1924 Fiat Mefistofele

[Foxer]

  On 7/10/2016 at 11:36 PM, Harry P. said:

Ok, here is a real pet peeve of mine... poorly engineered and poorly thought out parts trees. Here is the kit dash...

 

Notice all the ejector pin marks?

I expect better from a kit at this price point (MSRP $195!!!). Even though I paid much less, still... boneheaded mistakes like this have no place in a "premium" model kit. 

This is one of my irritations too.

[Ramfins59]

I'm watching this project of yours too Harry.   I've always wondered why the kit mfgrs. can't have the ejector pin marks on the back side of the parts where they won't be seen.

[Harry P.]

  On 7/11/2016 at 12:31 AM, Ramfins59 said:

I'm watching this project of yours too Harry.   I've always wondered why the kit mfgrs. can't have the ejector pin marks on the back side of the parts where they won't be seen.

They can. If they were actually thinking about what they were doing! Like this dash, for example. It's a flat part. It could have been tooled to be face up or face down. Either way would have been just as easy to do. Yet they did the bonehead move and tooled it so the ejector pin marks are on the face of the dash. No excuses for that. It's just plain dumb engineering. And especially on a $200 model!

[cobraman]

That is a little lame the way the molded the dash. I am looking forward to how you handle the building of that chain. That can not be an easy task.

[Harry P.]

  On 7/11/2016 at 1:04 AM, cobraman said:

That is a little lame the way the molded the dash. I am looking forward to how you handle the building of that chain. That can not be an easy task.

I'm not exactly looking forward to it. But eventually I'll have to just do it. 

[slusher]

  On 7/10/2016 at 11:36 PM, Harry P. said:

Ok, here is a real pet peeve of mine... poorly engineered and poorly thought out parts trees. Here is the kit dash...

Notice all the ejector pin marks? That means I will have to sand the dash smooth, repaint it, and scratchbuild the switches on the right side. All extra work that I as the consumer should not have to do! There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't have designed this parts tree with the dash flipped the other way... so that the ejector pin marks would be on the back side of the dash, where you would never see them, But no! They had to do it the stupid way. Sheesh... 

I expect better from a kit at this price point (MSRP $195!!!). Even though I paid much less, still... boneheaded mistakes like this have no place in a "premium" model kit. 

I see what you mean Harry. Is there any way to save the switches??

[Harry P.]

  On 7/11/2016 at 2:25 AM, slusher said:

I see what you mean Harry. Is there any way to save the switches??

Not really. Easier to sand it all flat and replace the switches with scratchbuilt ones. In fact, my photo references show four switches, not three... so I would have redone them anyway.

[Roadrunner]

Real nice start. Not a kit I'd care to attempt, but certainly interesting to watch.

[Bob Turner2]

  On 7/10/2016 at 11:36 PM, Harry P. said:

Ok, here is a real pet peeve of mine... poorly engineered and poorly thought out parts trees. Here is the kit dash...

Notice all the ejector pin marks? That means I will have to sand the dash smooth, repaint it, and scratchbuild the switches on the right side. All extra work that I as the consumer should not have to do! There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't have designed this parts tree with the dash flipped the other way... so that the ejector pin marks would be on the back side of the dash, where you would never see them, But no! They had to do it the stupid way. Sheesh... 

I expect better from a kit at this price point (MSRP $195!!!). Even though I paid much less, still... boneheaded mistakes like this have no place in a "premium" model kit. 

Very interesting project here Harry. I might have to pick one up myself. On filling in the ejector pin marks, before you go sanding away, try this: Put a bead of CA on each one, hit that with a Microbrush filled with accelerator, let dry, & then sand flush. Much easier that way I found.

[Harry P.]

My reference photos show four switches on the right side of the dash, not three... so I was going to sand the dash face smooth anyway and scratchbuild the four switches. But still, ejector pin marks on the face side of the dash is inexcusable.

[sjordan2]

The nice thing about these old racers like my Bugatti T59 is that the dash panels are totally flat and you can do a lot with them.

[Cato]

You're right about the poor mfgr tooling design but why not scratch a new one? You can certainly do better with styrene sheet  and a .005 tin face on it.

And I know your point - you shouldn't have to with kits these days....

 

[Harry P.]

It's actually easier to just sand down the kit dash face (which is what I already did) than to recreate one from styrene sheet... cut it out, drill all the holes, etc. Now that I have a nice smooth face, I will add the four switches and go from there.

[Harry P.]

