometime since I did my 599 - I remember it being a tight fit but that's all. What I do remember is after the front end of the car did not close up as it should - the body to the undertray. And I solved that with the *very* careful application of a hot screwdriver to melt the two parts together.   In the years since it's popped out again so the ride height at the front is higher than desired.   But overall - some cursing and faffing should do the job.

 

A hot screwdriver should be on the required tools list of any Revell kit.

 

Windows - if I remember correctly they (like the Mercedes AMG) fit from the outside of the car (in itself a great way to do it compared to most) and if that is the case then certainly - fit them after.

Edited February 1, 2021 by galaxyg
fixed typo

[johnlambert]

3 minutes ago, HoolioPaulio said:

Thanks for the kind comments @johnlambert.  Seeing your previous work I'm sure yours will be as good, if not a better job than me.  I'm still working on patience and finesse when it comes to the finishing details.  On a side note, remembering your Prelude build from the end of last year you had some number plate decals and letters to make up your own plates.  Can you remember where you got them from?  I tried to look for some last year with no success.

 

Paul

Thanks Paul, my number plate decals came from Motobitz, you need to cut the letters closely as the carrier film isn't pre-cut but they look great when they are done and get easier to do with practice.

[HoolioPaulio]

12 minutes ago, galaxyg said:

But overall - some cursing and faffing should do the job.

Ha!  My preferred tools of choice   Thanks for the feed back 👍

[HoolioPaulio]

Well that was a lot of fiddly masking

 

And I didn't quite cover all the black

 

But to the naked eye it wasn't visible when in place so decided to not risk smudging the chrome with black.  Turns out on close up photography it is still visible, but the eye can't see it so I'm good on this one.

[galaxyg]

4 hours ago, HoolioPaulio said:

Ha!  My preferred tools of choice   Thanks for the feed back 👍

In the interests of science, I took the body off my 599 to see how it came off, how it goes back on and if it reminded me of anything. So I now have the following advice:

 

Mounting the body will stress the following numbered items, so reinforce them. My weapon of choice is a hot screwdriver to melt/weld.

 

1) Reinforce the joint between the front wheel arches and the floor pan. 

2) Reinforce the joint between that chrome grille thing (the one with the Ferrari badge) and the front bumper.

3) Reinforce the joint between both door-inners and the interior. It's a pathetic joint surface area as it is.

4) Reinforce the joint between the upper and lower halves of the dashboard. The two tabs at either end of the inner dash make ideal melting targets

 

Now, my dashboard wasn't actually glued into the car at all. It pushes on quite snugly to the upper body and for me, didn't move and so the first time and upon this minor reassembly, I saw no reason to add glue.

 

Attaching the body to the car: Start at the back. After some pushing and pulling you'll have the back end in place and the car will be V-shaped, like Pacman's mouth. Pull out the doors a little to work your way along the car. At this point it will seem like the front really does not want to fit over the arches. Pause to curse Revell, then put two fingers on each hand fore and aft of the front wheels underneath the car, and your thumbs on the tops of the front wings. Push harder than you'd ever wish to on a fragile object. There will be creaking and groaning, and the floor pan will bend in an alarming looking way. Add more force. Eventually it'll all just pop and it'll be on, as perfectly as it can get.  That tab on the bottom of the dashboard will do it's own thing as part of this process and does not need to be worried about, although if I was building the kit again I'd remove it anyway, it really serves no purpose.

 

None of this reassembly made the windows pop out, although if it's possible to fit them after, I still would do.

 

If nothing else, that's given me some practice for whenever I build that Revell 612 Scaglietti, as I've read that a) it's worse and b) doesn't actually fit that well afterwards anyway. We'll see later in 2021.

[Pouln]

15 hours ago, galaxyg said:

Pause to curse Revell,

Ahh, that’s the trick. Great tip😀

[HoolioPaulio]

Thats the lights done

 

 

And the window rubbers and some of the interior in place.  Plenty more detailing left on the dash yet

[HoolioPaulio]

And its just had its subtle panel lining, very watered down anthracite grey.  I find panel lining a 1:24 scale car in black can make it look like a cartoon drawing, but that's just my preference.  Comments welcome on whether you think it should be darker, or lighter still

 

For reference, here is the rear, panel lined on the left and not yet on the right

[johnlambert]

The panel lining looks good, I think you've chosen the right shade for it.

