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1/20 Model Factory Hiro Ferrari 312T4 Gilles Villeneuve,Monaco GP 1979


Manu Della Valle

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Hi one and all,
this is my  first foray into F1 car modelling after years of AC and AFVs.It's the magnificent MFH kit of the 312T4,one of my favourite Ferraris after the "C" series of the early 80s.
I've discovered F1 car modeling last year and it's now become my main modeling interest,it's THAT addictive!
This kit is called "hybrid" in that the body consists of a few beautifully molded sprues of white plastic,while the rest is machined and cast aluminum (the monocoque),resin,photo-etch,resin,brass,vac windshield etc.
The quality of the kit is amazing but IMO this kit is not for those modelers who haven't at least a few kits under their belts,not necessarily cars.
All white metals parts should be cleaned up with various grades of wet 'n dry, sanding sticks,#0000 steel whool,brass brushes,polishing compounds,micromesh etc. to get a smooth surface.Many modelers like to treat the polished white metal parts with clears but there will always be a few casting marks and pittings that will be nearly impossible to get rid of without sanding away too much white metal,therefore I've opted for a wet,covering layer of Zero etching primer and Gunze Supermetallics on those areas that oughta be bare aluminum.
The monocoque is another story altogether,being a beautiful,solid piece of cast aluminum.This one had a few pitting to it as well and it took me the best part of three hours to make it shine with all the tools and media in my inventory but I think I'll give it a mist of satin clear because it's too shiny to my taste and it wouldn't blend well with the rest of the parts!

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Edited by Manu Della Valle
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The MFH kits are beautifully made but one of their main drawbacks consists in the locating holes which must be unvariably opened up.A good selection of hi-quality drill bits like these is absolutely mandatory.

I measure each peg/pin/screw with a Venier and I choose the bit accordingly.Don't rely too much on your Mk III Eyeball when drilling/opening the holes though;the MFH parts come with recesses indicating where the holes are supposed to be but hitting them straight with a drill bit will nearly always lead to crooked or misaligned holes,better make a small indent with a needle in the soft metal and then drill the holes!

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I've learnt from buddies into car modelling that the best way to build these kits would be to fully assemble them to make sure that everything fits,then disassemble the whole thing,paint and re-assemble.That's exactly what I do with the help of masking tape,Maskol,Micro Gloss and white glue.
Today I've started putting the front suspension together and after polishing the parts with 0000 grade steel whool and a glass fiber pen I was good to go.I assembled the left front suspension in no time and even if I was quite sceptical about how it would have looked everything fitted like a glove in the end:

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Talkin' 'boot drill bits;it was when I tackled the right suspension that disaster struck!A thin drill bit snapped into the right hub but after the unavoidable "Oooh,SHICKS!" I didn'n't loose a single minute and ran upstairs where I've got a few more MFH 312T4s in the stash

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..........borrowed the front hubs from one of them and proceeded to make the molds in order to have a few resin "spares" that will be as sturdy as the white metal ones but easier to drill,and i case I'll screw up a hole or snap another bit I'll have plenty to play with!
I think that I'll cast quite a few more parts in resin while I'm at it,such as brake calipers,the side gas tanks and a few more bits and bobs that would be better made anew!I wanted to cast the whole monocoque as well but I don't think I have enough silicone of the right hardness left!
The silicone molds curing:
 

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The resin hubs are ready....I'll need one but casting three "spares" just in case hasn't been a bad idea,after all good ol' Murphy's always around!   

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I've temporarily fitted the suspension parts and the resin wheel hub.I must say that the resin copy is as nice as the original part if not better,in that it can be cleaned and drilled/tapped much more easily,apart from being definitely lighter.I think I'll do the same with the brake calipers once they'll be cleaned up and detailed!
One thing I've noticed is that no matter how careful you are...the suspension won't be perfectly aligned in some spots,and even if white metal has a lot of "give" and can be easily bent/formed it's got a bit of resiliency to it and there will always be a gap,unless you'll decide to bend it to its limits!
My humble advice would be to drill holes that will allow for a certain degree of "play",then carefully align all the suspension parts and permanently fix them with a drop of ultra-thin CA glue!Before committing with the glue is mandatory to make sure that ALL four wheels will touch the ground evenly...as far as I know Ferrari SEFAC never entered any races with a three-wheeler!

