Fujimi Ferrari F355

[Nacho Z]

Next up on my hobby bench is Fujimi's Ferrari F355 Berlinetta.  I picked this kit up at a model contest a year or so ago.  The kit does not get rave reviews.  I am no expert on these cars but from what I have read Fujimi used many parts from their prior kit, the Ferrari 348.  Indeed, several of the sprues are labeled "Ferrari 348"...lol.  As I understand it the interior in this F355 kit is really the 348's interior.  The chassis may be shared as well.  Don't put any of this in stone but I believe I am pretty close with my statements.  All of this is quite OK with me as I am really just wanting a nice shelf model.

Let's start with some of the basic information regarding the build.  I wanted this F355 to be done in a dark blue and I wanted to paint it with some fingernail polish that I had on hand, (no pun intended).  I was going to build it box stock but when I looked over the kit I found that the decals were shot.  Also, you cannot beat PE scripts and badges for realism.  I had a buddy who was willing to part with an Acu-Stion PE set and some rare T2M badges.  The only problem is that both sets are designed for the Challenge car so some of the items will not work on the Berlinetta.

Let's look at what I have to work with.

 

This is the color that I aim shooting for.  I know that I can probably buy an exact match but I really wanted to paint it with the OPI fingernail polish that I have.

 

I started with the body work.  I highlight seam lines with a Sharpie.  I also rescribed all panel lines.

 

The side scoops are separate pieces and a real PITA to install and make look good.  Honestly, I got them to about 90-95% and finally gave up.  Big seams in a tiny space.  Filling and sanding were a nightmare.  I seriously doubt that anyone will even notice the less than 100% perfect finish on them.  Along with the side scoops, the rear spoiler piece did not fit even remotely properly.  More big gaps.  I really questioned whether or not I wanted to build this thing.

 

Next update will be covering the thinning and shooting the beautiful OPI fingernail polish.

 

[Justin Porter]

Fujimi Ferraris really are 80% delightful and 20% your absolute worst nightmare in the way they get engineered. Looking forward to seeing how your 355 goes together!

[Nacho Z]

56 minutes ago, Justin Porter said:

Fujimi Ferraris really are 80% delightful and 20% your absolute worst nightmare in the way they get engineered. Looking forward to seeing how your 355 goes together!

Thanks, Justin, you are right about that.  I believe Fujimi is the only game in town when it comes to the F355, barring any resin kits. This is only my second Fujimi kit.  My first was the Ferrari F430 Challenge and it was a nice kit.  I think this one will turn out fairly nice.  Not a competition killer but a nice shelf queen.

[kelson]

I built the convertible version years ago and had much the same experience?

[Nacho Z]

5 hours ago, kelson said:

I built the convertible version years ago and had much the same experience?

I saw this build when I was doing research on the kit.  We are going to have the same colored Ferraris! ? Yours looks good!

[dino246gt]

As an actual Ferrari nut myself, I found that the Fujimi kits of old are pretty poor, compared to newer tooled kits.

They can be built into beautiful models with a lot of extra work, as you've already done on the body.

Don't lose interest, just set it aside and work on something else until you feel like getting back to it and it'll be a real beauty!

I'm loving your color choice!

Ciao.

[Nacho Z]

On 9/6/2023 at 11:50 AM, dino246gt said:

As an actual Ferrari nut myself, I found that the Fujimi kits of old are pretty poor, compared to newer tooled kits.

They can be built into beautiful models with a lot of extra work, as you've already done on the body.

Don't lose interest, just set it aside and work on something else until you feel like getting back to it and it'll be a real beauty!

I'm loving your color choice!

Ciao.

HI Dennis, thanks for the feedback!  I love the work you are doing on the Restomod!

[Nacho Z]

My first update from my original post.  This update will be all about laying the fingernail polish down.  I took a picture after each coat.  I tend to very slightly over thin my paint and polish, it is just how I like to do it.  I feel that I can lower the air pressure and get into tighter spaces without excessive blowback.  This was especially true when painting the side scoops.  Anyhow, I git a kick out of seeing the model get a little darker blue with each successive coat of paint.

I always test my colors on spoons, usually white and black.  This is NOT to test how hot a paint is.  Spoons and models are made of different material.  It is just to see how base colors affect the final color.  I went with a white base for the F355.  If you scroll up to my last post you will see that I laid down a white base coat.