So I just sprayed the dash, and while that dries, I'm jumping back to the engine. I'll have new photos tomorrow, but in the meantime I can tell you this engine is way more detailed than a typical Pocher engine! It seems like every single line, linkage, and tiny detail is there. Unlike Pocher, which only hinted at some details, got some wrong, and flat-out left off many others, this engine has it all and then some. Man, I wish this kit was 1/8 scale!

[Ace-Garageguy]

  On 7/11/2016 at 12:35 AM, Harry P. said:

They can. If they were actually thinking about what they were doing! Like this dash, for example. It's a flat part. It could have been tooled to be face up or face down. Either way would have been just as easy to do. Yet they did the bonehead move and tooled it so the ejector pin marks are on the face of the dash. No excuses for that. It's just plain dumb engineering. And especially on a $200 model!

  On 7/11/2016 at 10:33 PM, Cato said:

You're right about the poor mfgr tooling design but why not scratch a new one? You can certainly do better with styrene sheet  and a .005 tin face on it.

And I know your point - you shouldn't have to with kits these days....

Hey...in a world where most people get paid just for showing up and and going through the motions, and where there are not a lot who'd recognize smart engineering or first-rate quality if it reared up and bit them on the behind anyway, whaddya expect?  

Anyway, you always overcome the less-than-stellar parts of everything you build, and I know this will be no exception. 

[Dann Tier]

  On 7/8/2016 at 10:57 PM, Harry P. said:

Just starting to dig into this kit. There are more than a dozen parts trees, molded in black, red, dark gray, light gray, brown, and a satin chrome look. Absolutely no flash whatsoever... I've rarely seen a more cleanly molded kit. Even the various thin linkages have no mold misalignment... they are perfectly round, with no mold seam line to clean up. Every kit should be molded this well.

Major assemblies are meant to be assembled with screws (like a Pocher kit)... but this being "only" 1/12 scale, the screws are tiny! I'm sure I'll need my magnifier lamp to install these tiny screws.

Thanks for directing me here, harry!, excellent job on what you've done so far -as usual -really looking forward to following this. crazy how there is no flash on this kit, when Italeri has been notorious for having A lot of flash, seams, and ejector-pin marks on all they're 1/24 scale kits. I still build a lot of them, something about them I like still, I guess.

[skymnky721]

wow,unbelievable ,,thats a REALLY detailed kit,,nice work there Harry! Hope you get relief soon from your doc.

[Harry P.]

Got a little more done on the engine...cylinders, cam, and rocker arms installed. At this point the engine is maybe 20% done. There is just so much detail included in this kit, it's amazing.

[Roadrunner]

That engine looks great.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Beautiful. An engine that nicely detailed ought to make you feel better about those easily corrected ejector-pin marks on the panel.  

The cam angle-drive looks like it must be a worm-gear arrangement, judging from the housing shape. I need to look that up. Fascinating.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Harry P.]

They give you exactly 24 valve springs. Not even one extra. I'm just happy to have installed them all without one of them flying off into space.

[kpnuts]

Great work harry.

[peteski]

  On 7/8/2016 at 10:57 PM, Harry P. said:

There are more than a dozen parts trees, molded in black, red, dark gray, light gray, brown, and a satin chrome look. Absolutely no flash whatsoever... I've rarely seen a more cleanly molded kit. Even the various thin linkages have no mold misalignment... they are perfectly round, with no mold seam line to clean up. Every kit should be molded this well.

Most Tamiya kits I have ever worked with are like that.

This looks to be a fun build!

[peteski]

  On 7/11/2016 at 7:50 PM, Harry P. said:

My reference photos show four switches on the right side of the dash, not three... so I was going to sand the dash face smooth anyway and scratchbuild the four switches. But still, ejector pin marks on the face side of the dash is inexcusable.

This to me looks like a perfect candidate for a natural-brushed-metal dash.  I would sand the plastic dash smooth then take some real aluminum duct tape (not the cheap stuff). Use something like 400 or 600 grit wet/dry paper (before you apply it to the dash) and using same-direction strokes make it look like brushed aluminum.  Then stick the tape onto the dash and trim it.  It will look just like the 1:1 in the photo above.

[slusher]

  On 7/12/2016 at 1:16 AM, Harry P. said:

Got a little more done on the engine...cylinders, cam, and rocker arms installed. At this point the engine is maybe 20% done. There is just so much detail included in this kit, it's amazing.

Will the springs show or will the be covered up? I like how the engine is looking...