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I've started my modelling career 45 years ago but only last year I've discovered sportscars modelling.I just LOVE working on on F1 cars!Aircraft and AFVs simply got me burnt out big time...I got sick and tired with weathering,chipping,battle damages,Federal Standards,RLMs and all that jazz!Building cars and bikes is like being part of an episode of "Wheelers Dealers"...the only difference being that Ed works on "big" cars...I work on smaller ones that won't go "Wroooom"!I've been into sportscars for the best part of the last 30 years and I've been fortunate enough to work on,drive and own very nice cars and now I'm doing the same on cars that are 12 to 20 times smaller but the fun is always there!
 

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The 3000cc V12 Tipo 15 Engine is beautifully detailed but,on the other hand, it's not an easy build.Apart from the fact that each and every hole for the locating pins must be drilled (surely not the most difficult chore!),my sump and the upper part of the engine block had a five-dimensional warping to them...Miss Kyoko Hiro supplied me with a spare sump but there must be something wrong with the mold in that it was worse than the original part.Again,thank God the white-metal is (sort of) easily pressed (read wrestled) into shape!
That warping caused me a few head-scratching but in the end I had a fairly nice replica.The sump is a little undersized and there are unsightly gaps that can be easily dealt with a little automotive putty,or left as they are since they'll remain out of sight once the engine will be at its place but since you never know.....better fill up those unsightly seams!

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A little sanding,scraping and buffing here and there will get rid of unwanted ridges and misalignments,while a few passes of heavily diluted Mr. Surfacer 500 will "blend" and fill thin gaps,scratches,pitting and holes.I haven't used already available 1200 or 1000 because the 500's pigments are bigger...diluting the Surfacer 500 will only help spreading it better or filling the gaps with a pointed brush more easily!

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To Be Continued............maybe! ^_^

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I have to say that although car kits are not my thing , this one is a fantastic kit and furthermore being built by a true enthusiast , your attention to detail is terrific and the time you take to make "extra" parts is well worth a notable mention. That drill set you have is one I.ve never seen on sale here or anywhere on the model markets and its a great set of tools to have, We can get small sets of micro drill bits in a purpose made dispenser, with about a dozen bits in, total cost about £20, but I would truly love to have a set like yours. I also was intrigued at the other non built models you have in that store room, could you show the models boxes and the sizes involved and the makes. I noticed Tamiya but the others were out of shot. I imagine these are the ones you are "fed" up with making for the time being. Good luck with the build and I look forward to seeing the completed model and paint scheme 

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@Fred Karno's Army...thank you so much for your kind words,mate!
@Davejb...I'm really glad you've appreciated my humble effort!To be perfectly honest I bought one of these kits by chance and got hooked big time and,as I've said,it's my first foray into Sportscar modelling!
If you need a set of those drill bits have a look here;http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-Micro-Carbide-Drill-Bits-Dremel-Jewelry-Tools-/162105505171?hash=item25be3db593:g:kDIAAOSwGvhULtty
Take a look at the other sets he's got for sale as well...it may be worth it!
The other models now reside in one of my garages;they're part of collection of 1/20 and 1/12 Ferrari,Lotus and Brabham F1 cars! 
Cheers
Manu
 

Edited by Manu Della Valle
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I've glued a few more parts to the engine and secured the latter to the monocoque with the supplied 1,6x6mm screw,at least they say that the diameter of the screw is 1,6mm...while in fact it's 1,5!!!It pays CHECKING CAREFULLY each locatin pin/peg and screw with a Venier in order to use EXACTLY the right drill bit,especially so for the screws, since once a hole wider than the screw has been drilled there's no other solution than filling in the offending hole with solder and work from there...not an easy thing on smaller and delicate or intricate parts!
The polished monocoque has started tarnishing and apart from that it just doesn't look right with the painted rear wall and gas tanks,I'll polish it again,degrease it with brake cleaner,give it a coat of ZERO clear and mist some Alclad Polished Aluminum and Chrome on top to blend the lot...wish me luck!

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As a side note, at first I wanted to drill each "rivet" on the gas tanks and rear wall and shave off all the molded-in nuts and bolts and use SS rivets and SS and brass nuts and bolts,but I'll save them for my next build!This s my first foray into model cars and I'd rather keep it simple and as much OOB as I possibly can!
For those who can't live with the "divots" on the gas tanks and rear wall there's a simple solution...well,let's make two!First would be smearing some putty on the parts and into the "rivets",wipe off the surplus and have shallower negative rivets.The second,more realistic solution would be filling the negative rivets altogether and use some HGW and/or Archer decal resin rivets.At first I wanted to do that on the monocoque as well,sanding off the sorta underscaled and too pointed rivets and use Archer's instead!
I've extensively used the latter inside my FW 190 D-9 wheel wells and they definitely look great.;EACH single rivet is an Archer and they would come handy when building cars....you be the judge!Please consider that the JUMO engine has just been started...it needs its share of wires,hoses and dirt!

