Airfix Maserati Indy

[kpnuts]

Lovely colour she's coming along nicely.

[johnlambert]

A bit more painting.  I've given the body another (and hopefully final) coat of metallic blue.

 

I've also painted a load of bits.  I think the way I'll deal with the seats is to give them a coat of satin varnish to help differentiate them from the carpet..  The suspension parts have been painted Halfords camouflage matt black to help them contrast with the eventual satin black of the under body.

 

I've also touched in the satin black surrounding the sump and gearbox moulding.  I might pick out the drive belt in a different grey of black and the slight overspray on the pulley has given quite a pleasant effect.

[johnlambert]

A bit more progress on the Maserati.

 

Satin black on the underside.

 

Somehow the sides of the lower parts of the floor didn't get any paint even though they weren't masked and the sill panedls got paint except where they were masked to protect the interior.

 

Same thing on this side.  At least it is fairly easy to touch in satin black with a brush.

 

Dry fitting the engine, it doesn't look too bad.

 

Dashboard half painted, the detail was brush painted but the dash top will be sprayed.

 

Steering wheel rim painted, I might try adding something to simulate wood grain and then give it a clear coat to make it look a little more like wood.  The spokes have been drilled and need painting aluminium.

 

Colour check, I think the combination of blue and brown works quite well and is appropriately 1970s.

 

Another view, it's a pity the body doesn't naturally sit flush on the base plate.

[Brandy]

Wood is very simple to do with acrylics:

First a sprayed coat of a light tan colour. 

Second, a brushed (using the widest, flattest tip brush you have that will fit the part, but it must be flat tipped!) coat of "leather", diluted by dipping the brush into whatever thinners work for the paint you're using. Make it a very thin coat, you can do another later if needed!

Third, a sprayed coat of clear orange.

Done!

 

Ian

[Sabrejet]

Perfect colour to show off this understated Maserati. Looks very nice

[johnlambert]

A bit of spraying on the interior.

 

Some satin spray on the seats although it's a bit too glossy so I might go matt.

 

The paint was a bit grainy, so it has been rubbed down with some fine compound.  I think it needs a gloss clear coat, which I'm dreading slightly.

[johnlambert]

Today has mostly been about spraying various clear coats.

 

The body has a gloss clear coat, which seems to have gone better on the sides than on the top.

 

Seats got a coat of Halfords matt lacquer, which actually gives enough of a satin sheen to look more like leather.  The dash top is Halfords matt black, which also has a bit of a satin finish.  The underside of the nose got gloss clearcoat.

 

The body needs detail painting, the dashboard needs decals and will get a matt clearcoat on the brown part to give that a leather look.  Then I can start putting things together although I still need to make some door cards.

[keefr22]

All looking good John.

 

Keith

[johnlambert]

Just a quick update.

 

Engine and rear seats glued in place, chrome added to the ashtrays and I found some brown felt in Hobbycraft so I thought I'd see how that looked as boot carpet.  I think it's turned out quite well, so I might use it on the floor between the seats.

[keefr22]

That felt does look effective - and those seats look very comfy, wouldn't mind some in the living room!

 

Keith

[Sabrejet]

Looks a lot younger than it really is: can't wait to see it finished

[johnlambert]

More work on the underside of the Maserati.

 

Assembling the rear suspension.  It was dry assembled with Blutac and then the springs, axle and prop-shaft were glued with Humbrol Liquid Poly.

 

Axle and some other underside parts painted with Vallejo steel.

 

Quick look at the dashboard, it needs decals adding for the dials and some of the switches need picking out.

[Fnick]

That's coming along nicely John. I like the colour for the interior. Very civilised! 🙂

 

Nick

[johnlambert]

A little more progress.

 

All the under-gubbins is in place.  Anyone tacking this kit, be aware that the anti-tramp bar on the back axle and the exhaust system are slightly tricky to fit.  so are the rear dampers, it all fits together but there are lots of bits to line up before assembly.  I'm glad I glued the springs to the axle before installing them.

 

Tyres sprayed with Tamiya NATO black.