[Spiny]

Definitely looks better to my eyes with the lining done. I know what you mean about black sometimes giving a cartoon appearance when used for panel lines. In my opinion, it depends a lot on the colour of the car - on a dark car black works well but on a lighter colour, or white, a lighter colour such as grey works much better.

[HoolioPaulio]

13 hours ago, Spiny said:

In my opinion, it depends a lot on the colour of the car - on a dark car black works well but on a lighter colour, or white, a lighter colour such as grey works much better.

 

Yes well said, my comment was typed in a rush and a bit sweeping.  But yeah, panel lining needs to be a complimentary darker shade depending on the colour in question.

[Pouln]

On 2/8/2021 at 9:58 PM, HoolioPaulio said:

And its just had its subtle panel lining, very watered down anthracite grey. 

This works really well. I agree with your remark on using black.

[FunkyChiken]

Panel lines are perfect in that colour! 

[HoolioPaulio]

Been a bit of a pause on this while I kept finding other hobbies to engage in while I was putting off the detail work on the dash.  I'm not great at it, though my new Windsor & Newton 00 and 000 brushes have helped a lot.  The close up photo really shows up the scruffy finish.  Looks decent to the eye, and I imagine it will be barely visible once the shell and windows are on.  Wish I could have airbrushed the black, but the thought of such complex masking was even more off putting than my crabby hand brushing skills so I went with the lesser of two evils   You know what they say though, as long as you're having fun...

 

 

Just needs a layer of top coat to protect the paint from MicroSet/Sol (as it stains the Vallejo paints), then decals to finish it.

[HoolioPaulio]

Got the dash finished

 

 

And last night I got all the decals on the body and installed that tonight

[Paul H]

Looking good, and great to see a Ferrari in a more unusual colour - this one really suits it.  Lovely work on the interior too, and those wheels look so much better dechromed!

[HoolioPaulio]

Well, the back end is done.  Just the windows left.  Oh and I'm scratch building a strut that can be popped in to hold the bonnet up so you can see my engine detail

[Spiny]

If you have some old twin & earth electrical wire (1.5mm would be ideal but 2.5mm would do), the earth core (unsheathed one) can make quite a decent strut if it's just to prop the bonnet up temporarily. Paint it satin or gloss black, and you could probably get away with it as a permanent strut too.

[Mr Mansfield]

You are absolutely right about dash pictures. Always shows up flaws that are near invisible to the eye! Looks great to me

[FunkyChiken]

The dash looks fantastic, coming along nicely! 

[johnlambert]

On 21/01/2021 at 01:24, HoolioPaulio said:

After the previous image the interior did get another coat of light grey primer.  And this is the colour leather I've gone for.  Rather happy with it, goes with the blue body quite well

 

This is a great build, I meant to ask what colour you chose for your leather?  It's lovely and I'd like to use something similar on one of my builds.  Apologies if you've mentioned it somewhere, I've been through the thread and don't think it was named.

[HoolioPaulio]

3 hours ago, johnlambert said:

I meant to ask what colour you chose for your leather?

I really wish I could help, but I'm a bit of a maverick with this stuff.  Its a custom mix, done by eye until I liked it, and I never remember to write down what I did.  Buuuut, the extra problem is this was mixed from the left over seats and bodywork paint from my 540K build, which again were mixed by eye and not written down either.  So all I can tell is, if I remember correctly the base colours will have been white, and tiny bits of yellow and brown for the body, and then brown with something to lighten it for the seats.  Then those two were mixed to use them up as it looked like they would do.  I have recently started writing some stuff down, like the mix for the blue body on this Ferrari.  Not much use I know, sorry

[johnlambert]

7 minutes ago, HoolioPaulio said:

I really wish I could help, but I'm a bit of a maverick with this stuff.  Its a custom mix, done by eye until I liked it, and I never remember to write down what I did.  Buuuut, the extra problem is this was mixed from the left over seats and bodywork paint from my 540K build, which again were mixed by eye and not written down either.  So all I can tell is, if I remember correctly the base colours will have been white, and tiny bits of yellow and brown for the body, and then brown with something to lighten it for the seats.  Then those two were mixed to use them up as it looked like they would do.  I have recently started writing some stuff down, like the mix for the blue body on this Ferrari.  Not much use I know, sorry

No worries Paul, I was hoping it was a colour available off the shelf but I'll have to get more creative and do some experiments of my own.