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I've proceeded to temporarily fix the undertray to the monocoque and the fit is absolutely first-rate.Make sure to align the holes of the undertray with the matching holes on the monocoque and you're good to go....just be careful not to overtighten the screws to avoid stripped threads!
I've seen lots of otherwise beautifully built cars with a gap between the upper and the lower bodies, therefore instead of building this car "from the ground up" I've decided to build it "from the roof down"!
The fit of the two halves is almost perfect (gotta clean the last traces of the sprues attachment points) and if a gap will start developing it'll be oviously due to something I've done the wrong way, or to a part standing too proud that passed unnoticed.This is a very important step,since the sides house the radiators and other substantial parts and I'll be much better off correcting mistakes and misalignments this way than asking myself LATER the reason why I've got that nice gap! ¬¬

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The instructions are well laid down and easily followed but apart from the erratic colors suggestions there's an odd mistake I've encountered on step 17 and that I'd like to point out to the ones wishing to build this very model.There's a note telling you that "the part M2 is used only when you want to display the monocoque only with the undertray and side pontoon"!Now..I've been living in Italy for a few decades and that has surely affected my English somehow, still that note remains quite puzzling,to me at least,In fact part M2 is but the center of the plastic undertray cast in white metal and if you even try to slip the undertray under the front suspension with the part M2 underneath it you'll pry the whole front suspension and distort the delicate parts!

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A little more work on the engine

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I've fitted a few more parts to the engine and cleaned a dozen more!
I managed to snap a drill bit into the distributor cap while drilling the holes for the spark plug wires,no big deal for I've made a mold of the piece and will cast a new one in resin.
From now on I'll paint as I go and these will be the last pictures of the engine,gear box and suspension assemblies unpainted.
So far the build has been very enjoyable and I couldn't recommend this kit enough.It's not 100% perfect and there's room for improvents but I've got no time to supedetail this 312,therefore I'll keep it OOB as much as I can to avoid getting involved in one of the "never-ending WIPs" I'm famous for over at the LMC.
Here you go a few pictures of the work I've done so far.Comments are welcome and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICS are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED and much appreciated!
Cheers

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  • Major General

My God Manu, that's true dedication beyond the call mate!

great work, even down to the photography, kudos due and well deserved!

 

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I've given the engine a first coat of Zero's metal primer to prime the lot and to check it for blemishes and I've already found a few,but nothing that a little putty, a glass-fiber pen and a swab of stell wool couldn't take care of!Many white metal parts are quite rough because the masters have been made with a printer,hence the many irregularities especially on round objects.
Well aimed wet coats of putty will help and partly hide this annoying issue but if time wasn't an issue I think that I'd be much better better off making them from scratch.

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Priming, Take two!
As Murphy would have had it the metal primer hasn't primed at all in that, in spite of having thoroughly degreased the metal parts with brake cleaner and shaken the Zero Metal primer like a spirited maraca player it flaked at the slightest touch...I don't know if it's my fault or if I've had a faulty bottle instead.I have primed the rear suspension swing arms with automotive gray primer straight from the rattle can and that's absolutely impervious to scratching and even scoring the parts with steel wool  would take quite a lot of time to expose the metal!
Anyway,to be on the safe side I've recurred to Vallejo Acrylic Urethane Panzer Gray primer.It goes on silky smooth but it stinks terribly.
It will cure to a very durable and scratch-resistant film with a satin sheen to it that can be further enhanced by careful buffing!
 

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I've tried this Spanish primer before on the exhaust and engine of a (ignominiously stalled!) "curbside" Revell 1/12 126C2 I had started before this one and it's a very good base for metallic paints!Just shake it WELL and let it cure overnight!

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A little update;I've assembled the rear brakes and they're absolutely stunning.Each one is made of four PE parts that must be assembled with the help of an L-Square.They're too shiny and not al all realistic as they come,therefore I've fabricated a "hub",chucked it into my Dremel at low velocity and the outer faces of the discs have been lightly scoured with a piece of wet 'n dry to simulate the wear from the pads.A little effort for a (hopefully) convincing result!
Two down,two to go!  
 

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Edited by Manu Della Valle
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