 

My wonderful wife is always willing to help me with my hobby.  She found some small Ball jars that are perfect for mixing up larger volumes of paint.  I thin my fingernail polish with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner.

 

Here we go!  I shoot thin coats so that I don't have to worry about crazing the plastic.  I wait 10 minutes between coats.  I'm in no hurry when I do this.  I have screwed things up in the past by being impatient.

 

The finish was just about what I was hoping for but in the back of my mind I thought I could make it better.  After the fingernail polish cured for a week, I polished it out and shot 2 coats of Tamiya Clear Blue right out of the can.  I laid it on fairly heavy as I would be polishing it out.  I am pleased with the results.  The pictures do not do justice to the color.

 

Next update will have the body polished out and a quick mockup.  As always, comments, suggestions, etc are welcome!

 

[Dann Tier]

I'm glad you're sticking to it...its looking beautiful!!

[Pete75]

Nice! It's funny how the red hue it that nail polish doesn't show up in the photos until the fifth or sixth coat! ?

[CabDriver]

1 hour ago, Nacho Z said:

I'm in no hurry when I do this.  I have screwed things up in the past by being impatient.

Great attitude…and great results!

That’s a gorgeous color!

[beeRS]

Beautiful looking paint. Thanks for explaining your paint procedure so well - there’s always things to learn. 

[Nacho Z]

On 9/11/2023 at 9:53 PM, Dann Tier said:

I'm glad you're sticking to it...its looking beautiful!!

Thank you, Dann!

 

On 9/11/2023 at 10:19 PM, Pete75 said:

Nice! It's funny how the red hue it that nail polish doesn't show up in the photos until the fifth or sixth coat! ?

It is such a pretty color and it was just about exactly what I was hoping for!

 

On 9/11/2023 at 11:15 PM, CabDriver said:

Great attitude…and great results!

That’s a gorgeous color!

Thanks, Jim!  Patience is probably my weakest point in model building.  I mean, I suck at a lot of things modeling wise, but patience is my Achilles heel. ?

 

On 9/12/2023 at 12:49 AM, beeRS said:

Beautiful looking paint. Thanks for explaining your paint procedure so well - there’s always things to learn. 

I appreciate it, Sonny!

[Nacho Z]

Time for my Monday night update.  My last post I showed where I painted the body in OPI fingernail polish, polished it out and then shot Tamiya Clear Blue over that.  I let the clear blue cure and then set about polishing out the body.  I use Micro Mesh cloths and then Tamiya polishing compounds for this.  I'll spare you all of the in-progress shots and go straight to the mock-up of the polished body.

I should point out that there is no actual clear, clear on this model.  Clear blue, yes.  Clear clear, no.

 

Here are the 3 polishing cloths that I used, one for each stage, or grit, of the Tamiya polishing compounds.  I also use Q-tips for hard-to-reach places, places that my fingertip will not fit into.  I have actually been chided, (there's a word you don't see every day!), for using Q-tips but I find them very useful.  I do not use any type of rotary tool for polishing out my paint.  I actually enjoy the process of doing it manually.

 

 

My kitchen light fixture.

 

My Alclad paint on a shelf above my bench.

 

Next update will be the interior and another mockup with the interior installed.  Thanks for checking in.  Comments, suggestions and advice are always welcome.

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Nacho Z

[beeRS]

That is polished to perfection!

The mock up stance looks perfect. 

[ea0863]

Man, those last shots of the paintjob are incredible! And thank you for the time-lapse photos along the way. 

[Justin Porter]

Looks truly fantastic so far. Just the right level of shine.

[dino246gt]

I'd suggest shooting a coat of semi-gloss clear, or strip the chrome and paint aluminum on the rims, unless you like the chrome which isn't correct, but for models, correct isn't always important.

[kelson]

That's a gorgeous blue!! are you going with a tan colored interior or black?.

[Funkychiken]

Wow, beautiful finish on the paint!

Is this acrylic clear blue, or TS from a can?

[Nacho Z]

18 hours ago, beeRS said:

That is polished to perfection!

The mock up stance looks perfect. 

Thank you, Sonny!  I was very happy with the stance right out of the box.  The tires are also centered in the wheel wells which isn’t always the case.  I don’t have to do any work on the stance and that is a good thing!