 

Getting the interior together.  The seats sit at an odd angle but I've decided to go for the carpet.  Some pictures I've seen suggest that Indys have quite thick carpet and it provides a nice bit of visual interest.

 

Having another go at the wood rim for the steering wheel and wooden gear knob.

 

Having a go at decals on the dashboard.

 

That's not come out too badly. 

[CrazyCrank]

She takes life step after step !

Nice job 👍

[Mr Mansfield]

That’s a lot of very small decals. Looks like they went on without a hitch! Looking great

[johnlambert]

17 minutes ago, Mr Mansfield said:

That’s a lot of very small decals. Looks like they went on without a hitch! Looking great

I was surprised how well they went on.  It was helpful that the decal sheet was printed so that the dials were in the same order as they go on the dashboard.  I also think they're printed by Cartograph, which people seem to regard as a good thing (certainly if this example is anything to go by).

[Sabrejet]

It's a generation on from the DB5 kit! Good work  

[keefr22]

Those 'under-gubbins' look more detailed than the Tamiya 350Z I'm currently working on!

 

Interior looks great!

 

keith

[Spiny]

Definitely good work on that dashboard, especially given the scale. It's amazing how much dials like to escape or turn in place when you're not looking so well done getting them all in position and level.

[johnlambert]

3 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Those 'under-gubbins' look more detailed than the Tamiya 350Z I'm currently working on!

 

Interior looks great!

 

keith

All the old-school Airfix kits I've seen have pretty good under sides.  Even the E-type has quite a nice reproduction of the Jaguar IRS.  It's a pity the bit on top, which you spend most of your time looking at, isn't better done in some cases (not the Maserati, it must be said).

[Sabrejet]

14 hours ago, johnlambert said:

All the old-school Airfix kits I've seen have pretty good under sides.  Even the E-type has quite a nice reproduction of the Jaguar IRS.  It's a pity the bit on top, which you spend most of your time looking at, isn't better done in some cases (not the Maserati, it must be said).

 

That's nothing: I've sprayed body shells before, and thought that the overspray on my thumbnail was better than what went on the car!

[johnlambert]

Quite a lot more done on the Maserati.

 

Quick mock up with the wheels.  One of the rims wanted to sit more proud of the tyre.  On inspection this appeared to be moulded slightly deeper than the others so has been filed down on its inner edge.

 

As I think I mentioned, you don't get any interior side panels, so I decided to bodge something together.  There were two types of dashboard and door card used on Maserati Indys and the type that is right for the model has a trapezoidal arm rest/door pull, a leather pocket at the front of the door and a panel of diagonal tuck and roll padding.  I'm not going to do the diagonal padding but the other elements can be approximated at least.  The shape of the panel is based around the wheel arch cut-outs and dashboard ends.

 

I attacked the pocket with a selection of files to give it a more textured appearance and also scribed where the shut lines should be.  It should be better than looking at the inside of the body moulding at the very least.

 

I've added the gear lever, the knob is leather brown paint (from the Airfix Herald) then sprayed over with Tamiya clear orange, while the shaft is Molotow chrome from the pen.  I've added a piece of stiff wire to represent the hand brake.  I might even have to confect some pedals.

 

The steering wheel got the same treatment and needs the centre boss painting black with aluminium spokes.

 

The steering wheel has been attached to the column.  One of the stalks snapped off so I've added another piece of wire.

 

Adding decals to the body.

 

It looks quite shiny in this shot.

 

The one decal that didn't make it was the "Maserati" badge. I've contacted Airfix to see if I can get another decal sheet.

 

I might have got a bit frustrated at that point and taken out my feelings on a poor, unsuspecting paint brush which I'd used to position the decals.

[johnlambert]

One more pic,

 

The decals on the dashboard have been sealed in (I hope) with a coat of matt varnish that I'm telling myself gives the dashboard a leather-like sheen.

[keefr22]

Awwwww, poor paintbrush.... 🤣

 

It didn't give its life in vain though as it did a good job on the rest of the decals!

 

Keith