 

17 hours ago, ea0863 said:

Man, those last shots of the paintjob are incredible! And thank you for the time-lapse photos along the way. 

Thanks, EMRE!  Honestly, the reason for the picture of each coat was to help me keep track of how many coats I laid down…lol.  And yes, I’m pretty darn happy with the paint job!

 

7 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

Looks truly fantastic so far. Just the right level of shine.

Very much appreciated, Justin!

[Nacho Z]

2 hours ago, dino246gt said:

I'd suggest shooting a coat of semi-gloss clear, or strip the chrome and paint aluminum on the rims, unless you like the chrome which isn't correct, but for models, correct isn't always important.

Dennis, while doing research on this car, (I really didn’t know very much about it), I noticed that the wheels were a dull aluminum(?).  I’m not crazy about them.  I decided to leave the kit wheels as they are.  I know that they are not prototypically correct but I like them.  I truly do appreciate the input on them, however.  I’ve got a lot more Ferrari kits and you can count on me hitting you up for help and information!
 

1 hour ago, kelson said:

That's a gorgeous blue!! are you going with a tan colored interior or black?.

Curtis, I really struggled with the choice of creme, (their spelling), or tan from Splash Paints.  I went with tan.
 

1 hour ago, Funkychiken said:

Wow, beautiful finish on the paint!

Is this acrylic clear blue, or TS from a can?

Thanks, Atin!  The clear blue is TS shot straight from the can.

[Nacho Z]

Another Monday night update.  I think this will be the last one.  As stated at the end of my last post, I will be showing you all the interior.  I will also show you the masking and painting of the trim.  Let's get to it.

 

As has been pointed out by others, the interior is from Fujimi's 348 kit.  The sprues even say 348 on them.  I Googled pictures of the interior of a 348 and painted mine to match.  I bought two colors of Splash Paints interior colors.  One was creme and the other was tan.  I used the tan and it is just a little too light for my liking.  I am thinking a darker primer would have gotten me closer to the color that I was hoping for.  The kit decals were severely cracked and yellowed.  Toast.  I didn't have any spare gauge decals that I thought looked right so I just left them off.  I also could not use the center console decals and left them off as well.  Anyhow, Splash Paints Tan, Tamiya LP-5 Semi-Gloss Black and lots of Tamiya tape were used.

 

All of the kit glass in this kit sucked.  Sucked badly.  Sucked canal water, as we used to say.  I couldn't use the driver's side glass due to a massive defect in the glass.  Not on the surface, but rather inside of the glass.  I ended up cutting the door portion off and using the rear quarter glass.  I ended up having to do the same thing on the passenger side.  The windshield glass did not have a positive fit and there was very, very little wiggle room with the fit.  If you did not get it centered perfectly you would have gaps.  I taped it into position first and then applied glue.  The rear glass just plain didn't fit properly.  Too much to explain.  Very disappointing.

 

The last pictures have to do with the masking of the body in order to paint the window trim, (which is also incorrect for a F355).  The point I want to make is that I use Tamiya masking tape and I use a lot of it.  I have already gotten the comments about how much masking I do and how much tape I've used.  Car modelers, generally speaking, are cheap.  A roll of Tamiya tape is about $5.  I don't think $1.50 in tape is excessive...lol.  I had to paint black on the back panel, the front grill, the windshield and both side windows.  With the way I mask with Tamiya tape, I don't worry about overspray, paint bleed, tape residue and pulling up paint.  Well worth the few pennies worth of tape that I use.

 

That is all I have for the WIP portion of this build.  I will be posting pictures of the finished model in the next week or two.  A good amount of work went into all of the badges and detail painting.  I did the best that I could with what I had to work with.  This was supposed to be a relatively quick build and an exercise in shooting fingernail polish.  It turned out to be a rather troublesome project.  Thanks for following along and commenting along the way.  See you over in Under Glass soon!

[iamsuperdan]

Whether Fujimi got it right or not, I think you're doing an excellent job. The paint looks just about perfect and the trim looks perfect too.

?

[Nacho Z]

1 hour ago, iamsuperdan said:

Whether Fujimi got it right or not, I think you're doing an excellent job. The paint looks just about perfect and the trim looks perfect too.

?

Thank you, Dan, I appreciate your kind words. Overall, I am pretty happy with it.